Better Than Nothing---The rebirth of a Superbike.

Your Attention to detail really shows , amazing build congrats !!!

Barreling down the Moraine Sweep to a hard left and a wheelie up Fireman's Hill

bluej58 wrote: Barreling down the Moraine Sweep to a hard left and a wheelie up Fireman's Hill

I always enjoyed The Kink on the back part of the track. Come flying out of The Carousel then you are looking at a retaining wall as you set up for The Kink!!! Depending on the size of your attachments, you can either take it wide open or if you back off for a second!!!! Now they put a chicane in before The Kink and taken most of the fun out of that corner!!!


The corner that bothered me was the left hander under the now gone Billy Mitchell Bridge. You are aiming at the bridge abutment as you turn into that corner. Now that they have removed that damned bridge, I bet you my lap times would have dropped another couple of seconds because its gone!!!! I watched Jerry Titus crash his Trans Am Firebird there back in 1970. I will NEVER forget the sound it made when he hit that same abutment almost head on!!!


Photo credit goes to Jerry Winker.

This is one FUN track to race on!!!!!!!

WOW !!!
I loved watching that bike racing vid !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Dave

Probably like most of you, I drool over the AC Sanctuary and Bull Dock Classic builds from Japan. They are super expensive, rich man's toys, who are trying to assume the glory of the Golden Days of Superbike racing.

IMHO, none can match what Dr. Gamma has here...this is the real shit; he and that bike really raced. You can't fake that.

I think this bike and build should be featured in one of the Magazines, the UK has some great vintage bike mags that would eat this up. Two that I get are "Practical Sports Bikes", and "Vintage Motorcycle Mechanic".

It's just too damn cool not too.

js-

Yep those KZ's built by Sanctuary and Bull Dock are very impressive to look at. The workmanship is outstanding. They are taking a 40 year old motorcycle and using today's technology and parts to build a bike. To me the Sanctuary bikes are more hard core than the Bull Dock bikes. The Bull Dock bikes have a lot of extra tinsel on them, more like a custom chopper would!!

Japan has a very competitive Vintage Open Superbike racing series. Rules make you run period correct parts like 18 inch wheels. Its some damn good close racing. It looks and sounds like the 1000cc day of AMA Superbike racing. Funny thing is you don't see any of those fancy Sanctuary or Bull Dog bikes out there running. It ain't for lack of cash, Green Garage runs two S1 replicas, and they look just like Lawson's and Rainey's bikes down to the numbers on them, #21 and #60!!!! Guarantee you those S1 replicas cost a hell of a lot more than a Sanctuary bike every did!!

When I built my Superbike, back some 40 years ago. I used the parts and the technology that was the best available back then. If I could not buy it, I made it. The only thing I wish I bought back then was a 18 inch front Morris mag before they stopped making them. (THANKS Performance Machine for stop making the Morris mags after you bought them) My Superbike was a real gas to ride fast. It does not have any of the evil handling characteristics of a stock frame KZ1000. I remember going into a high speed wobble on my stock MK. II demo going around a long sweeper that I knocked off a spark plug cap with my knee!!!!

Dr. G,

I think you said the frame was modified, and I can see the frame mount point for the rear shocks is moved down and FWD. I think you said the head tube has been moved, did you have the rake decreased (IE steeper angle)? Also what is different on the forks than stock, are they completely different model than what was stock at the time? What is the tube diameter? Also did you have any head work done? Port, polish, bigger valves, degree the cams, high compression pistons? Are you running any nitrogen in the forks? What rear shocks are those? A lot of us use the ZRX KYB, which are great and can be re-valved by DR Motorsports:http://daughertymotorsports.com/#

I like your build so much I've decided to drive mine towards more of the original S1. I machined and fit 1987 GXSR 18" wheels front and back. The rear is a 4" and fitted with a 150, which I think matches the size of the S1, and the front is a 18" and 110. So I had to convert to the 530 chain. Going with these wheels, IMHO, was good because the geometry isn't to wacky, and I didn't have to play games trying to line up the chain with offset sprockets. I was able to machine the brake rotor mounting point's back and get the 296 floating rotor's to fit between the stock forks. Made some brake caliper adapters so they fit. I am having the stock forks modified with Racetek Cartridge Emulators and springs with heavier oil. I've added a fork brace and will add a steering damper as well. I see you welded an additional triple clamp to the bottom, I've never seen that, is that the typical mod for the day? I know the 81 GPZ has an aluminum triple top and bottom, and is double bolted. I read that Muzzy made an adjustable head stock so he could change the rake, does yours do that?

I thought I saw somewhere that somebody was making the Morris Wheels again...

JS-

Morris Wheels:

www.marvic.it/public/pdf/Morris-Dotazioni-tecniche-eng.pdf

Also some for sale on ebay.

JS-

Here is some crummy photos of the GSXR wheels mounted.

I got my frame reworked by Pierre DesRoche and Rob North back in 1978. That frame design won the 1977 and 1978 AMA Superbike Championship, and in 1980 it finished highest privateer with Chuck Parme. Factory Kawasaki used the same frame design on their 1979 team bikes too. The neck is bigger in diameter and uses TZ750 roller bearings. It is moved rearward to put more weight on front wheel. and is moved to one side to line up front and rear wheels. Stock frames are off anywhere from 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch!!!! Its got like two more degrees of rake (28 total degrees. I think) Kz650 triple trees with less offset for quicker steering. The forks are Kayaba 36mm road race forks. The lower legs are exact copies of stock Kz1000 so everything bolts up with no problems. Ran just air in forks. Welding extra clamps on lower tree was real common back then.

When I set my wheel alignment up. I make up a set of cases with just output shaft, and bolt them into the frame just like you would with a complete motor. I then flip the frame upside down, then install just the rims without tires. Tighen rear axle. Now use string or a very large straight edge to make sure your wheels are tracking in a single plane. I have my wheels within 1/32 of a inch of being in line with each other. I check my sprocket alignment the same way. SCREW THAT EYEBALLING $HIT.

When I bought my Rg500, the previous owner installed late model GSXR three spoke wheels. It handled like $hit!!! It felt different in left corners than it did in right hand corners. And it would go into a wobble if I hit rough pavement at speed. When I checked it out, the rear wheel was 7/16 of a inch offset to the right!!!! I moved the rear wheel over to where it should be to be centered to the front rim, and the bike felt completely different at speed. Plus left and right corners now felt the same!! All I did to the bike was align the rims and it completely changed the bike's feel!!! When I checked out my S1 for alignment when I first got it, it was less than 1/32 of an inch from being dead nuts on. Need I say more!!!

Yea I know about the new Marvic vintage Morris copies. I don't have or will I have the 3,200 dollars to buy a set!!!

Hang on here......did you just say you had a “real” S1? The ones that sell for 130k now?

Did you ever race against Lawson and Spenser ET all?

Js-