200R progress...

So after Hannah's initial ride at our house we found that the front brakes were not effective. She was still able to take several laps using first gear, and we learned a bit more about the bike.

I took the front wheel off and the brake shoe linings came off in my hand, so that explains why the cable adjustments weren't working. Since I knew I'd have to order new shoes I went ahead and dropped the forks so that I could change the oil, and at the same time I could trim the steering stops down to get a slightly better turning radius.





More to show, but I've been super busy at home and work so there've been many interuptions...maybe I'll catch up this weekend.

XR200R groundwork...

I was able to spend some time on Hannah's new ride on Sunday. I was pleasantly surprised as I inspected the bike a little closer. I decided that the first area of concern was the rear wheel, there was a nasty squeal coming from there when I rode it around the yard, and I'd noticed at least one broken spoke. I was able to pull the bearings and found that only one is bad, on the hub side, because the seal is shot. So that was good news. I'll get a new seal and bearing, and when I replace them I'll see if I have some spokes that will work.

Here's one cool thing about XRs, the quick release for the rear brake. You just pull the spring tensioner forward to release the rod, the brake stay is built into the swingarm, and there's an extension on the lower section of the swingarm to hold the wheel/brake/axle assembly. You can switch the whole thing out in seconds if you have a spare. Tres cool.



A keen observer will also note the missing spokes in that photo.

Another nice find, they provided zurk (grease) fittings for the rear suspension. I don't think I've ever seen that on another dirtbike.





After a fresh plug, oil change and clean filter, I think we'll be able to ride it a little bit and see what needs the most attention. One thing I've noticed is that the steering stops are pretty conservative, I may grind them back some to get a better turning radius
I also modified/fabricated a side stand from one I took off of an older CB. Pictures to follow....

New ride for Hannah!

We just got back from Maine, a quick visit with the Clarkes and a mission to pick up Hannah's new dirt bike. It's an '82 XR200R, "rescued" (ahem) from Aaron's shed. It's going to be a great bike for her, size and power and suspension that she can use. Can't wait to spend some time on it.



She can't either!

I think I'll try to post some progress on this as I go through it. It does have some needs, and there are some interesting details on the bike. For instance, check out how far the forks extend below the front axle! I don't know what they were thinking...

Truck fever

Well after 3 1/2 years, the Red '98 Ranger had pretty much worn me out, heat coming on by itself, flaky A/C, transmission doing funny things in lock-up mode, I decided it was time to upgrade...



so I got a Blue one. Only this is an '03, and in Rangerspeak, it's a 4.0 Edge with a handshaker, 4 door, 4X4, roll-ups, ice and cruise. I'm happy to say it's actually a nice truck and I'm getting decent fuel mileage, even driving around with the ice on.
The cap had to come off as soon as I got it home. Unfortunate, 'cause it's a nice cap.
Anybody need a Sonic Blue cap?

'75 CB125 "Pea Shooter"

This little bike has been fun to tinker with. My brother bought it from the original owner during one of the first gas crunches. Rode it for a year and then it made it's way into many basements and garages over the next decade. I got it a few years ago.
The tank is from some British single, I got the seat on ebay, the bars from one of my flattrackers. It passed a state inspection. Tires are oversize universals.
The gas tank leaks a bit, the carb could stand a cleaning, sometimes hard to start cold after it's been sitting but once you get it going it starts first kick.
Fun bike to ride. Could be a good vintage racer too.

NEMM at Rocky Ridge Raceway

The second New England Mini Moto event of the season ran today in Graniteville VT, at the home track of vtshifterkarts.com
It's a great little track with a surprising amount of elevation change and a good combination of tight and fast turns.

I managed to crash in every points race I entered. Not a very good showing, don't know how I did in the results, but last is never worth much. I also managed to wear out the promoter with my constant helpful comments and insight, sorry Aaron. I further managed to run over a guy's hand who happened to crash next to me, sorry Donald.
I did learn (...by accident...literally) why the XR100 was running so poorly (air filter), and I did determine that racing on 10+ year old crappy street tires is pretty much just a bad idea.

I did have a good time despite myself. Scott Baker graciously invited me to be his teammate on his CB125 for the enduro, which is becoming a tradition after the points racing is done. 2 riders per team, each rider with a 20 minute stint. His CB125 was a fun bike to race, decent power and tires that actually had grip.

Here's a vid of an open practice

NEMM! (New England Mini Moto)

So Sunday turned out to be a great race day as well. The first round of the New England Mini Moto series at Loudon. Our goal was to have some fun, support the new series run by our friend Aaron Phinney of Caferacer.net fame, and not get dinged up. Fairly low expectations, but this was a new venture, so it seemed like a good idea to go in like that.
Turns out we had a blast. My XR100 really wasn't running right, I had OK low end, but I couldn't get any high RPMs, the engine wouldn't rev. I figured I'd be alright if there wasn't a long straight...but there was a long straight. Since I've already tried several times to adjust the timing with no apparent sucess, I decided to live with it.
Bill's bike was looking and running great.



We went out for a couple practice sessions. Each session is 20 minutes, which I'm just not used to at all. In dirt track racing you're lucky if you get two 5 lap practice sessions, so this was somewhat surreal to me. I just pulled off the track after awhile, 'cause I figured I was just burning gas.
Bill and I were signed up in the XR100 Cup, and Aaron wanted me to go into the Premier class as well. I confess I wasn't really sure what all the classes were, but Premier sounded and looked like bikes that were way over the level of my poor, tired little XR100. I convinced Aaron to let me run in the Sport Cup with Bill and some of the other guys. He said it would be fine but I'd have to start at the back. Fine.

Well I don't really remember much of the heat races, I did pretty well in the Sport Cup, 3rd, and I was doing OK in the XR100 Cup till it started to rain, I crashed and finished just about last.

The Sport Cup feature was great though, I had a decent start and was running in 3rd behind a TTR and a nice BBR Honda ridden by what I guess was a slightly less experienced racer, (she had a hard time with the T1 hairpin) so after lap 2 I was in 2nd and I could see Bill and our buddy Steve Baker were not too far behind me. I was hoping they'd have a harder time passing the BBR girl than I did.
Well I was doing my best to hassle the TTR, but no matter what happened in the infield, he'd pull away on that long straight. I could see Bill catching up to us on every lap at the end of the straight, till the 2nd to last lap, when I didn't see him because he was right behind me. Well he was patient, followed me around and passed me on the straight as we took the white flag. I knew it was over but I tried to at least stay with him and not get passed by Steve, and we finished in that order. Bill ran a hella good race to run me down after the gap we started with, so we were both pretty psyched after that!

Th XR100 Cup didn't go quite as well for me, starting from the last row I had a good start and gained a couple positions. Then I made some mistakes here and there and lost ground just as quickly. It was a ton of fun though, 15 bikes in the race. I haven't been on the track with that many bikes in a long time. I'm looking forward to the next round, in Graniteville Vermont!