Building and Riding a RSD Super Single – Part 1 ‘The Build’

When I heard that Roland Sands was taking a perfectly normal Motocross bike and making it into a Road Racer and calling it a Super Single, I wasn’t sure what he was trying to do, or if it would be any good. But hey, so far Roland’s motorcycles have been pretty damn impressive, so I was willing to find out.

RSD Super Single

The Build ‘Part 1′

When I heard that Roland Sands was taking a perfectly normal Motocross bike and making it into a Road Racer and calling it a Super Single, I wasn’t sure what he was trying to do, or if it would be any good. We see it done well with a Supermotard, which we all know are amazing motorcycles and lots of fun but this was taking it a step further, maybe a step too far. But hey, so far Roland’s motorcycles have been pretty damn impressive so I was willing to find out.

When I looked into the Super Single project further, Roland was making parts so that you can either do the conversion yourself or let the guys at RSD make a bike for you. This probably would be for most of us our one and only chance to own a Roland Sands motorcycle.

On paper it all looked very simple, so much so that I asked if I could see a bike being built as it all sounded too good to be true as it appeared that many of the original MX parts were re used in the new build and others just slightly modified.

“All the bikes we have are complete and we only make to order so you can’t even test one. Tell you what though, we do have a MX bike sat there waiting to be built, fancy do it? If you do, you can ride it afterwards” said Roland with a smile. Hmmm, a challenge, I like that. I thought about it for what, oh 0.5 seconds and then just blurted out “Yeah sure, I’ll do it”.

Ok, so it is at this point I should admit that we had discussed the build of the Super Single over a few beers and then of course I was super relaxed about it, I’d of probably said yes to practically anything.

At the RSD workshop the next day I wasn’t so relaxed as seeing the WR450F Yamaha MX bike sat there and a completed Super Single next to it made me slightly apprehensive as you could hardly believe that it started out as the same bike as they looked chalk and cheese and not to put the pressure on me too much, I was given only three days to do the build in.

The RSD guys raised a few eye brows when Roland told them that I was going to build a Super Single and that I’d not really worked on bikes before. They were also under strict instructions not to give me any assistance; I was to build it myself and struggle, cry and bleed if necessary.

So, here we go, the bike was on the bench, I was told where the tool box was and given a few pieces of paper that gave me a general outline of what to do and that was me, starting my first bike build at the RSD workshop in La Palma LA.

The bike I was to work on was a WR450F Yamaha. They had picked the WR as it had longer gear ratio’s which would help on the track and had an electric starter fitted as standard.

First I began by taking off all the panels, seat, mud-guards, wheels, front and rear suspension, handle bars, air filter, exhaust and front brake. Now, all I had left was a chassis and swinging-arm with a motor in it and this is where the build really began.

My first job was to drill and tap a thread into the headstock. Ahhhh! What the hell. OK, Jamie, get yourself together, it’s just a drill and a thread right… I have watched my Dad, Phil do this so many times, usually just after when I had got hold of a spanner and stripped the thread but now it was my turn.

I read the instructions again and again and just when I thought I’d got it sussed, I looked around to see the guys at RSD looking over and laughing at me which made it 20 times worse. Take no notice I told myself and marked the holes, punched a mark to where I wanted the hole to go and then went for it with my eyes half closed and pulling a face to rival the Grinner.

Come on its not every day you drill two holes in the headstock of a new bike, especially if you have never done it before but it came out ok, the holes were straight and just where I wanted them. The half eyed Grinner face obviously helped. Next part was the tapping of the thread which I wasn’t looking forward too as its now getting a bit technical but again surprisingly it was much easier than I ever expected and even the boys at RSD seemed quite surprised by the outcome, not as much as me through.

It did give me the confidence I needed to go on and tackle the rest of the build and I started to relax and somewhat enjoy it. The RSD boys weren’t pointing and laughing at me quite a much and a few even spoke to me. The workshop was a sweat box in the heat of the day so I was getting a mini workout as well, even a few air guitar moves where being pulled as Rodney’s box of messed up tunes blurted out across the workshop floor.

It was great working, in a place that had so much going on and I loved the fact that custom motorcycles were being built on both sides of me by seriously talented individuals who were creating awesome looking motorcycles from just from a vision.

As the build continued I found myself doing jobs for the first time and making this and that. Nothing too complicated but using the press to change the steering stem and creating spaces, grinding stuff down to get the tolerances right, bleeding brakes and generally using tools I’d only ever watched other people use.

It was a good feeling using my hands and making stuff, my hands started to look liked they’d done a bit of work for a change.

The Motocross bike soon started to look very different; in fact it never really looked like a dirt bike once the plastics and suspension was off, but once the R6 front end was in place and the PM wheels, she really started to take shape.

Apart from the obvious R6 front forks, handle bars, yokes, front brake and PM wheels, I was impressed by how many parts were just reused or modified. The airbox on a MX bike is a big cumbersome unit and takes up a lot of space. By the time I had finished drilling, pulling, pushing and ripping it apart and putting it back together she was a small tidy component.

There was no stopping Roland from sticking his nose in every now and again or stopping him picking up a spanner for his mad 2 minute mechanical fix before going back in his huge office and drawing motorbikes, he stayed well clear when I was struggling with the fairings though.

The build was really enjoyable apart from the fitting of the fairing. I have heard my old man tell me so many times that he’s spent all day trying to get a fairing to fit and what a pain it all was and now I found myself fitting a fairing which was hhhmmm close to fitting but not close enough. I had to trim it here and there, drill this hole and that, line this bit up with that and even pop rivet the Dzus fasteners on. It took me all day and I soon had a monk on.

By the time I got around to fitting the screen I wanted to throw it in the trash but I stuck with it and somehow pulled it off and when I did it was well worth it as I stood back and could hardly believe I’d done it all.

So, there you go, I somehow built a Super Single on my own and if I can do it, anyone can. But the fun part comes next, as part of the deal means I get to ride it.

Jamie