We've actually got two Cagiva Grand Canyons at The Bike Shed...
*Screech drowns out words*.
Ross!
You've put a mark on my floor!
Er...
That was there earlier!
So before I was so rudely interrupted I was saying there were two Cagiva Grand Canyons
on The Bike Shed fleet, my daily hack and Ross' race bike.
So Ross for the uninitiated explain what a Cagiva Grand Canyon is.
Well the first thing is Cagiva, it's not Kagiva, Kageeva or anything like that.
it's Cagiva the name comes from the Castiglioni family, Giovanni is the son, Varazi is the
place where the factory is based in northern Italy.
So Cagiva.
I didn't know that, well you do know.
So this was the precursor to the Multistrada, post elephant which was a really great bike,
.. they produced this which let's face it, is really F****ing ugly.
I didn't want to be rude about your bike, but it's not a pretty motorcycle.
I bought it because of the engine I had a Monster 900 which was the bike that I wanted
but it was far too small for me so I wanted something with the 900 Ducati engine...
and the twin filler caps made me very happy as well.
A tall Monster 900 engine was the theory for me.
And wife goes on the back?
Yeah comfy as hell.
But you had one of these exactly the same didn't you?Yeah, I one in dog-knob red not
in fancy black like you've got and luggage racks on it big aluminium panniers everything
but the kitchen sink rode around Europe for 18 months, went back to the factory a couple
of times, met Giovanni.
He told me about the Cagiva name, where it came from, so I was initiated.
Had a great time touring around clocked up 15,000 kilometers, what ever it was.
And... this is that bike?
Yes, this is what's underneath one of those.
Some Scrote tried to steal my one, broke all the steering lock and everything, so I thought
what better thing than to turn it into a Dirt Quake racer.
So I took all of the plastic stuff off that you've got there and then thought I'd do a
quick BMW GS tank over the top stick a seat on and then go do Dirt Quake, but um, I got
completely carried away.
So where did you start?
I started, well camera Dan you can stick some pictures in of all the card board mock ups
that I made and plaster of paris stuff and all the rest of it.
I ordered just a big sheet of aluminium got some snips out and started trimming away,
I actually sort of copied Redmax did a Norton.
the Swindler was it?
So I sort of wanted to copy the shape of that slightly, so thanks for that Steve.
Formed this tank cover just bending it over my knees and trying to get the shape right
but the fuel tank itself is underneath this is just a dummy.
I'll show you that if you like.
Is this the key?
This is a torque spit, this isn't a key!
*laughs* So I designed it to come apart incase of an accident so the fuel cap actually holds
the fuel tank well, it's a fuel cell.
So it's the first hybrid flat tracker.
What are the numbers written on here?
These are your grid positions, so race 24 front row grid slot 2, and these are from
the UK Dirt Track series?
So I raced this the last couple of years in the Hooligan championship not quite sure what
happened last year, think I got 3rd overall but it never got announced.
This year I did get 3rd so it's been a pretty good bike to ride, ... don't show my gash
welding!
Christ!
Show the nice side.
So the reason I built this bike apart from the dirt quake aspect was I wanted to learn
how to weld, fabricate, I've never welded aluminimum before so initially gaffa taped
it all together, well masking taped it all together, gave it to a welder but unfortunately
the T**T left all the masking tape inside, so it's all, it's got baffle plates to stop
fuel surge and a collector pot, left all the masking tape inside, then when it got hot
the masking tape melted dropped down, sat in the collector and blew the pump.
And that was went wrong at dirt quake 1?
Yeah, there's a picture for you Camera Dan I think you were helping me out that day trying
to make it work.
So that was 2014, so got it working in 2015 I had to cut a big hole in the tank to fish
the bits of tape out and I thought while I'm there I'll drop a battery so I've got an Anti
Gravity Lithium Battery.. and this was the first welding you did?
This bit here is the first bit of welding I tacked on this bike, it's pretty hit and
miss and a bit crap, but then I practiced loads underneath there and blew holes in it
all over the place and then because I thought this sort of sub 5 litres wasn't quite enough
capacity I'll do a reserve tank, not quite sure what I was thinking what I was going
to do like the indy mile or something so there's a nother 4 litres under there.
again there's baffle plates running all the way through and slots to prevent surge.
That's the filler there.
This charring here?
From the exhaust?
Yeah the flames from the exhaust and stuff.
Flames and exhaust, AND FUEL?
But yeh, hasn't set fire yet!
*laughs* This is a recent modification because again this was designed with two tiny little
m4's here so incase I do crash they just snap off.
but that's got a bit lose so I've had to luggage strap.
The pipes, you made the pipes?
I don't have those pipes on my bike.
Well you do, you've got the same as this, the header is the same this is actually a
new one from ebay because Dimitri Coste bent my old one, thanks Dimitri, but Imade this
rear section and Imade these silencers.
It's bloody loud, it is bloody loud.
Again this was my first go at stainless steel welding so viewers don't take the piss too
much.
This new lock wire holds it all together since it all got bent at hells race this year it
flaps around a bit, so that is just.
This sub frame you made this too?
Yeah I did, this is stainless steel, this was when a was using a bit of space at CLC
Well Allen's place he persuaded me to squidge the ends of this stainless steel tube and
set that in but I do hate the bloke because he said why don't you put in this little 15
degree kink in here to make it look nice but that made making the aluminimum battery box
an absolute nightmare to fix because I wanted to do it without any visual bracketery or
fixing, that's hidden with some tabs or a little plate under here.
...This is the electrics?
Yeah, it's a real dogs dinner in there, leccy spaghetti and these fuses just wedged in.
Frankly I'm amazed it's done two seasons of racing I thought it was do one race and pack
up so it's done pretty well.
It's probably one of my most reliable bikes!This is the standard swing-arm isnt it?
I've got this.
Stock swing arm.
What happened here?
That was actually when I was on my trip I got a bit enthusiastic, doing some green laning
with the boxes on did a little jump and it wedged down on the racks... and then pinged
back up again.
It's been a really really fun tool.
But major problem with it is, there's not enough steering lock.. so can you take any
off the lock stops?
No I've already gone as far as it can go and on the tank here you'll see for a few races
I've either gone at it with a hammer or just smashed the stansions in to try and get a
bit more.
Thats basically been the cause of most of my accidents.
Highsides, hence the name.
The Highsider.
So yeah, frankly trying to keep up with the Indians is pretty impossible.
They're rapid arn't they.
They've probably got 40% more horsepower and this is still running stock suspension that
you've got, although probably got a bit more dampening than you.
Stock forks, all completely standard.
Obviously this is where the airbox is, so I've just got ram air socks on there which
are sort of wedged in there and over-choked.
The motor has been absolutely fantastic anyone out there who moans about italian bikes, electric
particularly Ducatis...
F**K OFF.
This is been the most reliable bike I've ever had, I've had one reg rec go on it but that's
my own fault for concentrating on when I was doing my trip making some exhausts rather
than checking the wiring, as I say most reliable bike I've ever had.
Bought it in 2009 off eBay stuck it in the back of a car think I've got a picture of
that Dan actually.
I've done nothing to it, never done valve clearances, oil changes, that's it.
It's amazing that tiny live little bike, lives under all this.
Anything we haven't covered?
The wheels are standard?
Yes stock wheels so 17" at the back 19" at the front.
Nice gold ones, yeah, anodized gold, they look really nice don't they.
So I think it's K73 people moaning I've got it on the wrong way round, it is the wrong
way round but I flipped it to have have a chance of keeping up with the Indians, you
only need one side don't you!
Stock Shock I've never even twisted a thing on it.
I never knew what they did, just left it as it is and it's been fine.
Your one is buggered isn't it.
It's completely collapsed, all the dampenings gone.
So I don't know what settings this is on for your next but you've upgraded haven't you
you've got a fancy one.
Got an extra tall one!
Where did you get that from?
Hagon.
Oh nice!.
Clutch, not done anything to that apart from just stick a couple of washers behind it sounds
great, and the air gap stops it getting too hot.
Instead of buying a 150 quid or whatever they are or drilling, just a couple of cheap washers
in there.
I love this bit.
Vicious!
Over enginerring, I was panicing as I did with the fuel, panicing that things wouldn't
be right, so Imade this air scoop that's also a throttle mechanisim protector.
It took F***ing hours as everything did on this bike, everything took me far too long.
Quick brake fuel connectors...
it was all good fun
Of course no front brake, no front brake, that's not allowed in Flat Tracking there
is a rear but that never really worked from the day I got it.
This is a bit twisty, That was at at least round here and I thought that was my race
over at Hells race and sort of no chance of getting it back.
Jamie Courtney one of the guys I raced with got a rachet and a strap around there, round
the forks and just kept going.
I looked away and thought there was no way aluminium was going to make it back, it was
genuinely back here.
Got it all the way back and this is great.
The big plastic lump on the standard one, I thought was a neccesity if nothing else
these don't have a center stand so if you want to change a sprocket or a tyre or something
like that you can just find a log and whack that on.
Dont forget to change the belts on yours.
It's really easy, anyone outthere who struggles with the concept of doing Ducati belts, it's
so simple the covers are right here, everything comes off, the plugs out, socket on this side
turn the engine over, plop the new belts on and then you've heard about the allen key
trick haven't you.
The tensioner there, and the belt runs behind it, you do a 5mm and a 6mm I think, just flick
the allen key between the belt and the tensioner and it should feel stiff it should just flick
through.
bit of a bigger gap at the back cylinder as this one runs a bit hotter.
So obviously everyone needs a scoop *laughs*.
The Cagiva guys obviously missed that one out with the R&D.
Shall we stick the tank back on, make it look pretty again....
So all in all, it's rough and ready and a bit of a bodge, and a learning curve.
I think I spent six straight weekends sleeping on the workshop floor at Will's CRC workshop
to get it done, most of that was just staring, planning, working out, and not having anyone
there to bounce things off is really difficult buy I'm pretty pleased with how it's turned
out.
I'm going to retire it now because it's just got a massive crash written all over it and
I'm bored of hospitals, so Idon't know where I'm going to put it, maybe in your shop, maybe
up here somewhere...
Noise test...
Standard pipes is not bad.....
Go on then...
Bit loud...
"IT BROKE MY MIC!"