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The Smithmobile
Just when you thought it was safe to re-enter the shed, GUIDO takes on another mechanical orphan…
It was an innocent enough call: “Hi Smith, how are you? Know of any spare SR500s?” It went downhill when he started to reply, “Funny you should mention that, you see I have this…” And so it went on for another hour or so. Not only did he have a left-over SR, but he went on to regale with tales of its recent history – recent, according to him, is anything after the Tyrannosaurus Rex died out – and the ute load of bits to go with it.
For a bloke who famously sold all his SRs years ago, he did a sloppy job.
Not sure what triggered this, but I suspect it was a mixture of guilt and a sudden rush of claret to the head. It all started a while ago when I joined the SR500 club (www.sr500club.org), partly because I know many of the loons involved (including Spannerman) and partly because I needed a means to register the Sunbeam S7 on club or historic plates.
It costs $100 a year instead of the usual $500-plus down here in Mexico, though there are restrictions on how you use it. You can only go on runs with the club, or any of its affiliates – which still leaves a lot of open doors for the weekend rider.
The best part is the crew has an in-house engineer in the shape of Derek Pickard, who can approve machinery for registration and is a font of considerable knowledge in his own right. So once it’s roadworthy, the process is a snap, with the only risk being you might learn something along the way.
Another of the club members (the Prez, no less) quite reasonably asked if I actually owned an SR while he was signing the Sunbeam’s rego form, and I mumbled something non-committal about working on it. It’s been bugging me ever since and now I can stop avoiding him at club events.
At this stage my knowledge of the bike is only matched in its brevity by my knowledge of astrophysics. No idea what year it is (though there are only a few to choose from) and still getting my head around what in hell drives people to turn them into a cult bike. For heaven’s sake, it’s a low-flying chook-chaser with heavier wheels. (If that doesn’t get me drummed out of the club, nothing will…)
Despite the model’s short production run and modest sales, the local club has hundreds of members. The Germans and Japanese are fond of them too. See, after two world wars, we have something in common after all.
These days, the club has some very tasty modified versions, while business Deus Ex Machina (www.Deus.com.au) in Sydney is also turning them into an art form.
The club’s explanation of the bike’s virtues reads, “Released in 1978, the SR500 was Yamaha’s attempt to cash in on nostalgia for the period when 500 singles were the preferred mount of serious riders. The SR500 eventually led to the SRX600 and Yamaha now produces a 660 road single. Although, the reputation of the SR500 remains so strong, that Yamaha has continued to produce it both for the Japanese domestic market (in 400cc form to take advantage of registration laws) and for the European market where its popularity has never diminished.”
Other than having to explain yet another acquisition to Ms M (who is, in a brilliant piece of timing, overseas for some months – so I can say, “What?! That old thing…” when she gets back), my biggest problem is which way to go with the rebuild. The choices are stock or modded.
I’ll confess I’m leaning towards stock at the moment, and you’d understand if you saw what was involved in developing Hannibal the Hayabusa. Trying to do something similar with a near 30-year-old 500 single must break some sort of law relating to cruelty.
The assorted boxes and crates delivered by the good Mr Smith (pictured) during his annual migration south to his Summer palace (Melbourne) includes enough standard parts to make stock tempting. There’s also a long list of stuff missing in action, so it could be a line ball decision.
Wish me luck…
You’re always welcome to get in touch (and send counsellors) via the palatial MT offices at locked bag 12, Oakleigh 3166; Or on the wire at guy.allen@traderclassifieds.com.au.
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