Dyno Day is Go! What you need to know …

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On Sunday the 31st July a selection of fine motorcycles will test their metal against the rolling road at RTR Motorcycles in Nottingham .

Things you need to know…..

  • The day is almost at full capacity with pre-booked runs. There is still space for a couple of late comers but we can only guarantee spots for those who’ve already got their names down.
  • Dyno sessions will be 20-25 minutes for just £25
  • Each dyno run will come with a full print out as well as on hand advice from RTR’s proprietor
  • There will be tea and biscuits. Maybe even chocolate ones.
  • Stickers will be available on the day

Click HERE for more information in the site thread.

 

Cadwell 2016

I have been to many oldskoolsuzuki social events where an assortment of fine OSS machinery sits in the pub car park for the weekend while the owners exchange stories at the bar. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with that, I like the bar as much as the next guy but I have to say, there is no substitute for seeing these machines in action. For this reason we announced early in the year that all future OSS real world meetings would centre around bike centric events.

To coincide with the anniversary of the relaunched site we arranged for a weekend meeting as part of Practical Sportsbike magazine’s track day run by Classic Trackdays at Cadwell Park.We are grateful to John Oliver (YJ) for organising a block booking discount for OSS members for both the Saturday and Sunday sessions.

The weekend began on the Friday as “Camp OSS” gradually started to populate with vans tents and an array of fine looking OSS machinery. Not everyone had come to take part in the track day and many members had simply come along to spectate and enjoy the weekend. Members had come from from all over the UK and there were also 3 members from the Netherlands.

Early on the Friday evening the organisers announced that scrutineering would be open for a couple of hours to get bikes checked ahead of the Saturday sessions. For most of us this meant just one thing ” will my bike pass the noise test?” So we took our place in the queue and crossed our fingers. News passed down the line that bikes were failing and the tension built. The static test limit was 105 db at 3/4 revs. When it came to my turn the tester cut me some slack when the reading came back at 105.3 at 5000rpm. His exact words were ” you couldn’t get any F#@*ing closer if you tried mate, on you go”.

Not everyone was as fortunate and JB and YJ both failed leaving the rest of the evening for a bit of hasty end can repacking. Every time someone returned form the scrutineer a chorus of “what did it read then?” could be heard. We all winced when JB answered 119db. His Kerker end can on his slabby used half of someone’s loft to get it through but it did pass. YJ had to make several attempts before he was given the “noise test passed” sticker.

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13606768_10154227943650256_2588655890209658903_nAfter the bikes got put to bed we relaxed with a beer and a BBQ courtesy of Dangerous Dave. To my amazement he had actually made up a special OSS fire brand that he was using to brand the burgers and anyone not wearing a BBQ wristband. Top marks Dave!

The fine weather we had enjoyed on the Friday night didn’t hold up and we awoke to a very damp Saturday morning. We knew the first track session was going to be wet but we were reliably informed that the weather was going to improve over the course of the day.

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Despite a damp start and a very wet first session on the track the day’s weather gradually improved and made way to hot dry tarmac and broad smiles. OSS were well represented on the track with 3 of the last 12 BOTM winners scratching round Cadwell’s technical twists and turns.

A massive thank you to all of the OSS spectators who diligently watched every session, cheered each time we passed and pitched in to help with repairs and adjustments in between sessions. Special thanks go to Gary Hegg for some excellent photography throughout the weekend.

On saturday night after another stunning BBQ by Dangerous Dave we hit the Cadwell Park Bar and enjoyed some live music and draft beer. Almost everyone behaved themselves.

13606438_10153863120988915_7525892380468854985_nOn the Sunday Practical Sportsbikes announced their favourite bikes of the weekend and what do you know? Two of them were OSS members’ bikes! Congratulations to Steve (RSVfletch) and Steve (370steve) for their awards. Very well deserved chaps.

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So all in all an excellent weekend that ticked all of the boxes. Catching up with friends, making new friends and all centred around OSS bikes doing what they do so well. Roll on Donington…

13658994_10153868247043915_7176532250725368120_nDiscuss this article here.

Bike of the month July 2016

BOTM JULY 2016

Here at oldskoolsuzuki.info we are united by our love of these 80’s and 90’s bronto-bikes. The project section is our busiest forum section and it has supplied us with an amazing variety of very special BOTM builds. This month’s bike of the Month winner comes to us from the OSS trick frame department and it is fair to say that it is a truly exceptional example.

When you follow a build like this you are immediately struck, or more accurately you are immediately dumbstruck, by the level of thought and absolute dedication to quality that has gone into every component. Not content with fabricating beautifully simple components in billet aluminium our man decided to set up his own anodising bath to ensure he could get a contrast in finish between components.

Seeing this build come together, piece by piece, has been a joy and looking at the finished result is simply drool invoking.  Quality components, top to bottom, this bike can’t fail to deliver.

This month’s bike of the month winner is Garry Bond’s EFE powered Harris F1.

Gary, the OSS community collectively tip their oily caps in your specific direction sir. You have built something we can all only dream of taking home.

Gary’s build thread can be found here.

 

Cadwell Birthday Bash Trackday Weekend Checklist.

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The weekend of the 8th ,9th and 10th of July will mark 1 year of the new site being up and running. We will be marking that event at Cadwell Park with a gathering and participation in the Classic Bike Track day.

There are some important things to remember for the weekend and with less than a week to go there’s just time to give everyone  a poke and say “get your shit together dude it’s next weekend!”

Riders
So if you are on track you don’t have to worry about camping because it is complimentary but you do need to read these rules and you need to have completed all paperwork which Yoshi Johnnie has emailed to all riders. Remember, we don’t make the rules. It is your responsibility to ensure you have read them and, that you, your bike and your equipment complies with them.

Non Riders
There are only 2 things for you to do:
1. Pay for camping if you are staying overnight.
2. Pre-pay your BBQ money by Wednesday the 6th of July.

If you haven’t pre-paid your BBQ money, you wont get any BBQ,even if you try to pay on the night.The food needs to be bought in advance.  Anyone standing in the line for BBQ who hasn’t paid in advance ( there will be wrist bands) will become the object of unbridled ridicule and will be asked to wear a pointy hat which reads “I’m that BBQ Cunt who never paid” I can’t rule out that Dangerous Dave our BBQ Chef wont try to brand you either ( he’s like that) Don’t be that guy. PM Yoshi Johnny for his PayPal and pay him a fiver for each night.

Two last things to remind everyone of are:

1.It’s not an OSS exclusive event so be nice, behave yourself-ish and have a good time.

2. If you see Yoshi Johnny ( he’s the guy with the Lockhart tart’s handbag Slabbie race rep) make sure you shake his hand, pat him on the back  and say thank you. If it wasn’t for John none of this would be happening. He’s put loads of work into this event and he deserves our appreciation. Probably a good idea to do the same to Dangerous Dave because he will be “handling” your food.

There may even be Birthday cake.

 

Happy Birthday to us.

This time last year we were getting ready to press the go live button on the re-launch of oldskoolsuzuki.info. At the time we were all worried whether it would work and whether anyone would actually turn up.

Classic bike mechanic

As we approach our 1st birthday we have the benefit of hindsight and fortunately you did turn up. Not only did you turn up but you stuck around and you shared your workshop antics and your crazed shed born master plans with us through nearly 8000 project posts. The projects section remains our busiest section and that confirms that we got the emphasis of what the site should be about right.

The project section has provided us with a steady supply of worthy bike of the month winners over the last 12 months. Each one is a fine ambassador for what OSS is all about. There are plenty of others in the project pipeline.

During the year we left Jurassic Park and introduced Hanma-Shin’s mighty hammer to guide our way.Not an easy decision but we haven’t looked back.

Ancient Hamna-shinWe closed the old Facebook gang hut where we had all hung out waiting for the site to relaunch and we launched a new community page on Facebook. So much has changed since the days of the original forum and social media has become so slick and easy to use. Even the new site feels clunky in comparison to today’s’ social media platforms. Nonetheless, we set out to create an oldskool forum where our collective endeavours would be recorded in a structured and ordered way, for easy reference. We have improved picture uploads to encourage people to share their pictures ( we still like those). Forums will never again be the social gathering that they were a decade ago but they still make the best place to spend an hour or 2 a week browsing the threads and sections to see what’s new and if you’re serious about information sharing, there is no substitute.

Throughout the year we’ve put on 2 show stands and this summer we have a Cadwell track-day social event, a Donington weekend show gathering and a dyno day.  Not bad for a bunch of part time enthusiasts. Which leads me to my final point. At the end of the day the site and forum will only ever be the sum of its members and their input. Our thanks to everyone for taking the time to share their builds, their wisdom. their questions and ultimately their time to keep OSS alive and kicking. A special thanks must go to the volunteers that give up their time to moderate, organise events, stickers, hoodies and t-shirts. There would be no OSS without you.

If you have any good ideas for content and info and you want to get more involved send us a message through the contact link at the bottom of the forum or PM an Admin.

So happy Birthday OSS. You’re still here and given your historical struggles, that’s no mean feat.

Discuss this article here.