Bike of the Month April 2020

Yes, really; you’re reading a BOTM article on the very first day of the month. The world is in shambles, and here I am actually getting some work done; I don’t know either, it’s not even a joke…

Ask the question; “What is a Streetfighter?” in a group of people that we have been surrounded with over the years, and chances are you kickstart a full-on brawl. Whatever your opinion, there’s no denying the fact how it started out.

Dig out your oldest SF mags and see for yourself; if it’s just Slabbies and Slingshots with 916-seats; you need to go further back, because it didn’t start out that way. Most were chopped up GS’s, GSX’s and some built out of other inferior brands we won’t mention, hardtailed or not but near all of them  were very hopped-up Jap 4’s in a modified factory frame.

Actually, they were all pretty close to the ET you see in the 2 pictures above, albeit faster. The bike you see here is owned and build by our friend EFEchop (obviously), Karl, for friends. Bought in 2011 as a mildly modified 750ET, built in spirit of the very first Streetfighters as mentioned earlier, Karl took his time to build it over the years to what it has become.

A bike not just reminiscent of the “proper” ones in the old days, but a bike that can show up the best bikes from way back when, and now, not only for the fact that it actually gets used on the road. Over the course of 9 years of ownership, Karl used a lot of tried and tested ingredients to get the bike to this level, but it takes more than just the right bits to end up with a decent bike. You need to know how to actually put the whole lot together too.

The weedy 750-lump was rightfully changed to a TSCC1135, complete running gear replaced with obligatory Slingshot parts, frontend mated to the headstock with thug yokes, just like it was done all those years ago. Swingarm on the opposite end balanced out with fancy shocks, exhaust routed thought the hole where the monoshock used to live; this bike has everything and makes it work.

Engine fed with a bank of fresh RS36’s, Dyna ignition and coils for a better bang and every other thing you can think of (bar a turbo); it’s been done to this bike. And then, there’s the paint..

Most bikes you see built now have very abstract paintjobs or even wrapped. These days it’s rare to see a bike airbrushed to within an inch of it’s life; it’s almost a forgotten art. More bikes need airbrushing; there I’ve said it. If there was ever a better example to stake my claim, this bike is it.

Btw; he has a few more nice bikes too; priorities and all that..

Anyway, without further ado; congratulations Karl, your Pork Chop is this month’s Bike of the Month.

Discuss here

Buildthread here

Bike of the month June 2018

May and June have been busy months for the OSS Admin team. Endurance legends at Donington followed by the TT and even some highland scratching thrown in for good measure. So OSS site time has been limited. (OK excuses for late BOTM out of the way)

Three years ago I wrote this article about a long time member who had long held a dream of building an engine that he had been quietly collecting the bits for .It may have escaped the attention of some, but not me, that he actually built that engine this year.

He didn’t just build it for fun either, he built it to compete at the Donington 4 hour endurance race, against some pretty serious competition.

What is even more special about this bike is that the builder found out early on in the build that he been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Lesser men may have chucked the towel in right there and then but not this guy. He was too busy for cancer and decided he would postpone his treatment so that he could finish the bike and compete on it at Donington. The stuff of legends, I know.

In the end the minor inconvenience of a life threatening medical diagnosis must have momentarily distracted him because although this bike got finished there just wasn’t enough time to get it match fit. Our man still competed in the event along with 2 other OSS team members but it was on the back up bike (not a Suzuki)

Now that John has completed his goal of competing in the endurance legends round at Donington his treatment can begin. He hasn’t wasted any time in making some big life changes including selling all of his bikes and parts. I know that he still has the GS though and I hope he keeps it and gets it to run the way he knows it can.

John you are a Legend mate and we love you and your GS is bike of the month.  You are also the only man in OSS history to have been awarded bike of the month 3 times.

Read John’s build here

Members discuss this here.

Bike of the month November 2017

If you want to shed a few pounds, some say the best way to do it is to cut down on your carbs. Apparently, if you’re really serious about getting all lean and mean you need to cut carbs out of the equation completely.

Now personally, I use whacking great RS36s on both of my big inline four Suzukis, which might explain my shrinking leathers- or not…

Anyway, here at oldskoolsuzuki we are purveyors of the philosophy that 80’s and 90’s Suzuki muscle bikes can be improved, while preserving their adorable  “fuck you” characteristics, by doing clever things with parts from the future. This months podium goes to a bike that ticks all of the above boxes.

At the heart of this braced ,steel framed Katana ensemble is the full fat, mighty air-cooled, 16 valve, GSX engine which has been tweaked up to 1170cc. It sports a complete EXUP front and back end too. Sounds tasty, I hear you say. “but what about my abs katanamangler?” “I’ve got a beach holiday coming up!” Well, worry not my middle aged,weight watching friends, this one is completely carb free! Yeah, that’s right, you heard me!

Using a a set of GPZ1100 throttle bodies and a set of GSX1400 injectors, our man Skelly has taken all of the guilt ( and a fair bit of hassle) out of 80’s muscle bike addiction through the wonders of EFI.

The bike was test ridden by Jon at our Donington Park track day gathering in August and it ran well.

Congratulations Skelly, your guilt free Katana is our bike of the month. Read more about Jon’s build here. Members discuss this article here.

 

Bike of the Month September 2017

Goodbyes are never easy but they make for a good occasion to honour something or someone that has done OSS (very) proud. Let me fill you in…

Maxwin stumbled on the scene in January 2016 mid-development of his 750ET after having competed in the 2015 season of the Earlystocks championship. Having cobbled together the bike for 2015, the early days of 2016 were there to fine tune the bike and get it all working a bit better, looking a bit nicer and going a bit faster.

As with pretty much every build I’ve ever seen on OSS, thing spun a bit out of control with lots of clever engineering, pole positions and ultimately, big crashes. If you’re not crashing, you’re not racing. There’s no argument to say our friend Maxwin didn’t try his very best.

One of the very first to be promoted to OSS Winged Hammer, he has kept us up to date with all the ins and outs of the ET, plenty of pictures and YouTube videos for us to ogle over and wish for it to be us on the clipons and having a go ourselves.

Personally, I’d love to go racing, but lack of talent/balls/money will see me get my fix trying to hassle my bike around during rookie-level trackdays, dreaming of keeping up with the likes of Maxwin and his Earlystocks-compadres.

But, this is a goodbye, and for OSS an instance to honour someone who in turn honoured our request to fly the Winged Hammer flag and do his part for our little community. After a few heavy crashes, our friend choose to follow the path of progression (as you do with racing) and that progression sees the ET and Maxwin parting ways, with a water-cooled 600 of a not-to-be-named brand waiting in the wings to bring new highs in the career of our friend.

Update: It will be a Slabby 750 for next year, hurray! The ET will stay and progress, for Maxwin keeping it and let his dad have a go.

If you’re not crashing, you’re not racing. If you’re not trying to take things to another level, you’re not racing. If you’re not out to get that next second off your lap time, you’re not racing.

Maxwin chose racing and thus, we must say goodbye but not before we award him with the BOTM September 2017.

You sir, have truly done us all a big favour by letting us enjoy your updates and it makes me personally very proud to see our stickers on bikes used as intended and doing a bloody good job at it too! Thank you, I hope you return into our fold at some time in the future, for now, all the best 🙂

Congratulations on Bike Of The Month September 2017

Buildtread here

Oldskool Oldskool, the road less travelled

614982_10151073061812733_377962059_oJohn Oliver (AKA Yoshi-Johnny, AKA YJ) is a long time OSS member and Pops Yoshimura enthusiast. John is a professional bike mechanic and many will remember his iconic take on the classic Wes Cooley GS 1000. Ten years ago, when John first rolled up at an OSS gathering on his GS, for me and many others,  at the time, his bike fully embodied the true  spirit of OSS. An air-cooled 8 valve GS1000 engine and classic Wes Cooley paint job but running on modern 17″ wheels,  sporting a mono shock conversion  and a set of gold anodised upside down GSXR forks. Evolution of the species. John’s love for Suzuki’s 8 valved air-cooled GS1000 engine has never faded. We asked John to tell us a little about his dream engine build and here is what he told us.

KM

Oldskool Oldskool, the road less travelled. John Oliver

It’s always been a dream to own a full blown Yoshimura motor but I don’t earn enough to just go out and buy one so I am gonna have to do it the only way I know how, a p.p.p.piece from here and a p.p.p.p.iece from there. So, I am in the process of getting together for the race bike I am going to prep for myself to go racing instead of others!

Engine

Yoshi motorI got hold of an old NCK drag motor a few years ago and it has a pretty good crank and gearbox in it. Crank has Katana rods and along with being welded it has straight cut primary drive gear, along with a matched one for the clutch basket. Cases have been lightened and dipped at Ribble Technologies in Preston. So the bottom end is as good as my budget will allow for the moment. I do need a new clutch before it turns a wheel in anger and this will involve having the straight cut fitted.  Originally the NCK engine was a 1420 drag engine but on the road or track that sort of capacity would generate too much heat and quickly cook itself.

yoshi pistonsGraeme Crosby in conversation said he preferred the power and reliability of the 998cc motor as it gave enough power and was reliable, Pops and he discovered the bigger the capacity went up, the less reliable and problematic it all became. Craig Smith, my good mate in Australia who has been on here for years is a major inspiration for the build as his black “skunk” race bike is still one of the outstanding bikes on the site. He raced it to good effect in NZ and didn’t suffer with reliability issues. He went bigger and bust his crank!His motor punted out 135 rwhp and that is my aim with this… I won’t be gutted if it doesn’t get there, but it would be nice if it’s something like.

So the pistons are custom made 1100cc Wisecos and are one of only 3 sets made this particular profile I think. All the gaskets and seals will be replaced with standard (where necessary) or Cometic (where it’s ok to cheat!) and special ones (base and head).

Head

bladeThe cam chain was a weak spot on Yoshimuras race engines and the team did all sorts to try and reduce the extreme wear during races, extra jockey wheels, longer cam chain, shorter tensioner blade, POLISHED cam chain links and manual tensioner were all employed in the hunt for reliability. Most of this development actually went into the first GSXR engine. So all the above mods will be done to this engine.I have had a jockey wheel and plate made but Roger Upperton does a better version which is more like the GSXR version than the one I have. The extra jockey wheel at the back of tthe head is the reason the tensioner blade is shortened.

 

Yoshi headThe head has been checked over and overhauled from scratch. Bigger valves, seats cut to match and a tidy port job will make the gas go in quick and hopefully make it work right.

camsValvesCams are very lumpy custom profile ones from New Zealand and require cut aways for them to turn in the head! Shims will be under bucket care of Kibblewhite, buckets, retainers (titanium) and collars. Dialled in cams will be easier with Rogers version of the jockey wheel than the Smithy version. I may put a twin plug set up in as well when I actually get to the build

Carbs
Carbs will be Mikuni VM33s and are getting quite scarce, these are about as big as you should be going on a bored out GS1000 engine, anything bigger just makes them bog down when you crack the throttle open.

Jockey wheel

 

 

 

Ignition
Ignition will be taken care of by Boyer Brandsen mini digital set up until I get a self generating system organized…

Speed is all a question of money…I wanna go fast but my wallet says whoaaah.

YJ

Discuss here