The Pig

So, I got the R90S finished last December after its unexpected need for a repaint twelve months earlier. Along the way, a few bits got chromed, and a few other bits got replaced, and generally the bike became a victim of the dreaded scope creep. As a result, her new nickname has become Queenie to reflect her current status as a garage/trailer queen . . .

This got me to thinking. I already had plans to build a trackday bike, but after watching the illustrious Mr V strut his stuff aboard his recently assembled R90 racebike, I realised that a dedicated trackday bike was too limiting whereas a classic racebike can still be used for trackdays and so much more. I also realised that i had enough crap laying around to build not only a classic racebike along similar lines to Voltaire's machine, but also a road bike which could fill the void created by going too far with the R90S. A cunning plan began to emerge. Enter Exiibit A:



This was the R100 I'd accidentally bought about a year ago. Seriously molested by a previous owner, it was probably a good wrecking proposition, but it had too many valuable features to part out while being too rough to actually ride as it stood. The wiring alone was a world of potential pain, not to mention the conversion from dual disc to single. It didn't deserve to live yet it contained some potentially useful bits. Subsequently the 2-into-1 exhaust has found a new home on Voltaire's R90 racebike, and the front guard is now repainted and happily mounted on the R90S.

Cheap rego was still too far away for the R100 as well, so it was clearly time to resurrect my old '75 R90/6 frame with the rego still on hold. This is the frame from my original bike which I purchased in Jan 1986 and rode for several years before it developed a nasty main bearing rumble. It's been in bits and waiting patiently for almost 20 years! Its day has finally come. After making a few modifications, one of my customers gave it a blast and painted it for me:



So the guiding principle of the assembly process is to build a bike which is cosmetically average, but functionally in good order. It will have provision for luggage, and there will be no concerns about using a tank bag. I am considering the use of adventure tyres, although I've not made a final decision yet. My intention is to use stuff that I already have in stock where possible, which means that the bike will have parts spanning over twenty years of airhead production. It will have a monolever rear end, a pair of cross-spoke wire wheels (which will allow the use of tubeless tyres), and a late Brembo front end. As I've said to a few folk already, I have set fairly low standards for this build, and I'm barely achieving them . . .

The intention is great Max.........................but once you hit the race track, you'll be looking for more power, less weight and better handling.................it's a never ending process. But........ you will have fun, so enjoy the journey.

I can run the R90 is CMRR events and if I chose Post Classics and even AMCC events. Its unlikely that will bother with the latter two as its all gone a bit OTT with tyre warmers, slicks and fancy trailers.
Got it entered in the next two track days....should be interesting.

Originally Posted by Dieseldick

The intention is great Max.........................but once you hit the race track, you'll be looking for more power, less weight and better handling.................it's a never ending process. But........ you will have fun, so enjoy the journey.

Yep, agreed. In the meantime, I re-read what I wrote above, and realised that it's possibly a tad ambiguous. The plan is to build two separate bikes; one will be a racebike, and the other will be The Pig.

The racebike assembly will follow later this year. The Pig will be a general purpose, go anywhere bike that I can leave outside in the rain and use during winter. It probably won't get cleaned very often.

Yeah, two bikes make sense..................we all need a Pig too!

Max, is it really acceptable to call any airhead a "pig"?

Mate, they've been called much worse . . . even the Krauts called them rubber cows (or "Gummikuh").

Maybe I should call the skootah Piglet as it lives outside, never cleaned but starts willingly and provides entertaining transport....
here's me on way to work...

looks like there are other like mined people out there.....

With Krauser mirrors to be fitted to the fairing, The Pig will share the "big-ears" visual feature

Well, here's a thread from the past . . . . and it's fascinating to be able to use threads like this as an online diary of sorts.

I'm embarrassed to discover that I've been faffing around with the Pig for two years now. Admittedly there has been progress, although glacial. And the latest progress today was to pull it completely apart and put everything beck on the shelf. Kinda disappointed one one level, as I still believe that the concept was sound and that it would have fulfilled its intended purpose admirably.

Sadly, I've had to admit that projects like this are better suited to folk who aren't time-poor. So when an opportunity arrived a few weeks ago in the form of a bike which is complete and running as part of a very attractive deal, the Pig instantly became redundant. So, I now own my first chain-driven parallel twin . . . .

The original intention was to build a track bike at the same time as the Pig, and that itch has largely been scratched by the switch to sidecar racing, with the lovely Mrs Headroom kindly filling the function of ballast.

Funny how things can change.

So, I now own my first chain-driven parallel twin . . . .

OMG he's bought a Trinorhonzukiwakiaha .......