New member of the fold - a rather different offering

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PIW19
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New member of the fold - a rather different offering

Post by PIW19 »

Good morning all, new to this forum but not to Raptors in general after being converted some years ago after racing one of the ex factory beasts some years ago. The bike below was completed as a replica of the Factory race bikes bought from Baines Racing back in 2003 and painted in Alto Performance colours. The race bike went on to have succes at the Thundersprint in Northwich UK and shown and ridden at the Festival of a Thousand Bikes, and is signed by Claudio Castiglioni himself who came to the UK in 2003 to watch the bike win the Thundersprint Masterclass.

Race bike is retired now and thought the way to keep it alive was to buy a road Raptor and keep it sensible as the factory bike is very different to allow race parts, like the fairing and Ducati complete front end. 6 months later and MOT in place the bike rolled out of the garage last weekend and glad to say, rode well and ceated quite a stir wherever it went. Was far from simple build, with conversion to race clipons in particular good fun using ST2 top yoke.

You will either love of hate the design / colour but it is a very special bike to me and joins my race rep Laverda Formula in the garage:
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vassilis67
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Re: New member of the fold - a rather different offering

Post by vassilis67 »

Nice...although a bit KTMish colour combo.
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snapdragon
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Re: New member of the fold - a rather different offering

Post by snapdragon »

WOW :thumbsup: welcome in PIW19 am I allowed to both love and not love I wonder? Lots is gorgeous but some is 'not for me' ,

Very pleased to welcome you to the Raptor Chapter, especially as my first screensaver was the Racing Raptors and I always wondered what happened next
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Crap Tartan
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Re: New member of the fold - a rather different offering

Post by Crap Tartan »

now that is gorgeous!! Nice detailing here and there, what rear shock is fitted?

I would love something like that but alas my ageing back would not thank me..........................

Welcome in anyway!! :thumbsup:
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shebee
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Re: New member of the fold - a rather different offering

Post by shebee »

Love it! :revrev:

and welcome in!
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PIW19
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Re: New member of the fold - a rather different offering

Post by PIW19 »

Thanks for the comments so far and do get it does stray from the point of the raptor look but tried as best we could to retain as much as possible despite not being very practical for racing.

Rear shock is a 3 way adjustable Nitron unit kindly supplied by them as a sponsors of Alto Performance, it also has an increased ride height 'dog bone' at the rear but the height adjuster on the shock is at it's lowest which needs attention (this weekend when new disks have arrived for fitting). The race back runs avery high ride height to comeponaste for lazy steeing geometry, hence the essential damper. Road bike needs the same setup in my opinion.

The Race bike is an animal with around 140hp ish at the back wheel but with very unlike v twin peaky performance due to fairly harsh cams doen by Kent Cams for the Baines boys. The other factory bike went hill climbing and well by all accounts, not sure who with. With forced induction through modified tank, heaps of carbon and lightened brackets and magnesium wheels, it turned and handled well for its design. Plenty of pictures on the Alto site and techincal details are available

http://www.altoracing.co.uk/history/cag ... echnology/

A couple more pictures below of me having fun on the factory bike, plus how the bike looked late last year, thanks for the interest and keep an eye out at a track day near you soon, that's where it likely to live most this year!
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Crap Tartan
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Re: New member of the fold - a rather different offering

Post by Crap Tartan »

Some transformation!!!

Would love to see it in the flesh so you gonna bring it along to our annual get-together here?

http://www.raptorchapter.org.uk/viewtop ... =12&t=3725
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Re: New member of the fold - a rather different offering

Post by shedmonkey »

Hey not so fast with the disappearing act we need more info. Where did you get the pipes from? Lovely bike by the way. :ride:
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dizzyblonde
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Re: New member of the fold - a rather different offering

Post by dizzyblonde »

Them Beowulfs on those race pics? Local to me them!

Tasty looking bike that :happyhappy: :happyhappy:
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Re: New member of the fold - a rather different offering

Post by VRaptorMark »

NICE BIKE.......... Love it.
Better to burn out than just fade away!!
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Re: New member of the fold - a rather different offering

Post by PIW19 »

Hey all, silencers on the race bike are indeed Beowulf as new sponsors of the Alto Team from 2011 and now on its new bike known now as Rage, formally a Vyrus based bike ridden by Phil Read Jnr. . My plan was to replicate the bike as it was back in 2003 when Claudio signed it and it wore Blueflame cans as Laverda team sponsors then so thats whats on the bike now. They are also road legal units that helped for the MOT, did think I had gone deaf though! Link pipes are GPR units direct from the factory in Italy and although horribly expensive do look the part as they are stainless and polished up well.

Last part of the front end fix in some new disks arrived this morning (originals bent causing pulsing during braking, no doubt disc lock incident in a former life), added to EBC sintered race pads and new front wheel bearings should sharpen things up a little. Considered Carbon sintered pads but although fantastic track day options, do require heat and wear disks, so gone with a softer road biased sintered option.Also plan to try a couple of map options on a Power Commander to match open pipes, bit lumpy below 5k on the standard ECU.

Last thing was the reference to the KTM orange. The team colours were from an effort to race ex factory Laverda's back in 2002 and it was their Formula 750 race team colour. Design kind of stuck with the team as it switched to different projects.

Would be happy to bring the bike along to a meet and see what other great things people have done to these hugely underrated bikes, even if its just keeping the factory effort shiny and original. If anyone could point me the direction of some details of the event?
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Laverda race bike having fun at Cadwell, source of the colour scheme
Laverda race bike having fun at Cadwell, source of the colour scheme
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Red Mist
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Re: New member of the fold - a rather different offering

Post by Red Mist »

I'm definitely a fan of the colour. I'm a Laverda man myself of yore, so I'm glad that's where you got the inspiration for the colour from. Looks a treat.
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Crap Tartan
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Re: New member of the fold - a rather different offering

Post by Crap Tartan »

I posted a link to our annual meet in Lincolnshire next month in my previous post or it can be found on here in events under a sticky "Buell and Italian bikes etc. etc. "

Some on here have kept theirs pretty standard, some slightly upgraded and some more so!

Heres one of mine 9but has been slightly modded again since!)

Image
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Re: New member of the fold - a rather different offering

Post by PIW19 »

Sorry about missing the link (me and computers are not match made anywhere), count me in, unlikley to be camping but happy to call by. Any excuse for a serious ride out from the Stockport area! Alto base in Northampton so will make that the return target.
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Crap Tartan
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Re: New member of the fold - a rather different offering

Post by Crap Tartan »

Brill! be good to meet you and get a good swatch at that machine!!!

The meet is a great day out and a chance to get a good look at some WW2 aircraft and stuff!

All info in the post on that link
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