Kimjon

Resurrection from the dead...upcycling this old motor that's done 4 years on another trike. Its now going to get a second chance to make wheels spin for someone else.

These paddock stands are awesome. I was probably a bit critical of the build quality. They're perfectly functional for what they need to do.

I also discovered this:

Best day ever!!

Works so good. In the past I used blocks of wood and an axle stand, which wasn't secure and a rather optimistic amount of faith to hold the rear end off the ground. It would have looked right at home on a worksafe "what not to do" training video.

Paddock stands for the win!!

Cool new addition to the shed.

Paddock stands:

Let's just say, you get what you pay for. Mine were cheap and the quality (lack of) represents the price point. I had to manually stretch them out by standing on one end and pulling up on the other end, to fit my extra wide rear-end (thats not a flex). However price/quality aside - do they work...hell yes, they work great!

Pretty handy for doing brakes, wheel changes, wheel bearings, stuff like that. I can even put the bike on the hoist and use the paddock stands under it as well...sweeeeet!!

Also great way of storing bike when not in use. Keep tyres in better shape etc...

17 minutes ago, Lord Gruntfuttock said:

I just ride the Vespa in arseless leather chaps...

 

I had to Google that to get that image above. Work phone...

Just waiting for my boss to email me concerning breaching of my code of conduct.

1 minute ago, Lord Gruntfuttock said:

Jeez, got a Harley and a Vespa. So confused...

Same. But walk to the beat of my own drum...

Funny how when you buy something like a motorcycle, you're also buying into a bit of a club containing others with the same obsession.

Harley riders like leather and enjoy the company of other men, who also like wearing leather just a little too much.

Dudes into scooters seem to do anything they can to make something that is already painfully slow...ummm...even slower by adding as much shit to them as humanely possible.

And Hayabusa riders confirm that aliens have already landed!!

Are Hayabusa's fast?

2 hours ago, tortron said:

 

 

That's cool!! How stable is it?

0.0cc????

FML...going nowhere fast, exercising to get back on my road to recovery after knee surgery. But hey, its getting better everyday, with 6 months recovery time ahead of me.

After that, an actual ride going anywhere but here and really fast was in order. So I burned over to a mates house, where we rode together for a couple hours riding time.

He's a very good rider and hung with me on his 1450cc softail harley. My bike would spank his if I pinned it, which we did a few times,  as in totally spanked his. However at a respectful pace, he stuck with me through some of the waikatos "twistiest roads", a testimony to his riding abilities and my lack of. 

This would have been so good!! It was registered too.

You should totally repower a rolling motorcycle frame. Something like a hyosung, you see them for sale cheap as dereg.

Quite an evolution from what it started life as eh.

19 minutes ago, Raizer said:

Well that goes without saying for American made bikes.

Oi!! Cheeky lol

Wheeled this beast out of the way, shifted platform into position.

First problem...frame bottomed out on ramp. Guess it wasn't made for off-road clearances?

Solution, a block of wood.

Up she goes!! Hardly an achievement when my bike only weights about 220kg and the lift is rated to 450kg maximum capacity. But I'll never get sick of seeing the bike/s up off the ground either.

Yip, pretty cool. Its not without its issues, mostly around some cheap quality parts and shit design ideas...but thats a story for another day. 

#livingmybestlife #buell4life

Pump...pump...pump...

Fuck yeah!!!

Then, I'd be rude not to do work on it while its up there, so on go my recently acquired 40mm drop pegs:

And fitted to the bike:

The brake side was a real cunt.

I had to cut 10mm off the brake booster input shaft to drop the brake peddle the required amount to work with the new lowered peg hight, as it was already maxed out on available adjustment.

Because your leg is bent in half in the riding position, a 40mm drop is like being 80mm shorter (like someone who's say 6' 1" rather than me at 6' 5").

"Makes the bike fit me much better(er) now".

There are a few similar things on YouTube. Worth a watch.

2 hours ago, HighLUX said:

Is it a vibrating pile of American freedom when you give it nangs?

Eric Buell was a pretty clever chap. He's basically America's equivalent to our John Brittan. He engineered solutions to all sorts of issues, including the vibrations associated with V-twin motors. 

The engine is a stress member, so there's no down tube like a conventional frame has. Its mounted on rubber isolated torsion tubes. So the rider is pretty disconnected from the throbbing v-twin they are literally sitting on.

Im super impressed by this bike. Its 20 years old, so you gotta compare apples with apples. No point saying "yeah but my 2021 yamaha R1 will beat it in a race", because yes...yes it will. But even by today's standards its a hell of a ride. Super agile and upto say 180kph it'd probably hang with most of today's bikes...but beyond that its got nothing to offer running out of rpms at 220kph its redlined and there's no 6th gear to shift to. Even in its day it was underpowered compared to the bikes it was racing against, but its chassis, huge torque motor and exceptional handling enabled it to be competitive and even win a few races in its class.

Fuck yes!! Some of the best roads in NZ are right on my doorstep. I'm no Valentino Rossi that's for sure...but I still look forward to every corner, doing it at my own pace...such fun. It sticks like glue to the road, rolling on the throttle and exits like a rocket!! Its got reasonable manners in town, can go 30 - 50kph without it sounding like its been strangled. But open it up on the twisting back roads and yeah...seriously...yeah...!!

In my head I'm 25 years old...but my birth certificate says something quite different to that. 

So in  acknowledgement of this new insight I'm now embracing my age and buying shit to make my life easier....tadah!!

Ordered, and now hopefully on its way to me this week. Fuck yeah!!

Photo from last weekend. Small group of riders in Hamilton. Think there 9 of us?

I realized how slow mine is compared to others, but it definitely wasn't the slowest scooter of all. So like that old Canadian saying goes "you don't have to be faster than the bear, just faster than the slowest person you're with"...