Wednesday, April 28, 2010

More Photos From Mac Track!




"I'm coming for you Tiffany!"

Following and overtaking this guy made me think of him as Baby Bowser from Mario Kart. He even had a mowhawk. I kept expecting to get a shell thrown at me.


A few of Travis showing off his 1st class skills.

Mr. Wizzard himself laying it down low

Thanks to this person for taking some awesome photos

Monday, April 26, 2010

Mac Track



Here are a few pictures from yesterday. Got up at 5am and home at 11p. What a long day. 7 mopeds turned into 5 by the time all was said and done in the last race, with one losing belt tension, and unable to start, and the other having a flat tire that couldn't be repaired. Joe from Uphill Battle and myself were pretty evenly matched, even though he only had a 13mm carb on his Ciao, and perhaps the most interesting riding style of 80% weight carried on the wrists, with brake levers pointing straight down. My bike was a little quicker, I think his had a higher top speed, but we were good contenders for each other. It is much more fun to race trying to pass and prevent being passed, than to just be on the track by yourself. Travis and Naz both were in top form, and took first and third places, with second going to Sabatino. I also got to race in the pewee novice class for a bit of extra track time, and was finally able to beat my nemesis, this 7 year old girl.
I also forgot to turn my fuel valve off and run the carb dry before pulling the subframe off the bike, so in order to get it in the trunk without that gas smell, I simply gave the bike a push start and let it use the rest of the fuel.



Thanks to everyone who came out, especially Matt Smith and Jihee!! Great travel companions.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Mac Track Attack!


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I'm leaving Seattle at 5am Sunday morning to go race mopeds in Oregon! I've got my bike neatly packed away in the trunk of Andrea's car. It took 15 minutes to put in in the car, and I imagine about as many to reassemble it. Bolt for the subframe, remove the shocks from the subframe, remove the throttle cable, remove rear brake from subframe, drain fuel, remove front brake cable and wheel, and then the whole darn thing fits so nice in the trunk it's like they were made for each other. The car is full of gas and ready to go with my 3 sleepy faced companions tomorrow. Hopefully they will be a bit lax about sign in times and what not, but I think we can make our target, as I don't anticipate much Sunday AM traffic. Judge Reinhold has a new trick up his left sleeve, called a windowed variator. It's like notching the stock vario but nicer looking and smoother operating. Hopefully those few extra mph will do me good. I almost got busted on the bike yesterday riding it up and down my street. What I'm riding is obviously a race bike, no lights, and I still even had my number attached as I blast down the street. I see a police car two blocks ahead headed my way. I just passed an intersection and it was too late to turn off the street, and I would meet him at the next intersection, so I hit the brakes and pulled in directly behind a parked car, hoping he hadn't seen me yet. I look through the windshield of the car I'm hiding behind, trying to look "casual" and not "hey I was trying to hide from you" and see the cop car which had been stopped to make a left turn, shut off the blinker and hit the gas toward me. "Busted" I thought, imagining how I can talk my way out of this one, only to see the cop go flying by me and continuing on up the street. I quickly got my bike turned back on and zipped right home! That's a free-be!

Thursday, April 22, 2010

The eventual fate of all loaner mopeds


Whisky Business 3 was awesome. Even Max Mojo would agree, although I think the rake on his moped would make for a very shaky turning radius. The only thing that saved this frame from total anihilation was the cross bar that absorbed all the energy from the crash and then (I imagine) hit Mojo in the chin when it exploded out of its place. As of yet, I haven't heard of any deaths at moped rallies, but I am nervous for when there is. It's coming folks! Be safe!

In additional news, I'm now the proud owner of a MagnumX, which will follow in the Cuperzacko tradition of becoming a wonderful blaster in a pint sized container. It will reside in Indiana with my in-laws, to give me something fun to ride around when I'm in town. I anticipate forcing my children to ride this and live my dreams once I have children and dreams.

Also, this Sunday is the first official race of the Oregon Cup of moped racing, so this one will be for points. Which means I hope that I can get second place again, as a certain wizard mentioned that he cast a spell on a black and red wheeled steed, which promises to be very ominous. See you on the track Sunday!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Pacific Grand Prix Race Day


It was a beautiful day for racing yesterday, and Travis, Joel and myself piled into the Little Big Rig and headed out on a long trip to Kent, Wa. We stopped at an IHOP along the way, and I had the split decision breakfast. It was very good. We then trucked the rest of the way to the track, and unloaded the bikes. A quick tech inspection got us cleared for action, and we waited for the competition to arrive. And then they didn't. So it was just Travis and myself to race in the moped class. Sabatino had some excuse, Jesse had blew up his moped, CJ couldn't take time off work, Naz couldn't find leathers in time (but did get some that very day!) and so forth and so on. In fact, the turn out was pretty on the diminutive side, and then one scooter crashed, and another blew it self up, so there were only about 6 bikes to race in the 5 classes. So we all raced on the track at the same time. Which was interesting. Travis even managed to pass and beat one of the scooters in the race. Judge Reinhold performed pretty well, but insists on fowling spark plugs, even while giving a lean indication at top speed. Aside from switching plugs after each race, the bike worked well considering it was nearly 100% WOT the whole time. My leathers were the biggest hit of the track, and I have vowed to have a bike that looks just like them, so expect that hobbit frame to come together over the next month. I was very surprised, being my first time on the track, how fast it feels versus how slow it looks, as well as how well Gazelle tires hold the track. I did end up low siding, but I'm pretty sure I hooked my pedal causing me to drop it, rather than the tires just letting go. Racing is a pretty intense sport, it takes a lot of effort to move around a 100# machine, I couldn't imagine a 250cc or even larger sport bike. I anticipate the next race, and hope to be passed by many more mopeds.

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Plain old good luck

I spent today in the shop, anticipating to work on my own bikes, which I did. I also ended up having a giant amount of people coming and going working on their own stuff. It was pretty busy and loud for a while. Gorilla came and finished his purple ped. A customer came in and did some extra body work on her motorcycle frame. Joel came and worked on his Maxi as well as did some blasting. I made a new bracket for the exhaust on the magnum. It's much better off now, and Naz came and zapped it for me with the tig. I rode it home, and had a little trouble with rain shorting out my cracked spark plug cap. My Free Spirit got the TCCD motor, and that thing really pulls pretty impressively for a 50cc slug on a Puch. 14 Bing and a bullet pipe, 16 x 45 gearing. The brakes, on the other hand, were pretty faded, so I pulled the wheel open to clean them. Lo and behold, the lining had separated from the shoes and was fused to the drum. So instead of the lining pressing against a rotating drum, the lining rotated with the drum and the metal shoes pressed into the lining. Total failure. I need to order some new brakes for this rig, and then it will be blast city commute-mobile.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Farewell, AD

The Austro Diamler has gone to it's new owner today after only one evening on Craigslist. I think it was my ad that convinced him. Godspeed, AD. May you spread the joy of mopeds to a new person and to that persons friends. In other news, Gorilla came down to the shop today and worked on his maxi. This bike was painted at least 3 times, rattle can on top of rattle can, so in order to expedite the sand blasting, I explained that he should go scorch the paint off the bike with my weed burner. This is what he brought back inside. I imagine Gorilla is the kind of guy who likes to burn his marshmallows when he makes a smore too. Be sure to meet this guy at Whisky Business 3!