This off-season we’re running a series showing your motorcycles. Not just your road racing bikes, but your streetbikes, motocross bikes, dirt bikes, pit bikes, mini bikes, trials bikes, land-speed bikes, drag bikes, speedway bikes, whatever you’ve got. If you have more than one bike, send photos of them all–alone or with you! Send in-focus bike photos (as jpeg files) along with the make, model and year of each bike and your name, city and state, plus the name of the photographer, to [email protected]. By sending us the photos, you are certifying that you own the rights to the photos and are giving us permission to feature them on roadracingworld.com. They may be posted on roadracingworld.com during slow news days.
Seen here in our 28th installment are photos sent in by James Sheppard, age 43, from Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. “Attached are two photos courtesy of AJ Enns Photography of my ‘retirement bike’ –a 1999 Kawasaki ZX-7R. After retiring from club road racing with the Manitoba Roadracing Association in Gimli, Manitoba, Canada, I sold my Kawasaki EX650 racebike in order to buy a ‘do-everything’ machine… an ‘analogue sportsbike.’
“So far I’ve been able to use the bike at track days, tour Northern Ontario, and use it as my daily driver. By swapping the street plastics with Chinese fairings, and a spare set of wheels with slicks, the bike has become multi-purpose. It’s not particularly fast, and it’s heavy, but it is stable on the track. With some suspension help from Race-Tech, cornering is a blast! No active suspension, no wheelie control, no quick-shifter, no fuel injection!
“During our long Canadian winters I’ve been doing some upgrades, which include a lighter ZX-9R swingarm, Hindle exhaust and adapting some Galespeed wheels… but aside from jetting, leaving the engine alone.
“While I now only have one bike in the garage, its a good ‘un!”
In the Bio section of his rider profile on roadracingworld.com, Sheppard posted that he is a “Club Racer, self-taught tuner, modifier, fabricator. School principal, married. Currently 2nd-year track-day instructor.” In the Style section of his profile, he described his style as being “controlled.”
Check out James Sheppard’s rider profile on roadracingworld.com here:
https://www.roadracingworld.com/members/jamessheppard/
Create your own rider profile, here: