Dezza

Dunno where it is supposed to be on a stock bike but the unit on a slabside is exactly the same as the one used on Katanas and EFEs so your search image should be right.

I flogged a set of 1100 slabside clocks late last year that would have been perfect

Don't you mean chip shop? Put fairing back on in a matching paint job, replace clip ons, replace clocks, replace anodised bits with stainless - job done!

The mot history on the DVLA website for any vehicle until very recently used to tell of where the vehicle had its past mot's done, and this would give a likely locality of where the owner was based but it seems like this is now not available.

Looks cool but that tank probably cost about the same as my complete project bike!

It's a shame you are so far away up there in Scotchland or I'd be trying to presuade you to have a go at mine What the hell is that new fangled contraption that has the faceache webpage address on it? I thought that so called new 'Katana' would be the end of this sort of buffoonery.

Looks great!

Several KTM large capacity models use WP forks that can be had for about 60% of the cost of Ohlins. The ones I have are longer than the GSXR1100K RWU forks that came with the bike. You can get radial and non-radial depending on what model they were fitted to originally.

Seems like an obvious point to make - what size tyres do you want /is it possible to use? 4.5 and it's 160; 5.5 170 (if available now?) and 180; 6 180 and 190

See it as an opportunity to faff about more with our beloved neolithic Suzukis and to know there are fewer brain-damaged kids in the world

Doesn't the EF have different carbs to the ES? EF is 36mm whereas, I think, older GSXs have 34mm so base settings may be different. My bike has a stock EFE motor and carbs, with S and B filters and a pretty much baffle-free Harris replica pipe and it has 152.5 main jets and a ledar air corrector kit. The EF stock jets I think are something like 125. NB's ES still has the airbox so it may only require slight alteration to account for the exhaust. One other thing though, check the needle positions and compare with the stock settings.

If it's had the pipe on a while, and it seems like this is so by the look of it, clean and rebuild the carbs and then see how it runs The stock jet sizes are in the genuine workshop manual (online somewhere?) They may differ between bikes intended for different countries but not by very much. A good carb upgrade is apparently, and if I am wrong I am sure someone will correct me, the 38mmm carbs as fitted to certain GSXR750s. I have no idea what jets to use on these for an 1100 motor but if you buy 750 carbs you'll still have to change all the jets.

What route are you taking to get there? I ask as my missis is Finnish, and it would make a pretty epic bike trip. Not in February though as its absolutely freezing, and dark much of the time. Looking forward to the pics of the Finnish bikes

At least none of them have brown seats and exhaust bandages.

Removing the head and barrels and then replacing them correctly will eat up a sizable chunk of £400 due to the costs of the multitude of gaskets and seals required. This will not leave much for any specialist labour costs and parts for any increase in bhp needed to wobble more quickly to the next corner on stock suspension. I think.

The 750 boiler engine I saw last week was definitely cable

So you have the dexterity of a gynocologist with 30 years experience and fingers like ET?(To enable the valve shims to be changed on a 4-valve head W/C engine).

Which pipe options have you got already/have acccess to? Maybe borrow some different options and see how they compare. Would be interesting for anyone to do if dyno access was available. If so, I have a Cobra 4-2-1 system available

Other than that no difference then, i.e. weight due to 1052 cover being made of a different material rather than having fewer bits to it?

Does an 1100 slabside cam cover fit on a Blandit 1200 head and work properly? They look wildly different but I was informed that the SS part is magnesium although this could easily be BS. I am shit with computers. How do I find Frankenstein's pages?

That is interesting. The one I have is also Cobra but is 4-2-1. I understand the benefits but it makes the system really long, with the positioning of the end of the silencer can up at the back of the bike well past the rear wheel spindle

Really? I thought that went 750 for four cylinders in 1983, when Waine Rainey won.

Is there a general difference in the effects of having 4-2-1 headers compared with 4-1 headers? In other words, what is the advantage of having 4-2-1 given that this configuration is clearly more costly in time and materials to fabricate? I ask as I have a system for an oil cooled motor that has 4-2-1 headers, and these make the system really long and aesthetically unappealing, i.e. ugly.

Check up on the MOT history via the DVLA, which will show where the bike has been tested. You can apply for an owner history using form v888 but unless you are the registered keeper of the vehicle you have to have a very good reason for this, e.g. you were involved in an accident with said vehicle. They won't give you the address of the vehicle's keeper if you simply want to buy the vehicle.

From the prices I have seen, 5 grands worth of Yoshi stuff, even in 1986, would get you an exhaust pipe and a set of wheels and not much else...