Aluminum swing arm repaired

So a few weeks ago I put up some photos of my faithful steed. I've ridden across the U.S. on her, especially the west coast. So I'm a little bit attached to her. So it was my dismay when she was damaged due to my carelesness. I called a friend of mine in Reno who welds and I figured I'd just take the swingarm off and have him repair it. So right before going to Reno, I decided to remove the swingarm. hahahaha 5 hours later, I had the swingarm off (doh!, a little longer than I expected), and was enroute to Reno in traffic (exactly what I was trying to avoid) hahaha
Before: After:

I took the entire rear of the M900 apart.

...and cleaned the hell out of everything. hmmm, don't think I've seen that part of the engine be any other color, other than black (covered in oil) haha

and in the end, she's all back together. I had barely gotten a little over 100 miles of scrub in time on my new tires, so I was itching to go out and ride.

I called Dave Moss at Catalyst Suspension, and rode down so he could dial in the bikes front forks, and rear shock. He made some measurements, and he dialed it in. Holy crap, the bike handles so much better now...it doesn't wallow on hard acceleration, and it tracks perfectly through corners under heavy acceleration. So I promptly rode home and got my other bike and came back to get that one dialed in. :D

Back on track!!!!!

Well, as many of you know, I got the trackday fever again recently, and got to work on my racebike.

Well, Memorial day I got a chance to take her out (it has been a year, since I'd been on the track), and it felt amazing. The bike was running great, got her warmed up, and managed to not do any damage, and do well on the laptimes. The track: Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, Ca. (about 140 miles north of SF)

I've been here many times, but it had been a year since the last time I was here, and today was all about getting myself back up to track speed.

A few photos in the morning at our pits. I went up with several friends, Correne, Dave, Brian, Linda, Adam, Dave, Jeff and myself +1. :D We pitted together and that makes for a great day of hanging out with friends and pushing each other on the racetrack.

My first session out, was great, got up to a decent speed, and since I was also breaking in new slicks, I had to take it easy for a lap or two.

Dave and I went out together for the first session. He's on a Triumph Street Triple, while I'm on the SV 650s. We were managing the same times, and once my tires were scrubbed in, it was time to pick up the pace and drop him like a cheap habit. HAHAHA :D

The track was closed and evacuated temporarily when someone ate it coming out of T13 (the back S curves) and high sided, with the bike partially lying on the track. Fortunately, with the many crashes, no one was seriously hurt, nor required a trip to the hospital. That is amazing actually. hahaha so a quick photo of us waiting for the track to go green. It was getting warm, but no where near the 105 deg weather that can hit here in July and August.

A little salute to our favorite photographer, Dito. :D from gotbluemilk.com

all the photos from this one, down to the end are courtesy of one of the finest track photographers I know. Dito.

The day got good, and I picked up my speeds more and more. The goal was to get around the track, get a feel for my bike again, and see what my current running speed is. I always feel better with brand new tires, and today was no different. About mid-morning I started to drop my times, and was consistently in the 2:10 range. not horrible, but not where I wanted to be.

Dave and I played for a while on track, and then Adam and I went to dicing it up, and that carried my pace even faster. Especially since he is on an R6 and technically, should be pulling around the track way faster than me. :D It was good though, since I kept pace and it pulled me around the track that much faster.

In the end, a really fun day. It was Memorial Day, and I saw it fitting to go out and do something fun, and enjoy our freedoms that this amazing country offers us, with special thanks to all of our Military personnel worldwide.

more INK...left side started.

So I finally got the appointment that I wanted with a guy in San Francisco, Tim Lehi at Blackeart Tattoo.

I had heard of Tim about 8 years ago, when living in Seattle. A friend of mine had a lot of tattoo work, and most of it had been done by Tim. He recommended him, and the work looked fantastic. Imagine my surprise when I walked into Blackheart one day, just looking at artist renditions, and asked if they knew of Tim Lehi...they in turn said to me that he worked there. hahaha what a coincedence. I had been going to the bar next door for a couple years now and never knew. geez.

anyway, I got a call that he had about 2 hours free on Saturday afternoon, after being put on the cancellation phone list, mostly because I live right here in SF.

So Saturday afternoon, I went in for some work to start the left arm. It is the female companion Foo Dog (Chinese Lion) of the one rendered on my right arm.

I'm pretty excited to see the work as it progresses and this piece took Tim a little under two hours to do. damn. :D

aluminum swingarm damage.

So what does a $24.57 bolt do when it snaps?
Well, funny you should ask. If loosened, said bolt will allow the end cap of the chain adjusters to slip back and spin....consequently hitting the rear sprocket and chucking it into traffic somewhere....while at the same time ripping a chunk of the aluminum swingarm, outwardly with it.

Didn't even feel it happen while out riding. Was scrubbing in new tires, took a 111 mile quick trip here in the bay area shoreline area, and came home to this.

bummer. already lining up an Aluminum welder to repair it, and just need to get the parts. unbelievable that that 2 sided bolt is over $20 bucks.

It's PBR time.

Ducati M900 aluminum swingarm damage

DEAR BROWNIE, a Pirates blunder!!!

DEAR BROWNIE, just thought you may not have seen this little gem yet. :D
It doesn't matter that the Pirates won, the only thing remembered from this game will be, Lasting Milledge, and his awesome blunder thinking the ball had left the field of play. HAHAHAHA doh!!!

edit: the more I thought of it, I wondered what would possess someone to let it slip their mind, to keep their eye on the ball. I mean, they get paid millions to play the game at top form, physically and mentally. I'm just saying, I learned these things while playing little league baseball. Never take you eye off the ball & no matter what you think the ball may be doing, you run it out. Always run it out. hahaha

at least Milledge was their for a good laugh for everyone that watched and his teammates too. hahaha

I do have to say, he handled it decently by admitting and owning up to it, and not making hugely lame excuses for what he did.
I wonder if he'll have to run laps, like we used to when we screwed up during little league games.

SV 650s repairs....she runs!!! 5-2-10

It was a fine sunny weekend (not over yet, btw), so I decided, it was not a bad time to work on the SV. After the last trip to Infineon raceway to watch my roomate Adam, race in his first AFM race weekend, I wanted to be out on the track soooo badly.

So nothing more for me to do, than to start working on the race bike.

First: get her running. Problem with racing, and not too many trackdays is the length of time the race bike (not street legal) goes without running or being started.

So after dumping the turpentine (read: gasoline) out of the tank, and emptying the bowls in the flatslide carbs (race carburetors that allow faster and smoother flow of gasoline into the bike), I put new fuel in it, and changed out the spark plugs. She fired up, and ran. Warming her up, zip ties added, parts bolted on where they go, tires inflated....and then a few passes up and down the street to verify. hahahaha she is LOUD as hell, with some yoshimura straight pipes, and a Leo Vince exhaust can.

I pulled out the brand new Sharkskinz race plastics that I bought a little over 2 years ago, and have been lugging around with me since. Time to mock it up, and thanks to Calvin for lending me the front fairing stay to get'r done.

some photos as she takes shape. I think May 31st will be my first trackday and return to the track for the year 2010.

dammit. can't get the cell phone video to upload. anyone got any ideas how to?

BBQ in da hood! 4-30-2010

So every Friday, at Surfside Liquors, the boys from the local black m.c. bring out their grill, and cook up some of the most delicious ribs I've tasted. That is saying a lot, especially, since a) it's not Texas b) it's California and c) I've never tasted ribs this good out here.

It's just a grill on the sidewalk in Hunters Point hood, next to the liquor store. With a few tables set out so the locals can play dominos. hahaha

most of my friends won't venture down here to buy beer or even the food, but F it, it's too good not too. and they're pretty cool actually.

Chicken and rib combo plate, $11. :D

Oh, and to add to the flavor, I had to pick up a 40oz of Old English and some orange juice for some "Brass Monkey" on such a fine, warm and sunny day. With the added warmth, it's good to have a coozie for your 40oz. so that it doesn't slip out of your hand. hahaha wetsuit for a 40 oz bottle.

Utah, Nevada portion of the trip...back to California. (April 2010)

Well, we made it past New mexico, with a nights stay at the historic El Rancho Hotel in Gallup, NM. A lot of old movies were filmed in this region back in the day (northwest New Mexico).
After being denied entrance into "four corners" landmark, as it was gated up and under construction, we made our way west towards Utah.

Along the way, we stopped off to see this little heard of landmark, Mexican Hat.


After zipping by the hat, we drove our way out to Zion National Park.
After paying our entry fees, we made our way down through a mile long tunnel that takes you along the inside face of the mountain as seen on the first photo (a vent for fumes and probably construction access. Just head for the light at the end of the tunnel. It's when I found out that she has a bit of a claustrophobic side. :D

Saw some cars stopped, and this little fella was walking by on the road. It took him a bit, but I must have been scrambling in the truck to put the zoom lense on my camera, because, he had this inquisitive look on him when I looked up. hahaha

There were some cool structures and lines in the mountains through the park, truly breathtaking area. Wish we could have spent more days here.

While driving into the visitors center, I saw this old car, and approached the couple when we all parked. It's a 1970 3CV that they were driving up from Ushuaia, Argentina, with a final destination of Alaska...and then back home. The couple had been on the road for 2 years, and were just plugging along. You too can see them on their blog site.....not sure how google translator will work, but there is an option for it, as their blog is in spanish.

on the way out of the park, I saw this cool little wagon parked out in the middle of a well groomed field next to this tree. Didn't look like it was running, but the photo seemed like one to take.

I stopped at the road sign for the "Extraterrestrial Highway" (Hwy 375 thru Nevada) one funny sticker, "I don't masturbate, I just wash my d*ck really fast" HAHAHAHAHA dropped an on-on sticker in place, and we moved on.

One final stop in Hawthorne, Nv. before rounding our way into Reno for 2 days. I have seen this tow truck before, and really really want to buy it and restore it into a tow truck rat rodd. I think it would look sick, but alas, no room to store it at the moment. soon though, I hope.

Spent a nice 2 days in Reno with my sister and brother-in-law.

Pics from the trip through New Mexico

I ran across several old cars throughout the trip. It always draws my attention, as I think of what brought that car to that particular location and what conditions made it stay there. history is all.


While in New Mexico, we made a stop near Alamogordo at the White Sands N.P.

I wanted a shot of my truck, with bike, against the white "sands".

LOL yes, there is a pistachio farm in New Mexico, which advertises the largetst pistachio EVAR!!! It's on the side of the road at McGinn's Pistachio tree farm.

random encounter in New Mexico

So I know I've been lame and not updated too much lately, but I'm lurking trying to put some together. gonna post up a few moments in the last few weeks.


as you all know, I was in Texas for 2 weeks in charge of putting together the Texas Interhash 2010. 27 years of TXIH and we finally got a chance to host it, and it went spectacularly.


I will get back to that very soon, but meanwhile.....


On my drive back to California, from Texas, I was in the middle of New Mexico, and passed a guy on a bicycle riding the opposite directions.

It always amazes me to see people (men and women) out on the road, on a bicycle, with everything they needed strapped and loaded on the bike. So when I passed another bicyclist going my direction, a few miles up, I stopped to snap a few photos and to chat with the guy. Mostly, because I've ran across people on bicycles while on my very long motorcycle trips, and I've always wanted to chat with them. As it takes more fortitude and dedication to ride across countries over months, than it does to ride across them in days. :)


Todd, had left Florida 2 months earlier, and was making his way north to Colorado from New Mexico, and then was going to take a train back to Montana where his car was parked with family.

After snapping some shots, I chatted with Todd, and he was a cool dude, and said he had just stopped to talk to the other bicyclist that was going the opposite direction, and that he must have been having a bad day. He said, that the guy was in a pissy mood, albeit cordial, but Todd could tell it wasn't a kind day.

For Todd the day only got worse (from the email I got later on), he hit heavy head winds after we parted ways, and it was one of the worst days of his riding. Some pictures I took.

After which, we made our way on towards Gallup, NM.

enjoy.

busy busy

man, I've been running ragged. so much to do. business and pleasure. :D so I can't complain.

I have a few days off as of this morning, and I'm planning on updating, and posting photos, for sure.

I think today, I will work on the race bike. After riding up to Infineon Raceway last weekend to watch my friends race with the AFM, I got the bug bad. No rushing into it, but I definitely want the bike running and up to speed for the next trackday available. :D Time to make the budget.
tires - $350
paint - $200
maintenance work - $100
steering damper - $400
trackdays - $250
raceday priceless (actually, not so priceless...hahahaha, about $500 for race weekend).

The multistrada just got out of the shop for regular maintenance and service, and she's running fresh. one little problem with the dashboard, but hoping that I can fix that today.

After which, Speakeasy brewery in BVHP for some afternoon beers.

repairs

spending the morning defraging and spyware protecting my computer. lame.

but she is running way faster. :D

Great day at the races yesterday, AFM Rd 2 @ Infineon Raceway.

My roomate, Adam's first race weekend. He did well, finished up clubman well, and had 2 races on Sunday, when it counts.
I rode out on Sunday mid morning and immediately ran into everyone I know. hahahaha it was super fun, and got to catch up with loads of people. Watching the FP race and all others was uber cool, and of course got me thinking I want to be ON THE TRACK asap!!! haha

time to look at the SV and get her running just right. There is a trackday this coming Sunday that I might try to get into.