ROAD TRIP TO PARIS FAT CLUB- OH LA LA A POO POO.

What a weekend we had ! Me n Gary Side and Ben Burn all cooped up in the REDMAX van , loaded with goodies and an XR750 . First off to see the Cool dudes at Ruby Helmets (J&D) http://www.ateliersruby.com/then to a trendy bar that night , with some street trackers parked outside and a who's who of Paris bike life kicking around , i felt like one of the faces .

Anyhoo we thought it'd be a good idea to get the XR out and ride it around the streets with no lid or gear and arrive at the bar , so we did - and it was .

Seb is a great guy from the Fat club M/C dudes http://www.fatclub.fr/and he put us up in his appartment for the night (thanks mate) and then showed us the workshop the club shares in town and his bikes XS flattracker and Buell cafe racer (right up my street). How Super ! They got a Dyno n all there .

Then it was off to Dimities House for a photo shoot with the XR and Ruby helmets for Jerome (one cool Hendrix dude), which i enjoyed immensely (and was given an origional Evel Knievel canyon jump jacket to wear for it !) these guys are on our wavelength ! Spent a while getting Dimitries Triumph streetracker going for which i got to go round the streets on it ! she rode great too . So i sparked up the XR and returned the favour - u shoulda seen the smile on those boy faces !

Not only are they great guys , they got great wives too - and they laid on a Fab Mexican lunch. Thanks Girls , mucho appreciato Senoritas .We of course stayed too long and had to rush around Paris to see the shops we came to visit and were late getting to the Fat club party after the trains broke down in town ! But the guys there were welcoming and set us down with some food near the band and we displayed the XR on the stage too ! there was no room for our stall but we chilled and chatted to the guys until time to go (we were driving overnite to the Chunnel !)

Thanks Fat Club Paris for the good times and party , Big Big thanks again Sonic Seb .Thanks To Jerome and Dimitrie and the lovely wives !

See more pics here on (even more if i find my camera , these are from my phone!)Flickr .http://www.flickr.com/photos/redmaxspeedshop/sets/72157622593044559/

WANT>>>WANT>>>WANT>>>>WANT>>>>WANT

Want some CO-BUILT yokes for my Flattrack project bike .

NO , change that , i want em for all my bikes (and i've got a few !).

Oh yea and while we're at it , i WANT one of his frame kits too .

May have to settle for some Yokes for now tho , Anthony showed me his new Yokes (Triple trees if you're a septic tank) the other day and they are indeed the dogs dangly bits in quality and looks department to , so i need some . Mind you check his whole bike out and you can see the build quality ooozing out , and it's not just a looker he's had a rash of wins on it recently and it's survived a few big offs too ! See Co-built here http://www.co-built.net/about.html

Oh did i mention i want one ? ;-)

KEOGH DESIGN - AMA FLATTRACKERS

I know a man , a very nice man - who just happens to be a top motorcycle designer . John Keogh (see http://www.racetaylormade.com/tmpages/design.html)- you may or may not recognise his name but he's done loads and been everywhere ! sensing that , i bought the conversation around to Flatttrack (as i always do !) and he mentioned some designs he did for the AMA in 97 when they were trying to get manufacturers into the then new Non-Harley category . Looking at the pics John sent over , you can see that quite a few of these bikes have arrived on the scene now and it must be nice to look back at stuff you drew up that then materialised in a similar fashion ! It's like Mystic Meg or something .

Thanks for the images John .

LAST RACE OF THE YEAR - WOT A CRACKER !

Yep , What a race meeting that was ! RYE HOUSE is a great venue for a race and presentation afterwards , it's got a great track surface which makes for good racing and excellent spectator facilities , which makes for great viewing ! All round a great Vibe was buzzin on the day .Had a mixed meeting myself , being right up for it after Chris Carr's training day , went well in practice and had a great first race grid position ie Pole ! and my clutch cable broke just before i went out . Gutted . Did ok in the other two qualifiers , but never made the final . Still got to watch it and it was a cracker ! i predicted a few crashes and there was - a few making it into the fence - hope ur all ok ? Anthony got stampeeded upon by a XS650 and walked away . Had Les torpedo me on his XS and the end of my last race and go cartwheeling over the top in a very nasty crash , maybe he did'nt see the flag? i don't know - i stayed on and only had a dented megaphone , but his bike was pretty beaten up (see pics) and he , i think suffered a broken collar bone . Hope ur alright mate .- Does that count as a Squadron 165 attack?

As a side note , my full gringo 'tasche did'nt make me any faster , so i've decided to go down the Prof Caracticus Potts look now (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) and see if that works ?

Chris Carr gave us a lesson on which lines to use out there , whilst walking away with it - as ever the proffesional racer and a joy to watch .

Also a Joy to watch was the Mini-bike races with the best bit being the father n son bit , with Dad pulling his boy backwards by the arm to beat him over the line ! ;-)

Sitting in the stands i noticed the large crowd and pleasant vibe and also the non-stop information / chatter coming from Martin our excellent Commentator (thanks mate).

Presentations at the end went well , with Boastie wrapping up both Championships ! Well done mate , all hail the new Double Champ !

Also , as usuall - the event ran with well oiled precision , so thanks to all those Guys and Gals involved with the organising / running of the event . Top Job .

See all the pics here , as usuall from the camera of Sideburn Girl !http://www.flickr.com/photos/redmaxspeedshop/sets/72157622604599662/

CARR-NIVORE . (BIT LIKE A CARNIVAL ONLY DANGEROUS!)

Yea , it's been n gone - and it was great !

Chris Carr/sideburn night was a fabulous do , with the the right crowd and no crowding . The great man told us a few anecdotes of racing and the raucousness of california and Flattrack from the seventies on , suffered our questions and auctioned his gear all in the name of supporting UK Flattrack racing .

All present enjoyed the night , and some of us were lucky enough to be at his Masterclass at Rye house the next day , i personally want to thank him for imparting some of that knowledge to me , because now i have unlimited front end grip that i never knew was there ! Chris himself made it so . Bring on Sundays race , i feel a win coming on . (may take that back later!)

Also in pics are the new Dirt track T's i've just had in - Kin Fab . Order one .

Oh yea - Chris Carr rode my bike (which i desperately wanted him to do - Skootafarm Dave may have had a hand in that) and said - "That's a big old bike for a small old track" but he went on out and made it look extra fast and everyone else extra slow , like he always does . Nice one Chris , cos i've never heard that XR roar from the side line and it's great .

The fantastic bikes shown here are part of the great display of bikes on the Night and these particular bikes belong to Alistair McQ (great chap too) he also took them to the Track at Rye house for a photo shoot and test ride shootout for a Mag , but the bikes (having been in storage ) refused to play ball and few laps were managed . But what gorgeous things they are !

DEATH SPRAY STREET TRACKER

Dave popped over today (from Death spray customshttp://www.deathspraycustom.com/) and tried a few new clothes on his XS650 Tracker , whilst i marvelled over his paintwork ! Then i thought i ought to have a section in my Flickr page for other peoples Flattrack/Streetrackers so here it is .http://www.flickr.com/photos/redmaxspeedshop/sets/72157622412603891/

If you've got any pics of yours - send em in and i'll put em up !

Nice bloke Dave and we chatted for ages about bikes of all kinds , just how i like to spend my mornings .

But in the afternoons i like to cut up Jap bikes - so here's what i've been upta with a W650 . http://www.flickr.com/photos/redmaxspeedshop/sets/72157622537126012/ Oh yea , got a great guy (Glenn) making my seat pads here now , Alloy bases - top Quality £55 up .See pic.

Must go loading up all my crap and going to Chris Carr / Sideburn nite - BE THERE .

I SAID - BE THERE.

CARR-NAGE ! CHRIS CARR IN UK SOON !!!!!!

Roll up , Roll up , Chris Carr over here again after breaking a land speed record ... again ! Yep , Your only chance to see the man over here , and then race against him (if you're stupid enough !)
Firstly Sideburn Night Oct 8th (nothing to do with fireworks!)http://www.sideburnmagazine.com/CHRIS%20CARR%20NIGHT.html Then the CCM Track Day the day after - with CC telling it how it is http://www.ftexperience.com/index.html, Then Race the Man at Rye House on Oct 11 th with all us dancing fools - or come and watch it , there's no excuse cos it's just north of london - and everyone can get there ! Please come everybody cos alot of people work hard to make this happen , and we need all the support we can get , more than that tho , you'll have a great time .Period.

http://www.shorttrackuk.com/

SHORTTRACK UK RACING AT THE BMF SHOW

As usuall , the racing was spectacular at Peterborough . The Scooterfarm team had a good day doing formation laps together (apart from John Lee, who rather selfishly decided to remain at the front of each race , rather than battle with us at the back ! Ruined a few photos that.) I had some good starts and a big crash and Dave had a fabulous second place which got us all out of our seats ! Well done Anthony Brown on his Nifty Co-built Rotax for winning a heat (we have a great pic of that!) and well done Steve Coles for a fantastic cartwheel over the fence to avoid the bikes behind (we have that pic too , although you have to search for it !). Real congratulations goes to Marco Belli for winning his first race back , after what was a nasty crash when we were over in Austria . He's Back .We got a good pic of that too cos Sideburn girl got a Fab new camera for her birthday and she can zoom in to your retinas as you ride past ! She even got Rusty in a 'diet coke break' moment washing his bike topless ! (one for the girls there !)

So Great meeting - apart from the guy who watered the track twice making a hot summers race day into a wet November day for an hour or so ! Still they did sort it out in the end , but i ask you - who's gonna clean my bike ?

Pics here , and they're a good selection of everyone so have a looksee ! (video to follow)http://www.flickr.com/photos/redmaxspeedshop/sets/72157622299259183/

MONDAY,TUESDAY,HAPPY DAYS........

Thursday , Friday Happy Days , The weekend comes-my cycle hums , ready to race to you !

Sing along you know the words . OK So , Gary says - fancy coming to this Do in Brick lane (London 'tarn') on Thurs nite , we'll take our cafe racers n look well cool , then there's the Goodwood revival on Friday if you can get a ticket , Then we're Racin' at Peterborough on Saturday - sounds like a plan . Yep , says i , We can fit it all in - wot could possibly go wrong ?

So i'm runnin around Thurs morn trying to load the van for racin , then checking over The Reverend (My Norton) for the thrash up toLondon and , as expected the lights are on the fritz . Two hours later and broken earth in loom replaced , i jumped on the old bike and made the rather crap (road works all the way up the M3) 80 mile trip up the Smoke no problems , to this Re-enactment Retro Photo display amongst all Londons finest Dandy Rockers (and Ben too- the other half of Sideburn). Nice one , then into Brick lane for a Curry and jump on the old steed , with Gary on his Guzzi Cafe Racer and head back Thru the centre of town back to my gaff , only the ole gall did'nt like all that filtering and went down on one cyl ! Easy solved - drop it down a gear and clear her out - that woke a few cockneys up !The ride was ace , We cracked off at dawn to Goodwood on the bikes again - along the A272 which is one of the best scratchin roads i know , to the Revival - which is totally mind blowing - for Bikes , cars , planes , women - what else could u wanna see thru your sepia coloured glasses ? The car park before you even show your ticket was better than any classic car show i've ever been to ! You gotta go ! See all the pics here http://www.flickr.com/photos/redmaxspeedshop/sets/72157622417631216/

BUSY DAY AT THE RANCH ! (For TONYS !)

Pays to stick around for more than five minutes at my place , first of all i had Tony from local MX test track "Tonymoto's" pop in to chat about his XS650 build he has goin on , managed to sway the conversation towards building an oval there ! Possible southern test track !

Then i had another Tony Arrive this guy is local to me and has one of the only real Halco Ascots out there being used too (over 100K) Built by the late Tony Hall (ex Wasp MX sidecar boy) in Salisbury using a design made for Yamaha by the guys that did the Commando isolastic frame .

Special bike at 175kg too , could'nt stop the other Tony drooling over it (asked to sit on it 3 times !)It even started on demand ! Sweet.Then my dad popped over (out for a blast) on his Thruxton Bonnie - he's a Tony too !

To round off the day my mate Keef popped in on his XR750 (daylight mot job ) to shoot the breeze and talk Flattrack so i challenged him to kickstart it on tape - and off it went , second kick ! Gonna put it on my U-TUBE (he's a 10 stone, hips gone, Jesus lookalike) . Wheres the Tony in that u ask ? Well u gotta kick like Tony the Tiger to start one o them !http://www.youtube.com/user/REDMAXSPEEDSHOP

ROCKINGHAM SPEEDBOWL TRACK DAY

Sounds like Flattrack - tastes like Track day ! Rockingham was built not so long ago for NASCAR racing and has a high speed banked bowl of Tarmac - which luckily i never tasted !

Took the old Paul Smart Replica round there on a Motorcycle follies/Moto Rapido track day after my good mate Manch had to bail out and go back to work Underwater somewhere in the North Sea , leaving me his place gratis ! Thanks Manch .

Great day caning round learning the circuit , which is infield( like Daytona ) until at the end i found i could take out most of the Jap crap by virtue of holding her flat oot when all the Gixers were still feathering the throttle and trying to avoid the highside (which four of them experienced !).

Thats when 90HP beats 160HP , just throw in tons of off camber curves and very short straights. Fab day out , with some old friends (Dell n James) and the Moto Rapido boys . Lastly Dan was there on a Suzuki going like the wind and loving it , not unusual you might say - but Dan is paralysed from the waist down and this was his first outing since Mark modded his bike with electric gear change (on the button!) -it was a joy to see him go . They waited for him in the pit lane each time and caught him when he stopped ! Way to go boys !

Nearly forgot , we have Scott Smart riding our Superstock 1198s at the Mo (nice chap) and he was there testing clutches and making us look very slow on the Ducati Streetfighter (shown in the pits photo) - anyway his dad is Paul Smart and my bike is a replica of the one he won Imola on back in the seventies ! It all ties in .

HEY HEY - IT'S THE HAYRIDE !

Once a year in a Gun Shooting club the size of a small town (Bisley , Surrey) comes an event so good , i go .

It's the HOTROD HAYRIDE and it's organised by the Executioners car club , you take your old Hot rod to the meet , camp and enjoy the Hillbilly/rockabilly bands then on Saturday you polish you cars and stand around looking at them NOT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No what really happens is you wake up still feeling the night before and take your expensive 1930's ride down to the hidden race track (oval) and race it round like you don't care , some crashing in the process and limping off back to the camp site ! Cool as f##k i say .

Cos we go every year , we get to take the bikes around and this year i was able to put on a bit of a show to promote Shorttrack UK , taking 4 bikes and riders down to enjoy the smoothed out and dry track (pics of bikes and track later). Today i thought i'd include pics of the event and save the track pics for later , cos i'm getting em sent to me later. Yes that is a naked lady ! in between the bands and dancing they have a red hot Burlesque show . U shoulda been there..........

The Band shown is Smokestack Lightening , the carts are the soapbox derby race , the Mercury is my ride ,The naked lady is Miss Honey Lulu and the cars parked around are just that - everywhere ! More pics soon .http://www.flickr.com/photos/redmaxspeedshop/sets/72157615768296835/

TURN THOSE DOWDY MXERS INTO FANCY US STYLE FLATTRACKERS !

I can understand the reasons for using motocross bikes for flattrack in the UK - lack of framer bikes , cost of either type , ease of getting one , trying to find one over here etc etc ..... there's plenty of good reasons for having a MX bike .

BUT we all want to look cool as Spingsteen while we're doing it right ? Yes is the answer , so you need a framer right ? Wrong , maybe there is a way ! And since i have a MXer sitting there i thought i better lead the way , so here it is - it's not finished yet but the shots show what you can do with just a tank ,seat and handlebars and a whole bunch of spanners !

This will be a feature on my web site with all the build info and pics when it's finished and right now i'm hoping to have her together in some form to take to Kings Lynn for the TT meet on Sunday , so i'll finish the feature after the weekend .

The point of it all is to get some (more) cool looking bikes out there and sell some bars/tanks /seats !

You know who to ring .

(needs 19" rims, shortened forks and a low level exhaust next i'd say) :-)

This is the link to the feature and pics on my Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/redmaxspeedshop/sets/72157621956380972/

(pics now words etc when she's done!)

Just added two more pics , one of her after the TTrace (bit dusty n tired!) and one of how the seat units look with the number board stickers on . Note lowered front forks .

WISH I WAS A RICKMAN , DIDDLE DIDDLE..etc

OK so my mate Steve (marble head) has a great project on the go and he's sent me an update - which goes something like this ...........

Hi Steve!
Here’s a couple of picks of my 1970 Rickman Metisse project, not quite a flat tracker more of a supermoto street scrambler but should be a lot of fun all the same!
I have had a modified swing arm made to suit the wider tyre, longer adjustable shocks to help it sit right and counter the longer Husqy forks (I need to shorten the fork tubes by 1-1/2” if any one knows how)
and 17” Excell rims.
The engine is a Triumph TR7 with an alloy 800cc big bore, belt drive primary, E3134 cams and a hydraulic clutch conversion. The engine is stripped down at the moment as I am replacing all the bearings in it and the gearbox. I’m also having some machining done on the casing to offset it for the bigger rear tyre!
On the wish list is a 32mm Mikuni flat slide carb (when the budget allows).
I am using Magura Fat bars and Magura radial brake & clutch master cylinders at the moment but this may change as I have a Beringer 4pot calliper for the front and there isn’t as much feel as I would like!
Any way it is a work in progress so watch this space!....
All the best Marble Head.

Just look at them pics , de-licious !

Next up my old Drag race buddy Turbo sent these pics of his BSA project just finished , only to tell me he can't keep it and it's gone straight on e-bay !

He's gutted , but someone will get a real nice bike .

I'll put the e-bay link here .http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230362743042&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT

Next race the TT at Kings Lynn , see you all there - it's great .

REDMAXSPEEDSHOP UP N RUNNING !

Yep , spent all week moving in and decorating - and here are the pics . Got plenty of space and a courtyard for Barbies too ! Visitors by appointment please , the new address is -

Unit 2 , Eastover farm , Abbots Ann nr Andover , Hants , SP117BU . Thats just off of the A303 and near the Junction of the M3/A34 join , 1 hr outta London - down sarf !

Gotta phone number too - 07907529858 , if no answer send a txt cos the reception is very crap there . See you soon Steve . (Last pic is some new rearsets we are doing for Trackers and Cafe racers £99 pair - fully adjustable too ! Bargain )more pics here http://www.flickr.com/photos/redmaxspeedshop/sets/72157620781315460/