SHEENE RESTO READY FOR MOTORCYCLE LIVE
See a racing icon restored before your eyes at the NEC from November 16-24
‘It was quite something to uncrate them’
Suzuki’s Motorcycle Live builds and restoration projects have become a mainstay of the manufacturer’s stand. Last year they restored the first ever RG500, prior to that Kevin Schwantz’s 1989 RGV500 and a 1985 GSX-R750F were returned to their original condition, the Team Classic Suzuki Katana was built at the show, and in 2014 a TL1000S was assembled from scratch.
This year Suzuki will stick with the square-four, two-stroke theme, with two of Barry Sheene’s race bikes getting the restoration treatment after arriving back in the UK from Australia earlier in the year. The twice-world champion’s 1984, Harris-framed, DAF-sponsored XR45 will be refurbished along with a special XR23A; a 652cc bigbore RG500, which was raced in the Trans Atlantic series and the F1 Championship back in 1979. The bikes will be worked on in conjunction with Suzuki’s Vintage Parts Programme, with former Grand Prix technician Nigel Everett and ex-Sheene mechanic Martyn Ogborne twirling the spanners, and Motorcycle Live will be the first time the bikes have been available for public viewing since Sheene emigrated Down Under. “These bikes haven’t been back to the UK since Barry and his family moved to Australia,” Tim Davies, Suzuki GB’s aftersales marketing coordinator, explained. “It was really quite something to get them out of the crates and see them here again. I think it’s a very special thing we’re doing and hopefully fans and visitors to the show will agree. “Condition-wise, they weren’t bad, although time has taken its toll in places, so there is plenty of work for Nigel and Martyn to do.”
Not only will show-goers get to see the restoration take place, the bikes will be fired into life during the final weekend at 2.45pm.
Tim added: “Firing them up at the end of the build is a great opportunity for fans to see, hear, and smell them running.”
The restoration isn’t the first time Suzuki’s Vintage Parts Programme has breathed life into a couple of Sheene’s race bikes. In 2017 the 1976 and 1977 world championshipwinning machines were rebuilt, and both will again be on display at the NEC in November. Other Sheene bikes displayed include the 1978 XR22, 1975 XR14 (the first bike Barry won on in 500 Grand Prix) and the rarely-seen factory RT125 that Sheene raced to second in the 1971 125 World Championship.