After our visit to Speedweek 2011 as spectators and getting our licences we were looking forward to running our own bike. Fist though we had to build it.

Dave had the Triumph drag bike from Duncan that we had in mind to use for Bonneville. After our visit in 2011 we realised that a drag bike chassis is wrong and we need something very different.  This bike needs to run flat out for 2 - 3 mins, not just a few seconds of drag racing.

Dave started by stripping everything of the bike. Then the frame, wheely bars and rear wheel etc. got sold. We kept the motor, supercharger, ignition and a few other bits. Some large lumps of ally were bought to make the main motor plate. A donor rear wheel from Daves crashed SV650 and all was ready to start a complete new frame and salt bike design.

We decided from looking at the various machinery running on the salt that air, and indeed cold air was crucial, likewise aerodynamics. It’s difficult to push through the air when you only have the salt for grip. With the time available to us we doubted if we would have time for much aero.  We also decided that we should have billet cranks, the Triumph one is not that strong. The original slider clutch and supercharger were to be used along with the original fuel injection.

Dave started the frame and with numerous weekends from me we started to make progress. Click on the Build link for a complete overview of the construction.

With the new frame and the decision to run an intercooler it was time to do some shopping. Dave took care of the tubes I ordered some EN40B for the cranks and sourced an intercooler from ebay.  The intercooler was chopped, cut, shut and generally moulded into shape.

Around this time I was also speaking with some others about the cost of shipping the bike to the US and that there were a group of guys already thinking about going. A meeting got arranged and we started to make plans for a container, dates, costs etc.

It was about this time that Dave got a call from Rick Pearson who we had met on the salt in 2011 running the Flower of Scotland. He had finally managed to get some interest regarding making a documentary about Bonneville. The next thing that happened on the way home from work was I received a phone call from Steve Mizelas who was going to make a pilot with the hope to interest the BBC. He asked if there were any other bikes, so I put him in touch with the others I had met at the meeting. At the next meeting Steve met with the others and then proceeded to visit us all to do some filming.

The next thing we know was we had film crew crawling all over us and getting politely in the way as we were trying to build the bike.  Click here for Speed Dreams.

The build for Speed week became more urgent as time slipped by. We had to have everything ready at at the shippers by the last week in June to allow enough time to get to LA by Sea.  There were now 6 confirmed bikes and we were all to fit into a 20ft container. 

We sourced a used Harley shipping pallet as the base, modified it to flip into a table and packed as much crap as we could on to it.  Oils and starter batteries were to be shipped on their own pallet. 

We all met up at Dynamic for the packing.  The beeb were there to provide bacon sanwiches and do some filming.