Endurance Style Zed

HD XR750 (GLF)

A couple of weeks ago my mate Andy gave me a call on the phone, he was on his way home from a trip down South to pick up a bike as it turns out. We had a blether and he asks me to guess what sort of bike his friend had bought, knowing the type of bikes Dick likes it had to be a Harley, ah but what model? I started off with early Sportster, KH, nope, then it clicked a XR 750?... it was indeed and as it turns out it was the same one that Side Burn had posted a link to when it was for sale.
I haven't seen the bike yet, but Andy sent me these pics.... very nice!






and a few words from Dick

"The bike was, apparently, built in 1985 by Jim Kelly (later Jay Springsteen's mechanic) for Scott Pearson, who raced with the number ‘95’ plate that season.

I have added the letters GLF because I had a shot on it this afternoon and it does indeen Go Like Fuck !!!!"

Friday Bike

A while back there was a post on an advert showing the last of the BSA line up for 72, which lead on to talking about the BSA Fury/ Triumph Bandit. As expected when the factory closed there would be loads of spares to dispose of, and among the parts was quite a few frames for the "new" Bandit/ Fury's. I remember seeing a few dealers advertising them for sale in the magazines, even into the 80s. Over the years I've seen a few specials built with the frames. Triumph/ BSA had a go at building other "projects" with them, with a couple of them on show at the NMM.
So what brought on this post? well I was at a CRMC race meeting and spotted the bike below, its built round a Bandit frame, using a late 650 (70s) Triumph motor with a 750 parallel inlet head, topped off with a Bandit fuel tank... it goes as well as it looks

MZ GT250 "werks" model

GT250 "werks" model made in 1980

While looking for a Friday Bike I came across the Vintage Enduro site, link in the title. There are loads of old ISDT bikes for you to drool over and a fair bit of info.

The MZ in the above pic really caught my eye, it shows they were up there with the rest of the European manufacturers in the 80s with their competition bikes.

You'll see the GT250 a few times in the Vid below

Little Honda

It looks so good I just had to post the pic. A lot of effort and time went into building this bike, click on title for the story

Friday Bike

Very nicely done Racer/ Cafe Racer based on a Yamaha XS400, don't have any more details on it.

Friday Bike

A bit late but here's the Friday Bike. Its a Tony Foale Kawa, more details later..

This is one of my bikes that I built over 04/05. It started as a frame and some parts that I ended up buying while collecting a pair of silencers for the Kawasaki Avenger I had at the time, that would be 1999. The frame was built by Tony Foale some time in the late 70s early 80s and was originally designed to take a CB 750 sohc engine. It was basically taken home and put in the garage till the tail end of 04. Out came the the frame a bits to see what was what, followed by a few emails to Tony Foale for some info on the frame. He didn't have any real records of the early frames he built, but did remember the guys name that was in the log book (reg papers). Turns out that he had bought a complete rolling chassis and bodywork kit, that was the frame and swing arm, TF leading link forks, TF wheels, lockhead brakes and alloy tank. That would have been a fair amount of money back then.
So being more of a Kawa man the empty space in the frame would have to be filled with a Kawa motor. The dummy Zed motor was tried for size, and surprisingly the mounts all lined up, only needing a very slight tweak. So it looked like the project was a goer. Next step was to check what was in the boxes that came with the frame, there was a full set of brakes, most parts as new. I had the basic forks but no fittings, well they turned out to be in one of box all wrapped up... starting to look good. Time for a dry build, forks on frame, front wheel in and centre it in forks, work out spacers for wheel, spacers and bolts seemed to be missing for everything. A few more days work and the wheels were lined up, the dummy engine was in place bolted up with new spacers and even had the chain alignment spot on.
On to the next problem, what is the bike going to look like??? a Cafe racer, all in black to go with the chrome frame, or a style that I've liked for years, the "Endurance Racer" look. Well you can see from the pics what I went for. The twin head light fairing came from a mate, the seat was another problem as I needed the "look". On a trip to VJMC show at Donigton in Feb 05 my problem answered, there was a group of guys there showing their Classic Endurance racers. After a few hours talking to them a deal was done for me to borrow the seat off one of their bikes, and with in the week the mould was made, the new seats made and their seat sent back with two spares.





Time to strip it all down for welding, painting and polish. Next problem which engine to fit, after a bit of thought the engine came out of my No2 Rickman Kawa. It was a Z900 motor bored to 998cc with a Yoshi kit and some Yoshi fast road cams, topped off with a set of 28mm carbs off a MK2. Rebuild went well, everything fitted as it should and was starting to look good.







The body work just had to be Green, the paint work was carried out at the front of the garage in a make shift booth... I had green hair for weeks after that :-)
From buying a silecer to end up building an Endurance racer, thats the fun of old bikes, you never know were they'll take you...

Friday Bike

It started life as a Road going Rickman Kawasaki CR and was converted to a race bike, I think about 10 years ago. My friend Colin had seen it for sale at the Oct 05 Stafford show, a deal was done and we picked it up a few months later. Quick spec on the bike, Z900 based engine bored to 1075cc, Kent Cams(dont know spec), 31CRs, Astralite wheels, TZ disca and Lockhead calipiers. There is also a full fairing, TZ 750, but looks a lot better with out it...

Friday Bike 2

Just to make up for the other Friday Bike, heres a nice take on the Ducati Paul Smart (PS)1000 , look a lot better with the exhaust pipes coming out the right place

Old Photos

I love looking at old photos as long as there is a Bike or Car in it somewhere. I like to try and find the story behind the photo, not always easy, and wonder if , like in this photo where is the Bike now and is the Rider still about?



That is Bob Holt riding Ed Kretz pre war big base scout, FDB 381 at the 1949 Daytona 100 mi. race*. He took 3rd # 15 in 1948, 4th 1949. Kretz had Bobby Turner ride the bike the next day in the 200 miler. Bobby expired at 176 miles, placing 38th



* That was when it they ran it half on the beach and the road that ran parallel to it, by the late 40s it was just over 4 miles per lap.


Well the current owner of the Indian, Gary Landeen, managed to track down Bob Holt, and some of the subsequent owners, heres one of the photos he took of the 81yr old back on the same Indian 61 years between the photos, great to see.

Friday Bike

Two fantastic bikes built by John Britten and his team from New Zealand
John was a brilliant engineer, be it motorcycles or designing and building his own house. Unfortunately he died aged 45 in 1995, theres is no doubt he would have had some fantastic ideas to come.
A few years ago I was given a copy of "dare to dream" The John Britten Story, its his life story and one I enjoyed reading.
If you click on the Friday Bike title at the top it should open a link telling you about John and the bikes

sounds like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le15rkBbIsw&feature=related