It is only now, 3 years down the line, that I realise just how lucky I was to find my SRX 600E. In February 1999, my sister was on the hunt for a Suzuki 400 bandit. I was still riding around on my ancient Honda 250RS, and quite content to stay on it for one more season until finances would allow me to get a bigger bike. I really loved my mate¹s SRX600 but it was the British kick-start one, and being only 5ft tall I knew I would never start it.
So I had decided that I would get an XBR 500 instead... but not for a while. Anyway, one Sunday, my sister, her boyfriend Dave and our best mate Gaz went off to DK motorcycles in Newcastle to find a Bandit. I got dragged along for the run. After seeing more Bandits than I could bear, I wondered off and spotted something I had never seen before tucked away in a corner of the vast showroom. The salesman was over like a shot, offering to drag it out of its hiding place for my inspection. I said OK, but I also insisted that I had no intentions of buying a bike. And that was it... total, utter love at first sight. I had no idea such a thing even existed! What more could a dwarf, female single freak ask for ? Small, slim and.... ELECTRIC START!
We decided to go away and look at some more, (cos you should never buy the first bike you see) only to find that there weren't any more, anywhere. The following Sunday it was in the back of a van, and I was sat there wondering whether I had just made a huge mistake. Oh, by the way, my sister bought a lovely Bandit about 3 weeks later.
The only major disappointment came when we started it up. I was used to my mate¹s very loud SRX with a supertrapp exhaust so the standard SRX's voice nearly had me in tears. In less than 2 weeks I had found a company in Leeds who didn't say "Oh sorry, we don't do singles". Redline said "well, we've never done one, but bring it over and we'll have a nosy at it." They were brilliant. I told them I wanted it to sound like a proper big single, and that's exactly what they did. It sounds awesome!
I rode it just as it was then for that season, and in winter 1999/2000 I decided I wanted a paint job. That was all though, just a nice candy red like a 1200 bandit. It all got a bit out of control then... I have a real passion for the old British cafe racer look, and from certain angles, the SRX had a bit of that look about it. So I decided that it needed a single seat. After putting the word about that I was after a seat cowl, a friend found an old battered homemade pod off an NSR125. It nearly fitted over the rear pillion seat, but not quite. Luckily I know a guy who does fibreglass. He made a copy of the pod, only in much thinner fiber glass. This made it slightly more pliable, and after weeks of very careful bending and filling, Gaz had produced a near perfect fit.
Cafe racers have low clipons, so we junked the standard bars, and fitted fully adjustable Telefix clipons. It is very painful to ride over verylong distance, but it looks amazing and handles well.
Then the paint work showed up the rest of the bike, (it is 11 years old after all) so hours and hours of work went into polishing. The swinging arm and torque arm were done by MG polishers at Sowerbry bridge near Halifax. They were very heavily anodised, so it would have taken hours by hand. Gaz and I did all the rest by hand. Engine cases, heel plates and filler cap. Gaz even made gorgeous number plate brackets ou of polished stainless.
We junked all the back light unit and put in a small aftermarket one to make the back end a bit sleeker. The foot pegs are from OEM engineering. They made these specially for me cos I sent them my old pegs as a pattern. We polished the rims of the wheels, replaced 60% of the bolts on the bike with stainless, fitted some exquisite alloy indicators, Goodridge hosing and that was it.
Over the summer of 2000 it won quite a few shows, as well as a lot of attention. But it¹s never good enough is it? We started again in October. This time I wanted to have the frame painted. The original paint was wearing quite badly where my legs were rubbing it and it was looking very dull indeed. The whole bike was stripped down (by the wonderful Gaz) and packed into loads and loads of boxes. The garage floor disappeared under it all and so did my living room and bedroom. The same guy who did the body work did the frame. Mark at Devils Paint Jobs at Emley... What a star !
I thought the original gun metal grey frame was a lovely colour, so I had it done the same colour again. It¹s got loads of lacquer on, so it has brought it back to life. The rear slave cylinder hose was looking a bit grotty, so I bought a nice piece of goodridge and 2 chunky chrome ends to replace the sad little rubber pipe that was barely clinging to life.
Off to MG polishers we went again. This time we went the whole hog. Top yoke, fork legs, fork leg top bolts, down pipes and intermediate pipe all came back looking like they had been chromed. Oh that reminds me, the side stand was chromed while we were at it. Gaz also painted the front master cylinder and then nearly ground his fingers away getting rid of the writing on the cylinder lid, and polishing it like a mirror. A really nice touch. He even polished the front tappet covers.
The headlamp bracket, bottom yoke, and various other odds and sods have all been powder coated and I even replaced the clock covers because they were rather faded. The bike is now 99% stainless, (even inside the clocks and the rear light lens!) Gaz has been the most patient and meticulous person in the world. I never ever imagined I could ever have any thing so wonderful and if it wasn't for him It would never have happened. The attention to detail is amazing. What looked good last year, this time looked poor. Wherever he could, he replaced allen heads with neat little button heads, dome nuts instead of standard ones, and there are some really nice subtle pike nuts dotted around.
I realise just how lucky I am to have a mate like Gaz. His love and passion for my bike shows in every shiny bit. (he's not even in to singles, just lovely old Z650's ) But it shows that there is something very special about these big singles that even Gaz can't quite put his finger on.
I am amazed at just how much attention the bike gets now. Far more than last year. Most people don't know what it is! The final touch this year was a private number plate. I saw it on the DVLA web site. A6 SRX. How could I resist?
3 years ago, the bike cost me £1850. I have now spent just under £2000 doing it up. (not including all the stainless bolts) and it has been worth every single penny. It's a wonderful bike to ride, very sexy to look at and sounds the dog's danglies... and its all thanks to the wonderful Gaz.