| Author | Message | ||
     Darthane |
The American BRAG Chapter (Battle Twins) has now had two runs to the Dragway in Milan, MI, for a Friday night Test and Tune. Last time we went the chapter Director, Spiderman, cracked the front motor mount on his beloved M2 and sheared off one of the mounting bolts and had to have his bike trailered back to the dealership. Not wanting that to happen again, we decided I would toss my 'bolt in the back of my truck for this run, lest something go wrong with one of our bikes and it be unridable once more. We started off the day with three of our group heading to American H-D for Dyno runs. They put my race-kitted Firebolt on first, where it pulled a tad less HP than I though it would and a tad more torque. I was rooting for 85/65 and ended up with 82.7 and 66.2. I'll happily trade a foot/pound or two for a couple horsepower. Next on to the dyno was the customized M2 named Mary Jane of our fearless leader, Spiderman. Mary decided she'd smoked one too many blunts the night before and developed electrical problems during the dyno run, resulting in the bike missing sparks, the lights flickering, etc. Unsure exactly what to make of this, we thought Spidey would miss another day at the track and tossed our friend's modified X1 on the dynamometer, where it pulled 86.7 and 74.2. He lost his bet that he'd make more than 90RWHP and therefore will be ribbed mercilessly for the next couple years. We got the rest of our group together and headed to the track, getting there around 4:30 or so. I had my Firebolt in the back of the truck, and the X1, a 2002 M2, and a S3T followed me out there, where we were meeting another friend on an M2 who brought a buddy riding a Kawasaki ZX12R. We all unloaded and set up for our runs. I paired off against a GSXR1000 for the first run, which predictably mopped the floor with my Firebolt (I pulled a 12.564@110.05mph, he nailed down a 11.670@121.61), but I was simply more interested in beating my times from the last trip (and beating my friend, of course). The X1 ended up behind me and pulled a 12.4~. We compared notes and decided to face off against one another while the M2 and S3T ran behind us in the pack, pulling low 13s. I got a little better each time, drastically improving my reaction time and my control of first gear (both big problem for me at the strip), finally pulling 4 runs at sub 12.5 and 110+mph. My best time was 12.268 and my top speed was 112.49. To our mystification, the X1 was getting slower and slower, and the rider complained about the rev limiter not stopping when he upshited. We all racked our brains as to what could cause this, making sure he cooled the bike, checked his oil level, etc. It didn't seem to give him any problems on the way back to the line, just at high revs in 4th and 5th gear. We decided our 5th run would be the last for a while and we would go get drinks while our bikes cooled down. While we were sitting in line the second M2 and his buddy on the Kaw showed up, along with ::drumroll:: Spiderman on Mary Jane. Turns out it was nothing more than a loose battery cable causing all the fuss. Very happy that he'd made it out, we got set for our fifth run. The Lightning and I lined up, the lights turned green, and I took off, pulling down my second best time of 12.303@111.69mph (I know this bike will pull a sub 12 second run if I can just nail the launch and first gear). When I looked back, though, the X1 was nowhere to be seen. He'd cut off at the earlier turn around, and we pulled up to receive our times, me right behind him. He took of after getting his, and as I grabbed mine, I looked up just as he shifted from first to second... ...and watched in dismay as his clutch inspection cover literally SHOT off the bike. Frantically beeping my horn, he stopped maybe 100ft past where it happened as I hopped off my bike to collect the cover and as many of the bolts as I could find...one (we TOLD him that stupid Harley derby cover was a bad thing to put on a Buell). He had dumped probably half of his tranny fluid on the pavement and all over the left side of the bike, including the tire. Lucky for him the turn at the end of the track is to the right, or he probably would have ended up low-siding the bike. I ran off to get my mini-tool kit and we fastened the cover back on with the one bolt and decided that he would drive my truck home with his X1 in the bed and I'd ride my 'bolt home. We went to go sit and watch for a bit, getting to see our friend on the S3T run a couple more times (he was announced as Safety Bill over the PA...we sadly had to inform him that he wasn't allowed to pull wheelies on the strip as that is reckless driving), as well as Spidey and the third M2 and Kaw. After a little bit we decided to go load the X1, which took us about 15 minutes all told. Just as we finished loading the bike and cleaning up, Spidey walks up pushing his bike. We all groaned. What could be wrong with it NOW? Dead battery. Completely - not even a spark would issue from it. We went to work trying to remove the battery from the down and out X1 to swap with Mary Jane, borrowing the Kaw rider's toolbox. Since we didn't have the right tools, it took us nearly a half hour to swap the batteries (during which we crossed our fingers that that was indeed the problem and we wouldn't have to try to cram TWO bikes in the bed of my truck), and as we were finishing that we discovered that the Kawasaki was now the most recent to suffer from the Milan Dragway Disaster. He took the cake though, blowing a rod right through his crankcase. Looking through a vent in the fairing, you could see it poking through the front of the engine. We were speechless. As pissed as we were about the X1 and Mary Jane problems, all we could do with that was shake our heads and say we were sorry. We decided that it was definitely time to go home at this point, so we set a nice leisurely pace and limped home. About halfway there, with Spidey and myself following the truck and the M2 and S3T leading the way, my right contact suddenly decided now was the time to leave the protection of my eyelids. I motioned to Spidey to pull over and I tried to get it back in while the rest of our group shrank into the distance. After three unsuccessful tries, I lost the damned thing. Since I've never had that happen before I do not carry my glasses with me when I go out (will now, though!). Last time I checked, my vision was something around 20/800 (someone with perfect vision could read clearly at 800ft what I can at 20ft). Needless to say I was a bit nervous about continuing the 15 miles to home with only one good eye, but we made it, in the right lane the whole way and Spidey constantly looking looking over his shoulder at me making sure I was still there. Phew. What a night! | ||
| Spiderman |
LMAO what a good story it was almost like i was there.... CRAP i was  | ||
| Darthane |
Six Buells in the bed and the little 'bolt said, "Roll over, roll over." So they all rolled over and the X1 fell out. 43% casualties and 28% pronounced DOA (unridable). Not a bad day if we were in Afghanistan, eh? Bryan | ||
| Darthane |
 This is Jim pissed off because I just kicked his ass in our first run...  ...and this is him trying to exaplin why he's losing...I'm trying hard to look like I care. Bryan | ||
| Darthane |
Crap, I hate Geocities. If they don't pop up, here they are http://www.geocities.com/darthane/Me_and_Jim_at_Milan.jpeg http://www.geocities.com/darthane/P8090284.jpeg | ||
| Darthane |
Why does nothing computer related ever work properly?   | ||
| Blake |
Darthane, Great story, certainly worthy of residence in the Tale Section.  Thanks! | ||
| Blake |
And, btw, your first pics are showing up fine for me. They are Large!  | ||
| Darthane |
They were taken with a high res digicam, so I figured I'd upload them to my site on Geocities and use the imagelink command. But then they decided to stop showing up, and even the links would only work for some people. So I shrank them with Paint. One of these days I'll get Photoshop to do this sort of thing in. LOL...man, though, what a day that was. Can't wait to go back! Bryan | ||
| Blake |
Bryan, Try the very inexpensive Image Optimizer at http//www.xat.com . Best pic compression/resizing utility I've ever seen. |
