Last spring Yamaha teamed up with El Solitario to celebrate the 20
years of the XJR1300. The result is a race
inspired track monster that more than lives up to its name, ‘Big Bad
Wolf’. The bike broke cover for the first time at the Glemseck 101 show
in Germany in September, taking to the 1/8 mile race track to bring an
end to the reign of the defending champions Lucky Cat Garage.
"We are not familiar with 4 cylinder bikes so at
first we couldn’t understand the challenge. For months we tried to
answer the same question: How could we take it further? Ground Zero
would be to ask the correct question. Asking what scared us the most,
seemed logic, and the answer was performance and technology! Both were
unknown and expensive paths for us. Suddenly aversion turned into
curiosity and we had our challenge. We are motorcycle poets not
engineers, so countless hours of research, and the love of our friends,
made it possible to find the best partners in the world of fast bikes,
and with their help, we developed one of the gnarliest muscle bikes ever
to be seen in recent years.”
Key to the success of the project was the collaboration with Mauro Abbadini, from
Classic Co. as
technical director of the build, he brought with him the confidence and
know how of a veteran racer and winner of many battles. Last but not
least an army of racing industry experts, all keen to collaborate with
El Solitario.
The end result, the ‘Big Bad Wolf’ AKA: BBW, has almost everything
custom made with the exception of the frame, the tank, the handlebars
and the rear light, reducing the wet weight to just 183kg.
The Motor was blueprinted and the heads were ported and flowed. The
intake port flow was increased by 50%. Compression was raised from 9.7-1
(Stock) to 10.7-1. The combustion chambers were reshaped & the
squish areas increased. The rods were reinforced with titanium bolts and
the crankshaft was rebalanced. All the electronics and were removed and
state of the art Lectron 42 Carburetors were added, developed
specifically for the BBW by Lectron Fuel Systems on their flow bench to
be plug & play on delivery. A Dynatek Programmable Ignition was
installed. The work takes the power up to 148 BHP at the rear wheel.
Classic Co.
then fabricated, following our designs, a carbon fibre tail section,
motor air rams and the belly pan, as well as all the aluminum brackets
for the needed modifications. UK based Dymag developed the carbon fibre
wheels especially to fit not just BBW but also the stock XJR1300. Acke
Rising from ISR in Sweden did a lot of machining using the El Solitario
designs to make custom triple trees, disc rotors and the incredible rear
brake caliper bracket. ISR hand controls were added along with ISR
front 6 piston calipers and rear 4 pistons caliper.
K-Tech Suspension collaborated with Novatech to develop the
impressive front forks and the rear shocks. The screaming custom
titanium exhaust was made by Asahina Racing in Japan, designed to fit
not just the BBW but the stock XJR1300 also. Moto GP oil cooler
supplier, Taleo Racing in Madrid created the custom semi circular oil
cooler and EMD in France, machined in aluminum the prototype motor
covers which will be available to buy from El Solitario for the stock
XJR1300 in the foundry version.
A TWM custom gas cap sets off the tank and a stunning custom aluminum
swing arm by Over Racing in Japan finishes the rear along with a set of
their rearsets. The BBW was wired using the Motogadget M-Unit &
uses the M-Lock for on/off. Corona supplied the super cool quick shifter
and PIAA supplied the intense headlights.
The BBW stays stuck to the tarmac with Michelin street, slick and
rain tyres to maximize the fun whatever the conditions. Last but by no
means least the beautiful custom graphics and paint was the work of
London artist
Death Spray Custom.
Very special thanks to: Mauro Abbadini, Ivan Ferreiro, Alberto
Garcia-Alix, David Gwyther, Tadashi Kono, Seb Lorentz, Vincent Prat,
JMKL, Gavin Matheson, Shun Miyazawa & all the sponsors that made
this adventure possible. You rule!