A new Ducati

A Tamiya kit, based on Roby Rolfo's MotoGp Ducati.

Lotsa decals on this one.

The Tamiya clear has a pearl effect -- the glisten spots can be seen in the paint.

Local shop now sells Tamiya paints -- nice to work with, expecially the spray paints.  An M1 is in the works -- either Melandri or Checa, in preseason testing colors for something different.

Another new Sponsor!

Racing Batteries has stepped forward to support Lucky Stroke Racing in 2012.  They sell a line of lightweight batteries for powersports products. 

 From their website:

Your bike, kart or car is beautifully engineered with the latest technology, carefully crafted in aluminum, titanium and lightweight plastics, and is as light as the manufacturer can make it.

You’ve removed all unnecessary components, and replaced as much of the rest as you can with the lightest materials you can afford – titanium fasteners, carbon bits, titanium exhausts and so on.
You’d love carbon wheels, but the budget won’t quite stretch! But under your seat (or behind it, or under the hood) lurks a big chunk of lead/acid nastiness – technology invented in 1859!
Why are high tech light weight sports vehicles supplied with this heavy, stone age garbage? Simple – high tech batteries are too expensive for cheapskate OEM buyers! Your laptop, phone and I-pod all use lightweight, high performance batteries, so why shouldn’t your pride and joy? Using the latest in lightweight power technology (Lithium Ferrous Nano Phosphate if we're being technical), Racing Batteries have created a range of components for your track bike, kart or race car that will give you a massive weight saving.
Racing Batteries are made in the UK - designed using the latest CAD systems, CNC machined, assembled and 100% tested in a professional quality controlled environment.
All Racing Batteries are direct replacements for your existing Lead Acid battery - simply remove your old battery and replace it with a Racing Battery - no other modifications are required - and you look after it just like you would a Lead Acid unit.
If you're not after a direct replacement or you're doing some serious racing, contact us and we'll let you know what the lightest option is for your application.
And as well as being lighter, Racing Batteries are more powerful than lead acid batteries, so that your motor starts faster and more reliably.

The battery for the ex650r is the RB240400 model.  At 2.4lbs, it is nearly 5 lbs lighter than the stock battery.  And like most of these new batteries, they last even longer than lead acid versions.  Even better, they are successful in the UK, sponsoring one of my heros, Mike Rutter.

The website for Racing Batteries is listed under the "sponsors" tab to the right.  Check them out!

Sponsorship News!

Woodcraft Technologies has once again agreed to support Lucky Stroke Racing for 2012.  One of the new products I will be using are the "Lever Guards".  Designed to prevent unintentional front brake application when contact is made with another bike in close quarters, they would also protect hands in the event of a crash.  Here's a nasty example of what can happen:

650 exhaust finished

This has come together quite nicely.  After recieving the scorpion exhaust from Pop over the break (originally for a gixxer 1000), I set about lining things up.  I actually tacked the muffler in place at home, and then got the master, Brent at Cycleboyz to tig-weld it to the "free" collector pipe I had lying around.  The end result is what you see here.

Nice tight clearance with the swingarm...

The muffer also came with a nice chrome-plated clamp (which I used to connect the tailpipe to the header), and a stainless strap and rubber bracket bushing.

I welded two m10 shouldered nuts into the cut-off end of the seat frame mounts -- this provided a strong and secure way to mount the muffler bracket.

I'll remove the bracket and paint it with Hammerite paint, as per my usual procedure.  Tubing is 3/4 x .065 4130 -- plenty sturdy enough!

If you ask me, it kinda looks like a moto2 exhaust, with the loooong muffler bracket...

a few updates

Some time off over the Christmas break has allowed me to tick off a few boxes on the "to do" list.  First the supermono -- I didn't like the location of the HRC overflow bottle.  Noticing that a lot of racebikes have them mounted on the front fairing stay, I decided to do likewise.  It was a nice treat to work with proper metal tools. 

Kate works part time at a top-secret location.  It was quiet over the break, so I snuck in and used a nice shear and break to create the bottle holder.  I also used their drill press to make the litening holes in this aluminum sheet.  Foam strips are stuck to the bottle to help secure it in place -- a zip tie will be the final step to secure the bottle properly.  The extra bonus was working inside!

I also mocked up a crankcase vent system.  It uses a combination of 3/8" (case) and 5/8" (cylinder head) spigots.  Before I bought more expensive hose for the application, I tested it with some cheap hose from Canadian Tire.  There is a brass T fitting hiding in the picture on the left.

This hose has spent its life sitting on a spool in a store, and combine that with the below zero temps, turned it into plastic.  This vent filter will lay FLAT under the tail section, not sticking up like this.  At least I have the correct lengths and it should all work.  Proper hose for this application is inbound.

Also had a chance to visit MINUTE MUFFLER in Brandon.  Good karma from these dudes.  I bought a better FMF muffler from ebay to fit on the mono -- it came with a short section of stainless connector pipe in 2", with a section cut for clamping.  However the muzzy header coming out from the collector is also 2".  I took the header and the stainless collector piece to the guys there to see if they couldn't use their pipe expander to create a slip-fit onto the muzzy header.  Hey presto, and its done.  I even had a spare muffle clamp that will work -- you can see it just ahead of the oil drain bolt.  Will need to do some more tweaking and fitting to get the scorpion muffler to work, but this also allows me to take the whole shebang off again and re-fit the muzzy muffler (seen dented on the floor from my crash) if it all proves to be useless.  Best part is, they did it for free!  Might stop by with some Tim's in the next few days to express my thanks...

bored

Winter is no fun.  Maybe I should get into snowmobiles or something.  A trip to Canadian Tire to get a 17' ladder for 1/2 price found me picking up some striping tape...

Warmer than seasonal weather did see me put the bored throttle bodies back on the ex.  Cover went back on, waiting for spring.  That being said, I'll have some fun when the scorpion muffler is acquired from Dad -- have some neat ideas for that.  Stay tuned...

bored

The Throttle Bodies have returned:

This picture should give you a sense of the increase in bore diameter:

You can see the original subplate in place with the new gap around the outer diameter.  Sub plates will be removed for this application (obviously).

Also I spend the winter watching racing videos, and they often come with crash footage.  I'm not much of a crasher, but last season I raced without a chest protector -- the bks leathers I was using were too tight to include the full back protector and a chest guard as well.  I sold the bks leathers, and picked up a set of Spyke titanium leathers for an amazing price... they may clash just a bit with the green and blue of the bikes, but the important thing is they are top of the line leathers and being one size larger, they allow me to use the pilot chest protector I got as a part of the sponsorship deal last year.