Wasp Motorcycles Transforms Rocket 111 with Leading Link

Added: 2026-05-09

[00:00:02]B Motors We're at Wasp.

[00:00:05]And um it's not done yet. Big Sid, that is.

[00:00:08]It's nearly done. I just want to show you what it looks like.

[00:00:12]Let's go in.

[00:00:13]Come on, Tom. Let's go.

[00:00:18]So, Mark and and the boys are really busy doing lots of brazing and things, but look at Big Sid.

[00:00:27]Look at that.

[00:00:35]Obviously, we've got the suspension unit going in there, but look at the difference.

[00:00:41]This is so much further forward, though.

[00:00:44]Ah.

[00:00:45]Well, the build quality is absolutely spot-on.

[00:00:49]But, I've got to say it actually looks good. Doesn't it? It does look good. Yeah. I thought it was going to No, it's upset the way it looked, but it doesn't. It looks fantastic.

[00:00:59]>> isn't it?

[00:00:59]>> [laughter] >> Doesn't it look mean?

[00:01:01]Yeah.

[00:01:03]Brilliant. So >> Where's the can? Yeah, so where's this can going to go?

[00:01:08]>> Right, the can is going to go over here, look. Nice can. Um I'll say that. Let's go over this way.

[00:01:16]It's going to go in here, look.

[00:01:21]So we've got two cans. Yeah. And cradle is going in there, like that.

[00:01:28]Yeah. All right. And then Nice color looking at it.

[00:01:31]>> I know and then we're going to have one there. Okay. So, there's going to be two two there.

[00:01:36]All right. One behind each other.

[00:01:37]>> Yeah, cuz Big Sid drinks the juice.

[00:01:40]Well, that's what we thought. The problem is when you're touring around Europe, particularly in the middle of France there are not many filling stations, and Big Sid Yeah, drinks the juice. Drinks the juice, doesn't he?

[00:01:51]Yeah, he does drink the juice. So, that's the reason for having those extra cans.

[00:01:55]Anyway, happy days. You pleased with that?

[00:01:58]>> Absolutely, yeah.

[00:02:00]So, as you guys look at my shades, I got to wear these cuz Mark's going to be doing a bit of brazing.

[00:02:07]Hey, Mark. How you doing? Good, thank you. Yeah.

[00:02:11]All right.

[00:02:22]So, you're heating it up then? Yeah.

[00:02:26]Okay.

[00:02:46]Yeah, you got to have a steady hand on that one.

[00:02:53]Am I right in saying you got to rip it?

[00:02:56]Well, that's just a natural part of it really. Is it?

[00:03:00]Yeah. Yeah.

[00:03:07]Is this old school? Yeah, it's really old school, yeah. This is lovely, isn't it? This was developed for in the war really, for Was it really? Yeah, for welding up the um welding up the um engine cradles mainly and fuselage's on the planes. In the war.

[00:03:24]Beautiful. Yeah. So, this is a sidecar um for a KTM. KTM, yeah? Yeah, but very similar to the standard wasp sidecar.

[00:03:32]>> But, it's beautiful. Look at the brazing. I mean, look at the Look at the work there.

[00:03:37]I mean, it's stunning, isn't it?

[00:03:39]Mate. Yeah, and then this So, this particular frame has oil in the frame.

[00:03:44]Oh. Yeah, so the oil goes in in there, travels round along here, back round here, back there. That's to cool it down, isn't it?

[00:03:51]>> And then that's blanked off. yeah and effectively an oil cooler and it gives you a little bit more capacity. And that's good as well, isn't it? Yeah.

[00:03:59]Yeah, of course it is. Yeah, cuz with a sidecar and the engine's always working harder.

[00:04:04]Yeah, yeah.

[00:04:05]>> [laughter] >> Yeah, yeah. Well, traffic as well, isn't it? And Well, that's right. So, this this this particular bike will be used primarily on and off-road. So, it'll be road legal but it'll be used for long distance trials. Oh, all right. Yeah, yeah. Like the extra lands end and trials like that. Excellent. Yeah, so that's it.

[00:04:27]That's brilliant. The reason that the flame is green is because I'm using a gas fluxer.

[00:04:33]So, you can use brush on flux. Right. Or you can introduce the flux into the acetylene line. So, what happens is the acetylene comes from the bottles over there. Yeah. I've built a little thing here cuz it's easier.

[00:04:47]And then it goes through into this and it bubbles through the acetylene the the flux. Yeah. And then that picks up flux in the acetylene and then it means you don't need to brush on the flux.

[00:04:59]Brilliant. So, yeah. So, so it's it's less time.

[00:05:03]Traditional method was to use is to use like a liquid flux. So, you put water in there. Yeah, yeah. But it's messy. This is this is quite new to me. Isn't it? Yeah, gas fluxer. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Last well, last month really.

[00:05:18]So, it does it it does [clears throat] take a little bit getting used to but it but you end up with a a much cleaner weld.

[00:05:25]>> Cleaner, yeah. Yeah, so these bits I have I did brush some flux on these but that's that's purely gas flux.

[00:05:32]>> I remember last time I saw lots of flux.

[00:05:35]Everywhere. Yeah, well we didn't have that. We didn't have that. No, it's so it's only a couple weeks old, isn't it?

[00:05:41]Yeah, yeah. So, I've sort of been slowly transitioning across, you know, to to learn the difference. It is a slightly different. It affects the flying. Right.

[00:05:49]You've got the hang of it.

[00:05:50]>> [laughter] >> Yeah.

[00:05:52]Yeah, it's not going to fall off. It's not going to fall off.

[00:05:55]No, it's a beauty, mate. And then, um, Yeah, so this is what they call a sand rail. Yeah. Um, this was this was something I developed, um, years ago, mainly for the sandy tracks because it allows you to put your foot a little bit further back to keep the front of the bike light. Oh, so it's basically sort of for your feet to go on. Yeah, so the side and the sidecar would be there. Um, but some people like that extra little piece.

[00:06:18]>> And that extra the edge is for grip for your shoes. Yeah, we've got that. Yeah, so your feet don't slip off this tube.

[00:06:25]That's there and that's round this front.

[00:06:27]>> Yeah. Oh, great. Yeah. That's what you call the D.

[00:06:30]And that's where you put your foot out when you lean out. Brilliant.

[00:06:33]So. Mate. Yeah.

[00:06:35]Anyway, We'll give you a full a full tour. Um, it'd be nice actually if, um, if we can revisit this when I'm actually building a complete motorcycle frame.

[00:06:44]Mate, I'd love to do that. Yeah, we'll definitely do that. So, I've got plenty of orders, so I need to get my finger out. Mate, so he's busy. All right, so mate, put it there. Thank you ever so much, mate.

[00:06:54]Honestly, mate. Thank you, mate.

[00:06:56]Honestly. Um, right, I'm going to get out your hair.

[00:06:59]>> Yeah. All right, and I got to say >> [laughter] >> I know what you mean.

[00:07:05]But I got to say the Big Sid is looking awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Looking really good.

[00:07:10]>> You're going to enjoy that. Well, I was worried about the way it was going to look.

[00:07:14]But it looks fantastic. Yeah, be lovely.

[00:07:16]And it'll ride like nothing >> Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's got it. Yeah.

[00:07:19]Well, it couldn't be any worse cuz it was it was horrendous. Oh, yeah. No, it's going to be a beauty with with your your big smile on it. Yeah.

[00:07:28]>> Right then. Fantastic. I'm going to leave you to it. Thanks again, mate. All right.

[00:07:32]Go glasses, yeah. Leave it. I nearly stole his glasses and I put them back.

[00:07:37]All right, mate. You take care, Mark.

[00:07:38]All right.

[00:07:40]Right. Yeah, we will.

[00:07:41]Yeah. We're off to We're off to We're going to try and go to Benidorm.

[00:07:46]No idea why. No idea why. [laughter] We just got We've You know, we've had a bit of a rough time with Tom. And um we said Jan and I said, "Right, let's just get on the bike, go to Roscoff, play with Roscoff, and get on the bike and just bloody go south, you know?" Yeah.

[00:08:02]Uh so, it's more the ride than it is the destination, so. Yeah, well, we're all right, aren't we? Yeah. It is, mate.

[00:08:08]>> Yeah. It is, yeah. Yeah. It's good to see you again. All right. All right, and you, mate.

[00:08:14]Yeah.

[00:08:17]Oh, yeah, well, it'll be it'll be vlogged. Yeah, we'll we'll we'll vlog.

[00:08:20]While we're going there. And uh we'll have all that ready for you for when you get back. Yeah, so at least 3 weeks, so you've got plenty of time. All right?

[00:08:27]Looking forward to that. So, we'll do a follow-up um when we come and collect Big Sid. What are we talking about? Mhm. Mhm. Are you happy? Yes.

[00:08:37]Good.

[00:08:38]That's all we can say. Right, come on, now we got to go. Go. But I got to say, it looks absolutely brilliant. Thanks, Mark, for everything. I think it looks It's got a good It's got a good line to it. Mate, are you all right being on the floor? Yeah. Yeah, this is my This is the guy that built the front end of Big Sid.

[00:08:59]Yeah. I think when those shocks are on there, they're going to be cream, so they're going to Good Nice, isn't it?

[00:09:04]Yeah, I think it looks I think it looks great. It's so much different, isn't Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah.

[00:09:10]Yeah.

[00:09:10]Awesome. Mate. Yeah. We'll get out your hair. Okay. Thanks, mate. We'll see you in 3 weeks. Yeah. All right. You take care now.

[00:09:17]>> All right, have a good trip. Yeah, thank you, mate. You take care. Come on, then, guys. Don't wait for me. I I will, Tom.

[00:09:24]See you then, guys. Take care now. Yeah, good to see you. Yeah, we'll see you in 3 weeks. Yeah, perfect. Brilliant. We'll be ready. You're brilliant, mate. Well, if it's not, don't worry. I think we will. All right, then.

[00:09:35]>> [laughter] >> You take care, all right? Cheers. Bye, then. Bye.

[00:09:43]>> [laughter] >> Really nice. Really nice people here.

[00:09:47]They really are. They work really hard and they're so conscientious. That's what I love about it.

[00:09:54]>> [sighs] >> Right, so it's a little just basically a little little just a little vlog. So, three weeks time we're coming up again and then you'll see Big Sid.

[00:10:05]See you later, guys. All right, love to all. Take care.

[00:10:08]We're off to Benidorm.

[00:10:11]>> [music]