OK, so
Mick Watson ain't a real doctor, he ain't even a pretend doctor, er not
as far as I know anyway, he is in fact a plumber by trade, but when it
comes to building Streetfighters, he certainly operates with the
precision of a surgeon. Take a look at this GIXER 1100 and you will see
what I mean. Look at the clean lines and that sexy single sided swingarm.
Drrrroooooollllll.
Mick a Leicestershire bloke may work as a plumber these days, but he has
had several jobs in engineering, which has given him a sound knowledge
base in fabrication welding and machining. He has built a number of
things over the years and enjoys the challenge. His last fighter was a
zx9r c2 but he’s always wanted to do a gixer and got the opportunity
last year when he heard an old friend, who he had not seen for a while
was selling a 92 1100 n model, so he just couldn’t turn it down.
To be perfectly honest, for the right money who would turn one of these
beasts down, they are possibly one of the best bikes around to fighter.
He stripped all the bodywork off and got it straight on eBay, it went so
it gave him a bit of money to spend. The first thing he bought was a WN
banana swinger that he polished up and he was going to get a brace
welded on to the non banana side, but he always wanted to do a single
sided one off a triumph, as its got a tri spoke wheel and a 190 at that,
So one thing led to another and he asked a few questions on the
streetfighter and oldskool forum, its not impossible but it’s the
hardest conversion to do as they are far too wide to go in was the
general comment. So He bid on a few and won one from Peterborough, with
a wheel for £125 (bargain).
He also needed a new shock as the old one had a remote res and looked
untidy, so he won a CBR600RR one for £40 quid. The registration on the
bike was 916 so he thought it would be good to put a Ducati tail unit
and exhausts to fill the void under it. So eBay again, Ducati SPS unit
£56 quid and standard 50mm Terminogi cans £16 quid, yes £16 quid, now
he’d got a few bits he could make a start.
He took out the swinger to get some measurements and alignment data, (so
pass me the grinder nurse) he set about chopping unwanted width off the
triumph swinger and chopped out the pivot, so he could machine one on
his little lathe to the dimensions of the GIXER to take standard GIXER
pivot bearings, and with a piece of 2” round bar from eBay, a he again
turned one up. He then made all the necessary fillet plates and took
them to PRC Fabrications in coalville (01530
811191) to be welded up. He’s known Paul at PRC
for a number of years and he’s a top notch stainless and aluminium
welder, and apparently knows his onions as well. He made a great job of
welding it up!
He had to have a sprocket made at
B&C Express, they were very helpful and
a good price to boot. With some more small mods the swinger lined up
great, he was well happy, so he stripped the engine out of the frame,
cut off the subby, and made up some plates to weld on the frame so he
could make his subframe. He made that to take the 916 seat unit, out of
20mm steel box. He then made the battery box and all electrics to fit
under the tail unit.
The exhaust was shot so he bought a stainless 1200 bandit one and
sourced a bandit sump, then bought some 50mm stainless pipe bends from
an autojumble at Donington race track for £3 quid a section. He bought
4 and chopped them about to make link pipe to fit some modified 916
cans.
The shock mount needed some work so he made a ali extender plate to get
the shock to go in the hole in the swinger and also made new dog bones
to suit.
The back was looking good now so it was time to sort the brakes. He
bought new contour discs, front and rear from EBC with streetfighter
forum discount, then stripped the front forks down to find a few pits in
the hard chrome. Solution found, he contacted K-Tech suspension gurus
and they had a set of sliders in stock along with seals and bushes, with
new wheel bearings fitted. The front was also looking good so he
polished the frame and started getting it back together with Renthal
bars, Ducati master cylinders front and rear, Goodridge extra wide oil
cooler and lines and Acewell clocks from
Moore speed racing. The tank was then
modified slightly to match seat unit and front mudguard with mesh
inserts, He sprayed it with cans from Halforfds designed some stickers
and had them made locally.
Stainless fasteners were used where possible and there are still a few
things Mick wants to do but for now he’s happy.
Mick wishes to thank:
“Special thanks to Mrs W as I do go on a bit, long time friend Crank for
help and ideas, Streetfighter forum for putting up with me and Paul at
PRC Fabrications for technical advice and top welding.”
Spec Sheet
ENGINE GIXER 1100 N standard 40mm carbs re-jetted with Goodridge 19 row extra wide cooler and lines
POWER OUTPUT 126.8 bhp
FRAME Standard with all unnecessary lugs and subby removed with yoshi rearsets
FRONT END Standard forks with new sliders bushes and seals modified standard mudguard, wavy EBC discs, Ducati 916 clutch and brake master cylinders, Renthal bars, twin headlights, Goodridge hoses and mini indicators
REAR END Home made subframe, triumph T595 single sided swing arm by owner and welded by PRC, CBR600RR shock with softer spring fitted, home made suspension links, Ducati 916 rear master cylinder with Goodridge hose, and stainless steel number plate bracket by owner
BODYWORK Ducati 916 SPS tail unit, slightly modified standard tank and mudguard
ELECTRICS R1 battery moved under seat along with cdi etc, Acewell clocks, mini indicators, and side mounted ignition switch
PAINT Halfords rattle cans met gray by owner
POLISHING Oh yes by owner
ENGINEERING All by
owner and the ali welding by PRC Fabrications