RD250

 When the front wheel is on the ground, I really didn't have too much trouble with the front end on the RD/TZ thing I was riding. The huge gun sight tubes sticking out of the headstock however were a little unsightly though so off I went to Classic Racing Green to see what he could do for me. Andy had talked about chopping my forks before but when I saw him this time he made short work of convincing me to upgrade the internals whilst I was there with top notch K-tech parts. The forks I have fitted to my RD are from a Yamaha FZR400 1WG. K-tech don't do an off the shelf set of cartridges for them but after a fair bit of measuring, Andy was able to specify and demand all the parts he needed to make them. Whilst we were there some fixed rate springs were ordered rather than cutting down my progressive springs and Andy's signature classic look top nuts were also made specially for these 38mm forks.  The parts took a couple of weeks to come together so whilst we wait...

A comment here and a chance encounter there and I had managed to replace my rear caliper after just two race meets. Here's how & why... It is probably pretty telling that the best picture I have of my red Brembo(ish) caliper is captured with the bike on its side. The Yamaha Aerox caliper was very cheap at £27 new with pads and worked just fine as a low cost Brembo rear caliper alternative. It had three flaws however: It was red. I kind of liked the way it worked with the accent red stripe but was getting mixed reviews from others. Risk of damage to the bleed nipple in a fall. The pads had all but fallen apart. Clearly colour and pads are easily fixed with paint and a quick order to EBC which was on the way anyway. A chat with Andy Green (we have lots of these) had come to the conclusion that a bleed nipple banjo bolt and a blank would reduce the risk of damage easily. It  was whilst looking into other sources of this very cheap caliper for another racer that I spo...

Being a working machine was one thing but there was no arguing that she was the ugly duckling on the Snetterton 16 paddock. It was time for some new clothes. Tank I decided to treat myself to a TZ style race tank from  scooternbikedeals  who was selling at a good price and had 2050 feedback. Unfortunately he was having difficulty with his supplier right up to the point that the 90 days of eBay support ran out and he suddenly forgot how to reply to emails. eBay did its usual shrug and walk away thing and I lost a load of money.  Fuck you  scooternbikedeals . Fairings From Shop to Paint Shop On a brighter note; I had got my mits on some fairings. We had some faf trying various places to see who would do us a deal on a large order of fairings. This turned into finding someone who hadn't sold their entire stock at the Newark bike show! I very nearly bought a Maxton fairing from Bardney racing but the shop owner had wondered off leaving his locked out ...

It is only right that we take the time to thank our sponsors. This is in order to not only say thank you but to highlight to you the best companies who will go that extra mile to help us do what we do.  As a member of the Royal Air Force Motor Sports Association (RAFMSA) I share a group of loyal sponsors as well as one of my own. To all the people who make what we do possible, from the sponsors to the fans and our loyal brew makers in between: we are eternally grateful.  First of all I am very proud to say that R Tech welding equipment Ltd have chosen to sponsor me this year with some help towards the purchase of my superb R Tech AC/DC Digital 170 Amp Tig welder .  They couldn't have come through for me at a better time and for their help I am more than happy to ride with their brand emblazoned on my motorcycle and shirt. I was particularly drawn to them for being a very well spoken of British company who's sales staff were helpful, frank a...

Shopping With the winter maintenance season on its way I started looking for parts to get the bike where I wanted it for the 2017 season. Wheels were high on my shopping list as the stock cast wheels weigh a fair bit. I wanted a set of Astralites but they are very expensive. Spoked wheels were going to be the more likely option but getting a good set was't very cheap either. As it happened this pair of Astralites came up cheap on eBay for only £250 with the added bonus of all the spacers for an RD250 fit. They were still in their original anodised finish with the only draw back being a few dents in the rims that would need ironing out. Straightening things up I spent a long time trying to get in contact with the Tony Dawson and   Paul Allender. Tony being the man who brought the Astralite wheel to us and Paul the man who brought them back after a 10 year gap . Paul was selling the wheels again on RennStar  but sadly they have recently announced th...