New owner

[Fran Hall]

Good evening Ladies and Gents
I just wanted to drop by and say Hello and introduce myself.
I recently purchased a grey Vampire with only 1200 miles from the original owner my friend Bob Lappan

I am an ex-pat living in the metro Detroit area
Even though this bike has such low miles my intent is to bring her back to life after a 27 year hibernation and ride her a little to experience the thrill.

She is in great condition with no corrosion as she was kept in a climate controlled environment...the rubber seal around the headlight is the only major cosmetic issue, the pictures are exactly as I pulled her from storage. I will take my time over the winter(snows a lot in Michigan ,so no riding anyway) and bring her back .

Other than the bike I saw at the Barber Museum in Alabama how many more are in the USA?

Any words of wisdom greatly appreciated..

regards
Fran

[Miti]

Hi Fran, welcome to our happy gang;

Lovely bike.. We had two silver Vampires on the Club stand at the Stafford Show last month.  Makes for an impressively large machine with the fairing fitted, eh?

Words of wisdom..?  Well, you've clearly got other bikes.  Do you do your own maintenance..?  Heskeths will soak up all the time you're prepared to throw at them and bringing one back from long-term storage to road-worthy condition even more so... Like any other classic really...

You say the bike has been in climate controlled storage. That'll certainly help, but rubber parts tend to suffer even when out of the weather and sunlight.

From the photo, it looks as if you still have the original tyres.  They'll be over 30 years old, so they'll need to go... Inner tubes too (Astralites don't run tubless tyres). 

Next will be the brake parts... All the rubber parts will need checking and probable replacement.  Given the very low mileage the metal parts will probably be in excellent condition, but hydraulic fluid draws in water, so nothing is guaranteed where that stuff is involved...

Fluids... There is oil in the forks, oil in the shocks, oil in the engine, hydraulic fluid in the brake and clutch systems, fuel in the tank and carbs and acid in the battery (which we'll come back to later).  They'll all be 30+ years old...  I've changed all of the above since buying my V1000 in 2011

Bearings.  This is a problematic area.  The wheels have a total of six "sealed for life" bearings. You can't re-grease them.  After re-commissioning my own bike for the road, I got just over 3,000 miles before having to replace them all. The grease they're packed with will have gone pretty hard by now and I would change these when I was changing the tyres, If I were you.

Swing-arm and steering head bearings - very expensive taper roller bearings - Thankfully, these can be removed, cleaned out and re-packed with new LM grease.

Battery.  Best replaced with a nice new AGM type (Absorbed Glass Mat) sealed for life and no maintenance.

Fuel system.  Some Vampires are fitted with an aluminium tank (aluminum to you ). Check for signs of cracking at the point where the rear mounting plate is welded to the tank underside.  Every part of he fuel system will need checking:  Tank cap breather, seal and lock operation, fuel tank cleanliness, Tap (petcock) seals and filters, fuel pipes, carb filters, carbs (that could be a long job).  Do be sure to check that the carbs are mechanically synched prior to any attempt to start the bike.

So, new battery, fresh rubber and fluids... You should be good to go... Enjoy..!!

Jeff

[Fran Hall]

Cheers Jeff

Its ok to call it aluminium as I am bilingual....

Got a few bikes and do my own work.

Are the wheel bearing in the new Astralites available the same as the old ones?

Any ideas where to get a new headlight trim/seal from?

I plan on swapping all the rubber brake hoses for braided..I know not correct but a little more reliable

We manufacture a lot of composite panels at work so I was wondering if we should make a mould of the fairing ...you know just in case...it seems I read there are none available, correct?   

[Miti]

Hi Fran;

The new Astralites don't come with bearings, just a hollow hub.  The bearing carriers, etc, from your old wheels go onto the new wheels. So, if you're thinking of going that way, you'll still be stuck with old bearings on your new wheels...  They're all the same standard size (6205-2RS) and good quality items are not at all expensive...

For the new headlight seal, you should try Rob Bennett for info (via this forum and Peter White for possible spares (via the Sock contact list).

I don't know about the availability of Vampire fairing panels... Mine's a naked V1000 and will almost certainly stay that way.  Even if you did make the moulds, you'd have a very limited customer base... There are less than 50 Vampires worldwide and another 200 ish V1000s that the fairing would fit on.  I don't know that the effort would ever be recouped...

In comparison; Vetter made over 100,000 of their Windjammer fairings in the '70s, so their moulds were definitely a worthwhile investment...

Hope that helps

Jeff

[Fran Hall]

Thanks again Jeff

wasn't planning on new wheels, just curious as I had some wheel bearing failures this year whilst racing my F1 sidecar and they are limited in availablity too being an English bike here in the USA.

No plans on doing the moulds as a commercial endeavor just as an "in case" but you never know when someone may need a helping hand.
I personally much prefer the standard V also but this bike was too close to home to pass up so I jumped on it.

Is there a workshop manual or owners manual of some sort available ?

Thanks

[Scott]

Hi Fran and welcome aboard the mystery tour that is Hesketh ownership!  Jeff has hopefully answered most of your questions? However, don't hesitate to request for assistance.  Currently there 2 members stateside; however, the actual number of machines is a difficult one off the top of my head – I'll investigate through the Club.

Look forward to catching up in person in the future as you never know!

All the best,

Scott (Chairman)

[Miti]

Is there a workshop manual or owners manual of some sort available ?

All the curently available manuals we have are on the Club Website/Spares and Technical page

Most of the info covers the V1000 model, but a lot is pertinant to the Vampire and there is some Vampire info amongst that hosted on the Publications and Advertising page.

The Vampire was the latest version to be produced and the original workshop manual isn't a 100% fit to the specifications of the engines fitted in that version.  In my own experience, I've found that each bike has unique features of one kind or another and that finding out exactly what you've got is an important part of owning a Hesketh.

HOC may be able to provide buld information on your bike if you provide Frame/Eng No's (NOT via this open forum).  Scott should know who to contact (mebbe).

Hope that helps

Jeff

[Rob B]

Hello Fran,

Welcome to the club! I too have a silver Vampire which is one of the ones we showed at Stafford this year. Also a black V1000 and it amazes me how different these bikes are. For a start, the Vampire handles better and feels much safer at speed. It will happily cruise at a hundred on my trips between the UK and Bremen for example whilst the V1000 (and my neck) struggle to hold much more than eighty for any real distance. The V1000 is great fun around the roads where I live and is an accomplished long distance tourer, if you are not in any hurry. If however I want to press on and get lots of miles done in a day then the Vampire is definitely my favourite, but I love them both!

I do have a fair number of spares but sadly not the headlamp cover gasket. Have you ridden your Vampire in the dark yet? Don't! The Cibie IODE headlight on the Vampire is truly awful and a major disappointment compared to the BOSCH unit on the V1000. Possibly in part due to the 25% light reduction through the plastic headlight cover. This is on my list of upgrades to do.

If you decide to lay up a set of spare Vampire panels in carbon composite then I will definitely buy another set from you. The original e-glass fairing construction weighs a ton and is not very nice. We are also trying to find a manufacturer of high quality (thick) screens for the Vampire in the three different height options that were originally available.

Owners manual and handbook are on the HOC website and I can send you an original handbook if you want one.

Have fun!

Robert

[MICK]

I agree with Robert on the long distance riding with a Vampire.
I did a few trips down to Marseille at about 900 miles a day and the Vampire was within 0.5 hour slower on time and a lot more comfortable than the Triumph.
Definitely the preferred choice for that type of trip
Paul Sleeman has moulds for the fairing or probably Peter White now and I did manufacture a few sets in carbon.

[Miti]

Have you ridden your Vampire in the dark yet? Don't! The Cibie IODE headlight on the Vampire is truly awful and a major disappointment compared to the BOSCH unit on the V1000. Possibly in part due to the 25% light reduction through the plastic headlight cover. This is on my list of upgrades to do.

That's funny... I had a CB750F1 back in '82 and I fitted a Cibie Iode headlight as an "upgrade" from the original Koito unit (CRAP).  I found the Iode to be a MASSIVE improvement over the original unit...

My own V1000 has a Hella unit fitted... It's OK, but not the best.  My updates to the charging system have helped, but I've yet to get a chance to measure the voltage at the bulb terminals...

Maybe Peter will have a headlamp seal..?  Failing that, it'll be down to checking the profile with specialist suppliers...

Jeff

[Dave Snr]

Hi Fran,

Welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of Hesketh motorcycles.

As already mentioned, we have two members with Heskeths in the USA and also one in Canada.

Club Membership details are on the site, so feel free to join the club and get the benefits of a quarterly magazine and lots of help, information, advice etc.

Dave H (Membership secretary)