imago

It'll be fine as it's snug between the sides rather than at the front. Glad I didn't put the head on first though as there'd have been some bad swears when it became apparent that it wouldn't fit between the rails and had to come off again.

It's a fiddle, but once the bottom end and barrels are in place then there's room to drop the head on before the mounting bolts go through. I'll need to check alignment and make up some spacers for the mounting bolts. Then it'll be full steam ahead to get it to roller stage.

Snug is a good description. It definitely wouldn't go in with the head on, but it's in.

A little from column 'A', a little from column 'B'. Harvesting bits from a few engines to get tolerances etc to marry up nicely. Bonus confirmation that there's another virgin crank available.

I really can't see me keeping the Dresda for any great length of time. It's been a great frame to use up a load of goodies which I have had for ages without having a suitable bike or project to use them on. I've also enjoyed finding various rare bits and oddities, predominantly from OSS members. I'm really enjoying the build, and it should be a cracking end result which will get a few runs out, taken to a couple of shows and then moved on. The main reason being the riding position with the clip ons would ruin my neck on anything much longer than a half hour ride. So I'm enjoying owning it, but have no particular attachment to it which makes it fairly easy for me to part with it down the line. I could put bars on it but that would look bloody awful on a frame like that IMHO as the tank and overall shape is a lot more slender than the top end of a Harris. It'd look like one of those push bikes from the '70s that we stuck 'cow horns' on.

All my turbo-ness will be going into the draw through, and I don't fancy the work or bills for getting two air cooled engines in a state to handle that sort of thump. Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing how they pan out, but I already know which will be the keeper.

Roll on, and getting it in motion from a stand still. A high horsepower, higher revving engine is fun, but it gets a bit frenetic. So ticking with the K1 GSXR comparison having the same power two or three thousand rpm lower down the revs with more torque should make for an entertaining ride without being as busy. It'll be an interesting comparison to see the increase in torque between stock ET, the Dresda in the 150 - 160 range and the draw through in the 220 - 250 range.

As a point of interest, I worked out what it would cost to build an engine like this now from scratch. Five grand is the number I got to, but fortunately all the really expensive stuff and work was bought and done some time ago. This frame just gave me the ideal opportunity to put it all together along with some other tasty bits like the Cowley exhaust. I doubt there will be too many air cooled engines getting scratch built to this or a similar spec now. It's just not viable when you can get similar output for 20% of the cost from an oil boiler.

Lightweight race pistons, Upperton prepped bottom end, big valve head, stage 2 cams, Ignitech ignition and 38 mm flat slides. My target is to have similar power and weight to a K1 GSXR100 but with a shit load more torque. Either this bike is going to exceed my abilities by some margin or I am am a riding god after all.

Almost, the main missing components are the stage 2 cams and slotted gears and that's purely down to me not being organised enough to order them before now. I also need/want to slot it into the frame without the head so that I can see if it can come off without dropping the engine or scratching the new powder coat. Still got to sort the rear brake calliper mount and sprocket carrier along with spacers for the rear wheel. Just didn't fancy all the measuring and standing at the lathe again today. I'll get the tyres on the rims this coming week hopefully and then I'll be much happier with where it is. The new timing plan is to get it as an engine in roller in time to take to Stafford in April if they give @Paulmthe nod for a stand.

Saturday lathe clean followed by making a start on assembling the engine for the Dresda. Aiming for 150 to 160 rwhp from a normally aspirated air cooled engine.

First piece of the spacer puzzle, get the swing arm in and central. Make up spacers which are accurate, but also look in keeping. They need to contact with the inner bearing runners and leave a gap in the outer to take an 'O' ring.

Decent run back home?

Getting disparate components from various bikes and decades is such fun.

I'll have the Dresda at least ready to roll by then, if not fully done at least in a state worth taking.

Which is what I said in my post?

Everyone has different tastes and interests within the motorbike world, I suppose the trick is to have as wide an appeal as possible on the stand. A frame with a race history or whatever is just a frame to me, but someone else will find it fascinating, Fitting a turbo will have one person open mouthed in admiration, someone else will glance and shrug. A Kreidler Van Veen is a fascinating machine to me, someone else sees a spindly thing they wouldn't pause to look at. So it goes. The stands I look at as I wander round have something away from the norm in terms of engineering and build. They're well lit with people who chat to you and know their stuff, with a good mix of bikes on display that you can have a good nose at. I think looking at the OSS stand you have to take into account that it's not a club stand, so it doesn't have membership fees and consequently isn't going to have the whole 'banners, lighting and floor display' thing that others do. Bike wise there's a good mix, and there are people on the stand who know their stuff and are happy to chat with people. The dark corner at Stafford was shit which didn't do the bikes any favours, and wasn't very inviting to passers by. Is there an aim for the OSS stand beyond people from here getting together for a laugh/drink/chat? If not then it's bang on. If there is then just change stuff to move towards the aim, whatever it may be.

Each to their own I guess, a bare frame does nothing for me personally. Until it becomes a motorbike it's just a collection of tubes.

I don't know about the other shows, but if you want to see a bare frame at Stafford or Newark a wander round the paste tables outside should have you sorted.

They're within the OSS rules/definition for the forum. Shaggy's drag bike was a big hit and draw at the OSS stand at Stafford in October, and the only thing even vaguely Suzuki on that was (some of) the cylinder head.

Agreed, personally aside from it fitting in with the OSS ethos/rules I'd say the only criteria is that it needs to be a roller with most of the big lumps in place so that people can at least see what it's going to be. The OSS stands at shows I've been to over the last 12 months have had a pretty wide range and mix which seemed about right. Covered everything really, shiny show bikes, rarities, oddities, ratty, WTF?, great engineering, imagination and all points in between. So I think the only thing to be added would be more bikes and some new stuff that hasn't been seen as well as older builds which haven't been seen for some time. Is 12 bikes about the average number required for an OSS stand?

It won't be anywhere near ready by the middle of March, once it's done I'll take it to some shows later in the year. Still that's better than the draw through, that's unlikely to appear anywhere until 2025. Maybe the 2025 Scottish show could be its inaugural trip out?

That's my test shock for the length, and happily it sits perfectly with standard length ET shocks so that'll make ordering something more in keeping a bit more straight forward.

Totally agree and I'd like to make the trip tbh, I've had some good nights out in Edinburgh over the years. Unfortunately the lack of a bike to take issue won't be resolved for a while yet, and I doubt our Pictish chums would be particularly interested in a GSX1400 with its only stand out feature being a big kitten sticker on the tank. I don't need to go all the way to Edinburgh for people to take the piss, I can get that here. Same goes for shows South East and West of here, although it seems unless you go across the channel there doesn't seem to be much going on in those directions aside from the 'brown seat and beard oil' shows down South.

Just had a quick look at the travel on Google maps. 6 hours and £70 in diesel each way. Almost exactly the same distance and travel time for me to go to Brussels.