Although I've only got last years 8v 1000 to compare with, I'm at least hoping for a more responsive bike.

That remarkable, how you got everything to fit in there, if you haven't yet have a listen to TWB's exhaust in his thread on the BBK in this section, Yes I cant wait either for some sound and footage of your bike in action.
We don't have any Nikko Baker bikes here yet but one day and they'll have stiff competition when they see what you can TWB are doing.

I met a chap last year at Spa who said that he had a Bakker frame but he wouldn't part with it. 
I tried really hard to buy it but I couldn't even get him round to discussing money. I'm happy enough with the bikes handling, it doesn't misbehave at track speeds so it would be just another expensive folly. 

That's all B.S! I'm sure if a frame presented itself my I'd off to the bank to make a withdrawal. 

Two Wheels Better wrote:Too right, Mike, and my project's just a pile of oem parts bolted together. Hardly a collection of one-offs like this.

I'm still not sure where to place, and of what version, my oil cooler will be. I've a triangular Ducati type, an automotive transmission version, and a larger motorbike type. It's all down to how to mount it as much as where.

I'm enjoying your build notes and look forward to more wheelie pics from your favourite tracks.

What have you done with the cooler pipes for the time being, installed a loop?
I've had a really hard time finding somewhere to fit mine, it nearly went under the gearbox and I also considered fitting it inside the seat hump with a fan.  I've used a K1200 cooler but I did have alternatives at the ready.

Motorbike Mike wrote:

Two Wheels Better wrote:What have you done with the cooler pipes for the time being, installed a loop?

I've had a really hard time finding somewhere to fit mine, it nearly went under the gearbox and I also considered fitting it inside the seat hump with a fan.  I've used a K1200 cooler but I did have alternatives at the ready.

I've not yet decided between a triangular Ducati cooler, twin coolers from an R1200C cruiser, or an auto-type transmission cooler. I've had banjo bolt hoses made with rubber ends so that I can cut to fit when I decide. Location and what to mount the bloody thing to are the issues. I too half-decided on a 4" fan and lengthy hoses running back to the mostly empty real estate under the seat.

I like Larry Romestant's idea (KAgusta K1200 Special Ks), but haven't been able to get any useful info on what brand/model/type he's used. It's mounted just under the oil sight glass, RH side. Very slim and discreet. Perhaps not enuf for your racing application, however.

Very neat and completes the loop but not much in the way of an actual cooler mounted where it is.
If you don't need much, it looks good.

The intakes mounted behind the radiator sucking in warm air won't do much for the bike either.

Some how I don't think practicalities were foremost in Larry's mind when that bike was designed. If they were then a 4 leading shoe front brake from a J model hot water bottle would not have had a chance of being the primary piece of stopping equipment.

I think many of the design decisions on that bike were made to fulfill the goal of achieving a classic cafe design, at the expense of modern performance. Thus the drum brake and spoked wheels. Having seen the machine in person and experienced it, I don't think the shortcomings such as oil cooler placement and intake trumpet placement affect the performance of the bike at all, even canyon carving all day in the hot California sun. There are no fairings to capture hot engine air and affect the engine performance. The machine is a beast. It's like jewelry - finely crafted, meticulously put together yet fit for purpose.

Hey boys, calm down. I'm not having a go, it's a great bike, probably the best K I've seen. 
I'm just of the opinion that I want show AND go!
We all do it differently don't we?

All cool here Mike. I was just expressing my point of view about Larry's work, not trying to aggravate anyone.

It's worth a watch of Jay Leno's online video of him riding and evaluating Mr Romestant's bike. It's clear there's a level of refinement and tech to it. Quite a bit of fun and some real go, in spite of the retro-tech look to the machine. I too have seen it (Portland's One show last year) and in the 'flesh' it's an amazing piece of rolling art. The elbow intakes on this machine inspired the same of the Big Block, albeit, unpolished. There truly is a function to them; that of smoothing out the delivery of power, lowering where it begins and yet allowing it to breath at revs as well.

One day once sorted I'll dyno mine and get a proper reading of what the seat of the pants are suggesting.

Two Wheels Better wrote:It's worth a watch of Jay Leno's online video of him riding and evaluating Mr Romestant's bike. It's clear there's a level of refinement and tech to it. Quite a bit of fun and some real go, in spite of the retro-tech look to the machine. I too have seen it (Portland's One show last year) and in the 'flesh' it's an amazing piece of rolling art. The elbow intakes on this machine inspired the same of the Big Block, albeit, unpolished. There truly is a function to them; that of smoothing out the delivery of power, lowering where it begins and yet allowing it to breath at revs as well.

One day once sorted I'll dyno mine and get a proper reading of what the seat of the pants are suggesting.

How does the "seat of the pants" dyno feel?  130-ish BHP?

....and we start again!
I've finally got on to the new bodywork. Fairing cut around the engine and extended back. The extension pieces come from the cut outs for the engine so it's now a "green" project as I haven't wasted anything. Should I apply for a Government grant?

So, when the Gov't interviews you for the grant, how are you going to explain away the increased carbon footprint through the use of all that fibreglass, epoxy and Bondo?

I'm just using up new old stock which again, must be greener than taking it to a land-fill site!

Seems logical if I were the interviewer I'd give you the grant.
I'm enjoying this thread of yours Mike Especially if you use up all that old stock before it goes out of date

K75cster wrote:Seems logical if I were the interviewer I'd give you the grant.
I'm enjoying this thread of yours Mike Especially if you use up all that old stock before it goes out of date

I'm just glad that someone can see that I'm just trying to do my small part in keeping an old K going and taking care of the environment.  

keep at it mike ....many are surprised at the mighty k ...whilst on the road ...they just don't understand

not a high flyer but able to do it forever ....

cheers

Paint time-and about time.

Loking good, do you think the scrutineers will pick the difference

In which way?

The four valve and the oil cooler, maybe the lack of a mapflap? Maybe they could be an enthusiast of BMW's on the odd occasion.
Is there an end date for the race bikes in your category?

Ah yes, I see what you mean. 
I'm getting an 8 valve cam cover altered to help with fact that it's a bit young. As for the oil cooler I think it's a legitimate improvement. If you were to see some of the bikes that are there, even considering their age related qualification, if the organisers were to work to the letter there'd only be half a dozen bikes riding round. 

I'll just go there with a bike that's in th spirit of the event and by the way-mum's the word!

Ah yes love it, wink wink nudge nudge and all that.
cant wait for some race footage

Phew, after all that prep and spraying I'm lacquered! Sorry-SORRY.

Yes shocking, but still phunny

After what seems like years my new and lighter wheels are here. I've only weighed the rear so far but it's 1.5 kilo's lighter than the 16v RS wheel it replaces. Another important point to take into consideration is that most of the mass on a stock wheel is around the outside in the rim where the new wheels carry most of their weight in the centre. It should make the bike easier to turn, brake and accelerate.

Front wheel in. Brembo P4/34 calipers to go on if I can get the time to make the hangers.

I note you are going to use Metzeler's excellent M7RR, which I've fitted to my K1200R and on my K1200GT. Man-o-manshevitz, what a difference they've made to turn-in and tracking! It's almost telepathic on the R (had Bridgie BT023) and an amazing improvement on the more portly GT (were Metz Z8). Good skins, for sure.

I read a test looking at various tyres for fast road and track use and the M7RR's came out top so I thought I'd give them a go. I ran Avon AM22 & AM23's last year and they're exceptional but was advised by a chap that owns the UK's larges race tyre supplies that for a 17" rear, there are better tyres available.

Both wheels now in without any  clearance issues. I've had to move the silencer slightly but that's it.
Now the silencer is on I'll be starting it up this weekend.





That's now a 180 rear!

looks about 30mm offset  from centre line

but shouldn't be too big an issue

cheers

Are the rims made by PVM Vetterolf GmbH?

charlie99 wrote:looks about 30mm offset  from centre line

but shouldn't be too big an issue

cheers

It probably is but if you want more rubber it's the only way to go. 

I love your build thread! I have been planning an endurance style build for several weeks now and only just came across the JJ Cobas bike yesterday.

I've been considering both the Ducati F1 750 fairing you used and also a Suzuki XR69 fairing from Airtech Streamlining. Can you tell me a bit more about the radiator you used?

Nevermind on my question - I decided to go with the Suzuki fairing since the F1 fairing was only 14-16" wide and the stock radiator is 18".

In my research, I did find a spanish language article (link) indicating that the original JJ Cobas fairing was based on the Suzuki RG 500 GP. Dutch at Airtech Streamlining seemed to think that it might be based on the Harley XR750TT (link) based on the lines.

Hi, I did buy a Suzuki XR41 fairing but it was way too small-the size of a 250!
I also built an XRtt replica, sent for a fairing from Airtech and that wouldn't be suitable either, that's how I ended up using the Ducati F1, it looks OK when it's on. I can see what you mean about the RG & XR items having influenced the Cobas bodywork.
I tried to find out about the fairings Cobas used and came across a Dutch chap that used to deal with the company that made the Cobas bodywork and he assures me that all the moulds were destroyed on the orders of the receivers when TCP went broke. It's unlikely that they would have been a straight fit anyway as I'm sure the Cobas bike would have been much smaller than a stock K.

As for the radiator, I used an aluminium item for a Mini (BMC) but I've modified it quite a bit, welding in new tappings to suit the K.

Mike.

It runs....but I've had a few teething problems. I'd not connected a plug under the tank because I thought it was for the left hand controls if it should ever see the road. Also an earth connection onto the gearbox, it must have slipped off the bolt as I was lining it up with the thread.
When I first fired it up the bike ran like it was on full choke and was chuffing away just off idle but I didn't understand why. I've just had it running again and had a twiddle with the idle regulating valve, mixture screw to us old school chaps, and everything seems much cleaner and more responsive.

Now to find a track day for a test session.

Motorbike Mike wrote:Hi, I did buy a Suzuki XR41 fairing but it was way too small-the size of a 250!
I also built an XRtt replica, sent for a fairing from Airtech and that wouldn't be suitable either, that's how I ended up using the Ducati F1, it looks OK when it's on. I can see what you mean about the RG & XR items having influenced the Cobas bodywork.

Hmm. I ordered the F1F fairing (XR69) that seems like it should work based on my measurements. I guess we will see when it arrives in 4-5 weeks!

I don't know much about the Suzuki's but perhaps the 41 was much smaller than the 69. If you're after the fairing going around the valve and crank covers you'll have to extend it back anyway. 
Do you have any pictures of your build so far?

Motorbike Mike wrote:I don't know much about the Suzuki's but perhaps the 41 was much smaller than the 69. If you're after the fairing going around the valve and crank covers you'll have to extend it back anyway. 
Do you have any pictures of your build so far?

Not yet. I'm planning on starting a thread soon. The bike is partially striped down. Plans are being made and parts are on order.

You should start now, we all like to see a project right from the beginning, 

Motorbike Mike wrote:You should start now, we all like to see a project right from the beginning, 

Build thread here  

Thanks for the encouragement!

just saw this mike

anyone you know ? ....looks ace for a k1

No one I know unfortunately.
I'd really like a red K1 but good one's seem very difficult to find.

95% there now.
I just have the inside of the fairing to paint black, trim the belly pan and fit the new tank. The old one will do for the trackday on Monday.
I had some issues with the bike running very rich and upon investigating I'd connected the FPR (K1100) the wrong way. I realised this when I turned the bike on while knelt beside it and saw the fuel lines swell up and try to straighten themselves out under the pressure!!

Beautiful!

I attended a trackday at Donnington Park on Monday to give my Flying Brick a run out to make sure everything was OK-it wasn't. It cut out on the first lap and I brought it back to life by turning the kill switch off and back on, as soon as I did this it fired back up for a while. The problem kept manifesting it'self on closed throttle, e.g shut off & brake into the Melbourne loop (right hander) would result in dead engine 7/10  when you went to get back on the throttle-VERY FRUSTRATING and downright dangerous!!
I thought it might be fuel starvation so tried it on a full tank of fuel but it was the same, I tried another ECU-same again so examined every electrical connection but they were all good and the bike was still misbehaving. I got one good session after lunch and it flew-for a while and then the same problems were back and I was out of idea's so went out in the second afternoon session, did 2 laps and then this.....


I'm riding round on my own, come right out of Coppice onto Starkeys straight, nothing and no-one to be seen, just about flat in fifth, shut off and hit the brakes and at that instant, in a millisecond I'm hurling down the track cursing and swearing as I'm rolling along because I knew I done nothing wrong. I come up to see the bike sliding away from me at speed and think "bollocks!", try to get to my feet but I'm still doing 25mph so all the rough and tumble starts again. When I finally stop I stand up and can see the bike is still running on it's side so run to it and turn it off. "I'm alive" I think to myself but my thoughts are broken by a marshall that asks me if I'm OK, I reply yes and then he asks if I might have gone down on oil, I reply yes and he then points at an R6 some distance away against the barrier and furthers "Oh right, that bike over there has just blown up coming down the straight" He walks off leaving me holding my bike up but stuck in the gravel. Once I'd tested the surface they stopped the session and got the cement dust out. 

What the fuck happened to marshalls showing the diminished adhesion flag instead of waiting some crash test dummy, in this case me to confirm that oil is on the circuit? There are 3 marshall posts at the entrance to the Foggy Esses and they must have all seen the R6 blow up. 
I'm particularly upset because my crash was preventable. On top of the bike going down, my brand new first time on Arai RX7V, leathers and gloves are wrecked but they did their job and apart from some bruising I'm OK so I suppose the cost of the equipment is not worth thinking about but it's the hours that I'll have to spend on repairs getting the bike ready for Spa that gets me.

Aaargh!

Motorbike Mike wrote:Aaargh!

Bit of an understatement, that :silent: I'm pleased you survived - what damage is there to the bike?

Fairing inc brackets, broken clip-on, clutch lever damaged footrest, gear lever, hanger, instrument switch, cam cover and scuffed silencer.
On the plus side I brought home lots of 20mm gravel in the belly pan and on top of the engine that I'll put at the side of the house!

Motorbike Mike wrote:On the plus side I brought home lots of 20mm gravel in the belly pan and on top of the engine that I'll put at the side of the house!

My wife still wants your garden...