Meet the Beesszuki

MEET THE BEESSZUKI

ROUNDUP

WHEN YOU THINK OF British-engined specials, you’re most likely to think of things like the famed Tritons (Triumph engine/Norton frame), or maybe the Norvins (Norton frame/Vincent engine), right?

Maybe that’s because you don’t live in Australia, where things are done just a bit differently.

Mark Parker lives here, and he does indeed do things differently—so much so that when he hatched the scheme to in-

stall a BSA A65 Lightning Twin in a Suzuki RGV250 chassis, he could say to himself, “Hey, no worries, mate.”

No worries, indeed. The thing actually works. In fact, says Parker, “This is the ideal frame for the Lightning motor. Most motors of such large capacity wouldn’t fit into such a small frame. The BSA is a compact motor, and its rear mount is similar to that of the Suzuki, and that makes fitting it possible.”

But why this boat-anchor of a British antique in a state-ofthe-art Japanese chassis? Parker says only, “I like the concept of the BSA because it has possibilities for development.”

This engine may have started life as a BSA, but it is well beyond that now. It has been bored and stroked to 810cc and fitted with a 90-degree crank and race-quality connecting rods. It also gets an uprated and retimed cam, oversized valves and reshaped combustion chambers, revised crank oiling, larger bearings, electronic ignition and a pair of 38mm Dell’Orto carbs. The

result is an engine that pulls hard without seeming to work hard, and which does so with a big-Twin sound and a minimum of vibration, thanks to the 90-degree crank.

The frame and running gear, meanwhile, are standard Japanese sportbike-issue, with rising-rate rear suspension and a pair of 11.8-inch front disc brakes, and the final project wears bodywork that is finished to the highest standards.

The complete bike weighs about 330 pounds-far less than a stock Lightning—and provides superb handling in a machine that is simply fun to ride.

“It’s not the kind of bike the Japanese would build,” says Parker, and of course he’s right. For all its quality, it’s still a bit raw, and still a very odd mix of neo and retro.

Still, the Spiteful, as Parker calls the bike-he says this a play on the famed British Spitfire war plane-has a certain appeal. That’s just what Parker is counting on. If you’d like to own one, you can telephone him at 011 -61 -64-941611.

—John Ford