Capo's Monster

[utopia]

Ohh, now you've started something.

I'm not sure if it was the woodpecker or some other image on the bike, but I believe there was a Barry Sheene tribute/connection there somewhere.
As you know Gary, Capo lived quite close to Barry's Wisbech home and knew him quite well.

The frame was not a Pierbon .. I dunno the name of the company who made it but they were a relatively small concern located somewhere in central northern Italy.
I was with him on the day he went to buy it. We diverted there on one of our trips to either WDW or EICMA.
We had to arrange for a few little tabs and whatnot to be welded on, in order to mimic the hidden wiring job that he had already done on his steel frame.
We picked it up in a rendezvous at a motorway service area a couple of days later.
I believe (well actually I know) that it was a cash deal done in the carpark and although it was probably fairly kosher it seemed a little shady at the time.

I hope to eventually acquire his original steel frame.
Since its number is already in use on the ally frame (as you mention) its a bit of a rogue and so I plan to pair it with another frame to make the crossmember of a rose arch in my garden .. with a red rambler on it, of course.

The "finished" bike (it was never really finished though) weighed in at 153kg.
I know this to be the case because we bought a couple of beefy digital scales and hung it from the beam in my shed.
Capo never believed me that my "bathroom scales" method was accurate but I proved him wrong on that day.
Stella, incidentally (my 750 for those who don't know) tipped the same scales at 165kg on that day .. although subsequent fitting of carbon wheels and a superlight single can exhaust have her down to 160kg.

I've told this part of the story before but I'll repeat it here .. my favourite part on that bike was the ridiculously excessive titanium rivet that he had me make to hold his lightened seat latch together.
Actually it was the seat latch from my bike that was used .. Capo gave me his original which he had stripped and had the zinc plated bits replated in chrome.
"Attention to detail" as he used to say.

Your first picture was taken on our first visit to the Fenman .. you can just see Stella's front end in the pic.
I remember our departure on that day very well.
Capo's bike would warm up nicely on its sidestand whereas Stella needed me to be sat onboard with a hand on the throttle.
So his bike was warm by the time I swung a leg over Stella's seat and thumbed the starter.
Immediately she had fired, Capo took off like a scalded cat and gunned it all the way home across the fenland back roads.
I had no choice but to try to keep up on a cold engine .. I just about managed to keep him in sight (but note that we were crossing flat, open country which helped a lot).
I never did properly forgive him for that.

That'll do for now.
I'll ramble on a bit more later in the thread.

I do miss the cantankerous old bugger.

[Mr Gazza]

Originally Posted by utopia

Ohh, now you've started something.

That was the idea.. Thanks for joining in.

I wonder if the Bazza connection is Donald Duck and Woody Woodpecker? The two characters are from contemporary rival companies, Disney and Universal. The animators and voice actors would swap around anyway so it was a big family really.
I wonder if Barry's helmet design was also based on nose art? It didn't take me long to find Woody on a P-40 nose.





I remember Capo telling me how Barry would crash on his floor when he was younger and also sitting in Arbuckle's on one very snowy winter meet telling me about Barry driving him in the snow across the Fens, he wouldn't leave the handbrake alone and Capo was convinced they would end up spinning into a deep Fen drain.

I do remember the tabs for the harness and have considered something like that for mine one day as the harness is as ugly as sin. I hope you get the frame, it'll make a fabulous garden object d'art.

I don't know what the standard weight of an S4R is but it is an impressive weight loss, I think it about 6 stone! You're getting there with Stella though.

Not Stella's front end in the picture, but mine. We shuffled up to squeeze you in when you arrived.



They make a nice set of three. I remember steadying his bike as he swung his poor old legs over the saddle that day, he could barely walk, but as you say, set off like a scalded cat..

Yeah.. I miss him too.

I think I read somewhere Barry’s choice of design was more to do with Cockney rhyming slang !

Did capo have a carbon tank too? Bike looks stunning, was even better in the flesh.

[Mr Gazza]

Originally Posted by Moco1961

I think more to do with Cockney rhyming slang !

I wouldn't be surprised.

All the body work is Carbon including the tank.
The Ducati logo, the pinstripes and the dark part of the chequers are all masked before spraying to reveal the carbon weave.. A proper class act as you have to get down and look to see the weave.. That always impressed me.

[Dukedesmo]

Originally Posted by Mr Gazza

I remember steadying his bike as he swung his poor old legs over the saddle that day, he could barely walk, but as you say, set off like a scalded cat..

After having seen him struggling to walk, I was amazed at how well (fast) he could still ride.

Missed by all, that's for sure.

O/T but you can tell the Bell helmet is a genuine Sheene as it has the hole in the chinbar for that last, on the grid, pre-race smoke...