Consolidation (sic?)

For simplicity's sake, I've decided to combine all of my blogs back into this one.  The supermono one is the most often visited, although lately, the least often updated.  So, if you're here for ex650 news, great; if its RC51 info your after, well, look elsewhere.

New Bike:  this is the 3rd bike in a year for me.  From a 119 hp Italian exotic, to a rarer 130hp Japanese Superbike homologation special to.... wait for it.... a 20 hp supermoto.  What the heck???  The reality is, both the RC51 and the 999 were ridden very little.  I took meticulous care of them, putting in blood, sweat, tears and money, and loving life with them only when I was on a deserted highway breaking the speed limit... as in go to jail breaking the speed limit.  I never put anyone other than myself at risk, and that would only be from an unforseen circumstance like a stoopid deer coming in for a close-up or something.  I was at the point where I could likely calculate the cost per ride on the honda based on how little I was actually riding it.  No big deal if we had bike insurance like the Brits or the Yanks... based on the information I've read, I could plate several bikes for less than what I am paying for one in Canada -- I'm nearly 40, no accidents, no tickets, no claims, etc, etc.  Not the case here -- $1500 a year (for a maybe 5 month season) for the Honda.  Yikes!  It was not a bike to hop on and pop down to the shops for errands.  It was not happy tootling along at 30 mph in traffic.  Again, only at home doing extra-legal speeds, and even our highways leave a lot to be desired in terms of curves and surface integrity.

Enter the supermoto... Transcanada had a 2009 KLX250SF languishing on the floor for over a year.  Gathering dust, the battery was even dead.  Took it out for a spin in town and breifly on the highway, and had a smile on my face the whole time.  60mph feels like 100, and it is so light and fun, that even respecting the under 4000 rpm break in limit, it was a riot.  Within 5 minutes the chicken strips on the tires on the Honda were gone on the Kawi.  It also gets 70 mpg, and costs $500/year less to insure.  Still far too expensive, but at least I can actually ride it regularly -- getting on a 1000 sportbike is an "event" -- getting on this is a quick turn of the key (after pulling the choke) let it get warm, and then whoo hoo!!!  20hp has never been so fun.  A few of my riding buddies think I'm nuts, but I can't wait until it gets some mileage under its belt so I can really let it rip and unleash the ponies!!!  250cc... that's a small chocolate milk, kiddies!

The 650: 

Magura radial master and 1.4 turn throttle.

Race fuel cap -- key will stay in the ingnition where it belongs!

Finally getting there -- after waiting 3 weeks in vain for EBC pads, Scotty ordered me SBS pads and they were here in 2 days.  The zx10R master cylinder felt like crap, so I gambled and swapped the magura 16x18 from the mono (radial brake caliper needed for the brake lines I got) -- bled it and it finally has brakes the way it should.  I put the stock er6 master on the mono, and while the 5/8 bore is a bit big, should work OK.  Also got the proper front fairing mounted and painted.  1/4 turn throttle installed, so it should be good to go.  Just need to get out to the airstrip and give both bikes a try -- to see if the 16T on the front of the mono is workable, and to make sure the idiot light (the FI light) does not come on on the 650 -- installed and checked all the tweaks I'd done, and found a few possible suspects, but also cleared the trouble codes from the computer.  Just waiting on the Muzzy so I can install the bellypan and the bike will truly be "finished".  You all have heard that before!

Bellypan -- brackets are in and installed, but this won't fit with my home-made pipe system...

On a personal note, I start back at work on the 23rd, getting ready for the first day of school.  An ongoing project for me has been trying to get fitter for racing.  Over the years since I last raced (dating back to 2007), my weight has creeped up to around 200 lbs. Not good when you are 5'8" or so. My muscular strength is as high as its ever been, but has been accompanied by some extra insulation.    I described my physique as "oversquare" -- only engine builders got the joke -- everyone else thought I was just porky.  Anyway, this summer has seen me do some diligent exercizing.  Running every second day (between 4.2 and 4.9 miles, depending on the route I take), and hitting the bow-flex on the other days.  I've also cut down on the brewskis, reduced my bread intake, and am taking the huge step of.... wait for it.... NOT eating peanut butter!  This is huge as with most people, their body is 70% water... mine was about 68%, with 2% being PB.  To date, after around 2 months or so, I'm "down" to 187, with 165-170 being the "ultimate" goal.  Considering every 7lbs of static weight (as in my lardy butt on the bike) is equivalent to 1 hp, I could gain as much as 4-5 hp just by getting fit.  A big deal when you are riding a supermono or small twin.  When the cold winter comes, I intend to keep running, being sure to get the proper gear so I don't DIE in the -30 degrees celcius weather -- you imperial chaps look that up -- that' freaking cold, it is.... no idea what it is in Fahrenheit or Kelvin or whatever.  This fitness craze has been inspired by my buddy Mike who cycled across Canada in 2008, and my other friend Greg, who is a week away from an Ironman -- as in the full monty... check out his blog here:

http://once-upon-a-bike.blogspot.com/

And for your entertainment, Brit supermono racer Mike Edwards travels 1500 miles or so to race a brand new, untested mono in the wet. Qualifies it in 4th or so, leads in the wet, and then crashes. No biggie, until another rider hits the downed machine and destroys it. Remember that when you see the acres of carbon fibre, and the amount of evident effort put into the bike. At least all the riders were OK!

Mid America Photos

Some of the snaps from the Mancation...

Still finding my way around the track...

Head down, trying to keep that Triumph guy behind me...

Still tentative on the cornering front in the morning...

Getting there...

Inching closer... I could pass him in the infield, but the nearly 1-mile long front straight killed me...

By the end of the day, if I could get in front of him midway through the infield, I could keep him behind me for the duration of the setting.  And yes, I did get my sliders down by the afternoon -- the camera dude just wasn't around to catch it...

Quiet

Not a lot to report on the 'mono front.  I put on a 16T front sprocket yesterday -- woulda liked it at Mid-America, but forgot it at home... should also help at Gimli -- hitting top gear long before turn 1.  As well, the crack in the clutch cover was sweating a bit of oil -- very minor amounts, so I JB Welded it... we'll see if that does the trick.

new blog

Head on over to:  http://mbtwin.blogspot.com/  to keep track of my ninja 650 adventures...

New Steed

Here are a few teaser pics of the bike, taken from the Crashedtoys website.  It's in my garage, and already stripped down quite a bit.  I'll start another blog on that machine shortly, and have a link to this and my RC51 site.

Low miles -- only 6176!!

Damage is almost purely cosmetic -- side fairings, tail, etc.  Shift and brake pedals are dented as well.

This alternator cover is scratched up as well, but no oil leaks -- some paint will take care of it, if I even bother...

Considering the condition, and the price I got it for, I can't believe it was written off.  I may keep track of the costs publicly, but for now, I can say that I got it for 1/10th the price new... do the math!

The plan it to try to get it on track as inexpensively as possible.  Things like a decent shock and a USD front end will cost, as well as some machining work to the front wheel.  However, I'm gonna avoid going the full-fairing direction and create a machine similar to this ER6n that was raced in Europe.  I've already found cheaper options to the side fairings, the headlight/bikini fairing, and am angling for a bellypan I can modify to make oil-retaining.  I'm also going to see if I can fabricate a home-grown slip-on, using the zx10 TwoBros muffler I had from the supermono.  I've changed the oil and fired up the bike, and it seems to run nice, at least on the stand... stay tuned.

Hitting the big time

So, Doug and Wilson and I went to Mid-America Motorplex.  Makes my local look like a paved MX track.  I wanna go back really bad!  This is our pit, with the TPL transporter.  Sunday was crap and wet, but I did get out once before packing it in.  Saturday was too good to push it on Sunday and bring home a broken bike.

Here is a pic of a portion of the track.  My camera has no hope of capturing the size -- long, with the top guys doing about 1 min 45 sec laps.  Going slow and cautious on the 'mono, but still having an absolute blast, and pissing off guys on bigger bikes in the infield.

And I guess I have made the big time -- Performance Bikes Magazine printed a 1-page feature on the 'mono in the most recent issue.  Feels pretty cool that they devoted an entire page to the project.  Will likely get it scanned so I can post it proper.  Will also buy a couple of copies of the magazine, and maybe get the page dry-mounted.

The big news is that I was able to score a more competitive LW bike off of an online auction called Crashedtoys.  A 2008 EX650R -- or ER6F in Europe.  It doesn't look like this right now, but I hope it will look something like this in the near future.  Dad picked it up in Minneapolis for me, it runs, although it has a "junk" title -- hence the cheap price, and perfect for a racebike.  Will have to start another blog!!!

updates

Not a whole lot to report.  Mid America is coming up on June 18-22 -- a real "mancation" planned with Wilson and Doug, who have both been there before.  I can't wait -- only 2 weeks away.  In the interim is the next MRA race.  Will bring the mono in the hopes of doing a bit more testing and tuning.  I did raise the forks up in the triple by 10mm to try to get some more weight over the front.  Might have been a bit of overkill, but I can always halve that length if it is too skittery.  I can also fit the steering dampener, which I will take with me.

I have also started another helmet-painting exercise.  This time, I got a Roof Diversion helmet from the UK.  Not many of these around these parts.  It was in VG condition -- a display model, apparently.  It is very light, and is quite an expensive helmet when bought new.  This had a 2002 build date, so it is not legal for racing, so I was wanting a nice street helmet.  It originally came in red, and looked like this:

What I plan on doing is painting it in Gulf Oil colours, orange stripe, with a dark blue pinstripe, on pale blue.  The striping (I hope) is this pattern:

Here's where I'm at as of today -- tire bead breaker is acting as a helmet stand.  Orange has been painted and masked, and now the blue pinstripe has been taped:

I'm simply using Testors plastic model paint at this point.  Goes on fairly smooth, and the grey primer covered well over top of the stock red.  The helmet itself was scuffed with a plastic scuff pad -- no abrasive sand paper needed!  The last helmet I painted, I used auto-air.  A very coarse paint that required layers and layers of clear, along with wet-sanding in between.  I still plan on applying multiple coats of clear -- here's hoping less sanding is required to get a shiny finish.  I have gulf oil stickers in hand (hopefully they are small enough not to be affected by the helmet's compound curves) as well as replacement "ROOF" decals on the way.  Stay tuned.