Hello gents, well a bit of an update on my 2 years or so now in the company of several FP1's
Needless to say from the off i know i am very lucky to be living the dream, the thought of ever owning a FP1 let alone riding one was one of those "pinch me" moments and was the pinnacle of my motorcycling career.
It still is - i can honestly say there is still no other bike i want as much or feel is my next direction and i am very happy with what i have achieved with a FP1 and all it has brought me (bad and good)
There have been loads of highlights, and a few lows.
The highs have been those early morning or late night rides out around Cheshire or North wales on my own enjoying my bike and its soundtrack, it has proved fairly comfortable to live with even at my old age and state of fitness, and it has excelled in many areas too.
Reliability has been remarkable for such a fickle machine, needing little more than fluids and some care and cleaning.
Items of weakness in 1400 miles have shown to be the Rectifier - a service item almost, clutch slave - a bit crap and Oberon are trying to match me one right now or make me some, also the Wiring loom has proved to be a little lame in a couple of areas with some connections badly soldered (if at all and are nothing more than twisted together)
Costs have been pretty stiff, but compared to running and maintaining a R7 (The real one not the new twin) this is actually a walk in the park but still a bit more than say a RC30 or RC45.
My FP1 has made the press quite a bit, appeared online and on social media from being spotted out in the wild, to passing it to Jenny (Tinmouth, i sponsor Jenny and she is a good trusted friend) for a few jobs here and there, so chances are any FP1 you have seen over the last 2 - 3 years is mine.
One thing that has been a bit of a surprise was parking the bike anywhere or pulling up somewhere like J&S or Betwys in a sea of bikes and bikers, and i can honestly say, no one has a bloody clue what it is or have any idea just how rare or special these bikes are.
If i saw one parked up i would be doing my nut and blowing my load and likely in a state of shock actually seeing one in the flesh let alone being used. Yet most simply either have no idea, don't care or really dismiss it as its an "old bike" and this i feel is more indicative of my difference compared to your average biker or bike nut. One chap even after asking what it was (and being told) said "oh so its a painted Triumph then" to which i replied "yeah mate" before finishing my brew and kitting up to leave.
So why even type this when most simply don't care or have any interest - well for the one or two that do and can appreciate to significance of someone actually using one as intended i guess.
Anyway back to the saga, late in 2021 by pure fluke i crossed paths with someone who was quite significant and part of the "Project Misty" team right from the very start of the bikes adaption for WSB and more importantly the road bike development. After lots of time on the phone and an exchange of stories, he let slip he had built a spare bike / rolling chassis based on one of the D frames (development frames and early race frames) and was complete just missing an engine and loom with loads of spares and tooling.
A price was agreed and i went down to collect it - and what a treasure trove that turned out to be.
Tooling, documentation and spares this was proper dream come true and still nearly 15 months on i am going through the technical data, marketing material, FIM letters and service data and even things like SVA certificates with manually written workshop data with revised specs and data.
However there were a load of CDRW's and DVD's included which where an unknown as he couldn't open anything.
Turns out there are CAD drawings of most of the bikes parts, frame jig details, - the data contained here is simply overwhelming i cannot emphasise enough the significance of the haul and after some discussion with my man in the UK and Malaysia, its quite apparent i have way more technical data than they do and are keen to share information.
What it has done is give me a positive advantage now to keep my Bikes running and for the long term.
Now when i say Bikes - i mean bikes.
With the original 2 zero mile bikes i bought back in 2020 and also the rolling chassis bike, i have since purchased another 0 mile bike bringing the dominating colour scheme in my garage to a Panache green and 4 bikes.
Bike #4 has been done slightly differently though, i wanted to do a race rep, and the obvious default choice would have been a foggy or corser rep (certainly corser as i do have his race frame and swingarm) however for me there was only one choice.
The late great Craig Jones stood out to me and was one i felt showed huge potential and had a superb career ahead of him before he was tragically killed. After a bit of back and forth with his parents to check they were ok with me doing a bike based on Craigs race bike - they very much approved the idea which was fantastic and enough to get the wheels in motion as his dad sent me over Craigs numbers and decals and fonts making replication so much easier.
It has taken over a year since ordering the bike to it landing and then dealing with the painter and the specific requirements compared to the stock road bikes, and then a friend who did all the wrapping, decals and artwork.
I am delighted to share the result with you all.
The bodykit has now been swapped over with my high mileage well used bike and vice versa, so this will be potentially seen around Chester on the daily commute and around North wales / Cheshire.
