Saturday, August 30, 2014

Cannonball Run

A friend is on his way to start the Cannonball Run for antique bikes in Florida. 110F and no AC. Apparently this is this season's new look for the riding man.

Friday, August 29, 2014

Summer holidays

The new bike is finished and as usual it was a crazy week before heading to Portland and Seattle to race it. I was able to dyno it 2 days before leaving. It didn't blow up which is always nice. 

I'm running oxygenated VP U.4 race gas which played havoc with my jetting calculations. I started with a 170 main jet. Off the charts lean. Oops. As it was the biggest I had some drilling of jets ensued. Went back with a 195. Still too lean. Bugger!! As I was leaving the next day a frantic call to Mike Rich was placed: "a 220 wouldn't surprise me" he said. As further dyno runs were out of the question a good old full throttle plug chop would have to do. Drilled the jets to 220 and wound it out in second gear near my shop (which is actually the closest I've come to killing myself on a bike) and a lovely dark tan color on the plugs was deemed good to go. Finished packing at 2am. Left LA at 11am for a straight through 13 1/2 hr drive to Portland. This is endurance racing right ??

Here's the bike at PIR. It ran great, didn't blow up and I didn't crash or embarrass myself. The same was the case the following weekend in Seattle. The only thing I turned a wrench to was the plugs to check them. 



Some Seattle race footage here: 


Bike specs:
86rwhp, 68ft lbs torque. There's a few more ponies in there I think.

95x80, 1134cc. 11.5:1 compression, mid valve heads, Megacycle X8 cam, 10 spring lightened clutch, Carrillos, Ti pushrods, Charley Cole gearbox and 7:33 rear drive, low dogs removed, GP shift. 375lbs with oil, charging system, starter and headlight.

25.5 degrees rake, 45mm offset, 100mm trail, 57"wheelbase.

It goes like stink.