Chappy's '73 S2a 350 complete, well on the road

[neil_cb125t]

Took about 8 months to go from a bare frame to a running registered bike....Still working on the exhausts, proving to be rather hard to recondition and no one make exact copies of the STD S2 pipes. So we are running these black "draft" pipes while we slowly work on another set.

If anyone has had experience running/tuning these things be great hear from you - Its actually running really nice on the road, carburates nicely too - but the range appears to be RUBBISH!! Running her in it only covered about 90ks before needing reserve, the tank cant have been full from the start.


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cheers to those who helped

[caseye]

That is one very nicely assembled, rebuilt, reconstructed motorcycle, well done.

[F5 Dave]

I was going to say sounds more when you say it in Ks. . but you did.

Take the emulsion tubes out at under a bright light see if they are round or oval. Just slightly will screw the pitch. Magnifying glass helps. Floats don't leak yeah.

[Kickaha]

but the range appears to be RUBBISH!! Running her in it only covered about 90ks before needing reserve, the tank cant have been full from the start.

Pretty sure our one only did something like 15-20mpg

[gammaguy]

Pretty sure our one only did something like 15-20mpg


20 mpg is about right,with careful tuning and perfectly set up carbs it can be bettered but these triples love their gasoline cooling system.

My RG is next gen and still only gets around 35 mpg on a run,less around the hills.

[neil_cb125t]

thanks for all the feedback - and info - Floats are good, not sure about the tubes you speak of, in guessing the tubes the needle slides up and down in. Seems to be around the 20MPG when ridden nicely with the correct front sprocket on. I suppose it was built in the time when gas was a few cents a gallon so MPG didn't manage.

I have covered just over 200ks since the full resto, seems to be loosening up quite nicely, thou it is hard to keep it just plodding along...she like to get up in the ports for sure.

cheers for some of the kind words too

[F5 Dave]

Over time the vibration of the needles can wear the tubes.

[iranana]

nice machine :) these old smokers have terrible fuel efficiency. my rd goes through 10 bucks o 95 in about 40km, so that's around the 20 mpg mark.

[Yow Ling]

Nice looking bike, I had an S2 , went on a ride to Karamea from Chch , really expected to do it on one tank of oil, man was I suprised when it nipped up just north of westport. Another crippled triple.

It went to some guy in wellington with an actors name like Paul Newman or something like that

[budda]

thanks for all the feedback - and info - Floats are good, not sure about the tubes you speak of, in guessing the tubes the needle slides up and down in. Seems to be around the 20MPG when ridden nicely with the correct front sprocket on. I suppose it was built in the time when gas was a few cents a gallon so MPG didn't manage.





Sounds about right - my old S1 took almost 2 full tanks from Christchurch to Temuka, topped up there to be sure of getting to Timaru ..... oh, and 1 centre sparkplug ( pissing down all the way )

I'd LOVE to get an S1 again, if you've got anything laying around.

P.S. try contacting Don at Pitlane M/c's re pipes - he had a wrecked one there pre the quake, THINK the pipes were there but cant remember who he sold all the stuff to .........

[roogazza]

Nice looking bike, I had an S2 , went on a ride to Karamea from Chch , really expected to do it on one tank of oil, man was I suprised when it nipped up just north of westport. Another crippled triple.

It went to some guy in wellington with an actors name like Paul Newman or something like that

Good god ! Just saw this.
My mate is a Paul Newman and owned a red S2.(Wgton J/ville)
I recall trying to get him to have a crack at road racing with the S2,but his heart wasn't in it and he didn't.

But anyway the red S2 was pretty original when I saw it and in good nick.
Have another mate Pete Fleming ,who started on one of those as well.
Then on to an Kawa H2 and a Open Prod title around 1974 ?

[Bender]

For some reason I have a soft spot for the S2. When they first came out I was working for Laurie Summers and liked the bike a lot (but I was into trail riding back in those halcion days of open forests so I stuck with my trailie).

Well done on the resto, it looks great. I also recall them being a very rattly 2 stroke when they are run in.

:clap::clap:

[ellipsis]

...beautiful job ...

[MIXONE]

Man the memories that thing stirs just looking at it.I grew up in small town Whakatane and the place seemed to have some sort of affinity with kwacka triples.I remember at least 3 750s,a couple of 500s,3 or 4 350s and 2 250s.The smell,the sound,the adrenaline rush yeehaa!

[MIXONE]

Re MPG.Yeah mate gas sation to gas station,just like running a V8 with a small tank.:shit:

[Yow Ling]

Good god ! Just saw this.
My mate is a Paul Newman and owned a red S2.(Wgton J/ville)
I recall trying to get him to have a crack at road racing with the S2,but his heart wasn't in it and he didn't.

But anyway the red S2 was pretty original when I saw it and in good nick.
Have another mate Pete Fleming ,who started on one of those as well.
Then on to an Kawa H2 and a Open Prod title around 1974 ?

Yea that was my S2, it was the only bike I restored to any reasonable standard

[Paul in NZ]

Nice job on the bike - its stunning

[AllanC]

Bike looks excellent, well done. must feel a great sense of satisfaction to get it done.

[neil_cb125t]

Thanks for all the words of encouragement - I have found a contact in the US that produces Denco chambers for a very good price. So I will be going for that option and chroming those. I have done 750ks on her now plently of little issues but no show stoppers.

[neil_cb125t]

Hey all,

Took most of winter but the S2a is finally got some new chrome. After heaps of messing around with Std dented pipes we decided that new ones were the only option that was going to do it justice. So I found a US company that does reproduction Denco Chambers for the kwaka triples. We had a set, fabricated but not welded, sent over. Then I had Meadspeed Titanium weld them up here, and custom fit and mount them to my liking. We went for a slightly more kicked up look and hidden mounts which was different to std. Wanganui electroplating carried out the chroming of the pipes.

Super happy with the noise and performance of the machine. 1100kms done on her now, final needle tuning to finish her off.

If your after any high end fabrication jobs talk to meadspeed titanium!


http://www.meadsspeedtitanium.com/
https://www.facebook.com/MeadsSpeed-titanium-customs-296832770520855/timeline/

[RichardB]

Very cool to see how many memories a nicely restored bike sparks up. My memory is of Roger on a Honda K1 750 (original pipes!), Riaan on his purple H1 and me on my TX650 (no, not an XS) on an epic voyage from Palmy to New Plymouth. Lost Riaan somewhere in goat valley (just north of Wanganui - before they took all the nice curves out). Went back looking for him thinking the worst, only to find him about 20m down off the road hauling his bike out of a massive toi toi bush. Absolutely no damage!
Then doing a wee rear wheel lock up in front of the race course in NP to announce our arrival. Roger: eeerk!. Richard: eeeerk!. Riaan: eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerk! to a dead stop. Hop off, kick the rear brake off from being jammed. Then complaining about a massive flat spot.
Ahh why did we ever sell those cool bikes - such classics now.

And from what I remember Riaan never got anything close to 30mpg on his H1. Back when petrol was 32c/gallon and a jug was about the same.

[neil_cb125t]

Ahh why did we ever sell those cool bikes - such classics now.

And from what I remember Riaan never got anything close to 30mpg on his H1. Back when petrol was 32c/gallon and a jug was about the same.

I was told by a fella on Sunday that he used to wreck these things on a weekly basis.....crazy if we could only see into the future....

yeah range is terrible on the s2 - I was getting around 95kms to 12litres before we went to the chambers, and up 4 main jet sizes.......!

[Kickaha]

I was told by a fella on Sunday that he used to wreck these things on a weekly basis.....crazy if we could only see into the future....


We threw a couple of them away $300-500 dollar bikes, rode them until they were fucked and binned them, same with an S1 and S3 as well

[SPman]

For some reason I have a soft spot for the S2. When they first came out I was working for Laurie Summers and liked the bike a lot (but I was into trail riding back in those halcion days of open forests so I stuck with my trailie).

Well done on the resto, it looks great. I also recall them being a very rattly 2 stroke when they are run in.

:clap::clap:Bought my S2 from Laurie Summers - Oct 1972. Had it's first re-bore 4 months after that!

[F5 Dave]

Only just caught up with this thread. Looks terrific.