The Longest Day Challenge update
Dave Manning and his progress on the challenge
Dave Manning
Dave Manning, Editor of Motorcycle Sport & Leisure has been keeping us posted on his
Longest Day Challenge and we have an update for the event which is taking place, not surprisingly, on the longest day!
Here's how he's getting on in his own words...
My last update suggested that I'd still got a lot of work to do on the bike to get it ready, and that proved to be something of an understatement. Once the brakes had been refurbished with Wemoto-sourced parts, along with the new chain and sprocket, I was hoping that a decent service and some carb cleaning would see the little Suzuki ready to go...
However, while I’d spent time checking the valve clearances, changing the plugs and filters etc, it was only when I finally got the bike fired up did I realise that there were greater issues lurking beneath the surface.
It ran, very roughly, and there was a lot of smoke coming out of the engine breathers and into the airbox. Along with leaking inlet rubbers, there were clearly also serious valve problems, and piston ring blowby was probably the culprit. The simple expedient, as I looked at a spare Bandit 600 engine in the corner of the garage, was just to swap the motors, as the Bandit is very similar to the GSX600F.
Although not quite simple enough, as I ended up having to also use Bandit carbs and inlet rubbers too. More time taken up, and even more eaten up by having to wait for various clips and fasteners to arrive through the post, and also collect some carbs and clutch plates.
The end result was that the bike only ran properly a week before the event, and just two days later I was booked in for an MoT! The MoT was passed, albeit after a number plate light issues, but I still needed a pair of tyres fitted, which were ordered and spooned onto the rims the same day that I was leaving for the south-west!
So he's off, heading down to the south-west to undertake the Longest Day Challenge, riding from Lands End to John O'Groats, not using any motorways, and on a bike that cost less than £600. There are around 35 motorcyclists doing the ride, all raising funds for
Cancer Research UK.
We wish him the best of luck and look forward to hearing how he got on!
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