Tigcraft KTM
Back in the shed preparing for next season’s racing Boastie, Bike’s resident racer, is building a Tigcraft KTM, Mk2
‘I’ve been working in this shed for forty years, we’ve built a load of bikes in here’
I’ve got that many projects on the go that I’ve actually got three workshops to house them all, which means I need three of every tool. At home I’ve got my trials bikes and scramblers, a few 125 and 250cc two-stroke motocross bikes from the 1970s and 1980s, and then here at my mum’s house I’ve got my race bike workshop. I’ve been working in this shed for forty odd years, and we’ve built and rebuilt a load of bikes in here, starting with a Ducati 250 race bike, which was a long time ago. There’s more bikes at the workshop at work. Last winter I built up a Tigcraft framed KTM race bike, hoping to do the Manx GP on it. We got the bike done, but the Manx never happened. Which was really disappointing, especially as the bike showed so much promise when we raced it at Scarborough and Cadwell Park.
It wasn’t perfect though, when you build a race bike there are always things you can do to improve it, so I planned to pull it apart again over the winter. It needed a different swingarm to allow us to run a wider rear tyre, and a bit more power is always on the shopping list. Then another Tigcraft turned up on ebay so I bought that as well. Which means we will now have two of them.
The first part of any project is when you get the bike on the bench, assess what you’ve got and start ordering all the extra bits you need, which ebay makes really easy. Remember when we’d have to go trawling around breakers looking for stuff? That was always a nightmare. The internet makes it easier than ever to pull a project together and all the stuff we need is starting to arrive.
The whole of the front end is Triumph 675 Daytona and we’ve got that fitted. The swingarm is from a Suzuki RGV250 VJ22, which allows us to use a wider 17 inch tyre. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get it polished up as we’d have liked so we ended up getting it painted. The back wheel is from an Aprilia RS250.
I’m waiting for a radiator, ignition unit and rear caliper to arrive in the post. I’m pretty tight, so I scour ebay for cheap stuff and I made a few quid back selling the Rotax engine that came with the chassis.
Obviously there are a load of brackets and bits that need fabricating, so I’ll be making a new subframe, fairing and engine mounts, but having done last year’s bike we know where everything needs to go.
The engine is a KTM 690; the bike runs in the singlecylinder class. Last year we ran a standard motor, but with a carburettor and special ignition. On this one Paul Cumpstone, who’s done my engines for years, will flow the head and do some work on the valves. The plan is to run it with two carburettors and Paul’s already made up the special manifold. When we’ve got it done we’ll put it on Guy’s dyno and see what it does. We’ve heard of one claiming 83bhp, so there’s something to aim for, but we want it to be reliable. We’re hoping to have it running for April or May and we’ll do a track day, and then race it, somewhere, maybe Cadwell Park or Donington, and then the Island in August, hopefully. The TT has been cancelled but with a bit of luck the Manx will be going ahead. Finger’s crossed.