As mentioned in a previous article we have a friend who is entering that illustrious adventure known as The Longest Day Challenge. Here is the first instalment of Dave Manning's story and some pictures of the magnificent machine he is going to be riding - many thanks to Dave for the tale. The story so far...

 

The odometer says under 24,000 miles. Hmm….

 

I’d first heard of the Longest Day Challenge a couple of years ago, and had initially intended to take part last year, before the commitments involved with racing the Suzuki Bandit took over.

 

The basic premise of the day is to buy a bike for under £600, and then ride it from the bottom to the top of the UK, in one day. This, in itself, is a good enough reason to take part – it’ll be a laugh, and something of an achievement – but all-round good egg, Fast Bikes correspondent and LDC organiser John McAvoy, has worked it so that the event raises much-needed funds for a cause that is very close to so many people’s hearts, Cancer Research UK.

 

 

To ensure that the bikes entered are roadworthy, you’re allowed to spend some money over the 600 quid, although that dosh is only for safety reasons to make sure that the bike in question isn’t going to throw you into the front of an oncoming pantechnicon, or spit you into some spectacularly spiky Welsh countryside… So extra money can be spent on tyres, brakes etc, and there is a catch-all-come-get-out clause with the “in the spirit of the event” statement that allows some flexibility on the budget. But the premise remains the same – a cheap bike, covering about 1000 miles in one day.

Oh, and just to add a bit more fun, the route doesn’t involve motorways…

 

Nigh on twelve months ago I bought myself a cheap Suzuki GSX600F, priced at a mere £400, with the sole objective of having it for the LDC. As mentioned, racing got in the way with a race meeting at Pembrey just a day after last year’s LDC, and logistically there was no way that I’d be able to get back from John O’Groats for the racing, and I’d committed to the full season. A year later, and it’s time to commit myself once more, this time to raising as much money as possible for a wonderful cause (in my case, in memory of my wonderful wife), and having a decent ride out at the same time.

 

While the bike was cheap, at a quick glance it does look quite clean, albeit with a few bits and bobs missing, although it came with a box of spares that included a standard (ie not cut-down) rear mudguard-cum-undertray, some switchgear and brake calipers, and the initial quick scan over suggested that, with the addition of a few parts (swiftly ordered from Wemoto) it could be thrown back together and up and running in a couple of days…

 

 

I do seem to have an uncanny knack of fooling myself into thinking that things are going to be much, much easier than they really are.

The calendar has, at the time of writing, just flipped into March, and while I was hoping that I’d be booking the Teapot for an MOT, each day seems to see the Suzuki becoming less of a bike as I take more parts off that need fixing.

 

As it stands right now, and with some things definitely yet to discover, I have:-

 

Fitted the full rear mudguard, number plate and plate light. Only the indicators work.

Cleaned the front brakes. Realised the pistons were seized, split the calipers that came with the bike, and managed to remove five of eight pistons. Then split the spare set of calipers (that were originally fitted to a Kawasaki Z650 project I have, that now has a GSX-R1000 front end) and also only managed to pull out six of eight pistons. With two rebuild kits on order, I will build two calipers from the four.

Fitted speedo cable from the Z650 front end. Discovered that the speedo is loose in its mounts, and none of the clocks have bulbs or wiring to them…

The throttle housing had its stub (that sits in the hole in the bars to stop it from spinning) filed off, so I drilled the housing and made a new stub from a bit of 5mm bolt shank and glued it in place. Then fitted the throttle cable. With the switchgear in place, and wiring plugged in, the headlight works (now that I fitted a bulb), but the on/off switch makes no difference, it’s on all the time.

The clutch action is ridiculously heavy, and the starter doesn’t work (switch issues?).

The ignition coils are not mounted to anything, just floating around under the tank. I need to make some spacers for the original mounting points.

 

The clock is ticking and I have a huge amount of things left to do, including – cleaning the carbs; adding lights for the clocks; find and fit front indicators; mount the coils; assemble, fit and bleed the brakes; and actually start the bloody thing! Then it needs an MOT, and several test rides… No pressure then.

 

 

More details about the day can be found here - www.longestdaychallenge.com – and you can donate to the cause at https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/for-billybird-telling-cancer-to-do-one . It’s something of a long website address, but it can be found on the Cancer Research UK website.

 

Well what a great endeavour - sounds like it's going to be really fun and a great achievement so we wish him the very best of luck and will be watching his progress with great enjoyment. 

 

Is anyone else entering this challenge - or have you done so in the past? If so we'd love to know let us know on Facebook or email us [email protected].