PROJECT BIKE ME! RACE BIKE PART I

by Dino

Introduction by Boris

You may recognise Dino from the various excursions BIKE ME! has had in the past months. You may also be aware that Dino races in the BEARS series and is quite competitive. So competitive, in fact, that he was two seconds quicker on the Manbike around Eastern Creek than my devastatingly fast 1 min 54 sec.

Consequently he won the race he was in on Buckley's nasty mongrel Harris bastard. This made me feel very inadequate, but I am getting over it. Dino has since decided to race some more and figures his new race bike would look very cool in Bike Me! colours. We agreed and he has our full support and backing. This means we'll come along from time to time and yell at him. With a bit of luck, he may even be eligible to race with Uncle's DPRNK Superbike and Pleasure Squad in the near future.

Time will tell. But you may enjoy his occasional piece on how much it takes to get a race bike together and actually race it...

Dino's bargain in all its splendour

In the beginning it came to pass that Dino begot a Triumph 675 needing some TLC from Motorcycle Disposals, with great help from Lee Goldsmith of said establishment.

Yes, it goes like this:

I wandered out to Seven Hills to scope out a Du#$$%&ti 748R with the vain hope of procuring this machine as a long term rebuild race bike, But turns out 'twas sold prior.

A little disgruntled I scoped out the motorcycle morgue at Seven Hills and to my extreme delight my eye was caught by a sorry looking Triumph 675, looking very forlorn lying amongst the dead and dying inventory of the holding pen. It gave me a sexy wink and I knew it was love.

After careful inspection it turned out to be a stat write off [cheap], crashed into a kerb with 567km on the clock and with the interim rego label still attached. The front wheel was smashed, forks bent beyond repair, plastics U/S and a tiny hairline crack on a frame weld, hence the stat write off, bless it.

The asking price was a mere $3,500 which I couldn't get out of my pocket fast enough. The deal was done and I picked her up a couple of days later.

Since picking her up I have stripped her, worked out what parts I can sell to get a little money back i.e., headlight intact Ker-ching $250-300 sale price; rear seat and ducktail Ker-ching $100+; rear light and indicator unit Ker-ching $150ish; new chain and sprockets Ker-ching $100+; and a pair of just roaded Pirelli Super Corsers Ker-ching $250 plus other stuff: foot pegs, stand, two repairable side fairings, original silencer worth fuck all, but a mention nonetheless.

Now for the good stuff - looking for the bits that will transform this sorry caterpillar wreck into a beautiful racing butterfly.

eBay, here I come.

Dino

Don't think you're going to get much for the wheel, Dino