So off we trucked all 330+ miles to south west Wales and it was raining when we turned up after 9 odd hours!

On Saturday morning we awoke to more rain and a really muddy campsite and gazebo set up, luckily I had pulled an old rug out of my neighbours skip prior to leaving that was spot on for standing the bike on, Matt on the other hand used some boarding that formed the side walls of my van!

I missed my first track session and to be honest was not that bothered, I had a new bike to get used to, a new track, an engine to run in, new brakes to bed in, tyres to learn and to top it off it was still raining. Once I had finished the last little bits of prep on the bike I ventured out on to a wet track only to find the TZR was not that bad to ride but there was a long way to go to get some confidence on these dry tyres in the wet.

Once the afternoon was upon us we managed to get two dry track sessions, by which time the tyres were scrubbed, brakes bedded in and the engine revving to the max.

It soon became apparent that there was going to be a few things to get used to before we would be pushing at the front of any races. You see the last bike I raced was my old SV650 mini-twin which Matt Hinnells is now running, this was back at Snetterton in sept 09 and that requires a different riding style, has different brakes more weight and power.

Saturdays racing saw me having to start in 25^th place that was the last slot on the grid as I had no championship points. From there it was going to be fun finding out how fast I could be or how far up the grid I could climb. I think a good start was made and that saw me get up to a mid pack position in the early stages and after a good battle with some more established YPMers and Sqwelch who was forced off track in the early laps I finished my first race just outside the top ten in 11^th.

From then on it was clear that my lap times were ok but needed to improve if I was to climb any further, corner speed and track knowledge I thought were the biggest things.

Race 2 saw a really good battle for the last few places in the top ten with me finally managing to claim 9^th but only after Paul Norris ran his TDR onto the crass exiting the final hair pin but hey I thought I would have managed a move exiting the kink any way?

Sunday races were really good fun with me managing an 8^th in race one after a run to the line between myself and Bike magazines Tony Hoare, Tony coming out on top with 7^th place with a 0.055 of a second advantage. (I should not have tried to go for 6^th gear ! I should have just revved the tits off her)

Race 2, well I sort of went backwards, after a mega start I was running in 5^th close enough to the front to see Mike Smith hop out of the seat and take a trip across the grass! I ended up in 10^th but was not unpleased with this as the time I had with the quicker riders has retrospectively allowed to me work out what I,am not doing on the bike, lets hope it works next time out.

YPM racing is a right laugh and in no way slow.

I promised Senior Management that I’d redecorate the living room this time home, so I flew into that with gusto straight away. Three days later, job done. Now, to the bike.

A phone call from Graham File brought some disappointing news. He’s been let down by one his suppliers, so a bearing that my number one engine needs is going to be late. So, I’m not going to get it back until the end of the month. This means I’m going to have to get as much done as possible before the lump returns.

I’ve made new brackets for the seat unit and fairing nose. The new black frame now has these fitted to a point that I can mount the Mychron dash I’m going to try. The nose mount part may have some additional pieces later.

I’m going to trial using a plastic plate for mounting the electrics in the tail. It’s a lot lighter than the alloy one I had fitted before, but a bit more sturdy than using sheet. I’ve put some foam strips under it to try and minimise the vibration.

I’ve got a local metal supply company that I’m getting alloy from nice and cheap and have now found an engineering firm that’ll do little alloy welding jobs for me too. I thought about buying a TIG welding kit, but for how much I have to do it’s not really worth it.

I was going to spray and fit my new bodywork, but with time flying by, I’m going to leave that until last. I’ll make sure my current set will fit OK, then if I get time to do the new stuff then I will.

The new R6 master cylinder should arrive soon, so I can attempt to get that to work with a standard caliper. 

So, bits and pieces are getting done, but I think it’s going to be a mad rush when the lovely new engine gets home.

Seat brackets and plastic plate

Nose cone mounts. A spare will be ready in case!

Still looking a long way off!

The seat position has been bugging me for a while now so temporary brackets were made up to see what sort of height would be good for me and the bike, once I was happy I made up some brackets using some nice ally box section. Of course these were then lightended extensively and I think you have to agree they look the dogs. These are not just seat brackets as they also house the battery and the CDI and power valve boxes are mounted on them.

A trip to the Excel bike show saw me come home with another front nose cone and seat unit so a whole spare set of body work now resides ready to be fitted when the inevitable happens or amybe even fitted to the other 1KT residing at the back of the garage.

Because of the above I thought it was about time to build up a front fairing bracket, I tried to emulate the origional one using one of fat lads spares as a template, this was bent to feck much like him so a nice and simple ally one was made up, light, strong and straightenable. 

 I have had a few problems with the rear sets of choice for YPM`s, to be honest they are well made but to me they are not suitably designed, The supplied exhaust mounts are far too wide and the exhausts are mounted way too low. So rather than modify the location point of the rubbers in the hangers I have ended up drilling new holes in my lovelly new Jolly exhausts! This solved the ground clearance issue but the pips still sat way too wide. Speaking to fellow ramits and checking a few pics on http://www.racing-line-photography.com/ it became aparent that most people chuck the supplied mounts and drill larger holes in hangers and fit different rubber mounts. Again I felt this would weaken the hangers and a simpler solution was available. I have ended up machining the hanger spacers down so the hangers are mounted closer to the frame thus allowing me to use the supplied rubbers and the added bonus is that the rear master cylinder can also be mounted closer to the rear wheel giving a less obtrusive look and feel when you are sat on the bike.

Lets hope it all works lol

The list of things to do is getting shorter, complete the wiring loom, make a few cables and sort out the brakes then hopefully we can fire the beast up. O and get the bodywork painted in a lovelly shade of RAM-IT red.

anyways best get off as more physical exercise awaits. 

She will soon be ready.

Me.
I,ve been hitting the gym 3 or 4 times a week to try and build my upper body strength to allow me to swim better,Swim better you ask, yeah I have entered 3 triathlons this forthcoming season. Running outside sucks right now so thats happening in the gym as well.
Below is what I,am trying to do every week at the mo but I will need to focus it more towards Tri in the next few weeks.

Monday – swim training 1hr 7am, gym 1hr + 5pm
Tuesday – Gym 1hr 7am
Wednesday – swim training 1hr 7am, gym 1hr + 5pm
Thursday – Gym 1hr 7am
Friday – swim training 1hr 7am, gym 1hr + 5pm
saturday – Rest
sunday – Rest

Other stuff.Me leathers are still muddy from march, only one helmet left and me boots really need changing as they are loose and have a hole in the toe.
Caravan is too small what with the new rami-it recruit on the way.
Van has no MOT and I want shot of it.

I only rubbed the frame down, to get rid of the runs I’d left from my previous spray painting stint, which now seems like an age ago, before my feet went numb.

Seems to have smoothed out ok, so hopefully the next coat will look alright. I think it’s probably best left until the temperature outside comes up a tiny bit, as I can’t see paint taking very well in this…….

I took a few pics of the pile of bits that’s waiting to be reassembled once the frame is done.

Sprocket carrier, blasted and painted

Rear brake caliper, blasted and painted. An ornamental nuisanse.

The pile of bits! All spotlessly clean, awaiting reassembly.

To keep you updated with my progress please read the following report:

As you can see I have been up to my eyes in engines and suspensions!!

Happy new year and lets hope the next report is as exciting as this one…

I’ve yet to attack the swing arm. I’m wary of knackering bearings I don’t have replacements for.

Now we have two more non-contributors to not read non entries from, in the form of the technically obsessed Pipey and the “turn up and ride it” Matt Foo, who still sees the mintwin class as the way ahead. He does weigh as much as a small bungalow, so maybe it’s best.

Updates from myself are minimal really. I’ve been offshore for the last two weeks, so christmas has been, well, shit. and progress on the bike front is nil.
Prior to being away, My TZR was completely dismantled and every single piece lovingly cleaned and placed on a pristine white sheet ready for reassembly.

I’m having a go at spraying my frame and swinging arm black, rather than going the powder coat route. I’m beginning to understand why people who spray paint charge what they do. The spraying part takes no time at all, it’s the prep and clean up that are the ball ache. We’ll see how it turns out, if I can sand out the massive runs I put on before I came away.
Engines are at Mr. File’s, who says the lump that did the Manx is in fine condition, which is nice. The shitter that I left with him that I bought off ebay turns out to be an untouched gem, which is also nice. The bill to make it a missile will no doubt be a trifle disappointing, but I’ll deal with that later…..
I’m going to have another go at building a brake set up with a standard caliper after the discussions on the forum. I think I’ll try an R6 master cylinder when I get round to buying one.

That’s about it I guess.

I hope all your christmas’ were good and you’re set for a good new year. I’m off to catch a helicopter.

Love Sqwelch.