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Post subject: Another Ardon tale..............
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Ardon RD/RZ Jedi Master |
With winter petering out and the promise of a decent summer on the horizon - I decided that I wanted a new bike so I could put my trusty old modded and fast ‘GP100 winter hack’ out to pasture for a few months.
PIC – girls and my GP100…a touch of glamour he he he!.
I’ve always preferred to buy local (easier to complain). So off I trots down to the dealer to see what they had in. Not a lot really as it happens and I narrowed the list down to a £3000 RX1000 or a £2600 GPz900R A1 with 15,000 under its belt, both of them on a ‘B’ regga. Both were in very good condition too with similar miles, so I decided to test ride the 900 because I was aware of its numerous I.O.M successes and the 1000 looked a bit bulky. The test ride had me very impressed so I visited the local Kwak dealer to have a look at the bulletins for this model from Kawasaki.
The upgrades were an altered camchain tensioner, auto adjuster, modified oil pipes in the head and a larger diameter bolt for the top of the shokka and finally the carb icing problem. Kawasaki gave all the affected models a free set of modified carbs, but they were no good for my heavily altered motor.
With this ammunition, I returned to the dealer and told him I’d have the 900 IF he will take the cam cover off to view the oil pipes and the chain slipper. As it happens, both these items were not modified so the dealer said he would fix it if I stumped up the asking price. The cam chain mod was actually crap so I made mine into a manually adjusted unit.
After 1 final demo ride I was more than impressed with the whole package so I decided to have it. Its motor was like one big LC350 in that it had a fierce power band while having plenty of power lower down. Man and machinery in perfect harmony – coined a lady friend!...........
For the following few months I was hardly off the bike and was replacing the rear tyre every 3000 miles. If no one else was able to have a run out I used to go on me own and covered a lot of high speed miles. A mate, Ric, used to accompany me on his GSX750R most of the time and we used to go for a blast down to the motorway services to play the video games late into the night and into the morning. With a 90/130 bulb in the Ninjas headlamp, night riding wasn’t a problem as it was so powerful it almost made the tarmac melt before ya.
One day a mate – Smeg – asked me to take him to an air rifle shop in Blackpool and I agreed. Half way there he was wanting to see what the bike could do so I whacked open the throttle and within seconds we were doing 150 and the needle was buried into the red. The bike was still rock stable, but when I realised that my boot was wearing away, I clicked that we were cranked over way to far and I throttled back.
With Rics gixxer temporally off the road we had a trip down to Bill Heads in Preston. After browsing the bikes for a while it was tea time. We exited the shop and joined a queue at some lights and I filtered to the front slowly. But a guy in a car with ‘motorway maintenance’ decals on it started to shout abuse at us with a puffed up red face and bulging eyes with sputum flying everywhere. . We ignored his bleating and as the lights changed, we set off slowly while behind he was flooring the throttle with wheels screeching and even tried to run us off the road. The next thing I saw was Ric booting the guys’ door in.
The guy stopped spouting abuse for a moment and looked very shocked! He looked at the damage to the door, and then at us with a really major murderous look in his eye’s!! The guy had definitely ‘seen it’ and I tried to throw a few cars between us to foil him. But I looked back to see the guy screeching through the traffic madly trying to catch us up and kill us nastily. Bugger to this I thought and I told Ric to hold on. After a few mins of speed I slowed down and coasted along to the motorway with shaking legs and a twittering ring piece. ……That guy had a serious mental problem!!
As we were approaching our junction on the M6 doing 80mph we passed a pig patrol car in a lay by. As soon as we past she joined the flow and took the same junction as us. She was 200 yards behind when the lights and nee nah sirens came on. ‘To scarper or not to scarper went through my mind???’……...Scarper scored the most points so…. I wound the Ninja upto 164 on the clock for a few miles and disappeared into the small lanes for a few fags before carrying on home. Better safe than sorry!
Thwarting a pig the pleasure of a good arrest made us feel all warm inside!!!!
One day after work, I was filtering along in the traffic when a young lad pushed his push bike out into the road. I hit the stoppers hard but I still hit a bike in front of me and sent him flying. I got to my feet and surveyed the carnage before me. The lad in front needed ossie treatment for his back. The Ninja was in a sorry state too as I parked it off the road in front of an arriving pig car. While I was in the Scooby (that’s what the pigs call them) giving me details I realised that I could actually see my left knee cap. The copper said he would run me to the ossie but I refused. I had to make sure the bike was safely at a mate’s house first – before I decided that I better had get me knee seen too.
After waiting for 700 hours in casualty, a Pakistani doctor came to see me and inspected the wound. “Oh bloody hell Adrian” he said. “That is a very nasty cut you have there,” he stated while poking things into the gash”…..”That is a theatre job Adrian, Bud Bud Bud!” Oh shit!….I hate theatre! The drugs they fill ya up with are ace but I always barrfff when I come too.
The quack ordered x-rays and came over to ask me what metals the 9 was made up off. I reeled a few off confused like and asked why. The x-ray had picked up a foreign body deep inside my knee. “Ahhhh, I remember” says I. It’s probably copper or brass from the explosive caps that the contractors had used to blast holes into concrete when the hospital was being built. We used to collect the caps and throw bricks at them for a laff, but one day some shrapnel tore a hole in my knee cap. Being shot isn’t like you see in the movies by any length. It really really really hurts!
With the 9R being stripped down ready for work a mate offered me his CBR1000F jelly mould for a run out. These bikes may look heavy and bulky but the motor is a gem and I was enjoying the ride. I was going down the Lindale by-pass in Cumbria at a fair pace and was flat on the tank ready for the straight a few hundred yards on. I was just about to whack the throttle open when I spotted a pig car. To late…..he had already clocked me at 117.2mph in a 70. I tried evasive manoeuvres but the bugger caught me up and I had to stop or my mate would have got the hassle for evading arrest…...
6month ban and £300 fine + solicitors fees!!!
As I had just got a £5000 pay out for an accident I had when riding pillion with Harry triples, I decided to make the 9 into a powerful beast. While this was going on we used to spend most weekends at the local slag bank messing about on Irish’s wiiiiinng clunk. A Yam 90cc automatic, tuned and fitted with a Micron fart pipe and it still couldn’t pull the cock off a chocolate mouse.
The GPz9’s put out 115bhp and 154mph as standard but I wanted much more while still using a normally aspirated motor. A renowned tuner in Manchester assured me that he could do the motor tune up and told me to expect around 145 brake horse at the crank. Sounds good to me I thought and gave him the job. The motor was gas flowed and bored out to 972cc and a set of Wisco pistons to fit - £500. A stainless Eagle race pipe - £500 and a bank of Mikuni 38mm flat slides - £480. Finally a pair of lumpy stage 3 Kent cams at £250 exchange quid and also a full set of valves, gaskets, seals, shells, bearings and guides to finish it off!
In anticipation of the performance jump, I felt that the clutch would not be up to it so I got a clutch basket and shaft off the RX1000. Fitting it went without a hitch but the side casing wouldn’t fit. This was overcome by removing the rubber dampener and all its mounts with a grinder.
The chassis was next to be sorted and all the fasteners were zinc plated (£20) and the ally parts were anodised. The wheels and some other parts were sent away for powder coating after being sand blasted. The frame was painted in smoothrite brush on and then coated with 2 aerosols of smoothrite, and the job was a good ‘en!
The body work was sent to ‘dream machine’ to be sprayed in ZX10 colours with the standard decals altered to ZXR972R. They were supposed to be a top notch outfit but the finished paint was crap. The pearl whites were all a different shade and they had painted over the top of the standard paint which was peeling off. Rubbish!.....but they didn’t want to know.
Anticipating that the standard vacuum tap would not be able to flow enough fuel into the flat slides, I bought a £50 Pringle tap from the states and Harry Triples made me an alloy adapter so it would fit the Ninja! Other parts were changed like the discs from Spondon, rubber brake lines were replaced with Goodrich items, and the excellent switch gear which was taken from the CBR1000 and modified by Harry Triples. I also fitted a manual fan switch which is pretty essential on the 9’s! The twin headlamps had 90/110 watt bulbs fitted as the 9’s genny is easily capable of taking the load!..........
I’m gonna come clean now kind readers……. a few years after the GPz I bought a Honda RS250 4 stroke to restore and flog on. When it finally got on the road I was amazed as it was so comfortable and user friendly, and the easily modified CBR600 front brake caliper was more than excellent. The next step was to head to the local set up road and ring its bloody neck so I could plug-chop it to see how it was running.…..
I had the throttle wide open when the bike started to slow so I grabbed the clutch and coasted to a stand still. I gently tried the kicker and the motor turned over ok. Having thought that it had holed a piston I went to a near by farm house to call a mate with a bike trailer to pick it up. When I got it home I was preparing myself for major surgery when a thought popped into my mind (it does happen sometimes you know!). “Hey Ardon” my sub-conscious said to me……..”Unlike cars – bikes have a reserve tap!!!!” DAMN!................. L Thinking about it though…..having a reserve facility on a car would be handy as most fuel dials are liars!
And back to the GPz. The brakes on the Ninja left a lot to desire so I fitted some RG500 units which wouldn’t work. I changed these for GSXR 750 brakes and it was still crap. In the end I went back to the standard 900 brakes and all was well. The rear caliper was from a gixxer too on a home made fully floating mount and was just about adequate.
I have mentioned my probs with the 9 in a previous mag and the injuries I have sustained. The major event was when I was slowly joining a roundabout when I found myself sliding down the road with the bike on top of me. As soon as I realised that it was my skin grinding away and not my jacket I pushed the bike away. When I’d picked myself and the bike up I could see from the pool of oil under it that this was no minor problem. The hole in the clutch casing where it had grenaded out of was repaired with a marvellous epoxy alloy paste called Devcon. The stuff if many used in the aircraft and ship building industries. I also had to buy a new crank, clutch and oil pump!.......
The GPz9 was a first class bike and went on a production run of 9 years with very few modifications until it was dropped from Kawasakis line up. An A2 condition bike will cost you around £1000 nowadays and they are worth any penny. Sure you can have a blade etc for a similar sum, but you would be riding a classic and that brings some respect…..You would be helping to keep the genre alive in an inhospitable disposable world…!!!
A few months ago I went about restoring Dev’s 900. After 4 months and a grand later, the bike was finished and Dev’s was well pleased………..
I couldn’t ride my Ninji when it was finally finished because I was still banned. So I asked Harry triples to ride it with me being pillion to V & M in Rochdale for a dyno check. On the way there the bike was eating petrol at a rate of 75 miles to the tank….that sucks. The bike was strapped to the dyno and all the other controls fitted, and then the actual dyno room was closed off and we entered into the control room.
The first sets of figures were crap and the carbs were taken off the bike to be re-jetted and tuned up. Finally, after a few runs, the dyno operator dropped the main jets by SIX sizes and set the dyno up for another run. The test displayed the figures; torque, a massive 90lbs plus and a bhp of 115 at the front sprocket……
The bike would have been damn good if the tuner had fitted adjustable cam chain sprockets which would have allowed us to time them for optimal performance…………….
As I have mentioned in earlier articles. I had to flog the nine for a cavalier 1.8 GLi as I had packed me job in to do a 2 year course in photo technology at Manchester University – of which I passed with distinction……………….
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/Ardon1/ardon3/smashed900R.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/Ardon1/ardon3/runout1s.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/Ardon1/ardon3/rs250restore.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/Ardon1/ardon3/quarryclunker.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/Ardon1/ardon3/on972cam.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/Ardon1/ardon3/meZXdraw.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/Ardon1/ardon3/gpz972birk.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/Ardon1/ardon3/gp100girlsbardseamodded.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/Ardon1/ardon3/forsythknockhill.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/Ardon1/ardon3/DEVS9.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/Ardon1/ardon3/972birkrigg.jpg
Sorry about the large pix!!!!!!!!!!!
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Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 2:10 am
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| oakspeed |
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ
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Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 6:58 am
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jante350 RD/RZ Jedi Master Joined: 05 Aug 2003 Total posts: 5373 Location: Bergen, Norway |
| oakspeed wrote: |
| ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ |
That was actually quite interesting, oaksleep.
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Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 10:35 am
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Post subject: Re: Another Ardon tale..............
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DrewskiRD/RZ Jedi Master Location: The Bunker,Cambridge, UK |
| Ardon wrote: |
As I have mentioned in earlier articles. I had to flog the nine for a cavalier 1.8 GLi as I had packed me job in to do a 2 year course in photo technology at Manchester University – of which I passed with distinction………………. |
Why all the crappy looking soft focus then Lord Lichfield 
Nice tail, the GPZ9 was probably the first souperbike I had a go on when borrowing a mates black A1(?) I realised soon after that if I bought my own, I probably wouldn't be long for this planet, like most big bikes now you never get to use them to their full potential, unless you're Ago or stuck on the autobahn all day. I'd still buy one mind if the right example turned up - unfinished business 
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Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 8:52 pm
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Post subject: Re: Another Ardon tale..............
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ArdonRD/RZ Jedi Master |
| Drewski wrote: |
| Ardon wrote: |
As I have mentioned in earlier articles. I had to flog the nine for a cavalier 1.8 GLi as I had packed me job in to do a 2 year course in photo technology at Manchester University – of which I passed with distinction………………. |
Why all the crappy looking soft focus then Lord Lichfield
Nice tail, the GPZ9 was probably the first souperbike I had a go on when borrowing a mates black A1(?) I realised soon after that if I bought my own, I probably wouldn't be long for this planet, like most big bikes now you never get to use them to their full potential, unless you're Ago or stuck on the autobahn all day. I'd still buy one mind if the right example turned up - unfinished business |
Drew shite - The pics were scanned prints....no digital film in them days!..............But I am glad you liked the peice!
I am hoping to have a good A8 model at some point in the future!!!!!
Man and machinery in perfect harmony!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
P.S: Lord Lichfield is f#cking sh1t!
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Posted: Sat Apr 26, 2008 11:06 pm
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| p51bombay Joined: 23 Jan 2004 Total posts: 10151 |
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:08 am
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Post subject: Re: Another Ardon tale..............
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| oakspeed |
| Ardon wrote: |
Man and machinery in perfect harmony!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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aye,a rusty sh*te heap for a f*cking spatic.
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Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:27 pm
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YAMAHAFREAK  Mmm, Fully Synthetic! Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Total posts: 1239 Location: Bant, Netherlands |
| p51bombay wrote: |
| ZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz |
Get lost!
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Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 6:56 pm
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| p51bombay Joined: 23 Jan 2004 Total posts: 10151 |
Got a Tom Tom so no getting lost - even it displays ZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzz when pointed at this thread.
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Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 7:46 pm
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YAMAHAFREAKMmm, Fully Synthetic! Joined: 24 Oct 2005 Total posts: 1239 Location: Bant, Netherlands |
You're really sad...
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Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 8:08 pm
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jante350RD/RZ Jedi Master Joined: 05 Aug 2003 Total posts: 5373 Location: Bergen, Norway |
| YAMAHAFREAK wrote: |
| You're really sad... |
No, hes way beyond that.... 
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Posted: Sun Apr 27, 2008 9:57 pm
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ArdonRD/RZ Jedi Master |
| jante350 wrote: |
| YAMAHAFREAK wrote: |
| You're really sad... |
No, hes way beyond that.... |
The oxford dictionary classes yawn bumboy in laymans terms as being a boring wanker who has never ever managed to say anything of any consequence in all of his miserable life!
Bumyawn likes to slag forum members efforts while never divulging any of his personnal details as he is afraid of folks taking the piss outta him because the saddo mummies boy cant cope with the fact that he is a waste of fucking space and the entire universe hates him!!!!!...........
Rather than like Boreboy - I'd sooner crap into me hand and smear the muck all over my genitals and face!......
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Last edited by Ardon on Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:32 am; edited 1 time in total
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Posted: Mon Apr 28, 2008 12:22 am
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