Gordon, he's alive...

So, now the bike's named - Gordon, and yes, for all you doubters out there, he does actually run. Keep coming back to check out my blog as I am slowly making progress. I can hear you all now - "Mike Edwards is mad..."

Back home

I was at the NEC for the ACU helping to promote their new Suzuki Trophy one make series. Being there for four days I thought I would have loads of time to sort out some deals for myself, however I didn't take into account how busy I would be talking to people interested in the new series.
In the few moments I had away from the stand I managed to speak to several people who were interested in my idea with the SZR. I think everyone secretly likes backing the under dog and with this project and its limited (very) budget an under dog it is!

If I'm going to run the standard wheels the biggest issue will be limited tyre selection, Dunlop look like they have just the tyre for me, but first I must test them, once the bike is back together.

A world renowned manufacturer of blasting equipment (Guyson) based locally have offered to sand/bead/or vapor blast anything I need, so frame, wheels and just about everything will go there first.

Photo is me giving the 'hard sell' about the new ACU Suzuki Trophy Series on the Dunlop stand.

The highlight of the show for me was someone has already offered to buy the bike at the end of the year....Cool.

NEC show ideas

Well at the NEC show with my begging bowl, going to do the rounds and see if I can come up with product support and goodies for the SZR.
Meantime, I'm looking for an engine for my European Minimono project, all I need then is a chassis to put it in and a pile of cash to run it for the 2007 season, EASY......

More at the weekend.

It's landed!

Collected the bike from the salvage guys today, my friend Simon ran me over there in his van and brought it home.
It was described as a runner with a rattle and when started the engine smoked! Well after 10 mins or so we got it running. They were right about the smoke but the engine sounded fairly quiet, I was expecting a 'death rattle'.
I'm working away for most of this week so I will not be able to do much to it, however, now I have more of an idea of it's condition I can start ringing round for bits and bobs that I will need.

First step!

Well I couldn’t wait to even get the bike back to Harrogate; I just had to start something going.
E mailed my friend Zweitze Rooske the Dutch Ohlins expert and asked him to build a rear unit and check out what he could do with the forks. No matter how much power you end up with it's through the suspension and tyres that the power goes down, there’s no point in trying to go fast without the right suspension set first!

Next, I rang Martin Sweet at Slipstream Tuning to ask him the best route to go down with regards to engine tuning, he said he would do some 'homework' and get back to me with a price.

Picking the bike up Monday morning, up date then.

Weekend thoughts

I've had several ideas over the weekend and made some calls, and now have to make the most important decision of all about this project.
Where do I want to end up on the grid!
I'm confident that with a heap a cash thrown at it the front row is a definite possibility, however, a heap of cash I ain't got.
As soon as it arrives on Monday the first thing to do is weigh it to give me a starting point. I have no illusions it's going to have to go through a big weight loss programme but that in itself will eat into the budget.
Next is to strip it down to its base constituents, engine, frame, folks, wheels etc. and see how much that lot weighs, this will then give me a more accurate target weight to aim for.

So lets see what Monday brings. Oooh I'm getting excited.

Well, I've gone and done it now.

Yes, the bike's been bought for £454 - and now as I don't even have a van, and can't even drive at the moment, I've asked my friend Simon to take me to collect it next week.
I've lots of ideas - I just have to sort them into some sort of order.
First I better think where I'm going to keep the bike :) - and then where I'm going to find the money to transform it with.