I have no idea how often I will do something like this, but with the lack of progress I feel I should throw general update up. The past year or two has brought many changes to the garage and inventory. Tooling is much better, my knowledge has grown, and the overall class of bikes has improved. In the past two years the KTM was added, a bike that is hands down the best off-road motorcycle I have ever owned. The Suzuki DR350 that helped me back into the off-road fold after a small break was sold at a profit. A 1981 Suzuki GS750 16v spent some time in the garage and has happly been passed to a new home. I also stepped into the vintage motocross scene, so far the Hammer and Tongs series. Sadly I am now officially waving off any other racing this season due to lack of funds, the current goal it to be back for the start of next season with at least one bike if not two. Also if I am using a two year back marker for this opening address the proud 2006 Triumph Scrambler was swapped out for a 2007 Triumph Tiger 1050i. Now on to the bikes…
2007 Triumph Tiger 1050i: Over all nothing but great things to report here. The bike has served me well since day one. After a few months of getting her properly sorted with crash bars, HID lights, hard luggage, skid plate, and hand guards she has needed nothing more than regular services. In October of 2008 when she was bought there was just over 2,000 miles on the odometer, currently she is sitting just shy of 25,000 miles. The valve clearance was checked and still in spec. I final beat up the fork seals to the degree that they needed to be replaced, I also added the Moose neoprene seal protectors that have worked well on the KTM. Pivot-pegz have started making a very aggressive foot peg for the Tiger, and the stockers have been replaced with the fine Australian Pivot-Pegz. The stockers left a lot to desire in the wet, mainly the grip to keep your foot on the pegs. As with anything I do have a very short list of things I want to do. High on the list are some auxiliary driving or fog lights to help compensate for the inherent flaws in projector beam headlights on a motorcycles. For those who are not savvy on this subject, projector beams work great in the straight line, but leave you quite literally in the dark when you lean the bike over in a turn. I also need to wire the bike up with heated grips, this has stayed low on the list mostly to the heated gloves I have, but it is on the list none the less
1997.5 KTM 200 EXC: As I have mentioned this is by far the finest off-road motorcycle I have ever owned. It has made me a better rider, and really not left me much to do with her other than ride. After the second time replacing the fork seals they seem to be holding, the fork boots are probably to credit largely for that. I am currently working on dialing in the suspension for my weight, this is just a matter of adjusting the fully adjustable suspension. I also plan on changing the handle bar out to improve the ergonomics while standing on the pegs. Other than adding a skid plate and swapping to steel friction disks in the clutch this bike has been nothing short of “Ready to Race” as advertised.
1979 Husqvarna CR250: This was part of the pair of vintage Husky’s I bought to get into vintage racing, This one was far more apart than the CR400 that it can with, but did include more spares. With the engine coming already in a box I could see it needed a top end, and it was missing the carb. I was able to get a very good deal on a 1981ish Husky 250WR with a blown up clutch. After much waiting I pulled the trigger and bought the case tool needed to reassemble the cases and have a running motor. Currently the transition parts are laid out on the work bench and I have a feeling the motor will be back together soon. The parts bike also yielded a set of good 40mm forks to replace the 35mm forks that were on the 1979 CR250. Lots of other good parts went into the parts bin to include a second set of Ohlins rear shocks. Right now I am figuring this bike will need less than $300.00 in parts to get her race ready, be it still ugly, barring the $200.00 of engine tools. I hope to not only have this ready for VMX next year, but also the vintage class at the Odessa Desert 100.
1978 Honda CT70: As shown here this bike did receive quite an over haul in the past year. Still not 100% but is very close and will be completed when funds and desire line back up. Right now there are too many other bikes on the front burners, being I do not have a yard I can play with this bike in this will stay low on the list of projects.
1975 Honda Z50: This was a parts bike that I picked up while working on the CT70. After realizing how complete it is I have decided to bring it back as a runner. No real work has been done other than figuring out what it needs. After finding out my sisters were pregnant I was thinking of rebuilding it for my niece or nephew. Not sure if I will do that still, keep it as another vintage pit bike, or sell it off to finance another project. It takes up very little space, so for now it sits on the shelf torn down.
1974 Honda CB360 Café Racer: This is another bike that I documented well during my work on the past few years. Currently she is sitting 90% complete, I am still making progress, be it very slowly. Right now the big project I am currently working on is the seat assembly. I am sure I will post more pictures in a dedicated post, but pretty much I am dealing with a very time intensive ground up fiberglass build. Other than the seat being completed, the tank needs to be coated (fiberglass and gas don’t mix well anymore), a rear brake linkage needs to be made, and the Magura lever assemblies need to be swapped out for units with the proper pull. Overall it is getting very close, but most of my funds keep getting diverted to keeping the daily runners (KTM, Triumph) at 100% and getting the Huskies back on the track.
1972 Husqvarna CR400: This went from a “running” basket case, to a semi restored race bike, to a blown up race bike in less than two months. The rise and fall I did document fairly well here. Anyways right now she sits needed around $1,000.00 worth of parts from the engine exploding. I have a feeling I might end up getting a parts bike when the time comes to soften the blow, but this is a very back burner project right now. I did dump a fair amount of money into this bike to get it on the track, but I have a feeling that the CR250 will be back on the track first. So for now she sits noblely wearing number plates, with the topend off the motor as a somber reminder of the unforgiving nature of the track.
