How to Rebuild and Restore Classic Japanese Motorcycles (Motorbooks Workshop)

Good book.

Great reference material.

Nice book and god knows an overview on the restoration of Japanese classics is very welcome but it's picture heavy at the expense of text. I mean do we need a big, colour photo of your compressor and no way is that a 1200 cfm compressor by the way. I'm old school and I can read page after page on a subject that grips me, so I feel a wee bit cheated at that price.Having said that, it is a 237 pager, its a quality, heavy paper book and whatever way you look at it there's plenty in it.

Given the experience of the author restoring motorcycles, one can certainly expect in future editions more details and insight information. This first edition has some strong points (quantity/quality of pictures, chapter/section about forks, etc.) but some important "details" were not discussed. Just to name a few:- how to deal with powder-coating if/when one needs to remove it (could be many many years later or right away, if job done bad (been there myself... )!; chemical striping has risks (chemical stuff can go deep into metal pores and/or leaving frame's inner tubing unprotected and ready for corrosion if process done by tank dipping); solution: hot sands procedure + sand blast; sand blast alone doesn't work; hot sands "kills" aluminium so better not to powder coat aluminium, like (modern) swing-arms;- broken stud/bolt removal techniques? (a thing that's always happening!); there are "mechanical" options (stud extractor and such), probably with previous use of heat with a torch (risky) or (much better) a magnetic induction heater tool... if something to grab available!- carbide sandpaper miracles, in repairing cylinder fin dents, or mirror polishing (with a simple electric drill) stainless bolt's head? maybe obvious stuff but worth mentioning, in my opinion- shouldn't edges of of the ports be chamfered in 2-troke cylinders after reboring? that's a job for the machinist, yes, but it's the restorer's job to control these "details"- clutch inspection/repair not only deals with spring's length and drive plate's thickness but also checking driven plate's warping and smoothing the inevitable indentations on clutch hub or basket (many "gearbox shifting problems" are indeed clutch problems!)In short: I would trade some pics for more "text"... but in a general an interesting book about the subject. Bring us more!-Antonio Mota

The book title is not correct and should be 'how to rebuild and restore classic Kawasaki fours'.The interest of the author is clearly restricted to Kawasaki fours with some Honda fours and a light smattering of Suzuki.There appears to be no interest, or indeed knowledge of Yamaha. This lack of interest is so extreme that together with a list of important classic Kawasakis, Hondas and Suzukis with important production dates, there is a pitiful side mention of 3 Yamahas, 2 of which are quoted incorrectly (XS650 is not a 'single' and TZ750 was not a road bike).The book is let down by not having been co-authored by an expert with interest beyond Kawasaki fours.Notwithstanding, the presentation and level of detail is nice, as a complement to workshop manuals for someone who is a novice re-builder.For the next edition, please have a co-author who has complementary interests, to result in a more rounded guide.

A few points which might be useful for prospective purchasers of this book.It's well packed with information and illustration heavy, with the all colour photo reproduction excellent. As others have said, it's based around old Kawasakis with some Hondas and little about the other manufacturers, but they're all just lumps of metal, plastic and wiring, so the techniques described apply regardless of the make.My new copy arrived (not via Amazon) and the first 96 pages immediately fell out! I was unable to get a response from the seller (although they redeemed themselves later), so ended up buying some 'Pinflair' bookbinding glue (from Amazon - lesson learned..) and restoring it myself. It worked a treat, but I wasn't impressed with the makers of the book.Having then been able to look through it, I'm disappointed that the author thinks classic Japanese bikes used "Phillips" headed screws. He points out they're not the crosshead type and that there is a difference.And there certainly IS a difference, which is that classic Japanese bikes use 'JIS' or 'Japanese Industrial Standard' headed screws, NOT Phillips, which you can wreck if you use Phillips and not proper JIS screwdrivers.JIS screwdrivers are available from Amazon in sets and aren't expensive. If, like me (and the book's author), you have always bodged along with Phillips screwdrivers, they're a revelation. You'll never go back to bodging once you've tried them.One other subject that seems to have been missed out completely is ultrasonic parts cleaning. As relatively cheap bench top machines are now widely available, perhaps that can be included in the next edition.I've also spotted a number of mistakes in the photo captions (the Honda "CB450" on page 159 is actually a CB72 or 77, and the "Honda z1" (sic) on the back cover, for example) and a decent bit of proof reading for the next edition would be a good idea.With all that said, it's currently probably the best available book on the subject and if you get a properly bound copy, I doubt you'll regret buying it.

A little disappointed as there's not enough detail

Good Product

All parts of this book are well constructed and give clear explanations of all the subject matter covered, a must have for the new restorer.

I've worked on many classic Japanese bikes so I like to think that I had a pretty good idea about rebuilding and restoring them. This book was a really good read, better than I expected. For me, it was good to see what I was doing right. Some positive reinforcement never hurt anyone, right? The book also gave me tips and tricks that will help keep things organized and move my projects along faster. Just to be clear, the book isn't a service manual although the author does provide insight into technical and mechanical issues. Would I recommend this book? Yes, it's a good book to help figure out where to start, where to go next and how to finish.

its 5 stars just get it. very good getting your head straight book.

Exactly as advertised.