Mancation

One heck of a trip -- second time with Wilson and Doug to MAM, and although the supermono was quite fun last year, the long front straight was pretty tough on the wee bike, trying to keep up with everything else.  So it was the 650 this time, and although it wasn't running quite perfectly, it was a blast.  Got into the mid 1:48s,

which is OK I guess, but looking at the above video, and the later laps where I turned my fastest times, there is considerably more potential left in the bike to go much faster.  As you can see above, the drift camera worked quite well.  I was able to get quite a few videos of each sesson on the camera, and downloaded onto the PC.

As you can see, there was quite a few Canadians who made the trip down -- thanks to Rod from Freightliner MB for making up the shirts, and giving them away for free.  What a solid dude.  The fellow third from the right on the front row is AMA winner and top 10 superbike racer Chris Peris.  He was at MAM to work with Rod on his race technique.  Unfortunately I didn't get much schooling as both guys went by me so fast!  There is some copius talent in an AMA pro -- pretty humbling, although Chris seemed really friendly when I spoke with him breifly.

Bummer for Wilson as his TZ broke, but Rod lent him his hot-rod 1080 SS, again as you can see by the video, his bike simply walks away from the 650 with ease.  Doug had an eventful weekend as well, being run off the track, crashing into a brake marker, banging up his hand quite well yet keeping it all upright; during the last session his chain broke on top of it.  A boring but uneventful ride home and back to work on Tuesday.

The fuel tank on the 650 was not venting at all, so I think that is why the bike wouldn't rev out.  We'll see if repairing that takes care of that problem.

The mito frame and swingarm has shown up from Germany.  A test-fit shows that the swingarm mates up perfectly to the engine (!) except for the 17mm - 14mm bolt size difference.  The frame should be an OK fit as well, but I'm not 100% sure as I need to sort out the swingarm pivot first.

I've also designed a rear subframe in my head, and have ordered some 4130 from wicks to start fabricating that part.  Pics of the huskymono to come...