Mike Richards on a classic 2011

[sidecar bloke]

Re: 830 limit on Hondas.
When the CRMC was originally formed it specifically excluded all Japanese machinery. It was formed to protect European motorcycles and give them somewhere to compete. The beauty of the classic grid is that it does have Imps, BMWs, BSAs, Nortons, Triumphs, Saabs, Weslakes all competing very evenly. Eddy's 1200 Imp competes with Matt and Jon Perkins' 1000 BMWs and Colin Lewis or Nick Houghton on their 900 Weslakes, and as Brian Gray has proved this year his 830 Honda, on a good day, can give all of the above a good run for their money. At Snetterton it flew - so in my opinion if we give the Hondas unlimited capacity we will be back as we were in the true Classic period 1972 where if you were wanting to win and you didn't have a Japanese engine you might as well give up. To give credance to this theory Ray Reeves came 4th in the CRMC championship this year, which as we all know has been fiercely competitive, on a 750 Honda.

As I have said above the beauty of the Classic grid is its diversity. The fact is that Eddy is prepared to develop a 1200 Imp, Matt is prepared to develop his BMW and John Simper his beloved Weslakes, whilst being aware of a reliable and cheaper option.

Ian Johnson
CRMC Sidecar Eligibility Officer

[Eddy Wright]

That's an interesting point! Mike. It would appear that several Honda powered outfits will be joining us next season. One of them tuned by the best Engine man I know. His engine will be an 830, and my money is on it being the fastest bike on the track.

[johnc]

Don`t think Mike will need many answers about Tridents - him and his Dad have probably been there and done all that, long ago!

[Triplebrew2]

Don`t think Mike will need many answers about Tridents - him and his Dad have probably been there and done all that, long ago!

Think you'll be surprised. Racing a sidecar with a trident lump in it isnt as easy as many people think. Check with Mike but i think his dad had ALOT of trouble when he was running tridents.

Our current trident lump has not been stripped or needed any work for the last 18 months 10 + race meetings and it took us the best part of 4 years to get to that point.

[mrequipe]

If cost wasnt an issue then I would defo go the Trident route My dad did have a lot of trouble with Tridents knocking the crank out But looking back there were a lot of reasons for that. I am a lot older and wiser now !!! A lot of it was oil tank plus british engineering tolerances (awful) bad design, conrods half made out of steel (cap) half alloy haven't they ever heard of expansion rates (awful) and some other factors :I did a lot of work on my dads road bike Trident engine what a difference ( But I have been involved with Triplebrew racing for a few years now and theirs is fast and reliable and their engine builder knows what he's doing
The Honda route is a cheaper option but an 830 putting out over 100 bhp ??? Eddy is right the man who is going to tune one of the hondas is very switched on
But as Ian has said we dont want a grid of Hondas or BM's or anything else for that matter
Talking to a top BM tuner today he want wants me to go BM

[Triplebrew]

Guess we will carry on flying the Trident flag in a class of on then

[mrequipe]

C'mon Ian a third this year : notworthy: I want a first out of you next season

[Triplebrew]

I guess that, in part, will depend on you

[ynys-mon]

Spoke to Mike today he's not going to be able to have a go Unless he can get a good passenger Safe fast ride

[Eddy Wright]

Mike will get a passenger !

[Bob B]

If Mike does not get a passenger then I'll volunteer - that ought to encourage others

[Eddy Wright]

Well Bob That say's it all !

[jkr46]

Good question, which I dont know the answer to . But there is a Honda out there at the minute which is the fastest bike out there and that is entered as an "830". So if thats anything to go bye I think "830" is plently. I've got a 750 engine with 750/830/1052 top end but I am still not sure myself that an "830" will put out enough power 100 bhp + at the crank with such a heavy engine to be competetive. The engine is 67 bhp std

So is the only difference between a 750/830/1052 bore size? Surely if this is the case there needs to be some way of policing the honda engine sizes!?

[arsenalandy]

Ref: Honda sizes, We here Ians already on the case

We will crack on and make a bike for next season whatever engine we use If we use a Honda Mike said he's going to have to get a dwarf to go on the side cos of the weight of the engine

Or perhaps Team MRE / MOORESPEED has a nice ring to it

A mix of Hondas / BM's / Imps / Weslakes /Tridents etc will make it more interesting

[Eddy Wright]

Imp or BMW for next season? I suppose I will have to test them back to back and make a decision!