Mole28
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Posts posted by Mole28
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Old race pipe that I've cleaned up ,wrapped and stuck a Black Widow can on.
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It's in writing so it must be true. Rooster Racing is go!
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Cracking bike and superb detailing!
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Very nice. Jealous!
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2 hours ago, Deek28 said:
good read Mole mostly true as well - Must try harder as they say =Go team 28
Mostly true. I just realised that I was 47 when I started not 46. Yes must try harder. I've got the Tshirt.
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I've just done this. It is a Slingy but the dims same as a Slabby I believe. I had to make new tophat spacers on the outside and a new inner spacer for the carrier. I also machined a bit off the carrier sprocket face.
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54 minutes ago, vizman said:
awesome stuff...most my blue faced brethren are hardened to 'bad' weather riding
best o' luck with future race plans
that old sf tail unit looks like a 'tricky' seatunit
That seat unit was made from solid granite and weighed as much as a 2x2 slab.
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First major revamp. I bought a load of Gsxr bits from someone who was moving class to supertwins. The package came with a blown 750m motor with a lightened and balanced crank and a Wiseco 771cc kit. It had dropped a valve and destroyed the head and piston but the cylinder was untouched and came with a new piston kit. Also in package was a low mileage 750m motor and a Dyna 2000 ignition set up. Because I'm a slack arse, I decided to put the complete 750m motor into the bike along with the Dyna ignition and find another head, to get ported, for the trick motor for a later , more points demanding stage in the championship. The Prophet of Doom was in total agreement, much to my surprise,but only because he doesn't like change. A new swoopy slingshot body kit was purchased. Again only because it was £100 cheaper than a Slabby one. At least the people that make "race" fairnings reckon that you will need a full belly pan for a Slingy. Painted it myself this time. Looks fabulous from a good few feet away. Changed to 36mm CVs( forgot to mention that the year before I had the VM29s bored to 33 at the back to match the fronts). The 36s used less petrol which worried me.
I put Hyperpro springs in the forks which greatly improved the handling. Unfortunately this meant I started having ground clearance issues. I moved the pegs up and back a little, made a new link pipe for the exhaust to tuck it in and cut holes in the fairing where the bulges for the engine cases were.
Halfway through the season is when the electrical gremlins joined the team. The bike would seem fine for about 8 laps of the 10 lap races then start misfiring. We kept finding dodgy connections (caused mainly by using those shitty blue connectors). We would think it was sorted but it would do the same thing again. We changed the plugs, the coils, made another loom and even tried a better fuel tap in case it was petrol starvation. Nothing seamed to make a difference. It was at one of the spark plug changes (last race of the weekend) that a rogue (and tiny) nut had found its way down the plug tube so that when the plugs were taken out, it fell in. The motor sounded terminal on startup so the bike was put in the van. The trick motor was put into service by using the head from the standard motor. That's when I noticed the tiny square nut embedded into the edge of the combustion chamber.
The rules were still the same regarding tyres. Road legal only. No wets. We were running Pirelli diablo supercorsas in the dry and Michelin pilot road 3 touring tyres in the wet.
I've ridden bikes all my life and most of it in Scotland so riding in the rain doesn't bother me. This worked well in my favour as it was wet a lot that year. I won the championship by a fair bit and went the whole season without crashing.
Season 5
The class was beginning to dwindle with only 8 bikes left. The racing was still good though. My main rivals Gordon Murray on his VFR and Gordon Castle on a very well put together Gsxr 750 were always right with me. I was still having ground clearance issues because the bike was handling so well. The NRC casings were getting scuffed as was the fairing although I had pulled it in as much as possible. I made up brackets to move the top mount of the shock back and down which meant I had to take more meat off the linkage to allow more height. They look dodgy and I meant to get them welded onto the frame but never did and they haven't moved. I should still get them welded on.
Deek had joined the team as pit crew and moral prevention officer. Mostly he noised up the competition.
At the Bob Mac Memorial classic races that year I did my best ever lap of 1:03.7. This was only possible because of the perfect weather conditions and having a couple of world class riders to chase. I never beat them but they dragged me along a full second faster than I had gone before.
Wet tyres were allowed! They are epic. If you have never tried them you wouldn't believe how grippy they are. I prayed for rain and did my rain dance every meeting.
The gremlins were still on board. I was over riding the bike when it was stuttering on the last laps and ended the season with a couple of crashes. The bike was fast though and I could build up enough of a lead to still finish 1st or 2nd. I managed to win my fourth consecutive title. Just.
Season 6 2017
I had been warned not to run the number 1.
What do they know!
Over the winter I had bought another motor that had just been built by a renowned tuner. It had Wiseco high comp pistons and a ported head. Unfortunately for the guy his fuel tap had not shut off and filled the cases with petrol resulting in a big end failure. We made an engine up from all the best parts we had. It's a total screamer. New paint and another end can and we were ready.
First race of the year and the bike died after 3 laps. When the race was over it started and ran perfectly back to the pit.
We checked everything we could think of. I was told the Dyna 2000 ignitions were bomb proof and no way it would be that. I didn't have another one anyway.
The class was only 5 strong and we were out with the CB500s. It meant we only got 2 clear laps before we were in traffic. That worked in my favour as the bike was still playing up and I managed to finish 2 of the races.
I was convinced that it was a fuel starvation problem so for the 2nd meeting i bought new Mikuni RS34s and fitted a Pingle tap. On a sneaky test ride along the back roads the bike felt great and never missed a beat. At the meeting on the practice session the bike ran perfectly. However when the call went out for qualifying it would not start. No spark.
One of my rivals lent me his spare Dyna ignition. That was the problem all along. I had to start at the back of a 36 strong grid (30 pizza bikes and then the post classics). By lap 5 I tried to take the lead and crashed. Bugger! It had ripped all the controls off the left side of the bike. We had enough spares to sort the bike and hammered straight the unbreakable Taiwanese rear sets. 2nd race and the gear linkage snapped on lap 2 and in 5th gear. I finished the race but burnt out the clutch slipping it out of the tight corners. I didn't have a spare clutch so I roughed up the steel plates. It was better but still slipping. 2 distant 5th place finishes.
I could still win the championship (theoretically) if I won every race.
At the 3rd meeting everything went perfectly. I won all the races and my nearest rival had a DNF. It was on.
Last meeting of the year. First race. Pole position. The lights went out and my throttle cable snapped.
Fixed the cable by soldering a new nipple on. 2nd race. 2nd lap and the cable snapped again.
It was over.
Won the last 2 races but finished a distant 2nd in the championship.
Good riddance number 1 plate.
Roll on 2018.
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This is how it all began. It was Christmas 2012
I had a perfectly mental tuned Gsxr thou and got talked into going racing. After all, I was 46 and if I didn't do it now, I never would. My mates were racing in the Post Classic series and, if I wanted to take them on, I needed a pre '88 bike to do it on.
I got £1200 and the horrible 750 Slabby streetfighter you see below for my pride and joy(oddly I don't miss it).
It was standard apart from the blandit 600 wheels, carbs and a really loud,rattly can. The weird seat unit looked ok but weighed a ton. The brakes were knackered and the motor was seized.
I had 3 months to turn it into a competitive race bike.
Not having a clue about racing didn't help. I looked on the web at racing Slabbies and dreamed of world championships. I looked at frame mods as I had heard that the standard frames were far too flexible. I got some 6mm alloy plate and a length of 40x20 box section and made up some bracing. I don't have the capability to alloy weld so I taped them onto the frame and took it to the local blacksmiths to get welded up. I bought an aftermarket fairing on Eblag then realised that it didn't meet the catch tank regs so pop riveted a bit of caravan onto the bottom. I made a couple of brackets to fit R1 calipers to the Slabby forks,fitted clipons, an R1 shock, an 1100M back wheel, painted it matt black and poured diesel down the plug holes. After a couple of days it was turning over and running on a set of VM29s that I already had.
I was ready for action.
As I said, I didn't have a clue about racing. My mate Iain P was coaxed into helping me. He was in strong disagreement that the best way to find the limits of adhesion was to lean more and more till I fell off (both left and right). But that's what I did. My first race was at East Fortune. I did a 1:17 and fell off. The bike felt horrible, Skittish and downright dangerous in the damp with road legal tyres as we weren't allowed wets. Not helped by the fact I was running them at road pressures of 36 front and 42 rear. When I asked someone about it they pissed themselves laughing and told me to try 31 front and 28 rear. What a difference that made!
There were 15 riders in our class and by the end of the season I was down to a 1:08 and finished second in class.
Second season and I had made a few changes.
I bought another fairing and took all the bodywork to my mate Wee Stuart the painter and told him to paint it the same colour as the car I was getting sprayed. The car looked better! I got dogs abuse all year about that colour. Luckily enough I crashed it at the last meeting of the year so it would need painted again. It got a Gsxr600 K1 front end with a ZX9 wheel, fireblade calipers and a shortened random, and much more sociable, end can. All much cheapness as money was tight. Best buy was the Taiwanese rear sets. £36 and made from an alloy I had, and have never since, encountered. They crash really well. When bent double they can be hammered straight again and again. I decided to go with no proper seat as comfort is the last thing on your mind when racing.
It was tight that year, but I won by a handful of points.
Season 3 and I have a target on my back!
The team: Jools-Team principal- cook
Iain P-Crew chief- Prophet of Doom
Me- Ballast-Talent(depending on results)
The big change for this year was my mate Andy Fyffe bought me a set of PFM discs. He has the superbike ones on his Harris Magnum4 and swears by them. He's not wrong., Combined with Bendix carbon matrix race pads, they are like hitting a skip!
I bought a second hand stainless race pipe and can, some cheap chinese levers, a kid on seat and new paint.
A proper race loom was made up and doubts were cast as to the longevity of the still original de-seized motor(as can be seen by the amount of oil on the tailpiece)
There was no way I was going to win this year after a couple of crashes(silver Gaffa tape is my new best friend)
As luck would have it, Andy Lawson who was sure to beat me, went off to do the Manx (and won his class) so that left me winning by a handful of points again this year(2014)
Season4 tbc....
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21 minutes ago, MeanBean49 said:
I have got spare k series wheel and sprocket carrier and possibly a talon sprocket if you wanted to go down that route. Way lighter wheel than srad
How muxh? I will probably put the 675 wheel back on the bay.
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I might end up ditching the JMC arm in favour of a standard one and get that braced. I'm not sure what the benefits of eccentric cam adjusters are anyway. It doesn't make getting the wheel off any quicker. Slower if anything.
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I can get the SRAD wheel centred in the frame but it looks like getting the 675 wheel centred could be more of a task. That and the fact that a gsxr caliper hits the wheel well before being in the right place. This is because the say what now!? caliper is an opposed twin piston and the Triumph one is a single piston slider. I could buy a 675 caliper but would have to fabricate a swivelling hanger as I have a JMC arm with eccentric adjusters so can't have a sliding affair.
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This is the 675 wheel showing the distance from the back of the sprocket to the centre of the wheel- 110mm SRAD- 110mm
Slabby- 100mm
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I have the 675 wheel and sprocket carrier with no outer spacer on the spindle in the JMC arm. With a laser lined up through the steering head and centre points I have marked on the frame, the centre line of the wheel is 10mm to the right. The problem is that the bearing on the sprocket carrier is held in place by a circlip which is 7mm from the outer edge of the sprocket carrier edge(where the seal sits). The carrier is quite thin and the hub quite fat so the spacer is only 4mm.
The small line in the pic is the laser line which is the centre of the frame. The laser didn't show up in the pic.
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Got my sticker pack hand delivered at the weekend. Cheers Scott.
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19 hours ago, Rene EFE said:
If you’re competing in the Pro-Classics; that is one lairy championship
If it was easy, it'd be no fun.
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2 hours ago, Captain Chaos said:
On the french site, there is a British flag on the top right, to choose English language.
http://www.proclassic.fr/articles.php?lng=en&pg=4038&
and then choose "2018 regulation"
http://www.proclassic.fr/file/2018_reglement_uk.pdf
Cheers C.C.
Now how about the German one.
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I can ride a bike, I can build a bike but i can't work a computer and I struggle with anger management issues- re I don't want to buy another laptop.
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I don't speak French or German, so still trying to figure out regs.
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Got the sprocket carrier, just waiting for the wheel to turn up.
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Progress.
Fitted a K1 White Power shock that used to be on my Zx9r fighter, tried fitting the SRAD rear wheel that I had but was swayed by the talk(on here) of the easier option of a triumph 675 wheel.
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I'd swap 'em for the slingy or bandit ones.
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Yup. I have some if he needs them.
Spa bike
in OSS Racers
Posted
Update. Been busy in the garage
Largely there but still quite a bit to do. Wiring loom to finish and fairing that I stole from the Slabby to mount.
Triumph calipers and Brembo discs fitted.
SRAD wheel spaced, chain alignment done and SRAD heel plate used for shark's fin.
Rear sets set and gear linkage made. Steering damper fitted. The frame I used for this build came with the steering damper mount welde on right above No.1 plug. Not very handy!
Hyperpro Front spring and new seal for the forks.
Lightweight rear disc fitted.
Ancient stainless race pipe cleaned up, wrapped and a Black Widow can fitted.
Loads of other little bits and pieces that I can't remember but if you have any questions. please ask.