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The Thug |
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The second rule of special building concerns time. Just work out how long it's going to take you, and then multiply that figure by four. It's why special builders always end up wanting a Tardis... Because of the difficulties brought on by the first and second laws of special building, all too many projects never get completed, which is why we eventually had to pick the bike up off Hag and give it to Jason to apply the finishing touches. It's not that Hag doesn't have the time or the money; on the contrary, as part of the Weybridge nobility he's got plenty of both. But he didn't want to fall foul again of the third rule of special building - social ostrication. As a consequence of never having any money, nor any time to spend it, the special builder's friends give up calling and the erstwhile constructor is left to while away yet another night with a tin of flat beer and a couple of butt-ends while thumbing through the now irrelevant finger-print spattered pages of the donor organ manuals in a vain attempt to get things working. The special builder really knows he's hit an all-time low when those same unique epidermal designs irrevocably become the manual workings of his own organ... Hag had seen it all before.
As we've mentioned before, ZZR1100 liners have taken the displacement of the Thug's ZX-9R sourced motor out to 980cc, the compression has been raised to 13:1 and the head subjected to the de-rigeur gas flow job. The bike runs flat slide carbs, which eliminate the complications brought on by removing the ram air system and which also, theoretically, improve the top end - albeit marginally. The fact that the bike is running the standard 750 cdi unit as opposed to the 900 warrants caution, because the 750 unit allows the engine to spin 2000 rpm faster. Obviously the bigger slugs aren't designed to run at such high revs, which could lead to piston failure, so it's a recipe that calls for restraint. Although the bike uses the standard cams, the cam timing has been altered to maximum advantage, producing an awesome 152bhp at the back wheel. But, during its last fateful outing, the Thug's stunning Bob Farnham motor developed a problem. The initial 'blow up' was traced to an unseated barrel liner. Apparently the latter had slipped downwards by a mere three thou, which had produced all the symptoms of a blown head gasket. The strange thing was that the motor had been run extensively on the dyno without suffering any untoward problems. While Bob Farnham worked his magic on it, Jason was given the task of 'prepping' the rest of the bike. The flat slide carbs we'd borrowed for the first shake down had to be returned, which meant sourcing our own set. The ZXR race carburettor kit proved to be too elusive and too expensive, which meant a call to specialists 'Allens' of Nottingham who were able to cunningly replicate the relevant omponents. Jason blanked off the choke air channel, not because we thought it'd make the bike run better, but because we didn't have any of the relevant paraphernalia to connect it up. When the bike was returned the carbs were fitted, linked together and set up statically. While the Thug was at Bob Farnham 's speed emporium Hag had arranged for an aluminium tank to be built by John Williams of 'The tank shop' in Scotland. On its return, Jason used some of the ultra lightweight fastenings previously supplied by Venhill engineering, and bolted it in situ. At the moment, the fuel system is still straight through, which means that it has no tap and no reserve - a feature urgently needing modification. Jim Valentine, the proprietor of Muller performance exhaust systems, co-incidentally also based in Scotland, returned the exhaust system which we'd sent back to him for jig building purposes. He even supplied a new carbon fibre end can so the Thug would look its best, although fuck knows how he sussed that the original had been fitted to a racing lawnmower in the meantime...? James Lister and sons (0121 5257733) purveyors of all sorts of general purpose go-faster goodies, built a steel braided hydraulic line for the clutch, to match the set already trunking the fluid to the Harrison Billet six piston brakes. Apart from generally tidying up the wiring, Jay also fixed up a brake light, a horn, and a headlight. A plethora of wheelies and burnouts when we first had the bike running destroyed both the ageing ZXR750 fork seals, and blinding Metzeler MEZ1s respectively, both of which were replaced accordingly. The new rubber came courtesy of CPK Moto, the importers of Metzeler and Pirelli in the UK. In the meantime Shogun, the paint and graphics people (0115 9286089) were transforming the bodywork from Hag's original 'public toilet paintwork' to something a little 'meaner', and it arrived just in time for Jason to fit for the test. The only hitch here was that the superb BB Plastics (01895 421178) seat unit was brand new and needed mounting holes drilling. Riding the bike around town is something of an experience, it's so wholly unsuited to the job. For a start you have to fire the thing up, a process more easily achieved with a match than a button. Two big handfuls of throttle. followed by a stab on the starter with the slides closed is usually the recipe for flat slides. But like incorrigible Thugs the world over, sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. If you flood it, you're knackered, and if you try to start it once the engine's warm, just make sure that you've got Jonah Lomu on hand to help you with a bump. Running and jumping on it would probably be the answer, were it not for the fact that the clutch drags chronically. The hydraulics probably just need bleeding, but knowing what the problem is doesn't help when it's pissing down with rain, you don't have a pet All Black, and the wheel's virtually locked before you let the clutch out. Jason also reck¬ons that the Thug needs a bigger battery, because the current (sic) one just isn't man enough to spin the motor over and provide the sparks. What did surprise me was how mediocre the Harrison six potters were at low speeds. I was expecting dynamite stopping power, but I reckon that the rotors aren't even as good as stock. Perhaps we've done something wrong, like mis-matched the master cylinder and the caliper hydraulic ratios. Whatever, what you can't dispute is that they look good. The story of the Thug, though, really is the story of the Bob Farnham engine, and even around the Metropolis you can appreciate the fearsome punch. The problem at lower revs is the perennial glitch of flat slides - viz, heavy surging. Trickling through traffic, the engine is either choking, sucking, spitting and coughing, or it's driving hard and cleanly. There's no middle ground. Find a short straight, long enough for the Thug to cast off the low speed shackles, and it clears its throat and hurls itself violently forward. Naturally too much throttle spins the back wheel, and the front has to be kept down with circumspect use of the twist grip. Having the ability to send you through a speed camera at 130mph in the time it takes to fart is a genuine licence-loser. In fact, the Thug only really comes into its own out of town. The Power in first and second is incredible, and the Farnham engine develops such huge torque, that it's capable of pulling the most outrageous screaming power wheelies - just as the bike passes through the national speed limit. We took the hooligan to Bruntingthorpe to see what sort of top end we could illicit, and as part of the preparations, gave the whole machine a complete overhaul. One item on the service agenda was bleeding the clutch, which once done, completely eliminated the drag. To get the best possible top end out of the bike we had to calculate theoretical gearing, and eventually decided that an extra tooth on the front would probably just about suffice. Just in case, we also took two spare rear sprockets with us, one with one tooth less than standard, and the other with two teeth less. As it turned out we didn't need either. In the five runs that Jason completed, the Thug easily and consistently notched up 168 mph, and although this was a little disappointing, bearing in mind that the standard 750 is good for about 162mph in the same conditions and the stock 900 about 10 mph more, the reason pure and simple was aerodynamic inefficiency. Jason reported a lot of turbulence down by his feet, presumably caused by only running a half fairing. Turbulence of course means drag, and at these sort of speeds where you need huge increases in horsepower just to fire through the air a handful of mph quicker, its effect is crucial. We were a little worried beforehand that the engine may be a little fragile. After all, the vast majority of the components that Bob Farnham used were modified stock parts, (as opposed to high tech exotica) but as it turned out it was, and seems to be, pretty bullet proof. It takes a fair bit to impress a hardened and experienced tester/cynic like Jason, particularly one that rode a 955 last season in the British Supercup, but when he came back the superlatives were flowing freely. "It's lethal", he enthused, "It's almost as fast as the V&M blade, and it power wheelies wildly, often when you don't want it to". Even the Brakes, which hadn't impressed on the road, proved to bc far better at Bruntingthorpe, either because they'd bedded in, or otherwise because they work better at high than low speed. To summarise the Thug in a single word “blindin”. The closest thing yet to a Works Muzzy Kawasaki, 'cept probably a little faster...Watch this space for news of how we intend to mullah the 180mph barrier.
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This article is from a January 1996
ZZR11 liners and pistons 13:1 compression ratio Gas flowed head Re phased camhaft Muller 4-2-1 exhaust 39mm Keihin flat slides with Kawasaki factory carb kit installed
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