Spirit of the Seventies Speed Triples

Spirit of the Seventies are working on some very exciting projects.
These are the renders Kev works up, but they have an uncanny ability of making bike that are exactly like these concept drawings. G

It's Christmas!

Sam Christmas that is.
Not only did the top photographer shoot one of our current covers - SB15 Stevie Gee and the accompanying feature - he's been doing a load of great work for friends of Sideburn: Edwin (below) and also Cafe Racer France, including this shoot of Tamara on Spirit of the Seventies' Kawasaki ER6.
Good work, Mr Christmas! G

The Bike Shed Event

 

Thanks to The Bike Shed for including us in their inaugural show. It was very impressive.
And thanks to Gary Margerum for these photos. G

Christmas Spirit

Our friends over at Spirit of the Seventies have been busy. Kawasaki GB commissioned them to do a number on the W800 and then put it on their stand at the biggest bike show in the UK. It's great that small UK companies are getting recognition from the bigger players.
Below is a Ducati they built for a customer earlier in the year. At the bottom is a concept for a liquid-cooled Ducati that hasn't materialised yet. Hopefully one day.
Find out more at Spirit of the Seventies. G

Spirit Open Day

Our friends at Spirit of the Seventies are having a BBQ and open day at their place in Kent, September 16. G

Martin's Bonneville

From Martin in England...


Hi Gary As promised, a better picture of my.........We'll call it a Cafe-Tracker!? 
The seat has now been finished with the help of Tim and Kevin at Spirit of the Seventies in Kent. I took a wonderful blast across the Kent countryside in the sunshine on Sunday, to a local Classics and Specials bike show and came home with a trophy! Luverly. 
Could you do me a big favour and post the pic'? I would like to dedicate it to my new 'brolly dolly' Cynthia. The lady in the photo is my mother-in-law and a very special person indeed. I won't go into great detail but she has not been well but still finds time for everybody and always has a smile. She's an inspiration and I get to hide my pride and joy in her garage. Thanks Cynthia 
Thanks Gary and approve of the bigger magazine format. It now means I don't always need my binoculars to read it. 
Regards Martin

Spirit of The Seventies W800

Our mates at Spirit of the Seventies have been building some cool projects in the last 12 months, including the Bonneville below. They have been noticed by Kawasaki UK - who've given them a brand new W800 to do a number on.
Now Kawasaki and Spirit are asking for the public (us lot) to vote on the paintjob from the choices above. Go to Kawasaki's facebook to get involved.

There's also a tumblr on the project. G

 

 

Photos from The Bike Shed

The Grant Robinson Report

This is Grant Robinson - ace photographer, all-round nice Canadian - on the Spirit of the Seventies bored-out RD400. Look at him wring that throttle! He has written and shot a fab report on Dirt Quake for derestricted.com G
Photo by Flat Tel

Old Empire, Spirit of the Seventies, Racefit, Krazy Horse, Red Max

Old Empire Motorcycles

Racefit 

Krazy Horse

Spirit of the Seventies

Red Max Speed Shop

Will all have vendor stalls at Dirt Quake. If they can't help you build the bike of your dreams, you're beyond help. Co-Built will be in the pits with a full fleet of race bikes too. G

GI's Rye House report

Jamie was still ironing some of the bugs out of his new Bastard at Rye. Simon Whitworth left a comment on the post a few days ago asking for details on this bike - Jamie says this:
Maybe this info will help someone else thinking of racing an XR or Dominator:

Front End:
43mm ZZR1100 forks cost £30 on ebay (any 43mm superbike forks will fit the
XR yokes);
19" CB750 Comstar £35 on ebay, any 19" 2.15 or smaller will do;
Co-Built bespoke front spindle £60;

Bodywork:
1978 DT175 tank, £10 was pretty rusted and dented
Knight style fibreglass flat track tail unit (trimmed at the front to fit) £15
Modified seat pan, homemade £10

Airbox:
K&N air filter £30
I kept the airbox but removed the top and the sides and fitted mesh
panels. HRC recommended gauze #30 which is woven gauze 0.15mm~0.3mm wire
with 0.85mm spacing.

Rear Suspension:
I sent the original unit to MCT, who shortened it by 35mm, with a shorter and stiffer WP spring, they also revalved the unit so the compression and rebound adjustment is improved. (£220)
The budget option is a Talon lowering link (£30) and standard shock, but I found this was way too baggy and caused inconsistent grip.

Engine:
JE Pistons 102.5mm piston (654cc 10.5:1) and 103mm sleeve £350
Bored and honed by Hartlen Engineering £100
No head work yet, (I ran out of money), but Co-Built Anthony recommends an XRB cam from Kent Cams which has a longer duration profile and should make a huge difference after the big bore.
My bike is a 1987 twin carb 600R, and the rings were shagged, but if the donor is a later 650 you should be fine without any engine work if it's in decent condition

Rear Wheel Chain & Sprockets:
19" 2.15 SM Pro laced to the original XR hub by Central Wheel Components £220 (I would have preferred to use a later XR650 disk brake hub but was on a tight budget so still have a rear drum brake)
DID super heavy duty 520 chain £60 (113 links with the current gearing)
14/52 Talon sprockets (the rear will go up or down depending on the track)
Don't fit a 13 tooth front sproket as it causes the chain to chew up the sprocket retainer!
Budget option for standard rear - 17" Goldspeed supermoto wet or 18" dunlop K180 (depending on rim size)

Bars and Controls:
Venhill quick throtte (single cable) £60
Renthal MX bars £30
Pro Taper triple compound grips £6
Standard speedway cut-out £4

Tyres:
Maxxis DTR 7.0 CD3 (front) £120
Maxxis DTR 7.0 CD5 (rear) £120

Exhaust:
Projection Components oversized XR low-slung flat track 304 stainless tig welded headers (kinked out for maximum front tyre clearance to my spec). Now they have a jig and are offering them for sale at £350.
Budget ebay end can £50

Last year I raced with only the front end mods and a Talon lowering link with some part worn tyres, so only spent around £180 to get on the grid, but I'd definitely recommend sorting out the suspension if you're thinking about racing one of these, the original shock is way too baggy and caused me a few highsides!

The build is on my blog at Full Lock or Death

One of three Aprilias racing this year. I think this is Tom Neave's (twin brother of SB10 cover star Tim).
Adam Allott's Aprilia with Co-Built pipe. Sounds great.
Co-Built's stable looked smart.
My old faithful Corsair.
Steve's Mutant Bros has mutated even further. Feature coming in the future.
Yes, this is how he runs it, with no traditional tank. This set up is inspired by grasstrack outfits.
Scottie's new ex-US military hauler. 'We're living the dream,' he beamed when he rolled up.
Another photos of last year's champion novice, Stuart L and his DT400
Ready to rumble. Novice group (including junior Flynn Scott #77).
Tim from Spirit of the Seventies turned up on the SR500 he's going to race in Dirt Quake's street tracker class for some sneaky practice. He had a blast too. If you've shown an interest in racing at Dirt Quake, entry forms are coming soon.
Les's Suzuki-powered CCM has developed over the winter. We're pretty equal in the riding stakes, me and Les, so I hope he hasn't improved it too much.

DON'T FORGET - first race on the season is at Leicester, this Sunday, April 1. Racing from 11am till 9.30pm with a break from 5-7pm. I'm trying to find out if spectators get in free. I'll post on the blog when I find out.

Sprit 749R Concept

This is a concept by Kev at Spirit of the Seventies. I've seen his concepts made real and he really manages to create 2D images of bikes the company can create months in advance of them getting the spanners out. So I've no doubt they could make this bike, if someone comes up with the money to commission it.
The chassis looks standard at first glimpse, but is a special Spirit spoke to UK legends Harris about making for them.
I'd like to see how to tank looks from the top. G

via The Bike Shed

Spirit Get In The Spirit

Spirit of the Seventies are on board for Dirt Quake. After supporting Rollerburn, they've come back for more and are sponsoring May 19's day of dirt track mayhem at Coventry.

If your company would like to sponsor Dirt Quake, get in touch for details.

Tim from the Kent-based bike builders is also entering the street tracker class with this Sr500 (below) they've just rescued. It won't look like this on race day...

The racing classes are filling up nicely, but there are still places on the grids.

We're going to post details of what a shark's fin is, how easy it is to make and even how we're going to offer a fitting service on the day, so if you read the regs and that bit sounded complicated, it isn't.

Spirit are on with a bunch of projects including this Ducati GT1000. Tasty. G

DT400 Bitsa

From Tim at Spirit of the Seventies, another new build for the 2012 UK season...

I've attached a few pics I took yesterday of one of the two bikes Stuart Lovell (2011 novice champion) is running this year. This is a DT400 bitsa special and we've had the paint done for him by Graham at Revolution.

Spirit Triumph 904 Dirt Twin

Finishing off a Triumph-heavy run of posts is an update of the latest Spirit of the Seventies build. It debuted at Rollerburn and went down well. Lovely looking thing with some very nice touches (like the undertray and bar end indicators). It has been sprinkled with a bit of Co-Built magic too, I think. Below is the sketch Kev makes to show the client before they start building.

The Spirit fellas are also posting stuff up on a new UK-based cafe racer/tracker/whateva blog/opinion site that's worth checking out, called The Bike Shed. G