Monthly Archives: January 2016

Bikes, Beer BBQs and Bravado – OSS at Cadwell Park

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There has been much talk about an OSS get together since we relaunched the site last summer. Through the course of those discussions we have broadly agreed that our next get together had to be more than just a falling about session.

Worry not though, falling about is still encouraged but we also  want to have some bike related activity before the guy rope tripping competition gets underway.

We also want to make sure that there isn’t too much for the organisers to do because that way everyone can enjoy themselves.

So for 2016 we have decided the UK based event will coincide with  the Practical Sportsbikes Cadwell Park Circuit trackday weekend planned for  the 9th and 10th of July, 2016.

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Thanks Yoshi Johnny we have been able secure a discount for the Saturday and Sunday track-day for those that want to put their Oldskool steed through its paces. Prices have not yet been announced but it is thought they will be similar to last years event in the link above.

So options for participation are as follows:

  1. Camping only with no track-day is free.
  2. Camping with BBQ on Friday and Saturday night £10 per head.
  3. All of the above with 6 track-day sessions of 20 minutes each including instruction and full support £10 per head for the BBQ plus your track-day ticket ( approximately £140 per day before discount) You can do one or two days the choice is yours.

If you don’t do the track-day you can still participate in the lunch time club parade laps which are free but this needs to be arranged with the organisers.

The plan is to to assemble on the Friday afternoon the 8th July at Cadwell Park Circuit. There will be  free camping in the paddock.

Dave ( Katanaman) and John (YJ) have kindly agreed to provide a BBQ on the Friday and Saturday night (weather permitting of course) at the bargain price of a fiver per person.

You can of course do your own thing. There is a bar with a band on the Saturday or you can bring your own beer and enjoy the company, the bikes and the spectacle while shooting the shit fellow enthusiasts.

We hope to have  a Marquee set up for bikes if people want to display them which is something they’d like us to do for other spectators. We will firm up on these details closer to the event. We will have T-shirts and other merchandise for sale too.

For those that are paying for track time, Saturday will be taken up hooning round the circuit with the Classic Bike Track-days guys trackdays – Cadwell Park

Yoshi Johnny has advised:

I wouldn’t recommend getting shitfaced the night before if you are going on track…

It will not be a OSS exclusive event and the there will be a range of pre-2000 machines taking part in the track-day. Again Yoshi Johnny advises:

It’s full bore flat out stuff but the guys on track tend not to be dickheads and the bikes range from road going RGV250s through to trick F1 Harris etc. If you’ve never been on track before don’t be scared the range of bikes and riders plus keen instructors mean it’s safe and well managed.

Saturday night will be the same thing BBQ and beer and good company and Sunday is the same as far as track stuff goes. If you don’t want to participate on track you can just watch, take pictures, point and giggle and or carry on propping up the bar.

Yoshi Johnny will be on hand on the forum to  answer any questions and in the meantime we are just waiting for the CBT guys to get their website updated with dates and details on how to to book the 2016 track-days.

When booking is available it should be enough to just mention somewhere your bike is oldskoosuziki  and you will get a 5% discount off the price. We can finalise these details in due course.

If you want to do one or both of the track-days It will be important to book them as soon as booking is available as places will be on a first come first served basis.

This should be absolutely great fun. A chance to put faces to names as well as providing an opportunity to put your OSS machine through its paces.

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Booking details to follow.

Discuss this here

Raiders of the lost KnarF

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Rene is on location today so he asked me to publish this article on his behalf.

Many of you will instantly recognise the name knarF and you will know the importance of the OSS build project associated with it. For those that are new to OSS, we need to provide  little bit of background.

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On the 13th of July 2006 the OSS community lost a close friend KnarF (Frank) when he died suddenly due to freak allergic reaction to something he ate while on holiday. At the time, we only learned this sad news quite a bit later when Mr7/11 (OSS site founder) was contacted by KnarF’s family to ask “what to do with all those bike bits”. Like so many of us, Frank had been collecting parts to build his dream bike for a number of years, while still always having a fairly tricked out bike on the road, it’s a familiar OSS condition.

After getting over the initial shock of loosing a close friend ,  Mr7/11 spoke with KnarF’s family and agreed it would be a fitting tribute to try to complete and realise KnarF’s dream of a  Yoshimura GS build.  Mr7/11 came back to the OSS community and asked that we all share that commitment to build Frank’s dream bike. Mr7/11 saw this is as his and the OSS community’s obligation to Frank and his family; to posthumously build the bike Frank had been dreaming of but would sadly now never  have the opportunity to complete.

Thus the  KnarF GS build began. The project  got it’s own  board on the forum and a legend was born. Parts were gathered from all over the world and the whole of OSS community  rose to the occasion lending their support  through parts, engineering, painting, powder coating, tuning, expertise , know how, encouragement and enthusiasm.

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Mr7/11 led the project, with a lot of help from many generous site members. We all watched as Frank’s dream bike took shape before our very eyes. The KnarF GS was finished in 2007 in time for the deadline and revealed to the world at Circuit Park Zandvoort .

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The bike was track tested at Assen and I still remember standing in awe as the bike went through the pit lane at onto the track to do what is was made to do. I watched with a sense of great pride as it promptly slaughtered a H#nda Fireblade on its maiden laps.

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After the KnarF GS  first appeared at Assen , it was campaigned for a good year or so as a proper classic racer by a site member Ron. After a while news  of Ron and the KnarF GS went quiet. Ron went missing and with him the Knarf.

I never gave up hope of finding the KnarF GS again and over the years I picked up  rumours and snippets of information about it’s whereabouts and it’s well being. More recently there were talks about  it being found and returned but as it so often  goes with some things, for one reason or another they were never followed through. I kept hoping  that it would one day magically turn up.

Those hopes finally  became a reality when I recently got a message from  Fred on my phone; “call this number”. When I did I found my self speaking to a guy  who I don’t personally know but who appeared to be familiar  with all things OSS. Most importantly he told  me he knew where the KnarF bike was.

In the end it turned out it ended up in the hands of a mutual friend, who was unaware of what the bike was and what it meant to a lot of people. Most importantly he agreed to return the bike to the OSS community.

So today marks the return  of a long lost friend and the story of this bike and the community of OSS, who built it continues.

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July the 13th 2016 will mark ten years since we lost our friend KnarF. It gives me the greatest pleasure to announce that we will  be setting out to get the bike back to the state and specification that it was in  when it was first finished in time for that important anniversary and I hope that once again we can call upon the help  of the OSS community .

Watch this space… ” Read more here

Rene EFE.

Follow the restoration thread here

Bike of the Month January 2016

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BOTM JAN 2016What do you get if you take one well used slabby and add a heap of mojo?

If there was only 1 right answer, this machine has to be a contender.  Carefully hand moulded, this early GSXR is the stuff many of us can but dream of owning. It’s built to be fast, it’s beautiful and it’s this month’s Bike of the Month.

Please join with us in congratulating Scara on his 1109 Turbo Slabside build here as it sets the benchmark for Bike of the Month in 2016.

For step by step build photos – go to the original build thread here