Harris Magnum 4 Tribute

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Morning all. Well, after seeing Pete’s amazing Kat on these pages, i thought I’d better show you the Mag 4 build. I bought the bike a couple of years ago now. It was advertised on facebook but to be honest, it looked very sorry for itself. Dented tank, shitty R1 seat and rattle can paint on the frame. My mate Dave Swingarm Roberts came with me to get it one Friday evening. We decided to go pick it up from Romford and double back to the Ace Cafe after for food. So, on the Saturday i stripped it down to a bare frame. The idea was to rebuild it using Bandit wheels and Slingshot front end. Nothing major, just a nice useable special. Well, Dave mentioned that if i were to sell the frame kit he would buy it. He said I’d sold the Mag 2 kit to John Martin and he had wanted it. So after being worn down for a couple of weeks, i sold the kit to Dave. He started getting sime bits together. He had a donor engine and scored a set of Harris rearsets from a good mate. All was going well until one day Dave turned up at mine on his bike and broke the bad news. He had been to see a specialist and he had Liver Cancer. I cant describe how i felt that day. It wasnt long after my Mum had died, so the rawness was still present. Dave sadly passed away some 5 months later. We had his funeral. He had his last ride in a Busa hearse and managed 89 mph before the whole thing started to shake lol. His other half Jane asked 3 of us if we would build his bikes. A tribute to the big fella. Pete has done an outstanding job of building the Kat. Leigh Kerridge has nearly finished rebuilding Dave’s trusty steed, his black Bandit. And i have been building the Mag 4. I sat with Jane and we came up with a plan. We had a vision of what Dave wanted. It was to be black with gun metal colour paintwork. This was how it looked the day i bought it. 

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The man himself. Many of you will remember him from various shows and bike meets. He would chat to anyone about all sorts for hours. 

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This was how it came back to me. A completely blank canvas. 

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So i put my lathe to good use again. Made loads of little bits. Anodised black and the ofd polished bit for contrast. I was faffin about trying to come up with a seat design. I knew what i wanted but disnt know if it existed. Adam Croxall messaged me. He said,”why not just use a Rotax item” as it turns out, the Rotax seat unit was fitted by Harris in development and the tank was designed to flow with the seat. I was trying to reinvent the wheel. 

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So, the frame went off to Gary at Promo Polishing and Powder Coating. I decided on the fine texture satin black as ive used it before on my old Bandit 1371 and also have had one of my Spondons done in the same stuff. It looks lovely. Once the frame was media blasted, there were a couple of areas that needed attention. So, picked up and off to Harris’s was the only option. They put it on the jig and checked it. Glad to say it was still straight. They filled the damaged areas with bronze weld and then it was ready for powder.  That gave me some time to prep and paint the engine. 

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So, frame back from the powder man and in with the lump. Gary also coated the engine covers too. Sam Baker made a set of yokes with risers too. Bloody lovely. They’re pocketed out. Bit different than the norm. 

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More stuff made on the lathe and bits anodised. 

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Almost every bolt head seen has been cleaned up on the lathe and polished. Paint came back. It looked stunning except one area on the tank. Tank went back to be sorted. It hs to be perfect. Nothing less will do. 

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The design was taken from a painting Dave did back in the day. It was called “Digital Tornado”. I’ve used the design as the theme of this tribute to him. 

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More random pics

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More work on the lathe

[Blubber]

Some very nice details and touches on that bike.

 

A worthy tribute and a possible Botm candidate 

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Wiring loom started. Front end back from powder and polish. Brakes and lines fitted and bled. Engine oil in. 

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I’ve fitted tygon hose for my reservoir tubes. The original front masters from Aprilia had 90 degree fittings. So made a couple of straight ones. 

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Finish the loom, fit the number plate bracket, make and fit the carbon undertray, fit the bodywork and it’s about done. Another couple of weeks hopefully. 

[markfoggy]

Awesome.

[clivegto]

Beatiful bike great build mate.

[dupersunc]

Lovely lovely build.

One piece of advice if I may.

The tygon reservoirs. You need a breather hole on brake reseviors. You normally have a tiny hole in the cap and a rubber bellow beneath. With no breather hole, like those stupid "hrc" tubes, as the pads wear or the fluid heats up an cools, the Pistons pull back to where they are when the pads where new and you get a load of travel on the brake lever. It only takes a tiny amout of wear to cause issues.

[Dezza]

Great attention to detail

[beam]

wow , that's wonderful

Lots of nice little touches

[Stumpy]

Thats lovely.

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36 minutes ago, dupersunc said:

Lovely lovely build.

One piece of advice if I may.

The tygon reservoirs. You need a breather hole on brake reseviors. You normally have a tiny hole in the cap and a rubber bellow beneath. With no breather hole, like those stupid "hrc" tubes, as the pads wear or the fluid heats up an cools, the Pistons pull back to where they are when the pads where new and you get a load of travel on the brake lever. It only takes a tiny amout of wear to cause issues.

Yep. I learnt this lesson a while back. Had one of those streetfighter bling rear reservoirs. It kept locking the rear brake up. The little caps i made have a tiny hole in. 

[KATANAMANGLER]

Usual exceptionaly high standard of work Gary. I've been following the build on FB. Thanks for taking the time share it here.

Looking forward to taking a good look round it at Donington.

[stockcar]

Not sure i came across Dave but thats a stunning tribute to what was obviously a good friend

[Fazz711]

Stunning build. Great tribute