Suzuki XR69 – A collection of Posts from my blog about the Suzuki XR69 race bikes built by John Sim at his Silverstone workshop.

25/11/2011 – Post – Suzuki GSX-R Factory.

With three classic GSX-Rs in various stages of disarray and shipping date for the South Africa Winter Series of races very close it’s all hands to the pump to get them ready in time. I nipped down to the Silverstone today to collect one of the motors that has been rebuilt and took the opportunity to steal a few photos when I was there.

The two bikes that gave Michael Dunlop trouble at the Manx Grand Prix this year were both in the Silverstone workshop.

This is the bike Michael won the Manx on last year. It was pressed into service for this year’s race when the 2011 bike gave trouble in practise but didn’t finish.

The blue bike was for this year’s Manx Grand Prix. Michael has clocked 120mph laps with these bikes.

and this one with the Maxton twin-shocks is being built complete with Dominator lights for Endurance racing. I’ve got the same lights on my gixxer. I hope the rider isn’t depending on them to light the track at speed.

It’s one thing to love your Suzuki but to sleep with the bodywork is taking things a bit too far!

If you are that keen on Suzukis then you must have a tidy full power GSX-R 750  too —

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26/11/2011 – Post – Suzuki GSX-R Thou

That aircooled GSX-R thou is a big lump of a motor – bet yesterday from Silverstone was the first time one has been carried in the boot of a Smartcar but she’s home nae bother and we bolted her into the frame this morning.

Did I mention the traffic on the M1? Absolutely horrendous Friday afternoon. All it needs is a minor collision and those Traffic Management people in their highly painted 4X4s manage to make a drama out of a crisis. Clearing the road appears to be the least of their concerns.

No worries – back at Bill Simpson’s Dalbeattie workshop work things are taking shape. The motor I brought from Silverstone has been bolted into the frame  —

Just the iron-mongery to fit and she’ll be ready for the crate.

here’s one that was prepared earlier —

The standard fitment is 18 inch rear with a treaded tyre — but if the rules allow – a 17ins wheel with a 180mm slick can be shoe-horned in – just!

The crates are due to be collected Tuesday for shipping to South Africa.

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Looks like Monday might be a busy day.

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14/04/2012 – Post – Suzuki XR69

The iconic Suzuki XR69 —

No she isn’t pulling a trailer although she has enough ‘grunt’ to do it. That’s the starter behind her which works by driving a motor driven rubber tyred wheel against the rear tyre of the XR69. Get up to speed – engage gear on the XR69 and Bingo! She will fire up!

But only if the clutch clears and this one didn’t. The motor in the XR69 hadn’t been run for five months and we were unable to free the clutch sufficiently to get the thing going. So – clutch was pulled apart and both steel and friction plates cleaned of oil. The oil level was dropped because the heavy when cold Silkolene 10-40 grade was reckoned to be the main problem causing stiction between the clutch plates —

With the oil cleaned off the clutch plates and the level dropped below the lip of the clutch basket so she wouldn’t pickup any more she fired up first time and the job’s a good un:-)

Well not quite – running a 190 section rear tyre in this bike brought it’s own issues —

Namely – getting clearance between the final drive chain and the edge of that wide 190 tyre.

No worries – the ever-resourceful Buffalo turned up some neat spacers with his lathe down in the corner of the workshop and this baby is ready for the truck to go testing down in the warmer climes of southern Spain some time soon 🙂

Ok – Jessica – just for you – the ‘cheesy grin’ —

I don’t expect to have the overalls on again for a while – but – Aldo has promised me a couple of fresh brown trout so I could do with that recipe you promised me 🙂

No that I’d ever thought there would be a special recipe for trout. I’ve been salting them – peppering them – coating them in oatmeal and throwing ’em in the frying pan since I was a kid. Doesn’t come simpler than that. On one memorable occasion I cleaned ’em and fried them on the riverbank without the oatmeal and condiments. I think they were the best 🙂

XR69

28/10/2012 – Suzuki XR69

The Suzuki XR69 – isn’t she a beauty! From a time when men were men and sheep ran scared —

Suzuki XR69