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Hailwoods and dirt bikes
Sunday shed wrap
June 29, 2025, by Guy 'Guido' Allen
Lining up a bevel gem, and fettling for a trail ride
My comparatively 'new' 1985 Ducati
Mike Hailwood Replica Mille (slick name – just
rolls off the tongue...) has been happily hiding in
the shed for the last few weeks as we both dodge the
passing squalls that are one of the numerous joys of a
Melbourne Winter. However, since I've knocked over a
few other pressing jobs in recent weeks, it's now
close to the top of the list for attention.
First, I need to sort
out the whole battery and earth cable thing. It's
become difficult to get going from cold, unless I use
the excellent and
locally-made roller starter. If you go for the
button on the bike, the puffs of smoke from the
original battery earth cable, the asthmatic noises and
general lack of ignition suggest we have a problem.
I'm pretty sure the
original and lovely braided steel earth cable (which
has a little surface rust) is struggling, and the
choice of battery that came with the machine was
adequate on a warm day and not ideal at this time of
year. The approach will be to run a secondary earth
cable (I want to keep the original as well) and we'll
sling in a more powerful lithium battery. My
experience with the latter is they get the job done
faster and easier, if you go for max spec, putting
less strain on the entire system.
Then we need to change
the handlebars. A former owner swapped out the stock
clip-ons for an even more extreme set, which is
ludicrous – particularly on a low-mileage and largely
original machine. I've managed to track down a factory
set, the installation of which will be job number two.
Motorcycle historian Ian
Falloon has rashly promised to help out, which
will be a good thing as he knows the series far more
intimately than I. And, unlike Muggins, he's probably
not going to throw it over the back fence if things
don't go to plan...
Job three is to sort out
the damned indicators. These were a weak point on the
bike and they all decayed and fell apart. My example
has a garish chrome set of replacements.
Falloon, bless him, has
one spare pair, and I need another (see above). If you
have one to sell, please get in touch via allmoto@optusnet.com.au.
We devoted a little time
and money to our 2013 Suzuki DR650SE in the last week.
I wasn't happy with the ageing street tyres, plus the
chain had been rattling around on its rollers even
though the adjustment was about right.
In the case of tyres, we
went for Pirelli MT21s, aka the Rallycross. As you can
see, it is a fairly aggressive-looking set of knobbies
– so not ideal for street use? Absolutely. However
they got a fairly good wrap with assorted reviewers as
acceptable on tarmac and good off-road.
Here's where I'm coming
from: I know I can work with knobbies and/or more
dirt-oriented rubber on tar, and deal with the
sometimes suspect grip and the odd minor slide. I'm
far less happy with street tyres in dirt with
potentially snotty or sandy conditions. So that was
the choice. First impressions are that they're
perfectly workable on tarmac and to just allow a
little extra margin for their obvious limitations in
that environment.
They've yet to see dirt
of any description, but confidence is half the trick
with riding and these work on that level. We'll
eventually report back.
An equally important
improvement was the change-over for a new drive chain
and sprocket set. I reckon the previous lot was about
50 per cent worn. It looked okay, but I was getting
tired of a little snatchiness and death-rattles from
the chain rollers. The latter are notorious on this
model for scaring owners into assuming something nasty
has happened to the engine, when it's just a chain
guide roller rattling around – annoying but harmless.
Anyway, in the process
we took the gearing back to stock – it had previously
been lowered by several teeth on the rear. Even after
all these years, it still comes as a surprise to
discover just how good a new driveline feels. The bike
was okay before – now it's slick.
Plus, returning to stock
gearing makes all sorts of sense as it works far
better with the transmission. Previously I'd find
myself hunting through the ratios trying to find what
worked with pretty normal road speeds – now it just
seems to gel better. It's also now ambling along
better at highway velocity.
Oh, and we've just
bought another dirt bike for partner Ms M senior – a
story for another day...
See our
Suzuki DR650SE series profile
***
See Falloon's
Hailwood Mille profile
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