Monday, 10 February 2014

XJR REVISITED

 
I bought this XJR1300SP in 2002 (did I really own a 2 yr old bike ?) lightly bent after a brush with a wagon. I straightened it out, modded it a bit, rode it for about a year then sold it to a guy in Northumberland. Last week I spotted it on eBay, he'd done 800 miles then sat it in his office since 2006, time for repatriation. With the Akra' system, Dynajet kit and filters it is quite quick for a lardy thing. I like it, I may even keep it for a bit...........but you know where I am if you fancy it !

Saturday, 8 February 2014

WEST COAST TRIUMPH

 
 That's west coast Australia. Wayne originally from Scotland sent an update on his pre-unit 650. the frame broke in half so he made a few alterations at the same time.... Morgo barrels, GP carbs (carbies apparently), rebuilt girder, new wheels etc. then he had a beer in the sun.

Thursday, 6 February 2014

PEGGY SUE GOES RACING



Another beautifully filmed vid from Les Mayhew. Check out his work on Youtube under the username NitroAmerica.

Tuesday, 4 February 2014

NOT FOR SHY TYPES

 X/ Large.
 
Large.
 
 Medium. (Brown SOLD)
 
I have five assorted ladies fitted Ts (small and medium) coming next week, first come first served.
 
All £20 each post free to anywhere. Mail me on tri650@live.co.uk.

Thursday, 30 January 2014

MARTEK GSXR1100 TURBO

 
In '96/'97 Martek built two frames based on a 750W to take the oil cooled 1100 motor. Guy Martin has one, this is the other. If you have ever tried to do this conversion you will appreciate the difficulty involved. The headstock has been relocated and top rails braced, the front frame rails moved to clear the headers, the back end altered completely to take the (2" extended) Ducati 916 swinging arm with built in air tank and adjustable ride height, all new engine mounts made and then all the little cut outs and brackets for the turbo. The seat subframe is such a work of art its a shame to put a seat on it... you can sit and look at the thing all day.
 The original bike was apparently seen by Prodigy fun boy Keith Flint who decided he wanted one building with all the best stuff, no expense spared, and it wasn't !
The front and rear suspension are White Power (back then you could still call it that), with Marteks' own billet yokes, brakes are Spondon discs with Brembo calipers, front wheel is GSXR1100 deseamed and rear is Ducati. Ignition is Dyna with 2000 adjustable module which sits at the front under a neat little cut out in the tank so its easy to get at. The tank is also plated underneath and has the Pingel tap relocated right at the rear.The motor was a real low mileage 1127 with JE 80mm pistons (EFE) and flowed head carefully put together by Roger Upperton. The Rayjay turbo set up is the original Mr Turbo job and left Grimsby with an S&S carb, it supposedly made around 220 rwhp.
 When KF parted with his dosh (iv'e heard £26k) the bike was red, black and white with a neat little KLE headlight fairing and one off very small seat unit. He hooned about on it a bit then (allegedly) took the bike to Jack Frost at Holeshot for more work, I have no details of this as I have been unable to get in touch (he ignores my emails), however it does now have a huge Keihin Flatslide in place of the S&S. He then sold it to a friend who sat it in his living room and polished it for 6 years. The friend then sold it to Leigh who I bought it from, he got tired of looking at it, took it to get MOT'd then crashed it on the way home. With a load of metal in his arm as a result the bike had to move on which is where I came in.
 Nothing major was damaged, mainly tank/seat/fairing/lights/bars/levers/foot pegs/oil cooler, the usual stuff that gets trashed in a bike crash. The main saviour was a 2lb Nitrous bottle which was fastened to the right side front of the frame, the bike had gone down on that side and the bottle acted as a big crash bung, without it the motor would have taken a big hit.
 The seat i fitted is off a TZ125 race bike, anything bigger looks immense as the bike is so short (3" shorter than a stock GSXR11). It looked OK but was made of tissue paper so needed a fair bit of work to make it suitable. I'm still not sure about it but until something better comes along it will do the job. Ive added a few little trinkets along the way too like the engine cases, carbon guards and KC headlight.
 There is no point giving a full detailed spec of everything, you can see it all in the photos, the thing is loud, thirsty and proper barmy, not for touring.
 If you fancy it bring me near to £6,000 (part exchange welcome) and you can be the next to dodge death or polish it in the living room, if not it can stay here and look hard.

Wednesday, 29 January 2014

TOUGH

 
Coming tomorrow...

DONNIE SMITH SPRINGER + PRE-UNIT 650 FRAME FOR SALE


Original Smith Bros and Fetrow springer bought new in 1977, taken off bike in '83, greased up and stored since. Far better condition than most, good (but not perfect) chrome on legs and springs, nuts and risers will need re-plating, yokes are alloy so just need a polish. Measure 42 1/2" from centre of spindle to top of leg but 2" less with axle plates in upwards position. 7 1/4" between axle plates, 7/8" stem. £400 + shipping
Frame is '58 650 Triumph pre-unit with welded on hardtail and raked neck. It was fully moulded but been blasted to check condition. Sound but will need some work on welds to beautify or cover it with filler again. £175 + shipping.
tri650@live.co.uk

Monday, 27 January 2014

BREAKING THIS WEEK


 '86 Slabside 1100. R1 front end, Maxton shock, MTC exhaust, HEL cooler, etc. Built 2 yrs ago but hardly used.

Sunday, 26 January 2014

Saturday, 25 January 2014

SPECIAL "T"S


Big Boolies Gem just made me unique Ts, all size medium, future collectables for sure. £20 each including post anywhere. tri650@live.co.uk May be some more to come but no two will be the same.

Wednesday, 15 January 2014

2014. WHERE YOU GOING TO PARTY ?

 
Add to this lot, the proposed Yorkshire Spiders Revival party (TBC). Farmyard Party 21st-23rd June (same weekend as everything else), Linkert Attacks France (July), Dirtquake 3 (19th July, Kings Lynn), Harrogate Hotrod n Kustom (was September last year, not heard confirmed dates yet), Whitby Kustom (date to follow but late Oct as usual).
So, where are we going ?

Monday, 13 January 2014

NZ NORTON

 
Just to show that nothing changes (except perhaps photographic technology), these pics are from Bruce in Timaru, NZ. First two are of his Matchless 40 years ago that later died in a house fire. He has now built the Model 7 Norton as a bit of a tribute, a bit like OCC but then again not...

Friday, 20 December 2013

TWO STEPS FORWARD ONE STEP BACK

 
Bathtub Thunderbird is now finished and on the road or was.... headbolts were too long and hadn't quite nipped the gasket, who knew ? er, who checked ?...
 
...meanwhile the Martek GSXR is plodding along, lots of things nearly but not quite done. Had a tightness of budget and sprayed it satin black, not too happy with the result but may leave it that way now until it's finished. I have a want to write down each side in huge letters but I may get over that too, remember the Extreme Engineering Harris Magnum of about 15 years ago ? Had an interesting talk with Toddy (formerly of Martek) to find some more history on the bike and have been trying to get in touch with Keith Flint but so far with no success. It would be good to have some firm engine specs, the word is that he (KF) had a fair bit of engine work done after taking delivery but exact details are unknown.

Thursday, 19 December 2013

POETS CORNER

 
Glasgow Al's XB32
 
"I was inspired to send you the most recent snap of my XB 32 progress after reading that kinda poetic
deviation piece which appeared in your blog. 
This bike f'kng hates me. It pisses me off at every opportunity, demands a skip load of cash outa my skinny wallet
constantly, refuses to start, pisses oil all over the joynt no matter how creative I get with making unique barriers of prevention and its 
slower than a six year old skateboarder but I love it like an ugly child.
So much in fact that I dont even need to ride it. I'm seldom more content than when sitting in my f'kd up auld chair just looking at it with a mug of tea in ma haun. lifes good"

Thursday, 12 December 2013

THIS BIKE

 
 
I don't like the name Old Blu', why it is abbreviated ? if you leave a letter off but put a top tadpole its not really any shorter, still, it wasn't my doing and I think we're stuck with it..
Its had a busy year, the front wheel bearings are shagged, the fork seals don't leak any more so guess is they are empty and the left pot smokes like a Peaky Blinder but its still my best thing. Plans were made for a full stripdown and rebuild with girder front end, different wheels, motor etc but i just shouldn't.
 
I will have a look inside and mend its disease, tickle up the front end and alter the inlet manifold so the carb doesn't eat your trousers then its back for 2014, I would like, just a little, front brake though.

So I have a girder and wheels off a '38 T80 along with a doing pre-unit with big jugs 4 plugs and chrome Monoblocs, gearbox, tank, seat and other stuff but i need a frame, got anything for me ? 650 Pre Unit rigid or S/arm, modified or not.... tri650@live.co.uk

CAPTAIN FINGERBANG

 
Short stories of affairs of the heart (and Bantam ownership) by Dave Bevan.
 
......"my transport is an old motorcycle
beyond archaic
not to mention legality
which has worse brakes than either of the push bikes
and is only marginally quicker
and also sheds parts,
shakes them loose
some kamikaze mission of self destruction
which is perhaps down to the weight of years bearing down upon
or a very tangible indictment of a British motorcycle industry
which shook itself out of existence years previous ?
but i refuse to let it kill itself
with my impatient hands
and half-wits skill
i can just about keep that knackered mare on the road,
if not quite legal.
 
One of these days
one of these things will most likely kill
and/or maim me
and the few folks who know and/or care
will shake their heads, saying
well, you know, he had it coming....
and they'll be right
and they'll be missing the point
entirely."
 
Buy it for someone you love this Christmas. Catch Dave at Happy Going Nowhere
 

NEVER ENDING 1100S

 
Two more up for the chop this/next week. '96 WP 13,000 miles mostly standard. '90 M 1216 Big CC motor, good spec but don't know exactly 'till i split it, 40mm Mikuni Flatslides, Dyna, Aftermarket cam and front oil coolers with breather set up, carbon guard, anodised forks, JMC drag arm, polished hoops blah blah. Come on, who's going to be first to ask if i'm breaking the Porker ?

DQ3

 
Dirtquake 3. Kings Lynn. Saturday 19th July 2014. Race your chopper, 7 months to go, no excuses.
 
Photo, Gareth Buddo.

Wednesday, 11 December 2013

STEAM PUNKS

 
Colin came and bought a box of rusty Velocette parts yesterday. I would have thought he was taking on a a bit of a task but turns out he (with help from his family) built all these... although he did point out he only "rebuilt" the little one at the end !

Thursday, 5 December 2013

GIVE 'EM A UNIFORM

 
We haven't had much to do with Traffic Wardens in Ryedale but the Pattaweyos are out in force now. The lady who gave me this colourful little bag with a "Failure to display a tax disc" notice in it hounds the citizens of Pickering daily. This is North Yorkshire, you can park where you like its a birthright and look under the seat at the back of the oil tank woman.
 I also got a £35 parking ticket...