Kawasaki Sportsbike Riders Club - Australia - Online Forum

The boys were all Lord of the Rings fiends, and Shadowfax was the name of the magician, Gandalf's horse, who was said to be stronger and to have more endurance than any other animal in Middle Earth. Since the bike was originally built as an endurance racer, the name seemed very appropriate. It didn't hurt that Neal Keith, the other rider of the bike in the Coca Cola 800 was tall, skinny, blonde and had a long beard and pony tail just like the guy who played Gandalf in the original movie.

Guys, I can't say anything more at this stage, but I may have some truly wonderful news to share in the next couple of days...watch this space.

fezzick wrote:Guys, I can't say anything more at this stage, but I may have some truly wonderful news to share in the next couple of days...watch this space.

Tease

OK, how's THIS? Here's the bike on the grid at Oran Park just before the start of the race on the Sunday. It reveals the best detail of any of the photos I've seen so far and it also shows just how much a "work in progress" the bike was compared to, say, the Bathurst shot which was just a couple of months later.



Later, when it was repaired, it was used as a road bike right up until 1988 when it dropped the valve. It ran through a whole series of incarnations including running with a little fairing and twin headlights and running with a complete "camo" colour scheme. Kent was into the Mad Max, post-apocalyptic scene and his finishing of the bike reflected that obsession (plus the fact that he was an impecunious Uni student)

Cool pics Phil...the headers are packed ready to roll.

Brilliant, mate, just brilliant. Thanks again.

that second photo is exactly how I remember seeing Shadowfax at Cowra on the Sunday night, after the Bathurst Easter meeting of 1982. Or it could have been 1983 ! Around this time anyway.....

Phil - I went out and spent a couple of hours out at Greg Robert's place this afternoon, and will be doing a bit more detail work on that front hub before he laces it up. This is so it matches the rear hub - which has now had the exterior spoke-mounting flange sections all cleaned up and given a polish. This has bought the rear hub up to a proper 'factory' look. I am just going to do the same to the front hub. Greg has some nice 2-bangers out at his place ! I will also be getting him to lace up my S1 250/3 hubs once the Shadowfax wheels are complete.

Very cool, mate, It's just ticking along nicely, isn't it?

I'm heading to Sydney this afternoon to pick up some much-needed parts and also to have a meeting with Kent Miklenda who I haven't seen since he gave me the bike back in 1995. I guess we'll have a lot to talk about!

Wow, what a day Friday was. First a visit with Keith Higgs, Grand Imperial Pooh-Bah of the PCRA (NSW) which saw me leaving with a lot of very valuable donated parts.

New cam chain.

Custom made alloy manual cam chain tensioner

Idler blocks for top of cam chain

Complete gasket set (except the base gasket)

AND, a complete clutch kit.

*rubs hands together* mmmmmm its like Xmas come early !!!

Thanks Higgsy !!!

Then it was on to the northern beaches for a meeting with Kent Miklenda. Wow, what a great couple of hours. We covered so much territory, both about the bike and about what's happened in each others' lives since we last met. He's gradually going through his resources and finding more stuff, including a poster of him on the bike coming through Suttons during the race. It's been damaged but Kent does photo restoration so it will be restored. Price lists from suppliers back then, the official entry form for the Coca Cola 800, more photographs and a Betacord video of the ABC telecast of the race featuring a small section on the bike. A lot more memorabilia has also turned up and Kent is sure there is more still buried in boxes, waiting to be found.

But, most importantly, some detailed discussions about some sponsorship and fund-raising ideas to enable us to finish the project. Can't say anything more than that at this stage, but it could be that the ideas we have discussed will get us over the line, fingers crossed.

As well, I have been able to contact several other luminaries who were integral parts of the project back then and they are keen to get on board and be part of the official unveiling of the bike.

It's rocketing ahead!!

So begs the question.
You never expected to take the path that you have so what is to become of this bike? Museum?
Hope not theres enough in museums. Would like to see it up the pointy end of racing again and let the story continue. But not as a precious lounge room ornament that gets wheeled out for display purposes or once a year races. Let it wear the battle scars proudly and let it evolve.

Thats the problem as a historian do you do all you can to take it back to where it was or do you add to the story?!

Actually, the intent of restoring the bike has always been the same so in that respect I have always intended to take the path that I have taken. There was a question right at the start over whether i should also prepare the bike so that it could be used as a road bike as well as a race one (as happened after it finished racing the first time), but that was fairly quickly discarded when we looked at the state of tune of the engine and realised that it would be a very intractable beast out there in the traffic.

So, firstly, it's not going to be ever in a museum if I can help it. Even if it doesn't spend too much time on the track, I want it in my garage where I can admire it and revel in the fruits of our labour to get it that way. Yes, it will be a race bike, because that's what it was built for to start with. Unfortunately, my passion for originality is going to impinge on its competitiveness because I'm not going to swap the original 18" wheels for 17"s just so that it can run slicks. It will run with the best treadeds that we can afford and I'll be content with what it can do on them. It will also be a track day bike that I will lend out (under certain conditions) to riders that I trust so that it gets well used.

Secondly, it will not be a show pony. The original bike was no oil painting and the restoration is going to take it back to its original condition as much as I am able to achieve. And, if that means a black exhaust instead of a nice shiny, chrome one, then that's what it's going to have. My feelings on the OVER-restoration of old bikes, so that they end up being better than they were when they were new is well documented and I refuse to go down that path. As a passionate historian I am keenly aware of the fact that history IS a constantly moving thing and the history of this bike will continue to be written. I hope that answers the questions.

Yep. Just giving you a poke.
It is tough when dealing with history.....
Side story I suppose. I have an interest in sailing. A few years ago I picked up a Rainbow Scow on Ebay for cheap to go and bash about in but once I got it home I realized it was a little bit special and still in original condition...Turns out it was retired after winning the national championships 3 years consecutive and sat in a garage for 45 years before it got moved on to the person I bought it from. Previous owner got it through deceased estate and bastardised the original and intact varnish.
I got to the point that after alot of research I couldn't touch it and didn't want to alter its history any further as it truly was a museum piece. It now lives in the National Maritime museum because it is the only original left in existance. They were originaly made from tea chests and meant for sailing on the Swan River in Perth but this one was proffesionally built by a boatmaker from plans and using top flight materials and craftmanship.
Glad I didn't just rub it back and give it a cheap paint to go bashing about the bay in.

I digress. History is a bastard. You are now a part of it in this build and its good to see you intend to see the old bastard out there again.