Chapter 888 UPDATE.........November 2005
The transition from a standard 900 elefant GT into a 888 engined bike was not without initial set-up difficulties. However these were of my own making and not due to the actual engine transfer........items like the ride hide being way too tall and useless......... unless, you strapped a set of stilt type legs, stolen from the circus, to your own.....
That, coupled with ...... the front mudgaurd wanting to plant itself INSIDE the newly positioned radiator, were solely down to the cat, 1 of 4, pressing the buttons on the calculator, as it tried to chase another hopeless frog.... one of the joys of living on an island, across the garage floor!
These suspension issues, were quickly re-solved ......however the one which caused the most concern, was the speed induced "death weave" that occurred as the bike launched into the 200kph plus territory. The bike actually pushes the speedo needle off the gauge!!
"The bike looked a bit unstable" mentioned, Tony, as he followed my speed and clearance testing session, one early Sunday morning..... "Unstable........unstable" I muttered as I, nervously, tried to light the third Gauloise in succession! "It's a friggin' nightmare..........it is more unstable than a London tube bomber!"
I had to sort this out.....the front dives way too early and the rear only moves with three of us jumping on it!!......I'm afraid that I can't recommend UK Suspension on this revalving job!
The instability led to another problem which needed lots of searching on the web. Apparently Cagiva had similar weaving problems with their P-D bikes and the swinging arms and this resulted in the swinging arms being lengthened...... anything from 50mm to whopping 135mm!
A call to Spondon Engineering followed by a recalculating of angles, weights and ride heights ended up with a bike that is better than the standard Lucky set up. Spondon Engineering had access to P-D Rallye set-up data and inserted a section of solid aluminium, machined to match the original profile and relieved with bore holes
The shock was lengthened by 36mm, compensating for the extra 30mm to clear the engine, this meant that the shock (actually) was lengthened by only 6mm and when added to the newly lenghtened 100mm swinging arm, gave a very supple and effective ride.
Whilst all of this was going on..... the injection system kept going out of balance and I felt that the easiest thing was to re strip the throttle bodies and reassemble using the latter, better 916 linkages, which made the balancing a total breeze!
The beak was taken off of the 944 and re-jigged to fit and resprayed......the 944 will not have the beak.......the 944 was always the 888 test bed and as such, the testing has now finished. In fact the 888 responds better with the beak ...I guess that it has something to do with directing the air straight into the air intakes.......and cooling is better...strange!
The old 944 beakfant had its engine sold to Michiel in Holland and the rest of the bike is being prepared to accept the ST2 engine conversion, over the Xmas holidays........still...it makes a welcome change from the Jim Davidson Xmas Special!
The rear tail piece was streched and re-glassed with an additional tail light hidden in moulding, whilst the front section of the moulding was relieved to gain access to the filler cap. Gary B supplied a CCM luggage rack and I am currently altering to suit....but I am not sure! A Rallye style tool bag covers the gaps between the seat and the tailpiece and holds the spare gloves and waterproofs.
The DVLA caught up with me over the number plate and although the 888 was Kawasaki green....they refused to accept that it actually matched the paperwork......a deal was done with Cardiff(DVLA Head Office) and a new 888 plate was exchanged for the old..........the result........888 ele!!
THANK YOU
Spondon Engineering (swinging arm) K-Tech (shock revalving) Dr Desmo (engine and dyno work), S and S Tuning (engine and parts sourcing), Bike Enders of Romford(secondhand Ducati parts), Kingrads (custom radiators), Mitch of TecMoto (Ducati)... (final fettling of the running bike), The Wells Brothers of Shepshed..........(upholstering and seat remodelling).....FRIENDS.........Tony.....paint( it should have been PINK), Dave Hewit ....wiring, Rob..... plumbing, Bones ....welding ......and a list of others for inspiration and never slagging off the whole idea...... Paul K, Gary B, Alex F, Warren the Aussie, Spike, Michiel and Chantel, Matts, Hannes, Albert and Delores....just because they laughed at my stories!!....Motowilli and anyone else ....you know who you are...even if I have forgotten...remind me, next time we meet.........I'll be the one in corner with a pint of Stella and a smelly french fag on the go!
......I'll get my coat!!!
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