2 Strokes Down Under

Hi Guys,

I am looking at ressurecting an RZ500 that has been in storage for years, so will have to get into the engine and replace the seals. I won't be able to do it, and I figured there are probably a few owners in the same boat.

So I thought I would start this thread for owners to ask about and recommend mechanics who have the knowledge and skills to do a job once, correctly on our beloved strokers.

This will not be a thread for mechanics to tout for business, and it will not be a thread for people who got a good deal on coolant or naked lady stickers. It will be a thread for people to find and retain the services of top notch craftsmen, so that these people can prosper and maintain our glorious strokers for decades to come.


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And so to the first enquiry;

A mechanic in Sydney who is skilled at rebuilding RZ500s.?

I mostly do it all myself, however years ago i talked to a guy who had a shop in redfern that really knew his Rz500's. I cant remember the name of the shop. But it could be worth having a look in the yellow pages and see what turns up

Ummm, thanks, I think.

So you spoke to a guy years ago and he impressed you but you don't know who he is, or where he works now.

I already met him. I don't know where he works now either.

Are you no good with a set of spanners?
These things are surprisingly simple unless you are looking to modify it.

What im trying to say is i have only come across one bike mechanic that knows these bikes well. While pretty simple, i wouldn't want a mechanic "learning" on my bike, you will struggle to find a mechanic that knows these bikes nowadays.

As Hybrid said. They are pretty simple and i think if your going to ride one regular, like all two strokes there pretty high maintenance, it will pay off big time to do things your self.

If you want a scanned copy of the factory manual, gimme a shout and ill see what ii can do

The guy in question was David from David's Motorcycle's Redfern.
He's a bodge believe me and he shut up shop years ago.
There were alot of very unhappy people me including he ripped me when i first had the Lc naturally knowing f''all I trusted his word.
If I saw him again I'd punch him out knowing what I know now and splitting the motor that he re-built.
Apparantly was one of a few putting Rz cranks into Lc's in the early nineties, Ive been doing it as well now for a while .
Rick Roberts told me he stacked a cllient's bike ...............KAAAARMA.
Good to be on line finally ...Hybrid

Ant.

I'm passable with spanners, but life just gets in the way of my shed time. I find that I'll strip something and then not have a chance to reassemble for days or even months later. By then, despite carefully grouping parts etc, I lose track of what goes where and find that it is not as good an outcome as I had hoped. On top of that I have a shitty leaky cold shed. Despite the initial outlay, for some projects I have come to recognise that paying someone to put his kids through uni is preferable to pulling something apart two or three times with the associated hassle and expense of replacing cheeseheaded jap screws and seals/washers/clips that are a one-use only part.

H-B-F, if you could send a scanned copy of the bible to jonathan-dot-bell1-A-T-defence-dot-gov-dot-au, I will be most grateful.

Is Rick Roberts still making pipes? He did some nice ones for my 350...

I keep hearing different stories. He made some for my 360LC, but flatly told me he did not want to make 500 pipes.

I'm running modified nikkons on mine at the moment, but eventually I want to get some custom ones done.

I have a good relationship with Rick he always seems happy to help me out , however a set of nicons ,spec11,swarbricks, are cheaper than Ricks..
I relish shed time and yep I have a hard time getting things done Ive converted the roof space to a room and now have Lc parts shelved every where, truly a monument to the god of speed. Ant

Has anyone had experiences with Craig at MMT in Granville? Good, bad or indifferent?

I've bought pistons from them, but not had any work done by them.
However, if I can build one, I'm sure they can!

I knew a shop in Redfern way back now that did my RZ. "Cafe Racer" but he' move to Bathurst but last time I was there his shop ("Short Black") wasn't there either any more either. The guys name was Carl he was mainly just working on SR500 and XT500

In Sydney you can try Craig Macklin on Princess Hwy at Kirrawee. He rebuilt a RD350LC for a friend of mine years ago which had no problems.

Sounds like the same guy David's motorcycles redfern complete bodge packet.

Bodge pocket = Carl?

or

Bodge pocket = Craig?

I make reasonably priced pipes that outperform most on the market.Port work is something left to someone who knows what they are doing.Here's a wee test if you look at the base of any 'ported' cylinder and the divider in the transfers has been knife edged/sharpened the person who did that has no real idea what they are doing.
The real art is finding a way to put extra ports in, and avoid making a peaky engine.
Today programmable ignitions are wher the real gains are