Capo's Monster

[Mr Gazza]

I loved that bike! I still do, I have a fascination for it, not an obsession, but a fascination.



I've got a little side project at the moment involving a bit of artwork.. I'll reveal this on here when it's finished, if it's not a disaster! So it came to pass that I decided it needed that woodpecker character on it that Capo had on his (CF) seat cowl, and then nothing else would do. I figured that I would have to have this airbrushed on like Capo did on his, so I paid the local people at AirFX a visit. It turned out to be quite difficult to do it as small as I wanted and to get a decent image to work from.



I came home an started surfing to see if I could get a better image. I had always thought that Capo had based the designs on WW2 nose art, certainly the sharks teeth are from the Warhawks.
I soon had the character identified as Woody Woodpecker, who I remember from my childhood. further searching found a very similar cigar smokin' Woody called speedy Woody and then I dropped onto the perfect image called Mr Horsepower.



So maybe it wasn't nose art but rather a nod to engine tuning, since the character seems to be promoting hot camshafts?
Searching for Mr Horsepower on ebay had me a sheet of stickers from the UK in no time with handed pairs in various sizes.. Sorted..
My interest in Woody Woodpecker affectionately remembered, prompted a read of what Wikipedia had to say; created by Walter Lantz and first appearing in 1940 he was a very popular character. (Somewhat badass!) he did appear on WW2 nose art, so back to that theory.

I wish it was something I had asked Capo about. There was so much to know about that bike. He had got the weight down by some 42 kilos. The frame was alloy and I think made by Pierbon? I'm not very good recalling names, but I'm sure it was the chappie who passed away a year or two ago?
Capo told me how he collected the frame and then took it into the back door of the factory and had some obliging soul, (whom he probably knew) stamp his frame number in it with the factory stamps.
It was (and still is) an absolute work of art and devotion, forged almost entirely from exotic metals and carbon fibre. I started this thread in the hope that folks who have titbits about the bike would post up some details... Looking forward to the stories..

[utopia]

Ohh, now you've started something.

I'm not sure if it was the woodpecker or some other image on the bike, but I believe there was a Barry Sheene tribute/connection there somewhere.
As you know Gary, Capo lived quite close to Barry's Wisbech home and knew him quite well.

The frame was not a Pierbon .. I dunno the name of the company who made it but they were a relatively small concern located somewhere in central northern Italy.
I was with him on the day he went to buy it. We diverted there on one of our trips to either WDW or EICMA.
We had to arrange for a few little tabs and whatnot to be welded on, in order to mimic the hidden wiring job that he had already done on his steel frame.
We picked it up in a rendezvous at a motorway service area a couple of days later.
I believe (well actually I know) that it was a cash deal done in the carpark and although it was probably fairly kosher it seemed a little shady at the time.

I hope to eventually acquire his original steel frame.
Since its number is already in use on the ally frame (as you mention) its a bit of a rogue and so I plan to pair it with another frame to make the crossmember of a rose arch in my garden .. with a red rambler on it, of course.

The "finished" bike (it was never really finished though) weighed in at 153kg.
I know this to be the case because we bought a couple of beefy digital scales and hung it from the beam in my shed.
Capo never believed me that my "bathroom scales" method was accurate but I proved him wrong on that day.
Stella, incidentally (my 750 for those who don't know) tipped the same scales at 165kg on that day .. although subsequent fitting of carbon wheels and a superlight single can exhaust have her down to 160kg.

I've told this part of the story before but I'll repeat it here .. my favourite part on that bike was the ridiculously excessive titanium rivet that he had me make to hold his lightened seat latch together.
Actually it was the seat latch from my bike that was used .. Capo gave me his original which he had stripped and had the zinc plated bits replated in chrome.
"Attention to detail" as he used to say.

Your first picture was taken on our first visit to the Fenman .. you can just see Stella's front end in the pic.
I remember our departure on that day very well.
Capo's bike would warm up nicely on its sidestand whereas Stella needed me to be sat onboard with a hand on the throttle.
So his bike was warm by the time I swung a leg over Stella's seat and thumbed the starter.
Immediately she had fired, Capo took off like a scalded cat and gunned it all the way home across the fenland back roads.
I had no choice but to try to keep up on a cold engine .. I just about managed to keep him in sight (but note that we were crossing flat, open country which helped a lot).
I never did properly forgive him for that.

That'll do for now.
I'll ramble on a bit more later in the thread.

I do miss the cantankerous old bugger.

[Mr Gazza]

Originally Posted by utopia

Ohh, now you've started something.

That was the idea.. Thanks for joining in.

I wonder if the Bazza connection is Donald Duck and Woody Woodpecker? The two characters are from contemporary rival companies, Disney and Universal. The animators and voice actors would swap around anyway so it was a big family really.
I wonder if Barry's helmet design was also based on nose art? It didn't take me long to find Woody on a P-40 nose.





I remember Capo telling me how Barry would crash on his floor when he was younger and also sitting in Arbuckle's on one very snowy winter meet telling me about Barry driving him in the snow across the Fens, he wouldn't leave the handbrake alone and Capo was convinced they would end up spinning into a deep Fen drain.

I do remember the tabs for the harness and have considered something like that for mine one day as the harness is as ugly as sin. I hope you get the frame, it'll make a fabulous garden object d'art.

I don't know what the standard weight of an S4R is but it is an impressive weight loss, I think it about 6 stone! You're getting there with Stella though.

Not Stella's front end in the picture, but mine. We shuffled up to squeeze you in when you arrived.



They make a nice set of three. I remember steadying his bike as he swung his poor old legs over the saddle that day, he could barely walk, but as you say, set off like a scalded cat..

Yeah.. I miss him too.

I think I read somewhere Barry’s choice of design was more to do with Cockney rhyming slang !

Did capo have a carbon tank too? Bike looks stunning, was even better in the flesh.

[Jez900ie]

A specially made ally frame. Wow.

[Mr Gazza]

Originally Posted by Moco1961

I think more to do with Cockney rhyming slang !

I wouldn't be surprised.

All the body work is Carbon including the tank.
The Ducati logo, the pinstripes and the dark part of the chequers are all masked before spraying to reveal the carbon weave.. A proper class act as you have to get down and look to see the weave.. That always impressed me.

[Dukedesmo]

Originally Posted by Mr Gazza

I remember steadying his bike as he swung his poor old legs over the saddle that day, he could barely walk, but as you say, set off like a scalded cat..

After having seen him struggling to walk, I was amazed at how well (fast) he could still ride.

Missed by all, that's for sure.

O/T but you can tell the Bell helmet is a genuine Sheene as it has the hole in the chinbar for that last, on the grid, pre-race smoke...

[slob]

...but before he switched to the Bell helmet with AGV stickers ;-)

I was sure I had a photo of the spec sheet for Capo's bike from the WDW2010 Garage Contest (pre Pierobon frame) but I'm buggered if I can find it now.

[Mr Gazza]

My humble homage to Capo and his fantastic bike.
It doesn't do his bike justice, as it's such an amateurish job which I rushed from start to finish and made it up as I went along.
I quite like it though and regard it as a practice for a proper job on the next helmet. I learned a lot!

[Cousin it]

For a rush job it is amazing, a tribute to a great bike and a person who was source of so much information about doing things the right way, most of the work I have done to my s4r was inspired by Capo.

[Luddite]

What a great design, Mr G! You've got all the Capo elements in there. The perfect accessory to the Capo bike.

Mr G, what can I say, what a fantastic job, I look forward to inspecting your hard work later in the month ( I chose my words very carefully there!!)

[Albie]

Originally Posted by Mr Gazza

My humble homage to Capo and his fantastic bike.
It doesn't do his bike justice, as it's such an amateurish job which I rushed from start to finish and made it up as I went along.
I quite like it though and regard it as a practice for a proper job on the next helmet. I learned a lot!

Looks great and a really nice tribute to the great man.

In 1979 I bought my new Suzuki x5 gt200 along with what at the time was a very heavy and expensive King Barry Sheene replica crash helmet. Leather lined too.

pic hosting

[Mr Gazza]

Thanks for all the kind words gents.
No need to be careful with words any more Mike. Mr and Mrs Dacs came over this afternoon specifically to see my helmet.. Which of course I got out and showed them.

Lovin' the young Albie Sheene ready for action with Team Suzuki..

[Dukedesmo]

Nice work there Mr Gazza.

Although I'm slightly concerned that we're now talking about your helmet so soon after we were discussing your knob...