A2 Replaced your exhaust

This has happened too numerous to recall all of them, I'll share the first time.

I was 19 and had taken a break from drinking for multiple months. Obviously there were reasons that was a thing. I was on my FZR600(was my drag bike) and headed to a party at an acquintance's s parents house.  A close friend we'll just use R for this was already there and we got to BS'n about motorbikes as it happens. Also BS'n about going to the wedding reception(mutual friend from high school) over in our hood. Possible a plan was hatched to cruise over to my place and put R on my GS500E to head back to the party(we might have showed up to the party on bikes but unsure either way). Stopped by 7/11 and managed two 6 packs of the hot new heinieken keg cans. Strapped a 6er to the GS and i was able to fit 4 of the 6 in the front pocket of the pull over i was wearing with the other two hanging out in front. Started drinking upon re-arrival at the party. A few or all of the "kegs' gone and we head to the wedding reception.

As we were cutting across Portland raising moto mayhem on beautiful Saturday we cut over by Emanuel hospital and I used the multiple steep parking lot ramps to try to jump my FZR like a dirt bike. Much air was had. Much bottoming out was done. Caved in cylinders 2 and 3 of the stock headers. I guess what goes up must come down right?

Proceed to stop far enough away from the stop sign on graham to get a still see if its clear. Did a proper drag launch across the intersection and flew a ways down the steep hill on Graham going under 5/405. Just had an energy about being far to reckless.

Heading up interstate ave(Pre-Max) R and I were living the moto dream until a block before going ave a beige Cadillac turned left in front of us, Rich swerved and missed the tail. I anchored the front brake and did my first real stoppie. I was staring through the passengers window looking down into the car. Stalled it up there just long enough for the car to clear, slammed the back end down and met R at the light. Both of us had silver dollar sized eyes. R says something to the effect of "I crashed the bike!" I hollered back in a state of confusion "no you didn't, your'e on the bike!" Thats when he showed me the brand new glove that had rash all over the palm. Turns it Rich hit the center median with plenty of momentum, yellow curb paint on both wheels, underside of the stator cover and belly pan. The bike was going down and pushed off with his hand just enough to ride it out. I think what he did to his shoulder with that move ended up bothering him for a while.

Next stop Queen Anne Victorian manson but one last jump through the DMV parking lot. Terrible ass high jump, front tire just skipping across the rough sloping parking lot. SHIT! can't STOP! carrying way to much speed, just started scrubbing speed as I got to the street on the other side of the parking lot. giving it everything I could I hit the gravel parking strip.

Both feet down, front tire locked up I came to a dusty stop in front of the stone posts that hold the steel gate to the right of the staircase. Just had time to exhale before i look to my left and see Rich coming in hot, feet down with a locked front prayer. success. Made quit the entrance. Got cut off before we even made it to the bar, sadly we said our hellos and promptly were asked to leave. I have a vague memory of doing a burnout as we left but I can't be certain. Rode to Rich's and retired the bikes and headed back to the first party. The rest of the evening was more of a blurred master class on not doing well and being a shitshow. The next Tuesday i went to Dr Browns to order of a vance and hines full system, K and N pods and a stage 3 jet kit. Ditched the airbox, set the carbs up for a baseline tuneI then "replaced my exhaust".

A1 Gone to Sturgis

 Sturgis is a hard nope. I think I might have enjoyed 80's Sturgis but not even sure if  i would. I did ride out to the Fossil Campout back in 2005, James and myself were some of the only sportbikes out there. The campout had some fun and interesting times like;

It was the first time James and I rode together, 15 years later we still have plenty more miles to rack up.

Uncle Brent's incredible pace winding up the windmill lined twisties from Biggs Junction up into the high desert of eastern Oregon. '96 Ultraglide with camp trailer just smooth hustling, I was shocked at how much harder I had to ride my '04 Gix1k than i thought i would have had to riding with him.

There were a couple of hilarious bloopers at the bike rodeo.

On the back roads out of town while doing a side by side wheelie bike on my left starts to veer over to the right, i leaned it back a bit more and slowed it down just enough to let the bike and rider cross just a few feet in front of me and I veered left and we ended up back next to each other  with precious like it had been planned and practiced.

Also the church booth had free coffee, really hit the spot after the Jack Daniels dinners. The coffee got more enjoyable when guys would ask for you to grab them a coffee because they didn't want to be seen at the church tent.

Motorcycle Bingo

I saw this skittering around the social medias recently and promptly clicked off all but 4, thought a bit about each, sent a few messages back and forth with Jams and figured they would be decent memories to write about. So over the next week or forever the goal is to get back to this a bit.

unpublished draft.

Found a writing project to work on so logged in to blogger and here is an unpublished draft from last April. I must have planned an article with this as the inspirational placeholder. Either way, here is the end of the first shakedown rip(i think?) with the CRF front end on the XL250R.

XL250R, 1 cylinder, 2 carbs, 3 chances

XL250R, Honda by name but not by soul. Granted everything other than the soul is pure Honda, like how miraculous the engineers are at hiding an extra 40-50 pounds on a bike, how much it understeers like a front wheel drive GM product, a surplus of 25 extra wires in the harness and an exhaust note at idle that is more reminiscent of a loud aquarium with a bunch of flatulent fish than anything running on petrol. Somehow with all this you go to grab a handful of throttle and instead of Honda it feels more Yamaha(that’s a good thing). There is an urgency to getting at the power, a fun of getting at the power but none of the ultra composed and manageable “are the cam lobes flat” rush of power that is too be expected. In true Honda engineering tradition you have to marry a proper motor to a shit chassis with tiny drum brakes front and rear and forks that have the same rigid dynamics of the javelin at the end of revenge of the nerds.

This is the third chance for this sweet little whip. Gone are the stock forks with the cute blue booties and in their place is a stout front end from a CRF250R, 2007 vintage. With the forks come the front disc and caliper from said bike. Steering stem from a Yamaha R1 modified by G&H cycles for the stock crf top clamp handles the back and forth of the bars. Currently trying to incorporate as much of the stock XL parts into the controls/wiring/headlight but the process is moving along. Hope to update later on tonight with a pic of it as a roller with bars and controls awaiting the custom headlight brackets to mount the sealed beam stock lamp. Usually doing a swap like this leads to a wonky unbalanced bike but I think I have the spares to remedy any awkward handling issues. There is a stage two to this suspension and brake upgrade and if the bike proves enjoyable enough with just the front end I’ll proceed to graft the cr500 rear end on to it. No easy feat but the motor is worth the extra labor I think. To be honest I’ll probably lose interest and give this bike to a friend but no need to be a realist at this stage.

Honda dork-sports

I had an illness, maybe even a sickness. It was years ago but it feels like it’s no longer in remission.  It started as a small red rash that resembled an XL200R, a small red rash that had wings on it. From there the rash spread to a full hive with scabs and everything. It looked remarkably like an XL600R, it made the symptoms more than tolerable and low and behold the rash and hives were gone replaced with the most colorful of bruises. That means it’s deep in the blood now. Then it got worse from there now adding Xl250R like symptoms. This one hurt the worst by far,  took a huge chunk out of my backside like a bacterial skin infection to the tune of $1400 plus $100 for some bullshit duct tape. Luckily Big Cass was along for moral support so I didn’t have to go at it alone. Full fledge ride red fever, kind of like a form of Dysentery minus the lower intestine fun. After years of staying vaxxed with a cocktail of Italian, Austrian and Swedish moto vaccines somehow the red fever took hold. Slowly I began to heal, recovery was on the horizon. The XL200R known lovingly as ‘lil red was transformed into a KTM 125SX, 2 stroke Austrian medicine. There is no way this medicine was a research placebo with how it pulls when it is on the pipe. I still had 850cc of this red virus that I had to neutralize. Jason “the tall one” Chimmy donated an organ to help with the recovery, an ankle is an organ right? The XL600R was now gone, and gone as in Jason had to wait for the swelling in his kickstart ankle to subside before he could give it another attempt, it had adopted a new victim. The Italian Husqvarna was and still is the big bore anesthesia for it. The XL250R was used the way motorbikes are supposed to be used and wound up with a twisted front end and me gasping for air. Did this illness spread to my lungs or was this just momentary? Nope, just getting flung over the bars and slammed hard at Riverdale. James Brad stepped up with a healing hand and took the sickness in and cured me.

Or so I thought...

Clutch slaves

Lately it's been nonstop clutch slaves with a multiple crashed R1 thrown into the mix. Still better than a cable operated clutch for a big bike. Maybe to many Italian bikes kicking around?

A little RSV-R clutch slave piddle.

Drew's Tuono that might be sorted. 

And then there is a slipper clutched Monster S2R that needs to get sorted(I'd like to try to jump it) by means of a bleed hopefully.

Ruining the Italian party with a Yamaha.

That's all. 

Project after project with even more lined up

Figured I need to write down all of my pending projects that seem to have gotten a bit out of control. Also figured I'd do it publicly like this and see what i can accomplish to try to rid myself of this sensed lack of productivity. I'll use this as a live document and check off completed items and add newly discovered items. Funny enough this doesn't feel very overwhelming...

Truck status:
Sitting on the lift 6 ft up. It could be 6 ft under and I probably wouldn't notice.
Need to pull mercedes subframes and scrap the benz.
Finalize paperwork and transaction with JMFF.
Find running diesel benz donor car.
ETA: The planet will probably have a new universal language that sounds like Morse code but with a eastern European gruff to it before I finish it.

Triumph #1
'69 T120 Deluxe:
Currently with sexy carburation.
Lacking strong spark from a coil that gets very hot. Plan is to go with a battery delete kit and a electronic ignition with a single dual output coil.
Proper 7/8th bars and controls will replace the cut and modded 1" Harley style stuff.
Newer Honda front master will be installed at the time plus a new gauge mount.
ETA: Sooner than later, mostly needing a structured plan of attack, some part ordering and a dedicated weekend. Again.

Triumph #2
'97 T595 Daytona
Somehow its a runner and a strong runner at that.
Need to swap fluids(not sexy time style) and do a bodywork off safety inspection.
Rear shock needs attention but might just be adjustments, it'll be determined.
Vintage racer style build, Off road Portland to Dakar style adventure bike or just a beat down street hustler build plan coming soon. Hyperlinks also, too lazy now.
ETA: Will be worked into the current schedule, full build will be over winter post Guzzi engine build.

Honda Ascot #1
1983 Honda Ascot (the red one).
Need to charge battery.
Drill, tap and install a timesert to the small case crack.
Headlight and taillight re-install.
Street Safety check.
Dexter for terrorizing the locals.
ETA: This week. 7/8 -7/12

Honda Ascot #2 and 3
1983 Honda Ascot (The black one and Monkey bike)
Swap monkey motor and some parts to the black ones frame and F'n good reddens to a F'd sell. Never get pressured into selling a project bike quick then the buyer wants to act like I owe him the world. This one bit back hard, rarely do I ever get the short end of the stick on a deal but this one I'm paying up for the other ones on. Live and Learn.
ETA: When he finally drops the bike off for the motor swap, it needs to fit his schedule for some fucking reason.

2000 Moto Guzzi V11 Sport
Awaiting the heads pulled for big valves and new head gaskets.
Tires are needed very soon and I'd like to do my custom wheels at the time.
Need to order the drive carrier for the wheel so I can get my universal adapter machined.
ETA: Winter project, It'll be a completely refreshed and ready for some serious hard riding and pretty posing,

1971 Searay
"Better when wet"
225 Buick V6 motor build.
Need the correct engine kit to finally show up.
Pistons on rods.
Paint engine parts "37 ft lbs fluorescent green".
Assemble rotating assembly
Re assemble heads.
Carb rebuild
ETA: Hopefully ready to install by the morning of 7/13/13. Lots of luck related numbers there, ouch.

1987 Toyota Pickup 22R Long Bed.
Carb diagnosis then tune.
Get running for a friend to sell for top dollar.
ETA: Last week!

1972 220D Mercedes Benz
Injector nozzles, AG diesel spec'd. Custom
Interior TLC and detail
Engine Mounts
ETA: Sooner than later. Might be sold by then. Yes everything is for sale for the right price.

2004 Nissan Frontier
Detail.
AC repair.
Possible front brakes.
Sell! Sell! Sell!
ETA: Sold no later than 8/2/13

2002 Aprilia RSV-R
Luggage rack to replace seat cowl. Need spare cowl for hardware and plenty of steel or aluminum and some welding.
Trip prep and inspections
IPhone mount and Electrics for long trip.
Fluid Swapping.
ETA: most likely finished at 4am the morning of the trip. The traditional 3 hour prior to leave time completion. Falco had a full clutch sitting in my hands and wheels off with brand new tires 4-5 hours before Troutdale morning meet up for Pinecone V.

1970 Kawaski KE 100 Cafe
Bottom end rebuild.
Go through for safety and reliability.
Carb tune if necessary.
BL for spec'd mixture recommendation.
ETA: Possibly starting by 7/14 with a completion by 7/19

1990 GS500E
Disassemble
Suspension, wheels and tires, brakes to be installed on a GS 450.
Rear caliper anchor to be fabbed and mounted.
Adapter to run GSXR radial mount caliper to be fabbed and mounted.
GS 500 Bars and controls possibly moved over the the 450.
ETA: Post KE 100 completion. During long weekend on the triumph T120.

Project truck.

Some how I finally moved away from bike projects for a split second and picked up my new hauling whip. 62 ford f100 unibody. This will be my biggest project yet and I'm pretty sure when it's done it will be one of a kind and pretty dang neat. It will probably stay exactly as it is cosmetically paint wise but it's what's underneath that counts. Running gear and suspension upgrades are planned. Parts sourced and a plan is coming together A-team style but with more of a Bette Midler montage and less of A-team theme music montage. There will be no BA style slow motion tosses but plenty of cutting welding and maybe even a bit of custom "Cope" measuring. The kicker is it should smell like diesel when it's up and running. 

P.s unsure if I'll do project updates or just a running unpublished post with updates and then publish once finished. We'll see.

Muscle bike suitable for a "Prince"!

A friend is finally selling his muscle bike, I guess the cobra replica he built is more fun. Blah blah blah

Yamaha xs 1100 special bored to 1200cc. Accel coils/wires, jet kit, top to bottom restoration. Ready for summer. Full fairing for those purple rain dieharders! Plenty of spare parts also.

Email cmaslen27@hotmail.com or call (503) 680-0585

With the fairing and optional crushed velvet.

Moto-Seriousness

As the riding season in Portland is starting to hit full swing everyone on the road needs to take a second and value everyone around them. It can be the rider who hasn't been in traffic in 7 months that is far too overwhelmed for every ones safety, the driver who isn't use to noticing something optically the size of a pencil in their mirror for that quick lane change maneuver or a combination of both but someone will be hurt and someone will have to deal with that for a long time. Traditionally this hasn't bothered me much, I know the few people I ride with anymore all know to ride and live well within the conditions(theirs and the environment). One of the main reasons I don't ride with a lot of people anymore if any at all is I don't want to see it happen and I don't want to hear about it.

This year is different, not because i suddenly started caring about strangers who are making decisions they probably shouldn't be making, not because I suddenly feel this overwhelming sense of compassion for grieving families that are suffering due to someones choices, not for what I feel in my heart every dang time I call my mom to let her know it wasn't me when there is a nasty moto fatality on the news, nope not for any of that. There is a rider out there hitting these mean streets for the first time in a very long time. This rider was never really a "rider" just a kid that cruised around some fields in Vancouver back in the day. As a driver he has more awareness and defensive technique than is required for triple digit lane splitting in LA and that's just when he is commuting in his little Subaru wagon. He can tell you what cars are four cars back at anytime, he drives mentioning what decisions the cars around him are going to make well before they ever have a clue what they are going to do. He taught me how to drive a stick for the first time when I was ten, he spent many many miles in the passenger seat of his pickup thinking he was teaching me how to drive when I had my permit but in fact he was teaching me unknowingly how to survive on a bike. When I look back on everything I've learned that has kept me safe in some of the worst traffic in Portland with a total of at least 100k worth of year round commuting miles from late '98 through the oddly specific 9-22-05 I was only using his tips and techniques. Know what's around you, go with the flow, this is life or death, anticipate, who's the one to look out for and the list goes on and on. When I'm doing my crazy long rides like the bay area, LA and such and the sleep deprivation and massive fatigue start to set in I keep myself alive by going over everything in my head. It turns out everything that I say to myself is everything he said to me from the passenger side back when I was fifteen. My little nonreligious guardian angel. I find myself worried sick at the thought of losing him in a motorcycle related accident.

This wasn't his decision. This wasn't his dream. He didn't make the sacrifices to make it happen. He doesn't have the sweat equity into it. This isn't something you just do, this is real life and not just a game. Motorcycles should be approached with a certain respect that one should have a good bit of self reflection on. If you do it right you'll have experiences and freedom blah blah blah but most likely you'll have some kind of a limp. You need to get into that line to sign up for that and not have it placed on your lap. I did it all wrong with him. He once had asked if a CB750 I had would be a good commuter bike and I shrugged it off with a no. In all my riding this has been the first bit of any shown interest in riding and was dismissed. A few years later he came by the house and I had 8 or 9 bikes in the garage and asked which of these would be a good commuter, discussed the pros and cons and thought about the perfect bike for him. A VT500 Ascot that he received on the next fathers day. In sourcing that rare perfect bike I wound up with three extras which have been destroyed in a manner fitting to a great bike, by riding the dickens out of them. He has his bike. He has his gear that would make any rider envious(thanks JK and BL) and he took his Team Oregon class. He then had some reservations, ones that I couldn't rationalize. They were solid reservations. A year or so later they appeared to have been worked out. I had just gotten to Wichita last week when I got a call from him. He was calling to ask if i would help someone with their car(which of course was a yes because he was asking). I then mentioned my flight issues coming in to Wichita which had him laughing pretty good(so i get motion sick, it is what it is). He then mentions that if I don't hear from him soon it'll be because he's going to start riding tomorrow with a weight to his words. Record scratch sound. 

And this is why these words are on the page. This started as an article on target fixation accompanied by video of a rider riding a bit over his head that target fixates on a group of cycles. I think the motorcyclist should be charged with major crimes as a result. Riding in that manner that has him that close to the limit that he target fixates is a decision he made and not just an accident. So when you are on skyline riding at 11/10ths of your ability and you see a cyclist(that take over the entire road asking for it) that instills panic in you that you fixate try to focus on a big tree, it's a more "deserving" target. Side note, I do plan on more cycling miles than motorcycle miles so it hits a bit closer to home. Apparently I had a bit more on my mind than target fixating. I also had an article from Florida last weekend with a car turning left on a two lane highway that impacted the bike with such force the front wheel of the car came off and hit another car. All this stuff has been popping up so I thought I'd do a little article both for the riders to give it a second thought and make slight adjustments and the drivers that read this also giving it a bit of a second thought and maybe a tear could be saved somewhere. In theory I should chop out the center and turn it back into the article originally intended but I hurt my blood pumper typing this out so I'm leaving it.

My Dad's Ascot.

I hesitantly post. Only hoping to save one cyclist on skyline.

Living on the edge.

It's a new week with some riding weather, stay safe. That applies if the bike works or doesn't. 

Don't do this.

Do this instead.
Rubberside down towing

I don't know them, never used them but they have to be a better option than towing behind a car.

Sexy bike

I traditional view bikes as "sexy" based on what they can accomplish in a non traditional but massively usable sense. The Guzzi has been a bike that has more character than almost anything on the road but somehow seems to have amazing sculptured lines.

It's a wonder(ful) thing.

As bikes leave the garage and the replacement is searched for high and low across the west coasts most active craigslist pages I craft my criteria for the next two wheeled machine.

So far it goes as such...

MUST
Character (sorry big three...)
less weight than the V-11 (anything not a harley or has tracks)
more power than the V-11 (sorry BMW)
Handling
Multi day trip reliability (Italians are exempt from this stipulation)
everyday useable if neccessary
Pine Cone worthy
Power Boat worthy
acquired for what I sold the KTM and Ascot for

CAN'T
Bland
Have too much power(I know, lame sauce)
Look like crap in scenic pictures
Get shitty tank range
Take a tire different than a 120/180-190 (keep it sporty and possibly out of town servicable)
Be too uncomfortable (exemptions will be made for the bikes sexiness)

So it looks like I'm getting another Falco or going for an RSV-R first gen.