If there is one bike I wish I still had in the shed it is my 1993/94 TDM —

OK – so it doesn’t bear any resemblance to the bike I bought but after 12 happy months running on the road I took the angle grinder to her and produced what you see above.

Even the flywheel cover was chamfered in an attempt to stop it grounding during enthusiastic cornering and twenty mil shaved off the flywheel let her rev up somewhat quicker than standard and also made room for the chamfer.

The noisy exhaust was knocked together by a welder in Stirling and the expensive lightweight Italian wheels came from a race shop in London Road – Derby. The heavy chain and sprockets were also ditched in favour of race products and she ran on Pirellis.

Bodywork was from bits & pieces I had in the garage – nose fairing from a Honda VFR400 NC30 – tank cover and seat unit leftover from my Yamaha FZR600 which reminds me that I also gave the chop treatment to the fuel tank so that it would fit tidy between the frame rails.

An FZR1000 fuel pump ensured the coarsely jetted carbs got plenty of go-juice and apart from fitting a heap of lightweight bolts and braided brake lines that was about it.

In Scottish racing she had to compete in the Open Class against the 1000cc Exup’s and such like but in BoTT races down souff she was more competitive. I came up with the pink & purple colour scheme and Andy at Bike Paints did a real nice job of applying it.

Even now I think she is a great looking bike and certainly gave me a lot of fun.

Not bad for a first effort —

givit