Do you believe in faeries ??

Well ?? Do you ??

That is the irish spelling of fairy - and there is a reason I am using the Irish version today, less than 2 weeks out from St Patricks Day....

You see, with a bit of a dash of the luck of the Irish, and some help from the faeries down the bottom of the garden......today I managed to change this - yes, that is 2 slabs of Kilkenny ........










into THIS !!!! and its the right colour to celebrate St Patricks day and everything - begorrah !!!












Yes punters - this the the 1971 S1 250/3 that a few of the CDT members were told about. Old mate offered me this bike last year for 2.5k. I told him I was interested but no cash, try me next year. So he did - sent me a message about a week before the CDT and offered to gift me the bike - plus spares (oh yeah there are spares) - for a case of Kilkenny. Being the generous prick that I am - I got him 2

The bike is pretty much 98% complete and original. Down to all the OEM cable locators on fork legs, downtubes - that sort of thing. It is missing the rubber boots from the carbies to the airbox - but it does have the airbox ! Handlebar is not original.......and I struggled to find anything else today that wasn't. It needs a good detailing - but even the exhausts are 100% original and complete, no rust holes and no dents !!!! FMD its a corker.


Here are some pics of the spares. I almost fell over when he got these out of the shed for me


NOS handgrips, brand-new repro switchblocks, good replica mirrors, new keys, NOS fuel tank cap, NOS kickstarter lever rubber and gear lever rubber.......











Complete top-end and bottom-end gasket kits




NOS throttle cable, clutch cable and front-brake cable......all genuine Kawasaki





Genuine complete sticker kit - tank,both sidecovers and ducktail - in OEM colours.....





and last but not least - NOS alternator cover ( just fucking gold) - and a NOS OEM instrument cluster housing and dash light assembly !!!! I can get the dash area looking like brand-new with these bits







The best version of the S1 I reckon, was the Pearl White model. Here is a pic ....




Plans for this bike are really simple. Paul from Redback Race Paint ( the same guy who did the Shadowfax paint job and the MFP12) - will be getting the tank, sidecovers and duck-tail for some loving. Its a simple job, Pearl White, with the stickers attached and clear over.

I am simply going to give the bike a really good detail, fit up the new parts and get it running ( good comp but will need replacement ignition system). This will be my go-to bike for local VJMC rides ( short ones anyway) - the z650 has club reg and is a good bike for longer rides. The club rego that I got on my other S1 250 - the little race-bike - will be transferred across to this one.

So there you go. This is going to be the only new addition to the 4th this year, getting this bike for a couple of slabs of Kilkenny has been very fortuitous I think

If you didn't believe in faeries before - well maybe you should. Have a great St Patricks day - I know I will

Everyone hates you. Just saying.

How do you keep finding these damn bikes? I truly believe this 4th dimension of yours must be a Tardis. It is the only logical explanation I can find that allows for one person to be able collect period bikes in excellent condition, and have the appropriate space to store them.

OR.... Kilkenny is really expensive at your local bottle-o

.....OR.... Kilkenny is really expensive at your local bottle-o.......

funny you should mention that

When I asked old mate at the bottle-o where it was - he showed me and said they were on special for $65 a case instead of the usual $72.

So I grabbed 2 cases - when the cashier rung it up - she charged me $144 for the 2 cases.......I asked her if that was the right price because the floor dude had said $65 ???

So she looked it up - came back to the till and said "I can do even better on those - how about $54.95 each ? " who am I to argue ?? so got the 2 slabs for $110 instead of $144

Gotta love that

You just keep coming up aces.

... sweet find Gos

The white pearl can park next to the black pearl

Very nice pickup Gos. Well done mate.

$55 a carton is a great deal. Still not as good a deal as the bike.
We'll done on both deals

......The white pearl can park next to the black pearl......

nice .......well I have some further good news about this latest addition to the stable.......

You know, there is absolutely nothing better - than messing about with old motorcycles. Kawasaki motorcycles in general - and old triples in particular !!

Yes folks, after a bit more than 24 hours tucked into the 4th and a few hours whispering like mad - at 9.40pm tonight - the little S1 roared into life !! I spent a few hours today cleaning up the usual suspects - fuel tap first (totally full of crap but it cleaned up really well) - and the carbies. All the float bowels were full of a really oily residue - NFI how long since this bike had started ?? But the carbs cleaned up all fine and in further good news, once the tank had some fresh juice - nil leakage from any of the carbie bowls.

The old ignition system was pretty much rooted - even though this arvo it gave a fart and a kick-back through the kickstarter - but nil spark at all by late arvo.......so I swapped out the good system from my other S1 - the track bike. This was all it needed. Had to re-time a couple of cylinders which were a bit out.......

Many kicks and almost-starts - fouled plugs which had to be cleaned over and over again - a couple of times I hit the plug-holes with the air duster to blow out a heap of oily crap out of each cylinder ......and when it fired up on all 3 well FMD Cletus - yes there was smoke !!! hahahahah. #1 cylinder was the worst - pretty normal if the bike is left on its sidestand for any length of time.

I gave it a good 10 minutes of running, with a few good blasts and once it had warmed up well - it revved out really well and filled the garage and half the neighbouring suburb with lovely stinky goodness

here are some shots of the thermonuclear carnage which engulfed our suburb tonight .......no shit, down the street it looked like a London fog !!!! hahahaahahha

Love your work

gold! well worth the cost of admission!

well in further good news - did a bit more tidying up today, wired in a temporary ignition switch until a replacement is found - got the indicators and lights working etc. Started 2nd kick this morning - excellent result on old plugs.

This evening - I went for a bit of a strop around the local streets clutch worked fine, gearbox a bit tight but I think that is more to do with the linkage mechanism - but the bike ran well and left a nice smoky trail behind it gotta love that. Brakes a bit grabby but some new shoes will sort that out.

So far so good. Some more very minor work needed before any club rides..........and seeing that cloud of 2-stroke behind the bike took me straight back to 1980 and my RD350B !!

Good pickup Gos and only having to do minimal work to have it up and running , its also a shame you threw that second slab in as you could be sitting back know really celebrating how you ripped that poor bugger off

not sure I have the taste for Kilkenny mate ......

Old mate was pretty happy with the swap, he only expected 1 slab so was pleasantly suprised that I got him 2 . He told me when I picked the bike up, that he just did not have the bits needed nor any real contacts to get onto old stuff - he has a number of other projects going as well - so he was just happy knowing that the little jigger was going to a good home.......

Paint job over winter I think. Should look really nice once it gets a few coats of Pearl White and the sticker kit all finished.......





Google 'S1 250 triple' and click 'images' !! there is a familiar picture on the top row