Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire – As promised, here’s the second half of Suzuki’s video of the restoration of Barry Sheene’s 1976 world championship-winning XR14.
Part 1
showed how former Grand Prix technicians Martyn Ogborne – who was Barry Sheene’s mechanic during his championship-winning seasons – and Nigel Everett of Racing Restorations stripped the 40-year-old 500cc two-stroke down and discovered just how much damage had been caused by neglect.
Part 2 details the rebuild, showing how they repaired the damaged magnesium crankcases and managed to make components such as magnesium triple clamps and paper-thin expansion boxes look not restored, but brand new.
Then they wheel the bike outside and start it up for the first time in more than a quarter of a century – and as the crackle of its square-four two-stroke engine takes us back to 1976, the year Sheene won the first of his two premier-class world titles, we bring you a little time-warp bonus: a 1976 interview with a then 25-year-old Barry Sheene and Jenny Hadley on Thames TV’s Magpie programme.