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 .