Carby'd 888

Tony_Ducati

From the 1990's. As ridden by Robert Holden who died at the IOM in 1996. Photographed in Melbourne Australia in 2007.

Mr.R

Over here in the UK (and possibly Europe?) in the BEARS racing, the use of Desmo, Fuel Injection and Watercooling were banned, you could use 2 of the 3 but not all of them...This was to stop the all conquering 851/888's from running away with the series.

So the Baines brothers had a valve springer made, George Mansfield (RIP) aka Mez Porting did the head work and the bike was known as the "Mezmo" it went on to win the series.

Steve R

dhumphrys

Interesting bike... Single-sided exhaust, SS tail, modified frame for footrests, the yokes look custom?

I bet it sounded awesome with those quad-chokes!

SPS

Love it. Thanks for sharing. That tach is something else ha..

wgsvintage

What an interesting set of photos, thanks Tony! Love seeing that TZ throttle on an 851. Any chance of getting more photos with less bodywork? Got lot's of questions, if anyone can help. What year model would it have started as? What's going on with the flat plate L/H case cover? Is that a little bit of a water pump mounting base just peeking out from the fairing? The nose fairing has fancy ram air intake scoops and you can just see a bit of air ducting hose in the steering head shot, but where is it headed for? The radiator? The Adamo bike I'm rebuilding now had carburetors for a brief period, and apparently Leoni needed to cut out the diagonal frame tube to get them in. The flat slides on this bike fit in rather nicely with that tube in place. I have no photos of the Leoni set up unfortunately, so these are very cool. Whoever built this bike was pretty crafty, would love to see it in person.
Bill

Mr.R

SPS wroteLove it. Thanks for sharing. That tach is something else ha..

That's a Krober tach/rev counter I've got one of those on my old 900 Bevel.

Steve R

Tony_Ducati

The bike was built by Bob Brown who was instrumental in the riding success of Kevin Magee - thumbnailed on a Pantah - who eventually moved onto 500 GP in the early 90's with some success. I have seen it race and is was extraordinarily fast, competing and winning in open superbike class. Here's a link to Bob's website. He also has a Tricolore in a glass box - unused

http://bobbrownducati.com

brad black

Mr.R wroteOver here in the UK (and possibly Europe?) in the BEARS racing, the use of Desmo, Fuel Injection and Watercooling were banned, you could use 2 of the 3 but not all of them...This was to stop the all conquering 851/888's from running away with the series. So the Baines brothers had a valve springer made, George Mansfield (RIP) aka Mez Porting did the head work and the bike was known as the "Mezmo" it went on to win the series. Steve R

do you know if they had to change the cam profiles much to allow for the springs?

brad black

i beleive bob's bike is quite large in bore size, but i've never actaully spoken to bob about it. i've been told it would go past the factory bikes in a straight line at the aust rounds in 88 and 89, but about 15 laps in would just stop. maybe that was when it was injected. also used to blow lots of head gaskets due to the bore size.