Team GPR

[mr bucketracer]

It just handled so much better than mine, and the suspension was in another league. Fix the crazy footpeg position and clean up the jetting and I could have won on that bike. Put someone talented on it, say Sketchy in his prime, or Hamish, and I'd say they could beat Nathaniel. 18hp and all.

don't be so nice , i want a escuse to give this silly sport up

[F5 Dave]

You sure built a nice chassis.

I'm just glad you're not lighter.

[seymour14]

don't be so nice , i want a escuse to give this silly sport up

You want a game of golf tomorrow Scott. Just like old times, you beat me, and I fire balls back at the hole behind us...

[speedpro]

Makes me laugh people talking about where/how buckets started. Dragging out a Steadman bucket(Jimmy still has both of his originals), or Larsen's Yamaha, and see what was done and the work involved. Jimmy completely dominated buckets when he turned up at racing on his watercooled 100 but nobody bleated about rule changes and making winning/competing more attainable for some on a budget or whatever. Pete Sales GT50 or even my old AC50. Both severely limited in comparison to modern bikes but both reasonably competitive when we ran them, even against the then 100/125s. Both 50s were reckoned to "not be in the spirit", or "will ruin bucket racing" by some. I don't think anyone who actually was involved in starting bucket racing would have a problem with where the rules are at the moment, just like they wouldn't have a problem with any bike out there.

[mr bucketracer]

Makes me laugh people talking about where/how buckets started. Dragging out a Steadman bucket(Jimmy still has both of his originals), or Larsen's Yamaha, and see what was done and the work involved. Jimmy completely dominated buckets when he turned up at racing on his watercooled 100 but nobody bleated about rule changes and making winning/competing more attainable for some on a budget or whatever. Pete Sales GT50 or even my old AC50. Both severely limited in comparison to modern bikes but both reasonably competitive when we ran them, even against the then 100/125s. Both 50s were reckoned to "not be in the spirit", or "will ruin bucket racing" by some. I don't think anyone who actually was involved in starting bucket racing would have a problem with where the rules are at the moment, just like they wouldn't have a problem with any bike out there.

agree .they were more clever then

[mr bucketracer]

You want a game of golf tomorrow Scott. Just like old times, you beat me, and I fire balls back at the hole behind us...

why not , need to excape this world

[jasonu]

Yeah, its a tough one. Scott was gutted years ago when the SV's entered F3, just made a simple way to kick bikes that were developed to their upmost. You can just buy a potentially winning bike from your local dealer...

Most of the top end bikes of both types are well developed except for a certain type of 2t that pisses all over everyone to date and is pretty much bought off the shelf to those specs. That is where the problem is. Either everything else has to move up (and it becomes an arms race), or better still, the one type of engine gets limited back somehow.

Trouble is now, we may be potentially bringing another spanner in the works with us. Difference being, just like your stuff TZ, it has been a lot of effort and is based on a legit commuter bike. I hope things don't change much to be quite honest, the mix is almost right already.

Sorry Husa, I was referring to Nathaniel's bike in buckets. Not F3, forgot to put the relevant connection!

Not knocking the money side, but it stifles innovation when something can be bought off the shelf that does the business easily. And the commuter part of the scenario has been stretched way out of context, maybe a percentage quota is needed.

ie... You can have race wheels, or race forks, or race frame, or the derbi race engine that is almost identical to its commuter counterpart. But you just can't have it all or its not based remotely on a commuter bike.

Food for thought. TZ's idea of another thread would allow us all to put in different viewpoints, even if what we are doing with our engines is now over the top! Hence the idea of a proportion of the bike being commuter and a proportion being racey parts. Does give people the chance to pick their train of thought and attack strategy differently from others.

'bought off the shelf that does the business easily.' I don't think so...(read I know for a fact that is incorrect). Ask Dave Dip just how much time, effort and work goes into his bikes. The success Nathaniel has had in Buckets might also come from his top notch riding skills along with the fact he weighs the same as a tee shirt.

[mr bucketracer]

'bought off the shelf that does the business easily.' I don't think so...(read I know for a fact that is incorrect). Ask Dave Dip just how much time, effort and work goes into his bikes. The success Nathaniel has had in Buckets might also come from his top notch riding skills along with the fact he weighs the same as a tee shirt.

what may be hard work for somone maybe a waik in the park for another , his bike would not suit me, as my weight will kill it. and nothing about his bike is bucket ! what most people think but don't say it .we are still going out are way to take it on as it is the bench mark, i don't give a shit what i say now days, ps jason , your bike is what i liked about buckets and that sort of thing is why i got back into it

[richban]

so if you had 3 nsr 300s and the rules changed to 600 now alowed that class and made your bike worth nothing ( you would be happy ? ) fuck of you would be , and as for evolve ! it was the biggist fucken class out there

So you had some 450's and then rules changed to allow stink old sv's. I was not racing then so don't know. But only last year Avalon was getting chased all the way to the title buy an old Kawasaki 450 4. I would be grumpy if they changed the rules to exclude my bike.

[kel]

'bought off the shelf that does the business easily.' I don't think so....

I think so. All those Derbi parts are bought off the shelf. The porting done to the aftermarket performance cylinder is absolutely minimal, and I know this for a fact!

The success Nathaniel has had in Buckets might also come from his top notch riding skills along with the fact he weighs the same as a tee shirt

Agreed. and his willingness to not follow the stewards instruction doesn't hurt either

Long live the Derbi cup

[mr bucketracer]

So you had some 450's and then rules changed to allow stink old sv's. I was not racing then so don't know. But only last year Avalon was getting chased all the way to the title buy an old Kawasaki 450 4. I would be grumpy if they changed the rules to exclude my bike.

the worst thing was at the time just about all the zxr450 chucked rods apart from andew bowel , only the later model zxrs had the heaver rods and were hard to fine , just about doubled the price of the bikes going 450 for them that can't do the work . i wanted to but did not have the money so just gave up

[timg]

Makes me laugh people talking about where/how buckets started. Dragging out a Steadman bucket(Jimmy still has both of his originals), or Larsen's Yamaha, and see what was done and the work involved. Jimmy completely dominated buckets when he turned up at racing on his watercooled 100 but nobody bleated about rule changes and making winning/competing more attainable for some on a budget or whatever. Pete Sales GT50 or even my old AC50. Both severely limited in comparison to modern bikes but both reasonably competitive when we ran them, even against the then 100/125s. Both 50s were reckoned to "not be in the spirit", or "will ruin bucket racing" by some. I don't think anyone who actually was involved in starting bucket racing would have a problem with where the rules are at the moment, just like they wouldn't have a problem with any bike out there.

I'm sitting on the 'it ain't broken, don't fix it' fence.

From my perspective there's four types of bucket racers;

• the folks that can actually afford to race, buy all the good gear, pay for the development, dyno time etc etc
• the talented mechanics and engineers that haunt this forum and develop fantastic machinery (GPR, Marshland, Team ESE, FarmerKen etc etc) I'm in awe of you guys
• the talented riders who seem to be able to make almost anything go fast. Combine their ability with the right machinery and they are near unbeatable
• then there's the rest of us the muppets that play in the mid and back of the pack with limited money, little bike building skills and even less riding ability.

Fiddling with the rules will not change anything except for temporally upsetting the pecking order for a bit. There will still be the folks that buy the fancy GP frames & engines etc and throw $'s at it, the engineering types will still beaver away developing their 2T or 4T engines, chassis or what ever, there will always be the talented riders blowing us old farts into the weeds, and us muppets will still come out to play and dream of the day we can afford to buy a GPR frame and all the GP125 suspension etc to go into it along with the reliable 30+hp engine of our choice and maybe come and play at the pointy end Until then I'll buy stuff for my FXR as I can afford it, enjoy tinkering with what I can, and hopefully continue to learn a lot as I go along.

Buckets F4/F5 is a great formula that caters for just about anybody. It doesn't need to cost a lot, there's bugger all ego's, bullshit and politics involved. Generally bucket racers are a great bunch and help, information and advice is willingly offered. A beginner can buy an older bucket or FXR to try it for a modest outlay and there's plenty of scope for building and developing 31HP 2T rockets. Looking forward to seeing if its a weapon or a grenade but therein lies both the challenge and also confirmation that the current formula is working just fine IMHO. Cheers.

[seymour14]

Well said, if it aint broke don't fix it.

Just check the rules occasionally to make sure its fair for everyone, and that it is in the spirit of buckets.

[Bert]

Where did these last three pages come from...

It's not broken leave it as is.

Rules need to clean up the grey areas, yes.
Old guys need to remember that young guys have a higher level of fitness and likely a shitload less weight and stuffed body parts... Sometimes you just admit defeat and suck it up...

I have no talent, yes (cheers Dave).

When was it so critical to win? Buckets has always been more about challenging yourself and your machine; learning along the way.

And things have changed, but man we all still have a lot of fun when all together.


Side note: does anyone have a 30mm socket and a clutch basket holder???

[Henk]

I have a 30mm socket and a tyre lever, want to pop round and grab them?