Been a fan of vft.org for a number of years now from the other side of the pond in UK, and thought you be interested in my homage to the beast of flat track, particularly asylum have couple of pics on at the moment
I've most people with an interest in flat track I suppose, there has always been a morbid cult around the iconic TZ750
A few years ago whilst forced to lay up to allow bones to heal, having been knocked off my street bike, I came across an eBay listing for a pair of Storz Performance Forcella Italian forks and yokes, something clicked and I knew they needed to be on a tracker style bike - so I bid and won!
All I needed to do then was find the rest of the parts!
I emailed a number of UK frame makers to see if anybody had any jigs to build a frame, but drew a blank. However, Harris finished their response in a Field of Dreams way saying "if you build it, it will be awesome"
Finally, I found the man, in the shape of Denis Curtis at CMR, who said it was no problem. Over a few emails I explained I wanted to build a homage to the Roberts bike but would be using it for twisty sprints and hill climbs (not the US style, but against the clock over a narrow, twisty tarmac course)
Having agreed the frame build I needed a motor, and was directed to Steve Abbot ex world sidecar champion. As suggested, Steve managed to find me a great motor, and the parts were building up.
I knew the bike had to have 19" wheels and flat track tyres.
I managed to find a pair of TZ350 wheels which were then built up with new rims and Maxxis tyres from UK distributor AAA Racing
Another eBay shopping trip scored PFM 320mm narrow track discs and 6 piston calipers, Brembo radial master cylinder and cable clutch lever set ups, as well as a '70's Spondon rear disc with magnesium centre
After buying a Chinese replica TZ750 radiator for £130 delivered (compared to genuine at £1850) I thought I'd won the lottery, only for Denis to tell me he'd set the geometry steep with a forward weight bias for better handling and turn in, and with 19" wheels the rad wouldn't clear the tyre. Luckily Denis found that the curved rad off an R1 did the trick and I bought one for £86, again Chinese.
To complete the chassis, a Brembo rear caliper and twin piggy back Ohlins
Aesthetically I wanted the underslung pipes but was advised that they would cause too many problems - loss of power, no silencing (a problem at competitive events), and the potential of splitting like the originals had. Instead, Denis arranged for a set of later road race style, with 3 under and 1 over and through. These started as an order by Denis from Swarbrick in the UK as a kit of sections, the parts then shipped to CMR in Canada, onto their TZ750 exhaust specialist, back to CMR, before being shipped with the frame kit to me in the UK - 20 miles away from Swarbrick who made the original bits!
So far the bike has only done 3 competitive events and 1 demo, as we hone and develop. Hope you like it. Keep up the great site. Best regards.
Brian Spencer