NBT- I'm going racing 😳

[weeksy]

Lol that's, epic

[Couchy]

I can’t believe they didn’t countersink the screws

[KungFooBob]

Are you even racing if there isn't any wood on your bike?

My Ducati seat unit was sat on a big block, 90% of the field had some wood involved in the seat mounting.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Old surf boards work just as well as wood and save valuable grammes of weight.

[KungFooBob]

Old surf boards work just as well as wood and save valuable grammes of weight.

I'll just nip to Decathlon for a new surfboard to chop up.

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Old surf boards work just as well as wood and save valuable grammes of weight.

I'll just nip to Decathlon for a new surfboard to chop up.

I can post you one

[Dodgy69]

Looks like the 2 wheel equivalent of banger racing.

[Skub]

I have some old skateboards here,maybe the grip tape would help keep you in the seat too.

[Tricky]

Bob’s comment above particularly made me smile, and I know he’s right- some of the stuff you see in a club race paddock is shocking aesthetically with all manner of wood, MDF, self-tappers, coach-bolts and gaffer-tape holding them together ( I have a sneaking suspicion that our Canarian member’s much posted scabby old LC would have fallen into this category ), but although my Bandit is I guess typical, just knowing that sort of stuff is there, even if it’s not on display, makes me itch so I set about sorting the seat issues.

The easy solution would have been to chuck a little bit ( well, £130ish) of cash at it, and buy a nice new fibreglass race seat, but having chosen this bike over that lovely freshly built bike I mentioned in an earlier, ’ve sort of set myself a challenge of saving money where I can to justify that decision, and of course save the planet along the way

So, looking at what I had ( am not certain, but pretty sure that this seat was originally intended for an old PI R6, or Gixxer) , and thinking of the seat height I wanted ( although the previous effort it looked shit I thought the height seemed good in relation to pegs, bars etc when sitting on it) I decided that another pile of race foam wasn’t going to cut it, and I’d see if I could make an OE riders seat from a sports bike fit.
I started with offering the one from my Tuono up, purely as it was in the garage, but it was loads wider so I started looking at pics of 80s onward sportsbikes. It looked to me as though an R6 or early R1 seat might fit the bill, so after seeing a 5SL ( the first FI R6- 2003ish) seat for £15 on eBay I thought it was worth a gamble, and if I couldn’t make it fit, I’d just buy a new one-piece fibreglass race seat.
So this is what I started with





The width was pretty much spot on, but was much too long at the front so out came Mr angle grinder, and after a good few cuts of both the existing fibreglass seat unit and the seat pad itself (after unpicking the staples holding the cover on of course), it was getting close



Once I’d got it sort of the right size and sitting at what I think is the right(ish) height, I then had to think about how to secure it, which basically entailed making a couple of brackets out of 3mm ali sheet ( no wood here ), like so, a tang at the front and two studs to bolt it down at the rear





And this is it fitted- Yeah, it's nowhere near a perfect fit to the lines of the fibreglass, but it sits solifdly on the frame and my new brackets mean that both the fibreglass piece and seat pad are now properly and securely mounted, they can be removed and re-fitted in seconds with a 10mm spanner, and I think it will look much better once the rear pad is fitted fibreglass is painted, and I may also trim the seat base and foam a bit more to improve the looks




Next, I turned my attention to the undertray.
Previously, this was secured with cable ties only, and whilst that kept it in place, it’s a real faff when re-fitting, and well, there are better ways of doing it IMO.
So I pop-rivetted 4 x Dzus sockets onto the seat unit, and job-jobbed.



Any of you who aren’t asleep will notice that the two in the middle at the back are a bit off-centre, but that is because that’s where some of the previous cable ties were through, and I didn’t particularly want to drill even more holes in the seat unit, and they were close(ish) enough.

Whilst I was at it, I’ve also mounted a £7 LED rain light too.

So, what else have I done?

Well, I’ve spent getting on for 50% of the cost of the bike ( big thanks @Couchy ) on a new rear shock- sort of goes against the ethos of the “ Team Thrifty” that this bike is being built to, but I decided that was one of the few areas that I wasn’t comfortable on compromising too much on- I have compromised to an extent in that it’s a YSS, but it’s the top of the range one, and will be 10mm longet than the OE Bandit one.



I’ve also bought one of these-


http://www.caraddiction.co.uk/sld5.htm


Basically a sequential shift light- I can’t see the point in having a rev-counter on this bike so it won’t have one- this little unit also has an LCD RPM display on one face of it that is used for setting it up, and it can also be brought up for the noise-testers at circuits.

I’ve also invested the princely sum of £18 on a new ( to me) airbox, as the old one is very tired with the tangs that secure it to the frame, and one of the ones that secure the lid all broken- this is the “new” one



As you can see, it has seen some rattle can action ( bet the bike it came off looked nice eh ), but that’ll clean up, and it’s structurally in good nick which is the key thing

The carbs are still on the bench awaiting stripdown which hopefully I’ll get around to over the next few days, and as soon as I’m happy with them, they will go back on the bike with the nice new airbox.

Now the seat has been fitted, I’m currently in the process of filling and prepping for paint / wrap both it , the tank, the front mudguard and bellypan .

The swing-arm will get the same treatment, and I’ve decided that a satin black rattle can job will suffice for it- it’ll get that over the next week so that it’s ready to bang back in as soon as the new shock arrives in a few weeks time.

Forks are currently out waiting for me to strip, examine and rebuild, with the plan that as soon as that and all the above and engine service etc is done and it is on it’s wheels, I’ll be running it down to MSG for some dyno runs.
The deadline I’ve set myself for getting to this point is the end of Jan- I won’t be going to Cartagena in Feb but have booked an Oulton trackday for 24th Feb for it’s first proper shakedown test- suspect I may need the long-johns for that one.....

Anyway, enough typing for today, I have beer to drink now- more to follow soon !

[Bigyin]

That original seat unit is right out of the @daven book of track preparation

[Count Steer]

That original seat unit is right out of the @daven book of track preparation

@daven ? 0 posts and generally inactive. Wossat about?

[KungFooBob]

That original seat unit is right out of the @daven book of track preparation

@daven ? 0 posts and generally inactive. Wossat about?

DaveN's Chundercat had a plyboard dash.

[Bigyin]

That original seat unit is right out of the @daven book of track preparation

@daven ? 0 posts and generally inactive. Wossat about?

Top bloke and those of us who attended a few of the RTTL trackday events saw his thundercat and R1. As KFB said it had a ply dash, the worlds oldest slicks, spray painted silver swingarm that had been sprayed in situ so had silver paint stripes on the slicks

Considering how ropey his bike prep was his other hobbies are skydiving and wing suit flying

[Count Steer]

That original seat unit is right out of the @daven book of track preparation

@daven ? 0 posts and generally inactive. Wossat about?

Top bloke and those of us who attended a few of the RTTL trackday events saw his thundercat and R1. As KFB said it had a ply dash, the worlds oldest slicks, spray painted silver swingarm that had been sprayed in situ so had silver paint stripes on the slicks

Considering how ropey his bike prep was his other hobbies are skydiving and wing suit flying

Well let's hope he gets your ping. He sounds just like he'd fit in bonzerly.

[Bigyin]

@daven ? 0 posts and generally inactive. Wossat about?

Top bloke and those of us who attended a few of the RTTL trackday events saw his thundercat and R1. As KFB said it had a ply dash, the worlds oldest slicks, spray painted silver swingarm that had been sprayed in situ so had silver paint stripes on the slicks

Considering how ropey his bike prep was his other hobbies are skydiving and wing suit flying

Well let's hope he gets your ping. He sounds just like he'd fit in bonzerly.

He lurks as far as I am aware and I occasionally get a thumbs up on posts on FB from him so still alive

[Tricky]

Time for another little update.

Swing arm has now had a bit of a rub-down, a bit of primer where needed and a couple of coats of rattle-can satin black.

@Potter 's comment a few posts back about duct tape and tie-wraps, along with my distinct lack of responses/ calls back from painters and wrappers made me think a bit and change tack- he's right, it's only an old Bandit club racer after all, so rattle can is what it’s getting all over now – will save me a good few £££ into the bargain too

So out has come the filler and rattle-cans and currently the tank, front mudguard and seat are filled as good as there are going to get- prepping is tedious eh





And I’ve also now given them a coat of that matt yellowy filler primer.



Not started on the bellypan yet but that’ll get the same treatment.
I’ve also changed my mind on the colour scheme- I was planning on banana yellow all over, but from what I can gather half the grid is going to be that colour (well the ones that aren’t just a munged together heap of standard mismatched scabby panels are ) - as for what I’ve changed it too, well you’re going to have to wait until I’ve done it to find out, but I’m going slightly retro, it's more than one colour and non-Suzuki- that’s all I’m saying at the moment

And as the bike desperately needs new throttle and clutch cables, and Venhill will do you pretty much any colour outer for no extra charge, I thought "Why not", and I’ve done a Bellwood - no boring black cables here, it’s getting matching colour control cables- how cool is that eh?

Aside from the cosmetics, there’s not been a huge amount more progress but I have sorted the battery box situation- as previously mentioned, the shock was supporting it- not really a great idea as aside from the vibration damage that would likely result, it was wearing away both the battery box and (admittedly crappy and due for the skip) shock.
This is how it currently sits, which means the bottom touches the top of the shock, and it moves when the shock does…



And this is how it needs to sit IMO



My first idea was the drill and tap a couple of holes in the frame cross-member behind the long edge of the box and bolt the box to it with countersunk screws, but as soon as I went to take the battery out to remove the box and do it, I realised the flaw in the plan, as the box has to swivel towards the back of the bike ( basically it’s resting position when the shock is removed) to be able to get the battery out, so if I had gone with this plan, I wouldn’t be able to get the battery in once I’d secured the battery box

So, a little bit of a re-think , out came the hacksaw and file and my Heath Robinson solution is this



Basically another piece of 3mm ally that bolts on underneath my new seat front bracket, and holds the back of the battery box up nice and tightly like so



Aside from that, the only other thing I’ve done is drop the float bowls off the carbs



-All nice and clean in there so far and I’ve discovered that it’s running 102.5 main jets in the outer two carbs and 105s in the centre two, a little up from standard which as far as I can gather would normally be 100 and 102, but that’s as far as I’ve got.
I need to pull them apart completely and give the cold-start jets and pilots etc a good run-through, to see if that sorts the cold running issue.

That and everything else will have to wait though, as we’re now off to get a bit of sun on our backs for a few days but when I get back in a week or so’s time, the carbs will be completed, and if the shock has arrived I will get all the back end back in, forks finished and it back on its wheels , then it’s paint time!

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Your paint looks a lot "Neil, Neil, orange peel" in the photo, alloy brackets look good, one size up on main jets isn't much, if it has a race pipe I'd be going two sizes up.

[KungFooBob]

All non-Kawasaki race bikes should be painted Kawasaki Lime Green.

[weeksy]

I'm traumatised

[mangocrazy]

All non-Kawasaki race bikes should be painted Kawasaki Lime Green.

And have a Muzzy Kawasaki Scott Russell paint job.