Petrol smells nice!

Photographer and motorcycle racer, amongst other things. Most images here are mine, otherwise credit where it's due as best I can.

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Castle Combe, October 2025.

Last meeting of the year and at the last minute I got asked to ride this in the parade session. Bought a few months back by one of the race marshals I know. He got it running and wanted to see it out on track. All was going well and if you look closely you can see that I am laughing out loud in my helmet. I got black flagged with three minutes of the session to go because the bike was smoking excessively. On the cylinder with the pipe closest to the camera in this shot. As it turned out the rear brake caliper was starting to bind on so had a lucky escape I feel. Great fun though, never ridden a two stroke road bike so to get to ride this one was cool.

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Castle Combe, October 2025.

Dragged the KTM out of the garage for the last meeting of the year. Always have fun hooning around on this thing.

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Suzuki Bandit 600, September 2025.

A few images and the back story behind this particular bike.

Here I am, pictured with Daniel. The bike is his and a few years ago he bought it as a project to keep him busy over the winter. He managed to do a good job of stripping it, powder coating and restoring everything but he has a condition that continues to get worse. He got to the point where he was unable to rebuild the bike.

I stepped in late 2023 with a plan to go and help him rebuild it. He lives a fair distance from me so that plan never happened because of time constraints. Step forward to November last year and I made the call to move everything to my workshop and build his bike for him. I made him a promise that I would build it and do some races on it for him.

It's taken nine months of work, lots of swears and frustrations but I've done it. I've learned a lot about carby bikes along the way and I finally got it running at Oulton Park last month.

A Yamaha R6 5EB fuel tap, HEL custom oil cooler, GSXR600r OEM rear shock and some rattle can numbers were the final touches. I managed 4th in class first time out and was doing the same lap times as 2nd and 3rd.

Plan now for the bike is to use it as a dedicated track bike for any team members who want to try a track day. It's perfect for it. Not too powerful, comfy to ride and very simple to maintain now it's up and running.

I'm already looking at another Bandit to build one more. Watch this space.

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Showtime NEC 2025.

I've been backed by EBC from the first day I started riding at British Superbikes so a no brainer when they asked for the bike for a show. Scrub and a polish and I dropped it off for them.

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Suzuki Bandit, June 2025.

More Bandit build photos. Brakes fitted and bled up. Hel braided lines and EBC pads/disks. New JT chain and sprockets.

Next challenge was to get it running. I don't know these bikes that well so I initially struggled with getting it started. There is a small resistor in the original ignition barrel and if the ECU doesn't see resistance prior to start up it will not fire. To prevent hot wiring apparently. The barrel had been replaced on this bike with an aftermarket part which I did not know. I couldn't get it to fire no matter what I tried.

After a bit of research I borrowed an OEM barrel and key and used that. The bike fired straight away. I have now modded the bike to be keyless by soldering a resistor into where the ignition barrel would be. All is well now and a lesson learned for sure.

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Pembrey, June 2025.

Paddock life. Simple club racing is my favourite.

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Pembrey, June 2025.

Next club meeting was Pembrey, Wales and I was flying solo. The rest of the team who I normally help were all at the TT drinking beer and watching the racing.

I chose to keep it simple and run out of the back of the van. No awning and just a generator for power. Weekend was ok but I still had clutch issues so my results weren't where they should've been.

I was also testing some treaded tyres instead of slicks as I hadn't ridden on the treaded Super Corsas for a few years. A reason for it though which I will put in another post.

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Suzuki Bandit. May 2025.

Not had much in the way of Bandit updates so here's a catch up on that. These images from May. The carbs, brakes and a tank went away to get blasted/rebuilt. I got the carbs and brakes back but the guy still has the tank. The team I work with is sponsored by Black Widow exhausts so they sent out a full system for me to build this bike.

I got the carbs fitted as well as the exhaust but it was a struggle getting it set up right without a vacuum gauges.

More to follow.

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Snetterton. May 2025.

Next club meeting was Snetterton. Steady meeting, mostly hanging with Chris and riding bikes. Top five finishes with no real bike issues. Few clutch niggles as I fitted a new aftermarket clutch pack. Struggled to get it off the line but once going no real problems but it would have a knock on effect at the next meeting.

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Cadwell Park. April 2025

Time to play a bit of catch up. Struggled a bit at the start of the season with bike issues. Particularly Cadwell. Throttle cutting and going to tickover whilst riding. Probably some subtle damage as a result of my big crash late last year. Swapped throttle bodies, throttle position sensor and the sub loom and it seems to have fixed it. No points in the first two races though and a handful in the third race. Not the best start to the season.

Image Gordon Brady.

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Castle Combe, March 2025.

Second outing of the year last Saturday. Further checks on my Suzuki to make sure all is well ready to start racing next month. Still a very minor oil leak but hopefully that's solved. Everything else was good and the Gixxer was going well.

Charlie, behind me in the second image, is testing his Honda for this year. He's made the leap from the Supersport Ducati V2 to the big bikes. The Superstock class is just as brutal as Supersport but getting your head around the power difference is important. I followed him for a fair few laps and he's improving every time he goes out on it. All being well he will be up to speed ready for the BSB season opener and he can qualify first time out.

Images; James Archibald

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Donington Park, March 2025.

First time out this year and first time back on the Suzuki since it was totally rebuilt after my huge crash in September.

Motor felt strong, few little issues to address including a small oil leak from the rocker cover gasket but it'll be ready for the next test day on the 15th March.

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Merthyr, Jan 2025.

Some Human powered fun. First time at the bike park with my boy. Met up with a few others and had a blast. 

Creative Commons Music:

Saltmines by Meizong

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N155 GTR, December 2024.

Little run to my Parent's house on Boxing Day. Boy filmed this on the GoPro.

I love my truck. Rolling with my little girl, listening to Taylor Swift.

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Suzuki Bandit, Jan 2025

A little more work on the Bandit build. Wheels build up with new discs and sprocket. Engine fitted to make sure all the bolts are there and everything fits. Carbs are going to take a lot of work so that's the next big job. Engine will likely come out again to fit the carbs before it all goes back in.

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Suzuki Bandit, Dec 2024.

Bandit build progress. Hit a few initial snags but managed to get some building done today. Before I got the bike it was stripped for powder coating and all the bearings were removed. The middle two needle roller bearings had been knocked out of the suspension linkage but the outer races had been left in.

I took one look at it and decided they weren't coming out so bought a second hand one from eBay. I took the powder coated one to work to see if anyone there could get them out. One guy took a couple of days of welding, heating and cutting but he got them out so I was able to use the powder coated part. I'll keep the ebay part as a spare.

I pressed all the bearings in and knocked the races into the headstock which enabled me to start building the bike up. Both tanks I have are too rusty inside to use so I'll get one from eBay once I need it. The standard seat will go and a fibre glass seat unit will fit over the complete subframe with a thin foam pad for a seat.

The carbs weren't pretty when I opened the package they were in but I've cleaned them up as best I can. I will strip them further and probably get them Ultrasonically cleaned in due course.

Next step is to get bearings into wheels, valves fitted and tyres on so I can get the chassis rolling. Brakes will need complete new seal kits and calipers will likely get vapour blasted.