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unpublished draft.

Found a writing project to work on so logged in to blogger and here is an unpublished draft from last April.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.