The image was in my head of how I wanted the finished article to look so now I needed to source a suitable donor and begin to operate. A Yamaha SZR660 made itself known on eBay and soon I had won the bid and collected the bike from Birmingham, UK. The SZR was only made for 3 years, born in Italy by Belgarda Yamaha to use a racing frame and trial bike engine but even though the Italians are renowned for their design, this bike was not pretty at all and due to a high price tag, only sold in low numbers so a bit rare.
Once home, the donor was stripped back to chassis and engine so that I could visualise where I wanted it to end up. I chose the bike for the modern alloy frame, upside down forks and unusual “banana” style swing arm. In addition, Yamaha had kindly slotted a 659cc twin port, 5-valve single into the TZR derived frame for me so I could instead turn my attention to cosmetic upgrades rather than try to mate an unrelated engine to frame. Modifications to sub frame, cooling system, instruments, exhaust and ride
height were done, graphics designed and a painter entrusted to make the vision a reality. Stripping, cleaning and powder coating of many parts were done, brackets made, seat covered, electrics to be modified and carburettors setup to run without air box. So much to do and I admit that for the wiring I called on a good friend to help and avoid my project self-combusting!
The end result shows little or no resemblance to the original donor and is unique which is what I set out to do. I ran the bike at Prescott Hill Climb and was impressed with the performance and on the road it is great fun so it has fulfilled my wishes in being fun to build, ride and own a one off.
Projects don’t need to be massively expensive or daunting undertakings and as long as you have common sense and a methodical approach, most can do it. Since completing the SZR Project I have brought a 1989 Kawasaki ZXR250 (what? Not a Yamaha I hear you ask?!!) Back from the brink of extinction as parts in several boxes to a completely restored machine – this was more of a challenge and parts were rare and expensive so one piece of advice is do your homework and decide if you are doing it for a profit or to create a dream.
What’s next? Not sure yet but it won’t be long before the next itch appears and I am bound to scour the internet for another donor!