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Post by mangocrazy on Jan 16, 2021 0:58:28 GMT 1
Derek Chittenden, main man of Hejira racing passed way just before Christmas. Back in the 80s he supplied many racers and road riders with Spax shocks to replace the OE LC shock, and also fabricated racing chassis and swingarms for use with LC, TZ and YPVS motors, winning national championships in the process. I knew him well and he was a lovely man, very generous with his time and information.
RIP Derek, and keep it pinned.
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Post by pedheadfred on Jan 16, 2021 1:03:26 GMT 1
Another legend in the world of motorcycles gone, but his work he has done will be in history of motorcycles. RIP
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Post by midlifecrisisrd on Jan 16, 2021 12:43:26 GMT 1
RIP
Another 2 stroke legend gone ☹
Steve
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Post by copper99 on Jan 16, 2021 16:05:11 GMT 1
Never met him but remember the name and company well from back in the day, very sad, RIP..
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Post by dusty350 on Jan 16, 2021 16:48:29 GMT 1
RIP Derek. Hejira is definitely a name we grew up with. I had one of their Lc swingarms in an Rd400 - nice bit of kit. Dusty
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Post by mangocrazy on Jan 16, 2021 20:43:51 GMT 1
I bought a Spax shock off Derek and was so impressed I asked if he could make a box section swingarm for my LC. He could, he did and it was excellent. He also supplied a set of Marzocchi 35mm forks to calm down the front end. A few years later I got him to build a rolling chassis to house a YPVS motor. The photos are somewhere on this site I think. His engineering was first rate and he always seemed to come up with an elegant solution to a problem. I'll miss him.
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Post by dusty350 on Jan 16, 2021 20:57:32 GMT 1
I didn't realise the swingarm I had was a Hejira item until after I sold the bike. Someone told me he made a batch of them for racing at the IOM - not sure if that's correct or not ? I also had a Spax on an Lc project bike, with "Hejira" carved into the top of it; Hybrid rebuild pics (88) by dusty miller, on Flickr I'm not sure if Derek did the frame mods to get the Pv swingarm and shock in to the Lc, but it was a lovely job. Dusty
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Post by mangocrazy on Jan 17, 2021 0:24:55 GMT 1
That is a lovely job. Derek persevered with steel frames and swingarms (normally box section) after aluminium frames became the norm, but then stole a march on pretty much everyone by going straight to carbon fibre. He had lots of friends and acquaintances in the F1 world, all of whom were bike nuts and all of whom lived and worked in the F1 'silicon valley' around Brackley/Bicester/Buckingham. I remember walking into Derek's workshop in summer 1990 and being totally gobsmacked to see a CF chassis and swingarm on stands awaiting the fitment of a Rotax single cylinder engine for a race bike. This was well before even Cagiva had a working CF chassis.
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Post by rich on Jan 17, 2021 0:56:01 GMT 1
What a shame, didn't he do the monoshock conversion on the GP100+ in PB many years ago?
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Post by mangocrazy on Jan 17, 2021 1:28:33 GMT 1
What a shame, didn't he do the monoshock conversion on the GP100+ in PB many years ago? Most likely, although I wasn't aware of it. Derek had built his own monoshock scrambler/MX bike in the mid 70s, well ahead of the first public monoshock bike from the major manufacturers.
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