Rickman race bike

[Markz9]

Thought it would probably be easier to start a new thread for my rickman gs1000 race bike build,  the plan is to make it eligible to race with more than one club and still be competitive in ngrrc crmc csbk Germany and Belgium classic race at chimay

I Originally aquired the frame from Colin Chapman of tpe, he had had it a while but unfortunately some previous muppet had welded a gsx 750 engine in place in the frame

This took me a while to realise that the engine couldn't be taken out until I cut off the badly welded and bodged engine mounts but I had always wanted a rickman and this hiccup wasn't going to stop me

I am also fortunate to have wasp motorcycles located very me so after a couple of visits and chats they agreed to repair the frame and make a new braced swingarm and aligning the gsxr 18" rear wheel the engine has been tilted forward a little and the wheel base is about the same as a p&m so short as its a rickman the tubes are stuck together wit silica bronze brazing so had to be neat

I had debated getting the frame nickel colour powder coated which is a good match but still not quite the same wasp can help but have warned me that polishing the frame prior to replating is horrendous unless I fancy giving a polisher a lot of money to do it for me

I have been pulling together the engine and pull load some pictures separately 

[Markz9]

Had a bit more time to mess about with the rickman getting the front and rear suspension in was a good starting point 

And the tray for the electrics inner rear mudguard and battery box so made up a few cardboard templates and cut up some half hard alloy sheet I already had

 

[Markz9]

An engineering friend and sam baker helped with machining up spacers for the efe front yokes and the caps to remove the anti dive unit internals sam also made a new spindle 

I had been accumulating parts for the build and had a set of twin pot front calipers which will comply with most racing regs miraculously they fit the original efe brake mounts

so thats my lucky brake everything else will need modifications to fit I'm sure 

[Dezza]

Grimeca (AP replica) calipers? Any reason you are sticking with EFE forks?

[R1guy]

2 hours ago, Markz9 said:

An engineering friend and sam baker helped with machining up spacers for the efe front yokes and the caps to remove the anti dive unit internals sam also made a new spindle 

I had been accumulating parts for the build and had a set of twin pot front calipers which will comply with most racing regs miraculously they fit the original efe brake mounts

so thats my lucky brake everything else will need modifications to fit I'm sure 

I don’t think you’ll be able to get the caliper to fully bite the disc with them bolted up like that.

Ask me how I know….

[Markz9]

1 hour ago, Dezza said:

Grimeca (AP replica) calipers? Any reason you are sticking with EFE forks?

Yes the crmc for superbike 1 wheels 18inch and max 38mm forks plus the efe forks are longer so the bike sits 35mm higher than standard gs1000 so not grinding out the engine cases so easily 

[Markz9]

1 hour ago, R1guy said:

I don’t think you’ll be able to get the caliper to fully bite the disc with them bolted up like that.

Ask me how I know….

I did think it was a minor miracle 

[cnap504]

Rare piece, used to ride with a guy who had the Hondoodle cb750 version.  Nice find

[Markz9]

Quick trip over to ray debben performance to drop off some parts for the gs1000 race engine quite a few trick parts Including the nova straight cut primary gears and the katana rods,  kibblewhite shim under buckets with the usual new stuff like valves springs crank seals all the gearbox springs replaced etc 

Crank has been live balanced and aligned 

[Markz9]

This head i had race prep as a spare for the yoshi gs1000 I already compete with although this has the v & h d collars fitted

I will have to pull it apart again as kibblewhite titanium top collars need a different collet to the suzuki type i used and the head will need a surface skim as the compression is quite high on this engine build 

It will start on the button but I use a slave battery so I don't use too much battery power as no charging system is fitted

[Markz9]

A little while ago I managed to find a set of round slide cr keihin smoothbore carbs for se especially as they were 37mm and perfect for racing so these will be going on the rickman 

[Markz9]

Noticed pro bolts had a sale on over Christmas 30% off at least the engine will be a bit lighter 

Even if I have had too much Christmas pudding 

[cnap504]

About the CR’s, great carbs.  5179 needles clip one position leaner than the middle.  58 pilots, 230 air jets, 138 mains, a turn and a half on the air screws.  Using the Keihin black plastic velocity stacks (with the grey lock rings) will noticeably improve response.  14mm float height, and use a push-pull throttle set up, once past 3/4 slide opening they have a tendency to hesitate in closing when relying only on the return spring.

 

Edited January 7, 2022 by cnap504

[Markz9]

Just collected my engine covers, cam cover etc from trestans in Southampton I think they look great even if my tuner hates that finish 

[keith]

like the look of your build so far.hope it go,s well for you

[Kamikaze]

Ahhhhhh Rickman....dont think ive seen one of those built with a suzook engine before. cool project

[clivegto]

8 hours ago, Kamikaze said:

Ahhhhhh Rickman....dont think ive seen one of those built with a suzook engine before. cool project

There is at least 2 on the sight I know of. 

[Markz9]

On 1/29/2022 at 3:36 PM, keith said:

like the look of your build so far.hope it go,s well for you

Thanks trying to make some progress but its a bit slow 

[Kamikaze]

hows it all going, Anymore updates.....

[Markz9]

The down side of several projects on the go at once means I have long gaps between updates 

so to make sure I got the back wheel in alignment I dropped the bike over to Debben performance as they have a lazer alignment I had already sorted the front end with a new spindle Sam made for me 

at this point it looked the frame was bent as the rear wheel would not align

then we discovered the disc used on the swing arm pivot was a 6 and a 9 which meant the swingarm spindle was skewed pushing the arm out 

Edited November 27, 2023 by Markz9
Spelling

[Rijko]

Cool build !

Is that an original (polyester) racetank ? (vs wider "coffin" metal gas tank and dummy tank on top)
That old polyester stuff does not handle the modern day gas very well ... may want to consider that before spending a lot of money on painting.

[Markz9]

Hi yes it’s an original fibreglass tank it is possible to get it lined I’ve found a chap in reading who does it and pressure test after 

[Rijko]

i would not risk it, coating does not hold well on polyester tanks that had gas in them for years.
Talked to my painters over the years, they warn their customers about that.

I ended up having mine reproduced using modern material that withstands modern gas.
Not too expensive, too.

Ofcourse after i done that i found a NOS tank, lined and painted ... the guy spent all that money only to find out he had the Kawa tank with petcock positions different to the H*nda and had it just sitting there

Edited November 29, 2023 by Rijko

[Dezza]

Replica tank in alloy?

[R1guy]

1 hour ago, Dezza said:

Replica tank in alloy?

Chop the bottom out of the original and fit a fuel cell?