I've started on the roundcase.....this is a big build for me, i have a lot to achieve with this one. I mentioned in the Iron and Air thing that i'm hoping to do something a little different with this bike. I want to document the build in film (at least mostly) and make it available to people who may want to watch it. I don't know how successful I will be but i'm going to try pretty hard.
It all comes back to that idea of passing on knowledge, just little things that we can learn from those who have done it all before. I have hooked up a few people who will be helping me with this build....Ian Gowanloch will be building the motor/box for a start. In my opinion there may not be anyone more qualified for the job....The motor and box were previously built in 1983 by Steve Wynne of Sports Motorcycles...you all would know his name, but if not he built Mike Hailwood's comeback SS that won the tt in 1978.
Here is the first paragraph from an Alan Cathcart article where Steve Wynne tells the story of how that came about....
"Steve Wynne is the man responsible for providing Mike the Bike with the means to make his victorious TT comeback, that has become the stuff of motorcycle racing legend. Wynne himself raced Ducatis successfully in the mid-'70s, but in his own judgement was better qualified to work on the bikes rather than ride them - especially with the pressures of building his Manchester-based company, Sports Motorcycles, into one of Britain's top sportbike dealers taking up so much of his time. But winning an Isle of Man TT remained an especially burning goal, and so to do so Wynne took a back seat as a rider and starting working towards TT success with hired hands."
see the rest of the article here...good reading....
This bike had been raced in Europe between 1984-1999 and during that time won a total of 200 races. It was brought to Australia by a collector a few years ago and it came into my possession through some totally freak events.
Ian Gowanloch (pictured) and I had talks about the bike and its frame geometry and it was thought that the roller should be taken to Laurie Alderton in Sydney to be viewed and if need be de-stressed and realigned.
Here is the bike as it sits in the shed today. As you can see its been worked on in 18 positions.
Next week, after the xmas fun I will be going to Ian Gowanlochs farm to pull the motor and start pulling it apart......cant wait.
