Well it's been an interesting few weeks. I'm pretty much retired due to receiving the terrible (I'm joking) news that I was being made redundant, along with around 40 other defence consultants, as a result of the company I worked for not winning the contract that I've been working (joking again..) on, for the past ten years. Not at all unhappy, I'd intended to retire at the end of the year, and a I got a little "Golden Handshake" which was the icing on the cake.
Of course, in accordance with my record of self harm, I've managed to crack 5 ribs in two different incidents. I bought an old ride on mower on FB Marketplace and collected it in my ute. I got home and decided that I could lift it out of the back of my little truck, against the laws of physics, like most laws that I tend to ignore. I managed to drop the front wheels on the ground ok, but when I tried to pull/lift the back of the mower down, the weight of the machine (probably about twice my own weight) made it drop straight down, causing me to spectacularly somersault over the mower and land, head first on the concrete, busting 3 ribs on my right side of my chest. A couple of days later, when pulling on my bike boots, I slipped off the corner of my bed onto the floor, breaking another 2 or three ribs on my back. Oh well, it only hurts when I laugh, sneeze, cough, burp, fart, or breathe. So far it seems to me that retirement is a very dangerous occupation...
I made a decision to get rid of my surplus bike parts, so sold off all of my CB750 parts, less any spares for my K0. The buyer was very happy with the back of his big four wheel drive and a tandem trailer stacked 5 feet high, and has been madly selling off the parts, something I wasn't interested in, running back and forth to the post office every day to mail off various widgets all over the country. He'll make a lot of money out of it, but I was happy with the wad of cash he gave me, and allowed me to buy a new Yamiya paint set in that blue/green colour, for when I eventually re-restore my K0, that was actually originally blue. I'll keep all of the original parts for if I ever sell the bike and if the buyer wants the "correct" tank, sidecovers, airbox and headlight ears and restore them.
On top of all that, I bought a few more bikes. Another VMax (I had to, it was there..) swapped some parts to Spotty for a 1999 Yamaha "Venture Royale", bought a 1994 Kawasaki ZZR1100 (another "non runner" from the Auction place where I bought the second VMax) which I was kind of dreading after the first "C" model I bought a few years ago, that needed a replacement crank, rod, cylinder sleeve and piston, due to a problem encountered when certain riders spent most of their time on the back wheel, causing the oil to sit at the back of the engine/gearbox and starving the crank of oil, causing oil starvation.
As it turned out, the "new to me" 1994 "D" model I bought and picked up on Thursday only needed some tinkering, some lock picking (came with a re-cut ignition key that didn't fit the fuel tank, seat lock, helmet lock, and worlds tiniest glove box) a battery and fresh fuel and even though it had been sitting for many years in the back of a bike shop, the next morning it fired right up on all 4 cylinders like it had never had an extended rest. The Michelin tyres are in great condition, and once pumped up, I topped up the oil (waiting for a new filter so I can fill it up with new Castrol 4T bike oil I bought for it) and coolant, bought an "Unregistered vehicle permit" so I could take it for a quick (very quick, I saw 280 KPH/174 MPH for a few seconds and it was still pulling away) 70 mile ride on Friday, and I found it to be a magnificent beast indeed, with good handling, pothole absorbing suspension, and excellent brakes. For less than $1000 USD, it was a bargain, I paid more for my CB750 Hindle exhaust system.
Terry’s ZZR1100 14 November 2025 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
On top of all of the above, I sold my Triumph Rocket III and VTR1000F (through the auction place) and dropped over my two BMW K100RS' and Honda Varadero project to sell.
A guy here in Oz bought a CB750F2 with a Rajay(?) turbo attached, and came with a spare turbo kit. I asked him if the spare turbo kit was for sale, he said it was and told me how much, I agreed, and he told me that I was the lucky buyer, he'd send me pics when he came home from work, and give me a call to arrange postage. The trouble was, I didn't want to turbo my K0 and had just sold off all of my CB750 stuff. I saw a pic of an old CB750 Chopper with a turbo attached, and thoought, "hmmnnn". Coincidentally I saw a cheap Suzuki TR250 race bike replica for sale on FB, and agreed to buy it. While chatting to the seller I told him that I'd just soold a load of CB750 parts. He replied that he had an old CB750 chopper in his garage, if I was interested? Was I interested, you fcuking bet I was! I bought it, and the little Suzy, and Spotty and I drove 100 miles each way on Sunday, and collected them both.
It was a big weekend with the (sadly, last ever) Bendigo Swap Meet, Australia's biggest swap meet on Saturday (leaving home at 4.30 to get there by the time the gates opened at 6 so we could grab all the bargains) then the drive to Phillip Island (the home of the worlds best motorcycle race track) to collect the chopper. We made another couple of stops on the way home to check out my mate Fred's absolutely immaculate "Better than brand new" CB750 K1, then to collect some Harley wheels that were going cheap, so by the time we got home we were both so worn out, we unloaded his work van, snapped a couple of pics, and went our separate ways.
Terry's chopper 16 November 2025 by
Terry Prendergast, on Flickr
Now, of course the chopper hasn't run this century, so there's plenty of rust, and the top end is seized. Funnily enough, the clutch wasn't, and I can shift it thru the gears, so on Monday evening Spotty and I mixed up some "Special Sauce" (50/50 Acetone/ATF) and dumped it down the spark plug holes, inlet ports, over the top of the cam and rockers (which are all looking lovely and oily, with no rust or corrosion at all, even the spark plugs came out nicely, and look like the engine's been running nicely.
Oh, and if I can't get the pistons unstuck, the chopper also came with a HA 900 kit to fit nicely into a freshly bored, but never used cylinder block at Spotty's, (which Spotty has claimed for one of his builds) and an 812 kit to suit another of Spotty's cylinder blocks, which, if necessary, will go into my chopper. Oh, and the guy with the turbo kit (which started all of this chopper madness) has hosed me. No pics, no phone call, I'm betting he got offered more money than the agreed asking price, and he's screwed me. Oh well, schidt happens, and even here in Oz, integrity is just a word, apparently...
OK, that's an abbreviated version of where I've been and what I've been up to, I'm flying (Business Class, don't you know...) to Queensland on the weekend for my son's wedding reception so Spotty and I can't do our usual weekend bike fixing session at his place, but all going well it'll be running next week, so we can wobble and wallow around the block, while trying to look cool. I need to buy a "Dennis Hopper" suede leather jacket and hat, just to look more stupid than I usually do. More soon.
