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Well the new minimoto bike arrived last Thursday and within a couple of hours I had fallen off of it. Ian suggested I give it a shake down just to make sure everything was OK before I started stripping it down. So a couple of quick blat's up and down the carpark and I was starting to get the hang of it. The problem I was having is that being a centrifugal clutch and a very high reving engine, the clutch doesn't actually start to bite until about 8,000 rpm by with time I'm almost ready to let of the throttle. Anyway I'm starting to get cocky, pulling little wheelies until one wheelie got out of control and I lost it on the way down. Ooops, big moment and over the top I went, landing on my few remaining unbroken ribs and skinning my shoulder.

So that was my very first experience and riding one of these little rockets, and I learnt enough to know this is where Team Benwell is going next.

First thing to do was to untangle the chain which had come off the rear sprocket and wrapped itself round the front sprocket, or so I thought. My get off must have been a bit violent because the chain had smashed its way through the clutch housing. But it wasn't very long before the engine was out and on the bench

Once the engine had been rebuilt and all the other bits and pieces put right, it was time to think about Benwelling the body work. So a quick trip down to Halfords to check out the paint department, and low and behold some lovely blue, white and yellow paint was very soon being sprayed on the panels.

Below is a before and after shot

The unfortunate thing is the tank is made from a strange kind of polythene material that "breathes" and so it can't be painted, so you'll just have to imagine it white.

I am waiting for the new clutch to arrive and when it does we will be taking it to a track some where so keep watching.

Well our first few runs on bit of tarmac were less than successful, first of all we had to wait till well after dark and then on the second visit, we got thrown off by the land owner.

September 16th 2003, and a track day was organised at the Lydd International Raceway. I say raceday, in actuality it was only two hours, but still long enough to make up our minds that this was the most fun we'd had in years. I guess I was slightly more successful than Ian, in as much as I didn't fall off the thing, which Ian managed twice, to everyone's amusement. However it wasn't long before we had stopped wobbling and progressed to cruising. and by the end of the day we were both putting in laptimes that would see us hanging on the back of the field if this were a race meeting. I have included a picture of Ian's slider although this was caused by sliding off the bike rather than on it, I think he's still proud of it. We hope to get another practice day in before our first race meeting which is scheduled for October 25th/26th

	Minimoto Project - Early days
	Well the new minimoto bike arrived last Thursday and within a couple of hours I had fallen off of it. Ian suggested I give it a shake down just to make sure everything was OK before I started stripping it down. So a couple of quick blat's up and down the carpark and I was starting to get the hang of it. The problem I was having is that being a centrifugal clutch and a very high reving engine, the clutch doesn't actually start to bite until about 8,000 rpm by with time I'm almost ready to let of the throttle. Anyway I'm starting to get cocky, pulling little wheelies until one wheelie got out of control and I lost it on the way down. Ooops, big moment and over the top I went, landing on my few remaining unbroken ribs and skinning my shoulder. So that was my very first experience and riding one of these little rockets, and I learnt enough to know this is where Team Benwell is going next. First thing to do was to untangle the chain which had come off the rear sprocket and wrapped itself round the front sprocket, or so I thought. My get off must have been a bit violent because the chain had smashed its way through the clutch housing. But it wasn't very long before the engine was out and on the bench Once the engine had been rebuilt and all the other bits and pieces put right, it was time to think about Benwelling the body work. So a quick trip down to Halfords to check out the paint department, and low and behold some lovely blue, white and yellow paint was very soon being sprayed on the panels. Below is a before and after shot The unfortunate thing is the tank is made from a strange kind of polythene material that "breathes" and so it can't be painted, so you'll just have to imagine it white. I am waiting for the new clutch to arrive and when it does we will be taking it to a track some where so keep watching. Well our first few runs on bit of tarmac were less than successful, first of all we had to wait till well after dark and then on the second visit, we got thrown off by the land owner. September 16th 2003, and a track day was organised at the Lydd International Raceway. I say raceday, in actuality it was only two hours, but still long enough to make up our minds that this was the most fun we'd had in years. I guess I was slightly more successful than Ian, in as much as I didn't fall off the thing, which Ian managed twice, to everyone's amusement. However it wasn't long before we had stopped wobbling and progressed to cruising. and by the end of the day we were both putting in laptimes that would see us hanging on the back of the field if this were a race meeting. I have included a picture of Ian's slider although this was caused by sliding off the bike rather than on it, I think he's still proud of it. We hope to get another practice day in before our first race meeting which is scheduled for October 25th/26th

Minimoto Project - Early days