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There's a bike under there, honest...

Parents

I have very few photos of my parents, my dad died in 1998, but I do have pics of some of their bikes.

Mum's VFR400K NC21, this bike was crashed by me twice; once on a mud covered bend out the back of Holbeach, and then written off when a rover 416 pulled out on me in Whaplode.

Dad's born-again bike; EX500A1, in proper kwak colours. I used to bug him to take me to school on it.
Dad's tinkering bike; Yamaha TR1, as he got it, with tasteful fogging paint and yellow calipers. My RM80. Notice the missing handguard as I'd binned it, again.
The TR1 again, part way through being made more tasteful. Anthracite paint, R90 fairing gone. This was as far as it got before he died.

Way back when...

I was a teenage hoodlum in 1999 I built this-

I'd inherited the bike when my Dad had died a year earlier. When he had it it was a relatively clean Yamaha TR1, but he'd already bought the FZR600 wheels and worked out that it needed TZR125 discs for the front wheel to fit into the TR1 calipers and forks. The tank came from Newark autojumble and cost me a stonking £17, and I still have it. The seat is a spare from a CB250RS I had.

The exhaust was my first attempt at making one, before I knew about pre-drawn bends. The engine had been to Edgar Hedley, who was competing a very quick TR1 in Supertwins at the time. The heads were ported and flowed, the carbs were flowed to each head, the cams were Megacycle, the bores were 1st oversize with the pistons ceramic coated, the barrels ad heads were teflon coated, the rods were balanced and polished, and it made a big difference. With changed gearing the bike would pull 140mph.

It's currently in the back of the shed, on the list to be worked on when I've got a few others out of the way. I'm looking forward to it.