saturday night, i-pod on shuffle.

saturday night at race headquarters, filing cabinet i nicked from work to store my tools in.

me, on my chop, photo's from american-v feature, i was happy back then, me on the sporty, barse on the shovel, building bikes for fun, totally illegal, no speedo, no indicators, not even a fucking stand, bit of wood stuffed in jacket pocket and wedged under footpeg, we got passed by the law on the way to the shires show, they just looked at us like we were shit, they didn't want the paperwork, we caned onto the campsite, superstylin', i ripped all the fins off my regulator, clip-on's on the sporty, sky high apes on the shovel.

saltfighter sporty.

my chop in american -v magazine, april/may 2008.

it's not just me then, des, #42, one week before the season opens at brands...........

cal.

classic racer, i reckon it's the best motorcycle magazine available, been up to worksop in the week to pick up 62 copies off a bloke who was selling them on e-bay, they are immaculate, all the stickers, posters and supplements included, felt sorry for him, he was 'downsizing', moving to a bungalow and his mr's said he had to get rid of his collection as they wouldn't have room in the new house, got chatting to him and he raced a 500 triumph back in the day, really nice bloke, he had loads of stories to tell but all i wanted to do was get home, it was snowing heavily, i was tired and i felt guilty that i didn't take up his offer of a brew, wasted opportunity, i'm a twat me, could have learnt a lot.

i really thought that i would make the brands hatch meeting in early march, perhaps snetterton at the end of march but realistically we are looking at pembrey, may bank holiday as the first race, i seriously underestimated the amount of funds, brain-power and time needed to build a racer, shake it down and make the necessary adjustments just to get it to run, never mind be competitive, instead of feeling sorry for myself and waiting for the powder-coating to come back so we could get a rolling chassis i decided to crack on with some of the job's which still need doing, junk the oil pump cover, bribe sue at works husband to raid the scrap bin for carbon-fibre off-cuts and make a new cover and.......

chop the ignition cover to make it into something a bit more presentable, the original, [ok it's not the original, it's got holes drilled in it and the cover has already been cut back and chamfered, i'm only human, i sometimes forget to take 'work in progress' shots if i get sucked into the project, sorry], heavy and ugly, [ and that's just the rider], needs some therapy, [and that's just the rider too], lets think about how we can make it lighter and better looking, [note to rider, diet, exercise, get my teeth whitened, sunbed, sharp suit, fuck me, i'm george michael].

cut the back of the ignition cover/gearbox sprocket cover back to the webbing which provides the weather protection to the ignition unit, clean up on the miller and dress with a file and wet and dry to finish, note chamfered cover.