996. From Ratty And Tatty To Pretty Natty

OK, had brekkie, on with the story.

They wheeled the bike into their workshop to fit the trade plates while I had a mooch around their other stock. Ratty old shitters in the main, but all pretty honest.

I heard the unmistakable sound of the Duke outside (they fired it up in the workshop) so out I go. Jump on and off we go. Take it steady, its an old bike with brand new tyres and pads.

It ran like an absolute dog. Banging and popping on the throttle, surging. Truly horrible. I was in a 30 zone so had to just hang on as it bucked about. Got to a set of lights on a busy junction and it stalled. Thumbed the started and it did fire up - but my god wasn't it slow to turn over. Onto a dual carriageway. Hit 3000 rpm and it cleared its throat and, holy shit, it pulls. Hard. All up to 9000.

I had pulled the Eprom cover in the shop (no sticker) and was already suspicious that it was wrong for the SIL Moto half system. I put the backfiring down to this.

I rode about 15 miles and it was good through the gears. It was about 2 degrees and new tyres so very gently round the bends. The brakes were crap. The rear was actually better than the front.

Back to the dealers and, after letting it tick over until the fan cut in it was mine (I had convinced myself that the missfire was the Eprom).

@chizel - hope you like the bar ends - I am saving them for you mate

 

Forgot to say there was a bit of a clunk from the forks on the test ride.

 

Want to buy it? If not I’m going to give it to Chizel

 

Roast beef and all the trimmings tonight chaps. Cake for pudding (kids made it).

On the way home I was passing Winchester, so dropped into Moto Rapido for a chat and to pre warn Carl and Luke I would be needing some bits. Also, I knew the bike had been in there so was after a copy of the invoice (only a stamp in the book).

The guys confirmed they knew the bike from old and that it had had a very expensive job done back in 2008, including new cams, which were customer supplier and MR fitted. Big bill which they gave me a copy of, redacting the name and address of the owner (GDPR!).

They let me take a photo of the system confirming the bike was a 1999 buil;d on a 2000 plate:



Whilst waiting the few days for delivery I also spoke to Neil at Sigma Performance. He was really helpful and by now I had managed to identify 4 previous owners from various invoices. He confirmed the bike had had the Full Monty Grunter tune and was therefore quite a find. Another copy invoice for the file was kindly provided. Apparently they did not do many. No wonder it had a stonking mid range. The fact that its a Grunter made me love this bike a bit more. Its a BIP and not special, but, maybe it is?

Bike then arrived at home bang on time from the supplying dealer. Signed for it, put it in the garage. Key in. Thumb starter. Nothing.

Solenoid click. Fuel flowing. Dead battery? Tried the next day. Nothing.

Attached a lithium starter pack and it turned over, r e a l s l o w. I engaged gear and rocked it a bit, hit the starter. Then it fired up. Lumpy as hell and a lot of worrying noises, banging and crashing. I did not rev it past 2000 rpm.

Turned my back for a minute an then thought, its got light in here. The bike was on FIRE. Only a very minor one, something sat on the connector pipe had caught and lit. Turned it off. Took off the cambelt cover and saw this:



So, spoke to Geoff at Baines who I had pre warned prior to purchase that I would probably have a job for him.

More to come, but to keep you going, here's a before pic of the rather nice rear hub bolts:

 

I shat myself TBH. Luckily no damage done. But if I had started it outside and popped in for a cuppa then it would have been toast.