Racing Eso Metisse

[esometisse]

I'm not usually in the habit of boring people with stories about my stuff but rogerwilko prompted me to tell a little about the bike in my avatar.
So here goes and blame him for it.

I built this bike from scratch a coupla years back as a backup for the Seeley G50 my brother was racing in several classic series in Europe.
It comprises a leightweight chrome-moly oil-bearing Metisse replica frame with a close-ratio NRE 5-speed racing gearbox and pushrod ESO speedway engine. Forks are Ceriani GrandPrix and the wheels are motocross hub rear with neat and small, but very effective twin-leader brakeplate and Fontana 210mm d/s tls drum or Lockhheed disc front. The rest is the usual alloy tank, belt drive and Krober revcounter.
The engine is quite unique, though, as it sports a one-off four valve head on a standard ESO bottom end. Other components like the barrel, oil pump, cams and roller cam followers are equally home-brewed.

The engine made 51hp at the rear wheel straight away on the dyno as compared to the 53 of our Beale-engined G50, but with a flatter torque curve. On the track this was confirmed by showing better punch out of the corners, only losing out in topspeed to the G50 by a coupla km/h. So depending on the track layout lap times are quite similar. Handling is impeccable and second to none - not surprising really as the frame geometry is the result of our previous experiences with several racing frames. Fully faired and ready to go the bike weighs in at exactly the IHRO limit of 120kg.

Anyway, the bike didn't see all that much use so far as the G50 proved itself surprisingly reliable. I am sure with the engine fully run in and free-revving it will eventually deliver the same max. power figures on the dyno as the G50.
Sadly, we won't be able to profit from this as we had to pack in the racing for good due to my brothers persisting health problems.
So I suppose the machine is for sale now - if anyone's interested, drop me a line.

Happy new year to all of you and safe riding
Andy

[wetdog]

very nice looks the boll++ks , do you think it might last on the road or to high a state of tune

[esometisse]

Well many speedway engines that find their way into roadrace projects or even road-registered machines suffer some more or less serious overheating problems when thrashed due to their sparse finning and inadequate oil pumps. Some people leave the old pilgrim "a drop a minute" oil pump in place and just think of a way to get rid of the accumulating oil in the crankcase. This engine, however, has a greatly increased cooling fin area on head and barrel and uses a proper two-stage oil pump with Eaton gears that delivers about 20% more flow than a G50 oil pump. Whats more, there is a pressure oil jet in the crankcase that delivers a cooling oil stream to the underside of the piston crown and the engine oil is contained in the frame tubes to aid heat dissipation further. So no problems on this front!

As to the engine components, I wouldn't expect any trouble from the bulletproof bottom end nor the Wiseco forged piston or the head.
The only thing not yet tested to any great extent are the bucket shape roller cam followers - but these should wear even less than the original JAWA items. If not, the setup is easily converted back to standard.

So yes, I think the engine would last well and easily tolerate road use. Here in Germany, however, registering such a beast for use on public roads is virtually impossible!

Cheers,
Andy

[wetdog]

I have roller followers fitted in a jap powerd morgan i have and have had no problems as you say , what is the compresion ? if you have a price in mind can you send me a email to aroomwithaview@tiscali.co.uk , I have other racing machines ( manxman , velos etc ) and do ride them on the road over here , very occationally now adays , this machine looks interesting and i was thinking of  building one myself useing a JAP engine and feather bed chassis i have

[p.kuitwaard]

Vey interesting bike Andy!

Looks a little like mine; same engine (except for the four valve head of course, and CR NRE gear box.
I love those jawa engines for its sturdy and light construction with very good materials.
Of course there are some drawbacks, but it can be competitive.

All the best, Peter.

[rogerwilko]

Great! Keep 'em coming.