project i've got an idea...

[trinity]

so named because of my womanly fickleness and my husband's
constant daydreams and many inspirations.
:





you all know what a 600 bandit looks like so no before
photos. it was a cheap ebay buy and had many things wrong with it. to date it
has had new carbs, a new clutch, new brakes, new rear shock, cut down seat,
zx12 lowering links, k&n filter, new fork stanchions, 14 tooth front
sprocket, new throttle assembly etc, etc, etc. the list goes on.





the plan was to stick a 750 engine in it, this was nearly
scuppered by team mess aka krapa and woggie filling kenny's head with a million
new ideas. i put my foot down until dragon let me ride her 884 at santa
pod... [!smitten]





needless to say the plan might be changing. ;D





i've a few irons in the fire, the feelers have gone out. i'm
just waiting for a couple of quotes on a big bore kit, there's also an engine
which might possibly be just what i need. hopefully by next week i'll have made
a firm decision on whether it's going to be an 884 or a 750.





we came back from santa pod on sunday and the bike went
straight up on the ramp. monday was strip down day. everything has been
labelled and bagged up.











tuesday a friend came over to be on hand whilst the engine
was stripped down.

















my friend donated a 916 seat unit so they removed a few on
the lugs on the sub frame to get it sitting properly. quite a scary sight.























the theme is going to be white and chrome. we've been to the
powder coaters today, they're going to do the frame, wheels and yokes in white
and the swing arm and the bottoms of the fork legs in chrome.

the tank, tail section and mudguard will be white with a sparkly lacquer. my
husband is going to do the painting himself. i'm purely the creative consultant
on this one. the idea is to keep it looking quite clean and minimalistic.











Well, I’ve bought an engine off ebay which is possibly an
884. We’ll take the head off when it turns up and investigate. It didn’t cost
much so can just be punted back out if it’s just a standard engine. Watch this
space…





There’s been some more grinding and welding of new braces on
the subframe to allow the new seat unit to sit correctly. The postman has
delivered some more bling today too.











Just catching up with everything that's been
modded/fabricated so far.





Kenny has fabricated an undertray to allow for some
rerouting of the electrics whilst keeping the aesthetics clean and sleek. Two
braces have been welded on to the subframe, these sit flush to allow for a
lower seat height than standard.





Not too much to do before it can all go for powder coating.



































More welding and grinding today. Everything electrical now
has a home in the undertray.








The subframe has now been modded to accept the ducati seat
unit.























The new seat sits so much lower than standard that the
plastic needed to be extended to allow for the addition of some more foam to
cover the tank mounting bolts.























There has been a delay with the new engine, it won't be here
'til Monday. Fingers still crossed...





Whilst i had a very busy day at work, Kenny was working hard
in the garage.





More work was done to the seat unit, it has been extended on
both sides now. Access to the electrics once finished was looking to be a
problem due to both the seat unit and undertray having been modded. The idea
now is that the undertray will be secured by four bolts, this will drop down
and the riders seat can be unbolted from inside. A case of form over function.
The foam off the riders seat was carefully trimmed off the seat base to allow
bolts to slotted through. Later on we'll take the seat to a professional
upholsterer to be reformed and covered in white leatherette.





All the grinding on the frame is now finished, it just needs
a good clean up before it can go for powder coating. A friend is going to strip
the wheels and forks down. The swingarm and yokes also need some cleaning.
hopefully it won't be too cold tomorrow...























One can of Gunk and several hours later the frame and swingarm
are finally clean. Just need to take the forks apart and then it can all go off
to be powder coated. Won a full Akrapovic system on Ebay too! The engine turns
up tomorrow too…





Well the engine arrived this morning... It’s totally
standard. L
I suppose it was worth a try. We managed to pick up a 1991 gsxr750 engine
instead, it looks in good nick too. Everything is still in the back of the van,
it’s off to be powder coated tomorrow.








It’s gone in the bin…











… at the powder coaters. We can now chill for a little
while. Just the tank and plastics to paint now. Sourcing some carbs has proved
to be a little more difficult than expected, but there is still plenty of time.






So here’s a bad picture of the engine…











The full akra system turned up. It’s a bit scratched up but
not bad for it’s age. Obviously the rule of not using the bathroom for cleaning
bike bits doesn’t apply when you’re the most qualified to judge the correct age
of a towel.











We’ve got some time off together next week so can hopefully
get the tank, seat unit and mudguard ready to paint. Just waiting for some more
parts – carbs, rubbers, progressive springs.

[taz]

hi jesus youre a busy girl.its like somethin out of orange county on the telly.lol.looks ace you must really be into bikes .will look brill wen finished .taz

[Tim1200]

Looks good

[number6]

Looking good. Would love to see her in the flesh when she's finished. But then bikes like this are never actually really finished are they Tim? lol. There's always one more job to do. One little change. I hope no psychiatrist ever looks at us bike builders. We'll get locked up!!!!

[OneeyedBandit]

A Ducati seat unit, interesting... I assume that you are opting for the underseat exhaust style?

An old style Triumph Street Triple unit does look very nice and apparently alot less bother to fit.

A very nice project...

[trinity]

thanks guys. it has to be said i'm only the creative consultant on this one. i've done some polishing, cleaning and labelling but my husband has done most of the hard work.

this bike will be finished! it needs to be up and running by january so that we have enough time to get it set up on the dyno ready for the first straightliners meeting in marchish.

i have friends who have been working on projects for years, they that would drive me mad, it helps to know what you want and not be intrigued by new and shiny things. choosing an engine was the biggest problem. i was tempted to go big bore but it was really economically unjustifiable considering the huge array of more powerful engines available for a fifth of the price. when the possible big bore engine turned out to be totally standard i think i was more gutted to have not got a bargain.

remember men are born tinklers, women just want it all yesterday!

no underseat exhaust for me. i'm quite short so cannot jack the rear end up to give it a real streetfighter look but hopefully the steeper angle of the seat unit combined with the openess around the back wheel will keep the right aesthetics whilst allowing me to put my feet down. the seat unit was a gift from a friend, he had it on his zxr750 streetfighter.

[number6]

Lucky hubby. A woman who knows her place is polishing and cleaning. Lmao. Coming good tho. Looking forward to the finished bike.

[sherman]

Personally I'm loving the can of Irn-Bru in one of the photos, lol!

Young Colin

[taz]

hi m8 christ where have you been hidin .r u on for skeggie in april .big ned needs a luver lol.aint seen you since durham.also next sunday weather permittin were gion on a run leave hillen ski slope then follow auld chiddy.just home went out for a blast wi adam today down abbington then stopped moffat got a scran then home pissin down once we got to moffat all the way home;thats half the fun of it eh .keep in touch m8 lots of things planned for next year so should see more of you.howz that auld tattie you met in durham lol taz.

[trinity]

Work has slowed down a little. The carbs and rubbers are
here. We went for the original 38 CVs from a gsxr750.











Still waiting for the wp progressive fork springs though.
We’ve also sourced a 750 oil cooler and lines. My friend is going to make up
some silver braided brake lines for me once it’s all back together. We’ll wait
and see how the rear shock behaves when it’s back on the road.





At the moment Kenny is applying filler to all the dinks and
scratches, furiously sanding them back and repeating. The seat unit is now
fully adapted to curve round the tank too. Once this is finished it can be
sprayed artic white and then coated with a sparkly lacquer, silver or blue
glitter, I haven’t made my mind up yet.






































The frame, wheels, swingarm, yokes and braces are still at
the powder coaters. To be honest it’s doing us a favour as we don’t have to
find a place at home for it to live. The engine still needs to be cleaned up
but that shouldn’t take long. It’s coming together nicely, I’m getting really
excited.

[trinity]

Everything will be ready to pick up from the powder coat
place at the weekend. Just finishing off the prep on the tank and plastics
ready for the two pack to go on.