Foxy Writes...
After crashing my beloved Fireblade at Snetterton circuit, on the 1st Aug, the poor girl needed some well deserved love and attention. So on Sunday 21st Aug, I spent the day with my good friend Mike, at M9 Performance. I arrived at his house in Park Royal at around 11am, where he has got a workshop at the bottom of the garden. We sat down, had a coffee and discussed what the plan of action would be for the day.
We removed the cable-ties from the front fairing, and piece by piece we watched the whole front end of the bike come away. I looked at Mike and his face was a picture of horror, he then started to laugh uncontrollably. As he started to compose himself a bit, he asked, “And you want me to do WHAT with this??” He told me that there was nothing he could do as it was too smashed up. He also said that he was very proud of me, as I’d done a proper job at making a complete mess of it. It wasn’t just the front, back and side fairings broken, a smashed screen and the H-bracket totally bent up. All the mountings for the headlight were in bits too. There was nothing for him to work with. So we started to look on the Internet for an entire set of new fairings.
In total disbelief that Mike couldn’t fix things, I talked him into having a go a fixing it temporarily. I knew that once he started working on it, he just wouldn’t be able to leave it alone until it looked satisfactory to him. My plan worked…
I held the fairing together while Mike put masking tape on the front to hold it in place. He then got to work with the plastic-welding. Bit by bit, it started to look like the front of my bike again. After a lot of patience (having to putting up with me for a start) and also having to rebuild the mounts for the headlight, Mike put down the soldering iron. With a content grin on his face, I could see that he was pleased with what he had done. The nose cone was back in one piece again and it was possible to fix the headlight in securely.
The next task was to have a go at straightening the H-bracket. We removed it from the bike and once again Mike couldn’t contain his fits of hysterical laughter. It was bent beyond repair. But not one to be beaten, Mike put the bracket into the vice and out came the good old universal hammer. After about half an hour of strenuous manipulation and good judgement calls, the bracket looked almost normal. We fixed it back onto the bike and it resembled a 'Blade once again. Mike then put masking tape across the top of the broken screen, and got out the Dremel. He levelled off the jagged edges and then ran a naked flame along the top to smooth it off. Impressive stuff I thought, simple but effective.
Now all that needed doing was to try and fix the back-end. He removed the fairing and got onto straightening the back lock. This didn’t take too much time as he was limited with what he could do. There’s one small bit of fairing that holds the lock, it’s too broken and it needs replacing. Regardless, Mike put the bike all back together. I was completely astounded at how much better it looked. To say that Mike can work miracles is an understatement. Thank you Mike!
For those of you who don’t know who Mike is well… He’s West London’s answer to MTV’s Pimp my Ride. The man is capable of modifying any bike into whatever takes your fancy, turning your dreams into reality. Based in Park Royal, just two minutes from the Ace Café, Mike runs M9 Performance from his home.
He has been into motor bikes from the age of 12, after he swapped a tent and a rucksack for a Puch 250 motocrosser with the local farmer’s son. Mike first became interested in modifying bikes at the age of 15. He had a Honda SS50 and needed to make it faster in order to beat the local posh kid, who had a Yamaha FS1E. Every bike he owned from there after, Mike felt a strong urge to make it look and perform differently.
M9 Performance started officially on April 1st, three years ago. Mike was always getting asked when he went to bike meets, about the work that he had done on his bikes. People were interested if the same sort of modifications could be done for their machines. Mike’s own words are, “M9 performance is not just a company it’s a service. Its object is to help you sort out a unique look of choice for your bike. To tailor fit your machine, to your style and personality”. He looks for parts from overseas like Canada, U.S, Spain and Japan just to mention a few, to keep things original. He hates the thought of using parts that you see every day, so that when you pull up in a car park, your bike will never be the same as the next one.
When meeting Mike, he likes to talk, look and listen. That gives him a picture of what you’re looking for. Whether it’s a total transformation or a new look with little cost or stress. He is full of innovative ideas and offers lots of good solid advice or suggestions of what can be done. He said that most of the products can be delved into in about three working days, unless it's a special one, then delivery times are set accordingly (3 day to 3 months). He doesn’t believe in getting into price wars with people saying that he can do something cheaper. But truly believes in an honest days pay for an honest days work. Mike takes great pride in what he does.
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