Tony's GSXR-7/11, a 750RR frame with an 1100L motor, bored to 1109cc. The RR frame was a cut above the regular 750, being the base frame for the production racers.

After a good deal of setting up, including WP rebuilding the forks and Maxton sorted rear shock, the bike became a useful piece of kit, able to match the leading stuff of its day ... which isn't saying that much as the leading stuff was GSXR1100s and Exups!

Usual mods were carried out, with Dynojet kit and K&Ns plus a very nice Termi exhaust system.

Tasty White Power USD forks with useful recessed adjusters - handy for keeping small items of toiletry in. Have been used in the past by unscrupulous individuals as ashtrays!

On closer examination at breakfast we found that the brake master cylinder was half full of water!!!.... the fluid was just high enough to cover the supply pipe. Eeeh by gum, some folks ....

Posh 6-pot Alcon brake callipers and Dymag magnesium wheels - the saving in weight of the front wheel probably just balances out the extra weight of the Alcons! Still, lots of excellent stoppie power and they look rather smart.

WP forks are the business once properly set up, which takes some doing as they are really more suited to nice smooth tracks rather than bumpy old B roads. A rebuild by WP helped but they are more race than road.

Skeletal Harris alloy rearsets are nicely made. Lots of little titanium and aluminium bolts and stuff all look rather lovely. Even small pieces of carbon fibre here and there.

This thing would keep a small crowd at Boxhill quite happy for a good hour or so, trying to spot all the extra little bits and pieces.

Of course, it couldn't last. No matter how one farted about with iron of this vintage, more recent bikes were getting stiffer, lighter and had improving suspension, and were leaving home grown bitsas like this far behind.

Tony endured until he tried a 750Y, and suddenly realised how good standard modern bikes could be.

The only problem with the more mature bike! Little bits of wire go all green and mouldy in their connectors and then black wire corrosion sets in and bingo ..... no go!

Based on a GSXR750 Slingshot frame with an 1100L motor, this particular bike was never the best example of a 7-11 conversion. Even though it sported some trick bits it needed some major work to ever get it to handle properly.

The concept was OK in it's day when 1000 cc bikes were large, fat and heavy, but the weighty 1100 motor ruined the 750s handling, putting too much weight over the front and raising the centre of gravity, so any gains from the chassis were offset by the clunky motor..

Billet 6-pot callipers aid the stopping process, which needs all the help it can get when you consider the weight of the bike.

The bike is strong - the other week it wrote off a Transit van, a Fireblade and delicate parts of a Kevin Jones in one sitting. A little bit of polish and a quick wipe over with a damp rag and the bike is as good as new ....... or something.

Nice carbon Skorpion can - 'course, they're Akrapovic now. Much better marketing opportunities with a name like that, and now the most oft seen pipe out there.

The shock reservoir may say Ohlins but when you followed the bike it sure didn't seem like the shock was related to the label. This particular shock was well overdue for a major rebuild so the benefit of having a decent bit of kit was lost. Ken's bikes always seemed to have the most wayward handling imaginable, but he never felt the need to twiddle anything to improve matters. Still, always used to give us a good laugh when following him.

The sign in the background wasn't deliberately included in this shot, but obviously the hand of Allah was at work.

Just imagine sitting there all nice and comfy in your Transit thinking what a lovely day it is and then this appears through your dashboard!

Fortunately for all of us time moved on and manufacturers realised that a lot of us wanted smaller, lighter 1000 cc sportsbikes, not the heavy goliaths they had been churning out. So the need for this kind of bitsa is no longer there.