Nose to the Grindstone

Home from Mallory on Thursday night, unloaded the bikes, ate and started finishing work on the Triumph again... I only lasted till midnight. I was cream-crackered. I had to get both bikes pretty much ready to roll down Bray Hill by Sunday night as I was travelling for work early on Monday until the night before our ferry to the Isle of Man in 10 days time.

Those lovely WalterMoto rear-sets don't have an exhaust hangar on them... maybe I got the wrong ones. Not much I could do about it than make my own exhaust hangar...

A bit rough... but strong... up for the job and done.

Can't even see it hidden behind the rear-set...

Up early on Sat to pickup a delivery at the post-office and run a few errands before getting back to work on the Triumph. JT had done a fantastic job getting the bike this far in such a short space of time. It's the details that make the difference... and these are the details that take to most time to get right. It's got to be right.

Replaced those horrible after-market brake reservoirs with standard items on a 'TT' mounting

Paintwork: Steve at MTS Classics was going to do my paintwork... a professional 2-pack job that will make the bike pop. Bad timing... Steve was away racing at Anglesey for the weekend and I had to get it done on the weekend to get some of the other finishes and prep done. Almost all my race bikes in the past have had a rattle-can paint job... not as durable or shiny as a pro job... but will still look good at 100mph. I got rattling.

Using nature's spray booth. A challenge in the bright sunlight, a breeze... loads of dust and insects sticking to the wet paint. We like a challenge.

My drying cabinet...

I spent most of Saturday on the fairings; prepping, priming, masking, color and then a few clear coats of lacquer. Between the painting I did the little jobs. It was pretty much non-stop till I ran out of lacquer after about 8 hours. I'm no pro and it was all done in such a short space of time... so we had a few runs, bleeds and finger marks. I just hope it doesn't look like crap after a week of being pelted with stones in practice. I've ordered some helicopter tape for the leading edges that help with that.

Beautifully simple - a kit race loom, lithium battery and Bazzaz fuelling module strapped in with care and attention to detail by JT.

I wired in the rain rain light and switch...

I kept going on the other stuff till 1 in the morning. A few hours sleep then back on the job early on Sunday. At Halfords as they open the doors for more lacquer... then back to finishing it all off. By 16h00 I still had a list of things to do, but these could be managed on the Isle.

I got cracking on prepping the wee bike - the KMR. Check, prep, oil change and some clutch steels for adjustment (I felt some clutch slip on track). Still stuff to do (like new tyres and sponsor decals), but things that we can do in about 2 hours on the Isle.

More precision detail - this time on the KMR. A custom clutch setup by Ryan Farquhar carrying additional plates to handle the extra power of the wee 650 twin. About  30% more than standard. Check out that beautiful billet clutch basket.. a billet engine cover spacer too. Proper!

Dinner, pack the spares, pack the tool box, make lists, lots of lists. By midnight my head hits the pillow for a few hours kip before being up at 04h00 to travel for work. A serious lack of sleep... my hands, arms and back aching from the work that I'm not accustomed to. All goot conditioning for the TT. I can catch up on the sleep over the next week.

I love lists. 

It's been a big push, but the bikes are pretty much there... just a few hours more on each when were on the Isle and we're ready to rock 'n roll. Bring on some rest and sleep over the next 9 days...

Starting to look good :-)

KMR Prep

Been spending some time prepping the KMR Kawasaki.
Not a huge amount to do...

Fitted a new MRA screen - no more cracks or holes during the TT fortnight. Also fitted some ex-Ducati 888 PirelliSupercorsas

Some pedigree - Jeremy McWilliams winning one of the lightweight races at the Northwest 200 on the wee bike in 2013. I've got those fairings and seat unit in bubble-wrap.

Fitted a compulsory rear light.

 Checked everything... and I mean everything. Every single bolt, fastener, wire, cable. Everything. No cleaning needed - spotless when I got her from Warren.

Some custom KMR velocity stacks and porting inside a heavily modified airbox. The business :-)

 New number-boards... and stuck with the Speed Therapy tradition of hand-cut numbers :-)

Got a track-day booked at Mallory Park later this week for a shake-down. After that, an oil change, some graphics/sponsors/contributors and the's good to roll down Glencrutchery Road. Now... what about that Triumph...

IOM 2014 Day 13 - Final Prep

After the success of Wednesday's Supertwins race, we decided not to go out on the Aprilia for a final practice. I was happy with the bike and had nothing to test or learn. The final practice was cut short because of a civilian emergency and the riders didn't even get a full lap in anyway.

Thursday we spent going over everything on the Aprilia. Everything. And prepping her for the Senior race on Friday. We were all done by the afternoon and spent the rest of the day and evening chilling out.

ManxGP 2012 - Day 13 - Betty Gets Better

Yesterday's Supertwins race was such and slow, easy ride that when I took off my helmet in Parc Firme, there wasn't a bead of sweat on my brow. I hopped off the wee bike content that we'd finished and immediately got the big bike ready for a lap of practice that was to be run within half an hour - needed to test those changes and see what's she's like.

On one of the laps I smacked my helmet on the steering damper...

Big Betty didn't disappoint. She felt a bit weird at first on semi-warm tyres with those changes. But I settled into the new feeling and by the 7 mile marker I started to wind her up. She wan't wheeling everywhere or shaking her head and fighting me. Now that's more like it! Compared with the sick Suzuki I had just got off, she felt like a missile! That was a fun lap.

Garage life! Today has been an easy day...

Maybe I was taking out my frustration of pootling around and the wee bike, mabe I was just warmed up. I blasted a 108mph lap from a standing start. Almost my fastest lap of the TT Mountain Course... ever!

Betty lookin' purdy

Just given her a full check and clean today... no more changes. She's all prepped and ready to rock'n roll! It's been such a quiet day that I have even had time to clean my leathers. Charging the cameras for tomorrow's race at 13h15 - hoping to have a good race and get some good footage.

Can't wait to get out there and GO FAST!

We Go Factory!

Earlier on in the year I was thinking about the ideal Manx GP weapon for the Senior race... and two bikes made the shortlist (VeeTwin, 1000cc maximum). A Ducati 999 or an Aprilia RSV Factory. Couldn't afford to build and tune either (especially a Duke) so have been keeping an eye open for a decent ex-race machine.

For Sale - Race bike that's been thrashed around and thrown down UK circuits all it's life.

She looks a bit gawky and weird when nekkid - that huge air scoop swallows small babies and grannies whole - mean!

By the time May rolled around, nothing worthy came up and I had resigned to giving it another go on the old 1998 Aprila RSV. She's been to four ManxGPs... but only completed two... and only one I would consider a success (2006). Besides, I couldn't really afford another bike.

Everything gets lockwired for racing on the Isle...

...everything...

...it's da rulz!

Things that aren;t lockwired are Locktighted.

Mid-May, in the 'For Sale' section of a race forum, I spotted an RSV that I raced against in 2004 and 2005. My mate Don Plane built the engine back in 2007 - with a mild tune. It had all the right bits and was worth the asking price but it had sold the next day and I only saw the ad a week later. "Pity." I thought and got down to prepping the old beast.

The mandatory overflow tank...

... and non-mandatory rad mesh. Not seen much on short circuits, but on the Isle, catch a stone without it and it'll end your race. I've had these battered before.

A week after this the ad popped up again - the seller had been messed about. The bike was only 10 miles from me so I went to see it. I assesed what it was and how much it needed doing for the Manx, the asking price, the spares it came with, the 'honesty' look of the owner, the history and the "duh-duh-duh-duh" of it's 990cc Vee Twin. I had really try hard not to look too keen and bite the owner's arm off... I even tried to haggle on the price... but it was a very weak attempt. I wanted it!

Quick-Action throttle and new Rethal grips...

... and a few more bits robbed from the old RSV. Tasty levers! Tank also lifted an inch so that she can breathe...

So, at the end of May I bought an Aprilia RSV Factory - a bike that I can't really afford and have no space for. It's only a 2003 model... 9 years old... but 5 years younger than the Manx tool she's replacing. That's gotta be worth at least 1mph per lap! I had the SV in bits on the workbench, so the Factory was stuffed in the corner of the garage.

A quickshifter... felt awesome when hammering through the gears flat out on the dyno... gonna be fun!

The standard pegs on these bling rear-sets look nice but are functionally crap. Proper Harris stylee pegs from my old bike's spares box...

While wedged between other bikes, I managed to do some acrobatic contortions and get her forks and shock out. All checked, serviced, springs changed and set-up by K-Tech (fuck-me, they've become expensive!).

We got Ohlins! Refreshed, resprung and setup for some Island lapping

Trying out a different lightweight battery... I think it's lighter than the Durbahn ones I normally use

In June I managed to re-unite her with Don who gave her a health check and a toon-up. Ditching the ram-air bollocks the previous owner had fitted and a bit of dyno work got her from 126bhp to 132 bhp at the wheel. Nice! She was given a good run on the dyno and came back with a clean health-check. I was half expecting her to blow up... you never know who has done what to ex race bikes... and there are a lot of muppets out there. Super-sweet!

MRA Plexiglass screen - twice the price, but it's the stuff they make fighter-jet canopies out of. No holes. Werf it mate!

After I finished the SV last week, I hauled her onto the workbench early Saturday morning for some Manx-proofing. Sorting bikes properly and an making things that aren;t quite right, right. Takes a lot of fiddling about and mucking around. By 19h00 last night she was ready for testing.

An old pic I found online of John... I normally saw the rear view in 2004/05... he had an unfair advantage

Booked a test session at Mallory on Wednesday afternoon to take her and the SV for a spin. Hopefully all will be well and that just leaves a bit of final prep and they are both ready to lap the Isle of Man.

Basic paint on - still to be liveried up... red, white 'n blue!