Performance Bikes — March 2018

90 PERFORMANCEBIKES.CO.UK|MARCH2018

STORY SO FAR

Harris Beech’s R3

starts life as a stock

road bike. The fettling

begins here...

While Michael is still racing (and even when he

eventually hangs up his leathers), he’ll be on hand to act

a mentor to Harris, helping a rookie learn his trade –

riding, set-up and even handling himself off track.

Michael is good at all three – he’s still fast, has a deep

understanding of his bike, and as the team proves,

knows the background graft it takes to get a rider and

bike to the track.

There’s a fair bit to do: Harris’s dad, Richard, is going

to be running the bike in on the road over the next few

weeks, then it’s being stripped of all the road gear and

getting race-prepped. There’s more to do than you

‘On these bikes, 3-4bhp

can make a big difference,

so everyone will need to

find money for tuning’

might think – K-Tech will be doing the suspension,

LighTech are providing the rearsets and so on, it’ll get a

Power Commander and quickshifter, and then there’s a

certain amount of engine work permitted within the

rules for the new series.

But I’m not sure that’s the best way to go – as it is, you

can fit a different thickness head gasket, slot the cam

sprockets and time them as you want. It doesn’t sound

like much, but it’s the time and expense to do the work

and set it up. Plus, on bikes like these, 3-4bhp (if you

spend out trying lots of things, probably blowing some

motors up getting it wrong) will make a sizeable

difference – to be competitive everyone will have to

find money to do it.

But that’s by the by – we’ll provide the best bike and

support we can, and let him do his thing. It’s an

important moment for us as a team, and very exciting.

On track, it’ll be business as usual for the most part –

Superstock on short circuits, with the option of

Superbike wildcards, and in both classes at the North

West 200, TT and Macau. But with a better footing to

work from, we’ll hopefully be able to do those a little bit

better. And, as time goes on, we’ll be able to offer that

same backing to Harris and other riders, too.

The UK gets its own

domestic Supersport 300

series in 2018

Alec discovers that the

R3’s rebound damping isn’t

in the same ballpark as

Michael S1000RR