marvin wrote
That made interesting reading Marvin, as you'll probably recall I borrowed a 906 Paso for last years TT after my dropped valve incident on my 851/916,
I thought it was bloody awful to ride, it had a nice torquey motor but it was a very heavy old bus with wooden brakes when compared to a 851/888.
But my mate 'Spaggy' who loaned it to me certainly hustles the old girl around the TT course at a very fast pace.😯
He's been 'Going over' every year since the late 60's and really knows his way around.
He was confident enough to pick up the gaunlet when it was laid down by the Kwaka Triples club, to defend the honour of the DOCGB even though their "Boy" Malc is a local Manxman who's raced in the MGP and "was" going to ride his tuned Denco spec 750 H2, fortuneately Malc was too hungover to turn up, we didn't have the heart to tell him/them that so was Spaggy and claimed the Victory/Honour for the DOCGB. 😉
I breathed a sigh of relief as the club had offered me up as their 'Champion', thinking that he wouldn't get anywhere near me on my old 900 Bevel.
I can't seem to live down my reputation of being a complete nutter on a bike, earned when I was a lot younger before one too many accidents/old age took it's toll.
He's fitted a modified/lengthened by Spondon swingingarm so that he could still use the 16" rear, but it looks like a balloon/it's a very tall tyre* and uses an early Fireblade size front tyre.
I'll pass on the info about the Avon's in the link when I hook up with him next week.
Spaggy loves his old Paso and another good friend Jon Sandercock RIP loved his pair of 750's, but I'd almost rather walk than ride one again...
Both of these lads own/owned a few other Ducati's, Jon was killed whilst riding his 916SP 3 years ago, only days before we were due to ride to the TT together and Spaggy thought my 851/916 had an absolutely stonking motor, but thought the rear wheel was trying to catch up with the front when going for it on a tight twisty road, he's also not keen on the handling of his tuned ST4 (that has "Faster than you think" on the bottom line of the number plate) finding the suspension too harsh/steering too quick for his riding style. He only got it a few weeks before last years TT when another club member 'Jonno' was taken before his time.
I expect him to be upto speed on it this year.
*I could actually feel the sidewalls flexing when cranked over, it wasn't very confidence inspiring especially when it was someone elses bike.
It reminded me of the early Kawasaki 500/750 triples and 900Z1, the ones with the hinge in the middle of the frames, except it was a lot heavier.
Steve R
