R.I.P the original winged hammer

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  It is with a very heavy heart that the OSS community mourns the loss of our friend Pete Boyles AKA Pete750ET. Those of us who have been involved with the site from the early days will will remember both Pete’s Earlystock racing career and that of Runt racing with great affection and the OSS team chant;  Go Pete Go! and Go runt go! At the time, we all followed the antics of Pete and Runt racing with great pride and great enthusiasm. With the help of the OSS collective brain, Pete was able to take his humble 750ET to … Continue reading →

Bike of the Month April 2018

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2 strokes… the smell, the noise, the power band, the teenage memories, your first (indicated) 100mph. Some of us grew up around them and personally I still have a hankering for one. A lovely X7 would make an excellent choice. Speaking of excellent and X7 in the same sentence, it was time to choose this month’s BOTM and when I saw alfiestorm’s finished bike it had to be it.  When did we last have a bike of the month without cams? As many projects start, it was bought originally to simply do up a little and get it MOT’d and … Continue reading →

It’s never too late to be what you might have been- A winged hammer’s tale.

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From time to time we lift a story from our forum and put it here for the wider world to enjoy. This is one of those occasions. Mole is one of our winged hammers and if you ever found yourself wondering whether it was too late to take up track racing or thinking you needed mega-bucks just to get started, Mole’s story should provide some inspiration. What started as a bit of laugh has seen Mole win his local class championship and this year, Mole will take on both Donington’s classic endurance round in May and Spa in June. This … Continue reading →

Your culture is a combination of what you create and what you allow

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Like most tinkerers, I’ve been a member of a few technical forums over the last 15 years. I don’t know what I would have done without them. At one time, before social media,  I would sit at a computer and jump between 2 or 3 forums for a couple of hours every evening. Back then there was no Facebook ,twitter or Instagram. Fast forward 10 years and forums are dying off in their droves. Let’s face it,  most of them look and feel pretty clunky these days, especially when pitched against modern social media platforms. Mobile devices now dominate. If … Continue reading →

How To – Plastic Welding

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Long term member from across the water, nightrider had a touch at a salvage auction with a Suzuki GS1100ES  bearing some cosmetic damage. Nothing that can’t be fixed, right? Right! Here, he takes us through his tried and tested approach to plastic repairs. I have been plastic welding for almost three decades now. I started in an old skool moto shop back in the 90’s. The old timers back then hated sportbikes so it was up to the young buck (me) to figure out how to fix those annoying fairings with that smelly Mac tools Plasti-welder. Through trial and error … Continue reading →

Bike of the month March 2018

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There’s many reasons to start your own build, with “because I want to” coming first and “because I can” second. (If the person taking on this project actually can, is something different, but more on that some other time) Other reasons are aplenty but there’s two that carry much more load than any other reason I can think of. One; building the dream bike of a lost friend. Two; being asked to build that dream bike, by said lost friend. This Katana was trusted upon Pete by Dave “Swingarm” Roberts, member of old and builder of one of the very … Continue reading →

New OSS Trader – Lucky7moto

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We are pleased to welcome Lucky7moto as an OSS Trader, with a discount available for OSS as well as a fantastic prize to give away too! Lucky7moto are well known for building cool bikes, several of which have featured in magazines around the world. Their ‘no fucks given’ approach has always been fun to see, take a look at their T-shirts! They do it because they want to, not because they have to. As well as building cool bikes for themselves and others with deep pockets (check out the Katana or ET they built), Lucky7moto also sell specialist parts. New … Continue reading →

Bike of the month February 2018

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Oh no, here he goes again, twittering on about “evolution , not revolution” and “genetic engineering of an extinct species” Well, nearly but not quite. I’m going to mix it up a bit this time and tell you a tale of evolution AND revolution. Back in the Dino days of the old site there were many lovely bikes built but because they were scattered around the world you didn’t always get to see them in the flesh. I travelled a lot for OSS and I was lucky enough to see quite a few, close up. Some lived up to the … Continue reading →

New OSS Trader – MK-Components

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We are pleased to welcome MK-Components as an OSS Trader, with a discount available for OSS as well as some very nice Yoshimura goodies to give away too! Some of you may know our friend Mar71n and his rather nice engine covers. Well, good news as he’s started producing the R engine covers again! They fit the 1127cc oil cooled motor & its later versions. He’s also looking at producing covers for some other motors too. (Thanks to Duckndive for the loan of the EFE engine cases.) The R covers are now for sale on a certain well known auction site.  However, … Continue reading →

There’s racing and then there’s road racing.

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It’s fair to say that all competitive motorcycle racing relies on both a riders skill and their bravery. The ability to suspend one’s natural aversion to real and present danger and to focus only on the task in hand, are essential. Pushing your machine and your body to the very limit of their capability and beyond is the difference between competing and just turning up. Despite a life long love of all things two wheeled it took me a long time to get round to witnessing my first proper road race close up.  It was the 2016 Isle of Man … Continue reading →