She feels fine...

An early morning trek up to Snetterton on Friday, and I was feeling very nervous! The van's been abit rough of late- would it get me there? And the bike's an untested hypothesis- would it work well enough to ride? Or would it clatter to an early death on the back straight? Or would it pitch me off, making life much more complicated than it needs to be?

Ash and his brother Rob were a huge help all day

I needn't have worried, the noise man just laughed when I pitched up for testing. So the whole morning was written off, trying to (ahem!) tune the exhaust with baffles and lots and lots of gaffer tape....

It got quieter with each successive modification, but he still wouldn't let us out. And if I'd have run for more than a few minutes, the tape would surely have melted. However, all wee needed was the "Pass" sticker... And anyway, with so much backpressure it barely ran at all! I managed to buy a couple of new, more restrictive baffles. You can see them plugging up the cans here:

These met with his approval, but then hen the noise man tells us "Oh you were right enough, we whould have been testing at 4000rpm, not 5000"..... So I've missed the mornings test, and I'm thirty quid down.... oh well...

Ash removed the baffles for me, skilled motorcycle engineer that he is!

Anyway, after a bit of fiddling with the timing, she ran, well enough to test.

Dave Bennet took few shots, just so you know I'm not telling fibs! Check out his blog on the Yamatax he's building for Ash.

So she runs, but the carbs need a bit of fettling now. We kind of ran out of time, but managed to get an approximation of base settings for the carbs, the ignition timing and the chassis. And I am in no way to be considered a test rider...!

However, I'm very pleased about the motor. There are many people who have contributed to Friday, and I know its not even a race, and I was slow-slow-slow, but even just a test feels like a victory. So thank you to all who know who they are! Will post soon on the minor fettles before the next test at cadwell, on the 15th May, the day before Round One.

Recalcitrant Single!

Sorry for the lack of info of late! There were a few minor issues to iron out with the motor, involving loose things bouncing around, and part-strips, petrol-soaked shoes and lots of time on the rollers.
A definate reluctance (or rather a refusal) to run had us scratching our noggins.

Ash has rebuilt the carbs, retimed the ignition, checked the cam. And now she runs, and despite re-packing the cans is still pretty loud. So I've got a couple of dB killers coming this week.

We've decided not to bother dynoing it now, but have instead booked a trackday for the 17th April at Snetterton. The back straight should tell us if she's making any power or not... And it will also let us see what the chassis is like initially.

And 4 weeks later, (if the motor holds together) we should be at Cadwell for the 1st round. For a while it looked like she was going to spit the dummy and refuse to run, but Ash cajoled and coaxed her into agreement.

We'll put some pictures up from Snetterton. Promise!