Manx Prep - Suzy V

Been prepping Suzy V for the Manx... clean, check everything, new battery, move the rad, oil change, brake fluid change, measure everything again... lockwire, polish the screen and do the numbers.

 

Had a few clearance issues at ManxGP 2012...

 

Filter and some sweet Rock Oil - first time I've changed oil on the wee bike!

Hand-cut vinyl numbers... yeah, baby!

Made a new helmet bump-stop (when everything bottoms out at the bottom of Bray Hill, the helmet normally clouts the tank/damper)

... it has a hole to hold the gas cap during the pit-stop. Factory!

I then ordered a new gas cap because the one I have has 'issues' ... ho-hum.

 

 

All numbered up and ready for the Isle

She's now ready to rock 'n roll. Two bikes out of three done. Worried I gonna run out of time with the Ducati... engine is still coming together and I got loads to do on her.

Three Down - Three to Go

Headed out to Mallory Park for a wee bit o road racing on Saturday for the third of my six qualifying races for the ManxGP (I earned my first two by finishing ManxGP 2010). It was a ThundersportGB event - well organised.

Suzy V lookin' damn fine an sweet!

When I got there the paddock was rammed - everyone had been there since Friday morning doing testing/practice. My first session was Qualifying. Having had zero practice, being a crap 'Qualifier' and the first time on Suzy V on a short circuit - I only placed #19 on the grid of 21.

First time out on wickedly-sick-bling Braking discs from one of my sponsors: Talon Engineering. Man, they are the mutts-nuts on track... and just propped up on paddock stands

Race 1 - I get a rubbish start and stay out of trouble in the first corner - easy when you're last! I make up a couple of places on the first lap. Things settle down and a few laps later I'm at the tail of 4 bike train. I'm thinking "Race On! This is gonna be fun!". Then dear Suzy starts to feel flat above 8000 rpm. Like she's running on one cylinder. I just twist that throttle harder! She gets worse and I start dropping off the pace... over 7000 rpm and she chugs along. I couldn't hear any strange noises from the engine so figure it must be a spark or fuel problem... I screw that throttle harder. I get overtaken... she's just not going. Now over 6000 rpm she's running one one cylinder. I keep going. I HAVE to finish!

I get lapped by the leaders... a good thing because I have 1 less lap to do! It's the first time I've ever been relieved to be lapped! Suzy was getting worse and I was just circulating... expecting to be black-flagged. I finish second last - no idea what the guy in last place was doing out there!

The part of racing I hate - sorting bikes that don't work properly

Between races I pop the tank up and find a frayed and loose coil connector.They have such crappy connectors on the coil - cheap Suzuki shit. I sort it and she seems ok.

The offending 2 penny shitty connector

Race 2 - Of course... the more time you have before a race, the less sorted you'll be for the race. I started riding to the assembly area without gloves... I was wondering why my hands were so cold! Doh. The grid is just about to set off on the warm-up lap as I scramble to my spot. 'Sorry' I wave and then it starts raining. It really comes down during the warm-lap, but by the time we're around it's stopped. They hold us there for 5 minutes, then give us another warm-up lap. It's not going to be a wet race as the track is drying.

Plenty of time for a gearing change and some suspension tweaks between races - more wicked Talon products!

I get a decent start off the line and we all tip-toe into the first corner. I barrel through the spray and make up another 3 or 4 places. Wet race - bring it on! I make up a few more places during the next 2 or 3 laps and am in the top 10. Yeeha! Then everyone starts going faster... apparently there was a dry line - but I couldn't see it through my dark visor. Doh! I can only think of the finish as I'm doubtful the lapped, second-last place in Race 1 is going to count. I ride careful to make sure of the finish. I must have pulled quite a gap on the guys behind by lap 5 because I was only caught by 2 riders on the last lap. They passed me easily and I took 12th.

Happy with that, but a little annoyed with myself that I had the wrong visor on and I backed off so much to make ultra-sure of the finish. A 10th was there for the taking. Oh - and Suzy was faultless!

Three down - three to go!

Suzy came good in the end - but I couldn't really make good of her in the limited laps and conditions

In all a successful day and I made a new race friend - I parked up next to Rob Chisholm on a similar (old and cheap) SV with a 916 fairing (nice!). Rob also has ManxGP aspirations, is a heck of a nice guy and a living hero. He's a combat medic in the Army who has already done 3 tours in Iraq and is off to Afganistan in a few months. I think Anglesey in early May is my next meeting with ThundersportGB - hope to see you there Rob!

 Sergeant Rob C

Santa was here

Santa was here and left this present outside my house.

Got all the bits - lookin' sweet and soundin' sweet...

He left a sheet that says 75bhp at the wheel... that's at least 20 more than the wee monster.

30% more ponies... should be able to hussle around the Isle quicker than 92mph.

She's tucked away, warm in the garage for the winter now. No more ice or salt (she was covered in it from the journey home) for this girl. Will break her out after March for a bit of testing/development and will see if she cooks as well as she looks.

Merry Christmas!

(thanks Gary at SDC Performance for the great build)

To the Dark Side

After the running Mike's wee monster at this year's Manx GP successfully, but only as fast as the modest 60bhp would allow us, I asked the Manx MCC to make allowances for air-cooled twins in the Ultralightweight class and allow me to run a 696 or 800cc monster at next year's Manx GP (similar bhp to a 'Minitwin' Suzuki SV650). This request was turned down. Looks like as with the TT, the organizers make the rules to suit cookie-cutter racing... this of course makes it all easier for them to organise and police. Yep, another-fuckin-jix-ah-thou.

So... if you can't beat 'em. Join 'em.

Not having the time to build another race bike (I'm working away from home 5 days a week and have a flat-tracker project coming up...) I started looking for an SV race bike two weeks ago. It turns out that SDC Performance were building a couple... so I jumped.

Speaking to Gary at SDC on teh phone, it felt a bit weird 'ordering' your race bike. Engine tune... rear shock... frame color... wheel color... bodywork. Felt like I was in the garage on 'Need for Speed' scrolling through options and hitting the 'Select' button on bling go-fast doodabs... some just because they're cool.

Only 10 days ago the deposit was made and the build began.

Starting with pulling apart an el cheapo 2001 road bike...

Clean and prep all the bits. Full engine service, comp check, shim clearances...

Give it a lick of paint...

And then put it all back together again...

Some tasty custom SDC parts like front and rear subframes...

So far lookin' good. Got some updated pics from Gary today that I'll post later.

Feels strange that I'm burning the midnight oil over it in my garage. Like it's not really happening... like I'm reading some blokes blog about their bike build.