2010 last post

The project is on pause at the moment while the 250 gets out of the way. This is not strictly true as I am still thinking about it, planning parts and keeping an eye out for bits.
My replacement frame turned up today.


Here it is before it gets the grinder.

I have been thinking a lot about the finished bike and what I want it to be. I have previously said that this is important for me to be able to plan and focus the project. I will post a design spec before I begin but in the meantime I have decided on a daylight only MOT so no lights etc.
Bodywork: I thought about ducati carbon but it's too complicated and fussy for my taste. Standard rgv is awful, I didn't like it in 1990 and it's not got better with age.
Tyga is and obvious choice and one I keep coming back to. It is simple, contemporary and, at the end of the day, designed to fit the rgv. I see Mark Dent is offering tyga subframes for 500 conversions that include oil tanks. I have no intention to build something different for the sake of it and so tyga kit seams to suit my needs. I will see when I've done my final design spec.

I have done a project plan ( geek project manager) and it shows the project to take 7 months and cost £4160 on top of what I've already spent. This includes a tune and paint but not a crank rebuild so I'm hoping to get away with my current bottom end. I will see when it comes apart.

One thing I have decided to sort out with or without a spec is the back wheel. I'm going to fit a 5.5 wide rim to run a 170 or maybe even a 180. It will be close. I want a wheel to match the gsxr k6 front I have so need a wider rim and need the spokes to match. A 180 is going to look great but will take a bit of warming up.

One other thing I like and will be putting on the spec is a polished frame. I know it's old fashioned but I'm tired of everyone powder coating frames and I still think a polished rgv frame looks great. My engine will be unpainted alloy too. Lots of shining bits please!

Lastly it was decided in the pub on Tuesday that proper attire must be observed when working on the 500. A shirt a tie MUST be worn at all time when addressing this bike. A flat cap and cardigan are allowed if it's a bit cold in 'the damp garage'
Sadly Suzuki don't do a tie. I asked Martin Crooks (Crooks Suzuki) if he could get one and he told me about his very own 20 year old tie but he wasn't for letting a tyke like me near it. He gave me some workshop gloves and sent me on my way. Cheers Martin.
looks like my old leather piano tie might be making a comeback. I will spec the tie with the bike design. Maybe I should wear a tie under my leathers when it's finished?



Imagine this as a 500 and the bird showing her Windsor knot.


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My frame and other rubbish

I thought I should capture the project at the start and post some pictures.




This is the 250k that I've got to get out of the way before I get to the 500. It looks worse than it is and I should have it close to running by the end of the year. I'm going to spray it in pepsi colours so that helps my choice of what to do on the 500.

I mentioned the gsxr before so here it is so it won't feel left out.




Now to the 500. I have mentioned the frame disaster and here it is. See how the cast webs have been completely removed and where the grinder has also thinned the outer plate. Whoever did this should keep quiet, you are a plonker.









Notice on this picture that not only is the casting ruined but the lug for the frame cradle has gone!
To be fair, the lug removal has been done because the engine fitting kit does not require a cradle. The engine is held at the upper and lower rear mounts and the front is suspended by a pair of brackets. These attach to the front cylinder heads and share the same bolts as the cylinder.


This is not going on my bike!
It might work but I don't like the look of it much. I don't like the idea of 120hp twisting it's way out of the frame being held back by these two skinny bits of ally. Not only that I think the vibration is directly put on the frame and this won't be nice. Most of all though I think they will crack in no time as the natural vibration of the motor will be prevented by this direct attachment - the brackets are going to become vibration dampers and I don't recall aluminium being good at this.
Mine will have a proper cradle (I've ordered one from Mark Dent at Performance Fabrication)

Finally for now- a pic of the donkey. Isn't it great!



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More thoughts and prattling on.

This is a test blog, I've just got an app for my I phone and want to see if it's any good.



This is the bike I saw at the stafford show. Very nice. It was small and that was something I liked. The tank was a one off hand made thing and very impressive but I think it was designed around a sponson frame? It didn't fit the lines of the rgv frame to well but hey- its still a smart bike. I didn't get a good picture of any details but I can tell you it was a very high standard of finish.



An original bike. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that.

I'm thinking about how I want mine to end up. It's not quite a blank canvass I have but I do have plenty of scope to use my imagination and build an rgv500 that is individual and recognised as my creation.

There is no getting away from the base fact; it is a race bike. Theres no point thinking about flat bars or streetfighters, it is meant to be inspired by 500 GP bikes and that is why bought it.
With this in mind I have the following design inputs:

It must be as light as possible.
It's got a race fairing
Single seat
Stiff frame
Power can come on late as long as it got plenty
Noise is good
Absolute minimalist design

These are all fairly obvious but I will develop this design input to produce a design specification and try and project manage the whole thing. It may be a bit nerdy to do this but I think I need to set some deadlines and, more importantly, identify when and what I will need to buy. This is going to be expensive so I need to be able to plan my spending.
Another reason for project managing this is to make sure I keep to the original idea. I see many specials ending up something that is too good to ride or just a show off bike. I think it is probably easy to get carried away and this bike certainly dosnt want anything that it doesn't absolutely need- if it doesn't have an essential function then it won't be fitted. I want to avoid scope creep and deviation from the plan. But first I need the goal defined.

I'm at work. Its good is this app!

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A hangover, a church pew and a long drive

My bid accepted I agreed to collect the bike on the 11th of December, unfortunately the day after my works night out. I managed to get home in a reasonable state and set off from south Cumbria to meet a bloke and collect the bike. (I will call him Mr B)
Mr B lives close to London but he was a decent chap and agreed to meet me at Watford Gap services. He was obviously not just a decent chap but keen to get the cash.
We ot the bits in the boot of my jalopy alongside a church pew that I had collected on the way, shook hands and both turned for home. I was so happy I did a facebook post and that dosnt happen often.

So what had I bought?  Here is the list.

An RGV250 VJ22 frame part modified for the motor
Performance Fabrications fitting kit
VJ22 braced swingarm, not banana.
A standard RG500 engine complete with carbs
complete RG500 electrics, harness etc
RGV harness and switchgear
VJ22 clocks
Pattern VJ22 fairing and singleseat unit
new (as good as) fuel tank
GSXR 600 K6 front end minus calipers
Jim Lomas SS pipes with carbon cans - new
RG500.com hi-flow filter kit
some nice clipons
Various bits and pieces, some new, some interesting..

Once at home I had a good look at everything. Within seconds I knew the frame was useless. I wasnt too bothered as frames are not expensive but I wanted Mr B to know as I felt he should help out with a replacement. I was not wrong about him being a decent chap and he promptly sent 100 quid to paypal so I could get a replacement.
The problem was that the frame had been butchered with a grinder to get the engine in...

In fitting the engine in the VJ22 frame you have to remove the 250 upper rear engine mounts and grind some relief on the cast webs where the 500 clutch cover hides within the frame. Performance Fabs produce a machined clutch cover that dosn't protrude from the engine as much as the standard case and therefore you dont need to grind as much frame away. I will have to get one.
Anyway my frame looked like it had been modified by a drunk blind man and it had ALL of the webs removed. the grinder had even started to touch the outer plate! it was a right mess and would crack with 12hp put through it never mind the 120hp I am hoping to have in the end.

I have found a frame with good hisory and a handfull of old mot's from a bloke in Stafford, Mr C. (I have a feeling that Mr C might get mentioned again in the future as he is a bit of an RGV dealer)
I got the frame, a set of VJ22 pipes for my mate and a 22 barrel for my 250K(VJ22 top end)
you can see my problem now - I have another project on the go.

So here is the situation. I have decided that I must get the 250 sorted before I get properly started on the 500. I am however thinking about the project and I have bought a couple of things already.
I may only build a bike like this once so I have decided to have it well thought through with a clear picture of what i want it to be at the end. I also want all of the parts before I start so I can check how everything will fit and interact. I dont want to spoil this experience by having to chase things on ebay or at the local breakers. If I dont then I risk the project with compromised parts. I want this thing to be fantastic and to do this I know every part must be right for the bike and chosen very carefully.

I admit that this is difficult. Ive got an RGV 500 project and im not working on it!

A long introduction

This is the story of a project Suzuki rgv 500 build. I want to record the build for several reasons but mainly to help me recall the ups and downs when it is finished. I also hope it might help anyone else doing a similar project so they don't waste time and money. I will post a link to this from the rgv250.com site so we should get a good bit of knowledge shared.

Why an RGV 500?
If you need this explaining then you are looking at the wrong blog but I will nonetheless summarise: it's a monster 2 stroke classic engine put in one of the best handling production frames ever. It will be mental, scary and wonderful all at the same time. It is also the closest you are likely to get to riding a true 500 GP bike and where it falls short you can make up in the pub.

This is a bike I have longed for since watching 500cc gp bikes in the early 90's. When Kevin rolled out on the Pepsi sponsored 500 it caught my, and every other teenage moped rider of the time, imagination and oh how I would have loved a few laps of Donnington on it. When it was developed and appeared with the two rhs exhausts and banana arm it was almost too beautiful to ride and inevitably with kev piloting it, crash. Suzuki had made THE pin up bike of the 90's and it replaced my old Sam Fox poster on my garage wall. (my mum was happy about it)

Fast forward and several motorbikes later I have always preferred two strokes to clumsey fours. I was a child of the GSXR era so I know my view of four strokes is distorted and I have rode R1's etc so I know what i'm missing but I now think (or realise) that modern sports bikes are just too much for the average person, certainly on the road. I think you can have a mental bike that is fast but it dosnt have to do 200mph - I just cant see the point and would rather make a lot of noise and smoke with my knee on the floor and occasionally touch 140 if the road will let me.

After having a 12 year break from road bikes I found myself bidding on an old GSXR750L (i was under the infuence of wine) It was local, standard, cheap and rekindled memoies of carefree adolesence where my wages went on petrol, tyres and chasing skirt at the weekend. The gixxer came home with me and I took it to pieces in order to make it showroom condition and take to shows later in life in retirement(20ish years to go)
It sat in bits for 18months then I realised that I was slowly loosing bits as it was scattered around the house and garage. I had the summer off to recover from a back operation and decided to use this time to get it back together. In October this year (2010) it got and MOT and tax. I took it out to Devils bridge where it attacted a crowd, not bad as I am still to respray it. It does look clean and really good even without the paint finished. I had enjoyed 'doing it up' so much that I decided that I needed another project to see me throuh the winter; an ebay RGV250K arrived. my sebatical from bikes was truly over and my love for garage tinkering had returned. (the damp garage)

So I'm mid way through working on the 250 (GSXR is wrapped in a vacbag http://www.vac-bags.co.uk/ and happily hibernating) and i'm checking ebay and the RGV forum for parts reguarly.
A pal decided to join me in two stroke silliness and we decided to do some track days together in 2011. during our hours of discussing bikes I decided of all the bikes in the world to have an RG 500 is the machine that is the daddy ofthem all. Love or hate two strokes their is no denying its significance, or importance, and it is always a crowd pleaser with its four piece wind section playing the most beautiful engine tunes. I dropped a hint with my wife that I might buy one at the stafford show and she diddnt freak! It was a good sign. I went to the show but nothing got my wallet open although I did consider an RG500 engine. I had a good look at an RGV500 on the club stand (top bike with a lot of smart details and cash invested) I went home with some 250 bits and a set of allen keys.

Then in November somebody offers an unfinished RGV500 project on ebay. How could I resist?
So I have a part finished RGV250K and a load of bits to build the 500.