Yellow Bike III.. – loudbike

Yellow Bike III..

http://2wheelwiki.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/For the uninitiated, the original Yellow Bike was a Ducati750F1 racer that Gary Palmer raced to seven CCS Lightweight Superbikechampionships and over a ten year period, developed into the most potent F1racer in North America (if not on the planet). 93hp on tap, radically altered fame geometry and engine/riderplacement, light weight and very yellow, the machine was too good to pass upwhen he offered it for sale 3 years ago. I bought it without even knowing what the price was. I set out on a six month project to civilizeit, give it a cosmetic makeover and for my old 851 F1. Gary was so inspired by the new Yellow Bike Ithat he began building Yellow Bike II before the paint was even dry on myproject.

I let Bar Hodgson ride it the first time out (at Mosport)and he had to have it. I got to run itthe rest of that season and the machine blew me (and everyone else) away when Itook it out to Grattan Raceway and Barber in its new 840cc configuration. Big power, tons of torque and brillianthandling in a 309lb package..

Yellow Bike III was supposed to be my bike. A replacement for the one that went to Bar. I had the original frame from my first F1, aseat and tank from Gary Palmer’s original spares collection (authenticallyyellow) and a few other bits stashed away waiting for the right time. The frame had already been modified by Palmerand I figured when I was done with the TT1 and DB1 projects, I’d startaccumulating all the bits required to complete the project and pick away at itfor a few years.

Then Basil called.

He saw a couple of bikes I had for sale onvintagemotorcyclesforsale.ca and talk somehow evolved to TTs and F1s. A couple of calls and emails later, I agreedto build Yellow Bike III for him using the bits I’d already stashed away.

And 10 months later (just last week), the completed bikewent into a box and off to Australia.

http://2wheelwiki.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/http://2wheelwiki.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/http://2wheelwiki.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/http://2wheelwiki.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/ Palmer and I met at Grattan Raceway back in August to givethe bike a good thrashing prior to shipment (it’s going to lead that kind oflife anyway) and came away from the day delighted with the bike’sperformance. Not that the day wasn’tfilled with drama.. Sketchy weathermeant that Palmer didn’t really get down until late morning and as soon as hestarted pushing the bike, wheel-spin out of the slower corners became anissue. The bike still finished thecorners beautifully, but he just couldn’t get the power down. So it became a mad thrash of suspension andride height adjustments as we gradually ran out of time. Nothing we tried worked