ACE CAFE RADIO

    samedi 19 août 2017

    SEVENTH FOR TEAM CLASSIC SUZUKI AT SPA WITH GUY MARTIN AND PETE BOAST + the vidéo !!

    It's here! The documentary from the Spa four-hour race, following Guy Martin and Pete Boast through race day. Make a brew or crack open a beer and enjoy! 
    via Team Classic Suzuki



    Guy Martin and Pete Boast raced the Team Classic Suzuki Katana to a hard-earned seventh placed finish at Spa Francorchamps for the second round of the European Classic Endurance Championship, the pairing completing 56 laps in four hours of racing in inclement weather around the iconic 4.4mile Belgian circuit.
    It was the first time Martin had ridden at the circuit, and the first time Boast had ridden the bike, and as such practice and qualifying was spent getting both riders comfortable, experimenting with different setups including different gearing and suspension settings, and altering the fuelling.

    As the rain that had been falling all day continued to soak the circuit, the team were lined up to start from 12th on the grid. Martin ran across the track for the opening stint, and after just a handful of laps he was up to third. He started to drop back in the latter stages of his first run, and was in seventh place as he pitted for the first time and Boast took the reigns.
    The former British and European flat track champion’s opening run wasn’t without its problems, and with his helmet already damp from the earlier warmup session he struggled with his visor fogging up. However, he pressed on with his 40-minute run, posting consistent and competitive lap times, holding eighth place at the second pit-stop.

    As night fell the team continued to circulate well inside the top-10, and with the help of efficient pit-stops and refuelling, they were able to settle into seventh place, holding the position for most of the final hour.
    Any hopes of catching sixth were dashed when the safety car came out half an hour before midnight, with oil down along the back straight. The race was eventually red-flagged with 20 minutes to go, just as Boast was preparing for his final stint, and the team were credited with seventh place.
    Guy Martin, “The red flag was the only decision. Lots of oil down, a lot of oil down. I nearly came off on it, and on a wet track, how were they going to clean that? Really good fun though.
    "It’s been one big learning process, from everyone’s side; for me, for the team, for Pete. We had to learn how the stops were going to work, how the bike works in the wet, and when the dark came we struggled a bit with the lights, so there are lessons learnt there. The hardest part was probably knowing how hard to push, and where the limit is. You don’t get any warnings in those sorts of conditions and it’s a long way back to the pits from some parts of this track if you go down.
    "But I’m happy. You always think you could have done better and I made a few daft mistakes, but no one crashed, we finished, and the team did a mega job. It’s been really good craic."

    Pete Boast, “We were going into the unknown really, with those conditions, and it was the first time the bike had done that sort of distance and first time it’d been out at night.
    "I was pleased Guy did the start and he did an absolute sterling job. He just knuckled down, typical Guy Martin – if the bloke can ride 24 hours on a push bike you know he’ll dig in. He got us in a really good place early on and when I got the bike I felt a little bit of pressure, but I turned in some good laps. I had a bit of a problem with my visor but Guy went back out and did another top job, and then it started to get dark and we did struggle with the lights. But as I say, this has all been new for the team and we know where we need to improve.
    "We came into this thinking if we could qualify in the top-20 we’d be happy, and if we finished in the top-10 we’d be made up, and we’re seventh, and when you look at some of the teams out there, we’ve got to be happy with that."

    Suzuki GB’s Tim Davies, “What an excellent event and a brilliant race. We can’t praise Guy, Pete, or the team enough; they did a fantastic job out there and in some pretty terrible conditions.
    "We came here to have a good race and give the Katana a proper run-out, and to go on to finish in the top-1o is a great achievement and something we’re really pleased with. But more importantly we came here to enjoy the event and soak up the atmosphere. There are some stunning bikes here and we’ve raced against some great teams and good people, and despite the weather everyone was out watching the racing and cheering the riders on from the grandstands. It’s been superb, and I also need to thank Pete from B&B Motorcycles for his support with the event, too.
    "We’ve learned a lot this weekend about endurance racing, and we’d very much like to come back next year and have another go."


    via https://bikes.suzuki.co.uk

    vendredi 18 août 2017

    Lords Of The Atlas - Portugal

    Despite being denied funding from the Lisbon banks, Team Raiden maxed out their credit cards and headed to Portugal with high hopes of big time adventure. Cow crap, a broken clavicle, and a series of vicious cross ruts were just the beginning of their Portuguese fiasco. 


    jeudi 17 août 2017

    Royal Enfield at Wheels & Waves

    Royal Enfield invited Stories of Bike and Pipeburn.com to meet Sinroja Motorcycles who were building two custom bikes in 12 weeks to take to Wheels & Waves 2017 in Biarritz, France.

    The Sinroja brothers, based in Leicester, UK were tasked with creating two iconic custom builds with the Continental GT and the Himalayan.

    In Part 1, we meet the Sinroja brothers, Rahul and Birju and Adrian from the Royal Enfield design team as they get started on the builds. 




    With less than 12 weeks on the table, the team got down by stripping off and building up the motorcycles ground up while making sure that they come out as canvases that translate the spirit of the festival.




    For more info on this story visit http://www.storiesofbike.com

    mercredi 16 août 2017

    ROCKET FROM THE CRYPT. Origin8or’s Shed-Find ‘71 Honda CB750 Racer


    Written by Rob Chappell
    This bike came about by accident, really. About two years ago I made arrangements through a friend to have some wheels trued at this old retired guy’s home shop. The wheels were for a CB550 build I was working on, so when I showed up with them in hand we naturally got talking about old Hondas. About half an hour into the conversation, he walks me to a shed behind his main garage and reveals a treasure trove of Honda CB750s. This bike is the result.
    There was about five old CB750 engines in various states, ranging from ‘pulled from a lake’ and ‘downright-crusty’ to ‘maybe I could work with that’. There was also three to four frames, various gas tanks, forks, wheels and lots more. He had been collecting for future projects, but instead had changed his focus towards Harleys and British bikes. Fast forward through a negotiation and I ended up leaving with a matching 1971 frame and engine, a gas tank and oil tank.
    Without a real plan for the build or a buyer interested, I figured I would start with the engine. If I didn’t end up finishing the bike, at least I’d have a fresh engine for sale. With that in mind I tore it down completely, replaced the worn out items, honed the cylinders, added new pistons and rings at the stock bore, added Viton valve seals on the top end and a new Barnett clutch. Since everyone seems to do these SOHC engines in a traditional silver with black barrels, I went the opposite along with a gloss black powder coating on all the case covers. I posted a few shots on Instagram looking for a buyer, but I got no responses.
    Maybe I would have more luck if the bike was rolling? I found a guy on Craigslist with a complete CBR954 front end that I swapped some Triumph parts for, but after the deal was done I found there are no direct conversion bearings for that steering stem in this frame. I did happen to have an ’81 CB900 steering stem kicking around and there are bearings for that conversion, so I pressed out the stock stem and machined the CB900 stem to fit the 954 triples. Then I rebuilt the forks with new seals and fresh oil; the front end was complete. On the frame I did some de-tabbing, added the kicked-up rear hoop and bracing under the headstock and beneath the swingarm.
    On my builds I take chances on what may or may not work; I’m always trying to do things a bit different. Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t, this swingarm was no exception. I originally bought a ZRX1200 swingarm, as I figured the tube style would look excellent with the tube frame of the bike and it would allow me to run standard-style rear shocks. But when it showed up, the width of the swingarm is much wider than the CB frame and it just looked too bulky.
    I could get busy modifying it to work or I could search for something different. I ended up going with a ’04 SV650 swingarm. Again it’s not a bolt on affair but it had the look I wanted, the length was 3″ more than stock and I knew I could make my own shock mounts easy enough.
    I manually milled out the shock mounts from solid billet and welded them to the swingarm. For the pivot I made a sleeve that fit with the SV bearings and allowed me to run the stock pivot bolt without any frame mods. The new shocks are Ohlins replicas from eBay; they looked the part, are fully adjustable and they fit the budget. The SV wheel was black and the front wheel was silver, so they both got new powdercoat in gloss black to match the engine cases. The rear wheel was also treated to a Vortex sprocket and a DID 520 chain and the engine has an offset Cognito Moto sprocket.
    “I didn’t have anything ready to go for the show, so all of a sudden there was deadline on this CB750”.
    So now we have a roller and again I’m looking for a buyer without success, so I begin wavering on keeping it. It’s now around April and I was invited to display another bike at the Freedom Machine show in July. I didn’t have anything ready to go for the show, so all of a sudden there was a deadline on this CB750. With the show in mind, I got busy planning out the remainder of the build.
    I had this KZ650 tailpiece kicking around and decided I would work with that as the lines suited the build well and it was something different to the traditional cafe ’hump‘. I created a wooden base to mount it to, body-worked it all together and shipped it off to my brother at Tuffside to mold it out of plastic and stitch up a seat for it.
    With the seat created and frame hooped to match, I turned to the rearsets on the bike as I needed these in position before I could figure out the exhaust. I decided to go with a set of SV650 rearsets mounted to some machined bungs I made and welded to the frame. I worked once again with Scott Cartier at Hindle exhaust here in Canada to build a one-off system for this bike.
    “For the frame, I decided to go red. I just kept thinking back to my old CR dirt bikes and their red frames”.
    Once the mock-up was complete, I was able to tear it all apart and send the frame and other odds and ends off to Flashfire Coatings for final powder. For the frame, I decided to go red. I just kept thinking back to my old Honda CR dirt bikes and their red frames; it’s something I don’t see that often on street bikes aside from Ducati’s. The painting was handled once again by Mat Tobin at Jensens Custom Paint.
    Since the Honda was nothing but a frame and engine, every other part is brand new including a brand new wiring harness from Carpy’s Cafe Racers, a FZ07 master cylinder and clutch, Dyna ignition, an Antigravity battery, some Keihin CR’s, a projector headlight and an LED tail light. The tires are Bridgestone BT016s and the brake pads are Galfer. And if a potential new owner would like indicators and fenders, I’m sure I can help with that. Yes, it’s still for sale.
    Origin8or Cycles – Facebook – Instagram | Photos by Benn Quinn ]
    via http://www.pipeburn.com