If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you need service on a custom Allen Millyard creation, then the man himself is here to show you how maintenance is done on one of his very special, handcrafted machines. In this case, it’s a Kawasaki H2 1000 four-cylinder that he built back in 2003, which is of course easily identifiable by the stamp that he’s put on it to note the year that he first constructed it.
This machine is now owned by someone elsewhere in the UK, so they were able to contact him about going over the bike and addressing any maintenance issues that may have arisen in the past 20 years. According to the odometer, it’s only done about 71 miles since it left Millyard’s shed the first time, but time will inevitably have its way with things like fuel, rubber hoses, and gaskets—whether you ride a bike or not. Who better to make sure that it’s in top running order than the man who built it in the first place?
As Millyard rolls it into his back garden (that’s a backyard for those of us in the US), he briefly goes over how he put his H2 1000 four-cylinders together in the first place. The original H2 was a triple, so with judicious use of a hacksaw that very few people might do as well as Millyard, he took apart existing cylinder banks, patiently smoothed out the mating surfaces until everything fit together perfectly, then put it all together. In Millyard’s usual understated way, he makes even the most Herculean tasks seem simple and straightforward, even as you think to yourself that he’s one of the only people in the world who could do what he does.
In any case, since it’s now 20 years since he built this bike, there are certain things that you’d expect to need attention. The rubber fuel hoses are hardened up so much that he must use pliers to pry them off the carburetors in three out of four instances, so those obviously need to be replaced. The carburetors need a good cleaning, and then of course they need new gaskets so they can properly get put back together. Finally, there’s an intermittent squealing sound coming from the speedometer that Millyard identifies as coming from a completely dry worm gear in need of both cleaning and lubrication.
All in all, it’s an extremely chill and relaxing time spent doing routine maintenance on a machine that’s anything but. Since it’s in the back garden, there are of course the usual visits from Millyard’s local wildlife menagerie, including a suspicious pigeon, a grateful blackbird who’s quite happy with all the lovely mealworms that Millyard offers, and an after-hours visit from a hedgehog on night vision cam.
At the very end, Millyard takes the H2 1000 four-cylinder out for a test ride, so make sure your headphones are ready to fully appreciate the extremely special riding experience that closes out this video.
