so, i admit it, i've spunked a fortune on the mz racer and the bmw racer project, i guess i just back the underdog everytime, i should have just bought a honda instead of trying to build and race a hopelessly underpowered machine, but i suppose i'm just an old romantic who believes that dreams really do come true and you can compete on a level playing field, can you fuck, so, beemer gone and after the fun i had on my almost standard 900ss at the classic bike trackday in august i've decided to build the 750 'poverty' bike into a track bike and to have some fun on the 'cheap'. my aim is to build an 'unradical' ducati, the spanish 'radical' company folded earlier this year, the official line was that they had achieved everything they wanted to and they were moving onto pastures new, the forums, blogs and 'tinterweb were full of stories of piss-poor quality parts and broken promises. so, my vision for this bike is mild tuning, weight loss and just general 'massaging' of parts to achieve a nice, tidy bike thats fun to ride and doesn't cost a fortune. i'm sticking with the 'poverty' standard single caliper and disc, it won't develop enough power to need a twin disc/caliper set up, i'm going to use the hideous red plastic braided lines, [don't worry, they are stainless braided underneath and just need the stupid coating stanley blading off] a sprinkling of hand made carbon bits, [out of the off-cuts i can get from a 'certain well known aerospace manufacturer'] some stainless fasteners, cheapo chinese levers and carbon cans, a bit of rattle can and powdercoating, decent tyres and careful preparation, basically everything that goes into a loveless bike. case in point, the seat unit, sourced from moto-carbon in sheffield, a couple of bits of quarter tubing machined up to make the seat mountings, still to be welded onto the frame, the seat rails abbreviated by a foot, [or 300mm for our metric fans] lot's of work to do, i mean, just look at the pigeon shit welding on the original seat mounting brackets! but, take a look at the mock up of the seat / tank combo, can you really imagine anything else looking better? 'just remind me, what is it you do?' 'i do bad things.............'
You've got your work cut out for you Mr. Loveless. If the finished product looks anything like the top pic from your last post it'll pass muster with me, (for what that's worth.)
ReplyDeleteYou're obviously the type who can't leave anything the hell alone, but this one is definitely in need of some caressing.
That welding looks like a really badly crimped pasty, shocking!
ReplyDeleteWow...drop out of 'cyber-world' for awhile....and so much has changed. The newish bike is looking so much better already...just an idea...you might be able to fashion a heavy duty hanger for your racing leathers from that left over frame piece...OK, I'm leaving....before I have to duck the odd spanner, chunk of left over alloy, or a can of fish A-holes...
ReplyDeletehello hermit, yep, deffo needs some therapy for sure! jan, 'badly crimped pasty', brilliant! sounds like a track off the new aphex twin album! wotcha larry. good to have you back man, thought you might have decided to follow whitey into the black hole! must admit i did laugh at your comment on the 'great coat-hanger' scandal! i wondered if anyone had clocked it. i'm very dissapointed in the reaction i had, i actually posted two more replys but they got deleted, must have touched a nerve i guess? the 'g' man has been to my house, we talked a lot during the early days of the magazine, both gary and ben, we talked bikes, music, culture and football but i suppose i outlived my usefulness as the mag grew in popularity. i expected a witty reply, not just the 'hard-man' approach and deleting my replies only tells half the story i'm afraid, oh well, i suppose when you are only interested in shifting units, product placement and selling 'merch' it's a waste of time having anything to do with the common people. anyway, like i said in one of the comments that got deleted, gary is a very good journalist and i enjoy his work, shame that he took the hump but like he said 'zero fucks given'..........
DeleteI'd chalk it up to jet lag Tim...G's been back and forthing to the US a lot...back to the UK for Sammy Halbert...now off to Spain for some Dirt Track with Sammy...I'm sure down the road some time you'll be sharing pints and stories at some pub or somewhere...got to meet Gary and Ben and other Sideburn personnel...and the 'Co-built' Crew at DirtQuake US...had a great time and hope they do it again next Summer...
DeleteLooking forward to watching you apply carbon-fibre goodness and other Loveless Engineering touches to your latest project. Oh yeah...a certain Australian bloke says he's having a man over to probe and poke his computer....so look out Blogworld!!
cheers larry, got some interesting mods in mind for the ducati, pass on my regards to the big ginger haired poof for me, tell him i miss him and the offers still open for the classic tt next year if he can get his arse in gear! [and tell him to get his finger out and get posting on his blog again, and the same goes for you too mate!]
ReplyDelete