| Author | Message | ||
     Blake |
Who the heck are those scary lookin' hillbillies sitting in back of my truck!  BTW, the cutie in the pink tanktop five pics up was timing her hubby. But just prior she was out there racing in Motard and Super Motard! And she was knocking out some respectable lap times too. Yeah, "Laguna Blaka"  We found and claimed the prime spectating spot from the back of the "Stud Truck." The little "Stud Truck" may not compare well to Jerry's Love Shack at Laguna Seca, but it was okay for a weekend at Oak Hill Raceway. Not bad for a twenty year old Japanese pick-up truck. You folks up north in road salt land might not have known that trucks from that era did actually have fenders.  | ||
| Loki |
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| Skully |
Looking back over my safety wiring pictures, I realized that I forgot to include the oil filler cap safety wiring:  Keith | ||
| Glitch |
Thanks for all the safety wire pics. I'll be making some track days here soon. Ya'll make it look too fun. Not sure about racing yet though.  Took one of your pictures and "Shopped" it, or is that chopped it? | ||
| Skully |
Wow! David that is too cool! Depending on your local track's regulations, you probably won't have to safety nearly as much if you do not race. Getting on the track is really fun. I have to keep my ego at bay though... Keith | ||
| Glitch |
Mike (Shred) went to Ed Bargy last week, and all he had to wire was the two drain plugs, oil fill, and oil filter. There may have been more, but it wasn't more than two or three more things. The guys that race WERA were telling me what a pain it was to get their bikes to pass, it sounded to me like if it had threads, it had to be wired. | ||
| Skully |
For New Riders School, the CMRA has you safety wire anything that can leak fluid onto the track. But to race, it is much more inclusive. See above... | ||
| Blake |
Keith, I think you meant, "to race it is much more 'extensive' "? We certainly don't want to be inclusive, do we? I don't recall having to safety wire anything for rider's school. Just remove kickstand, license plate, turn-signals and tape-over or remove breakable lenses and such. The techs did applaude the fact that I had safety wired the oil filter, but I'm not sure it was required. Here is what my old copy of the New Riders Info document says, but it is from '03 and www.cmraracing.com doesn't have a working link to a new one.
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| Skully |
It seems that safety wire is not required for the new rider's school as of 2004 either. I don't have the new rider info for 2006. Yeah, it seems that inclusive was a poor choice of words...  Keith | ||
| Skully |
Well Buell Fans, it has been a while since my last post. DarkHorseMoto has kept us so busy (a really great problem) that I was not able to go on a trip this spring and I have not been to the track and I have really missed both. Several of us who ride XBs, have at one time or another, complained about our brakes pulsing and or grabbing. Al at American Sport Bike recommended that I try the LRB Gold Carbon/Kevlar pads as the stock pads leave deposits. I'm here to tell you that the pads work great and they removed the deposits. No more pulsing. The first photo shows what my rotor looked like after 12,000 miles. You can clearly see the discoloration.  The second photo shows what the same rotor looks like after a couple hundred miles with the LRB pads. It looks brand new. And, no more pulsing.  The LRBs lasted approximately 12,000 miles and I have replaced them with Nissin 804 pads for the XB. Henry Duga with Buell recommended them and Dave Stueve was able to score a set for me. I'll let you know my impression of them soon. More later, Keith (Message edited by skully on May 13, 2006) | ||
| Buellgirlie |
great stories and pics skully - keep up the great work! D | ||
| Skully |
Thanks! | ||
| Skully |
As promised, here is a photo of the same rotor featured above after approximately 200 miles of commuting with the Nissin 804 pads.  You can see a little bit of a color change a compared to the clean look the Lyndalls left behind on the rotor. My impression? They bedded in quickly with little drama. The initial bite is higher compared to the Lyndalls which can make smooth braking in stop and go traffic more difficult. I think I will have have a better report for you after a trip to the race track. Also, I have found what I think is the best pair of gloves I have ever owned: racing gloves from Coretech.  The leather is top notch, the fit is good, the stitching is first rate, and they have what seems to me to be the right amount of reinforcement in the right places. They also vent pretty well which is darned important in Texas. I had a set of the Icon Timax gloves which are also top notch, there are simply too many layers of leather. This is the first Coretech product that I have owned. If the rest of their line is as comfortable and well made as these, I will definitely consider their products when I look for riding gear in the future. Keith | ||
| Skully |
Current odometer reading: 25,126 miles | ||
| Glitch |
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| Skully |
Hey Glitch! That is too cool! | ||
| Jon |
Glitch, how'd you do that? | ||
| Glitch |
Photoshop  But you knew that already. I started out making a couple of layers copied on top of the original. Then I got each layer the way I thought looked nice,using filters, not touching the original, . The I changed the properties of the top two layers to overlay (I think) and set the fill so the other two layers would show through. Sorry I'm not more detailed, but I was just playing around, and didn't really pay attention to what I was doing. | ||
| Jon |
Actually I didn't have a clue how you did it. I know nothing about Photoshop, but the image is cool. | ||
| Neb25 |
Skully, Update on Nissin 804 Pads. Did you experience any fade at all on the track? I am trying to find a pad to help with fade on the track where with stock pads performance drops after 1/2 session. Where can you get the 804s? | ||
| Skully |
Hi Joel, Actually the Nissin 804 pads are proving out to be fantastic whether on the street or on the track. I raced in the July heat here in Texas with the 804s and never experienced any fade at all. Based on my experience, I highly recommend them. I now have about 29,000 miles on the bike. | ||
| Steve899 |
Well I took the Buell XB12R 05 for proper shackdown this past weekend, logged 900 miles in three days on some of the nicest roads I have ever ridden on. Got to ride with some old friends and met some new ones ,up in the hills of Arkansas this past weekend. I have ridden ZX10R 05, ZX6R 05, R6 2003,04 and many others on and off the track, and I can safely say that the Buell XB12R is the best sportbike I have ever ridden through a turn. Its smoothness and predictabilty through a turn is unmatched in my experience, I have never had so much fun with a motorcycle as I did this past weekend. Thanks to Skully and everyone else I met and rode with this past weekend. It was a Blast! see you next year! | ||
| Steve899 |
Did I mention it was fun to ride! | ||
| Skully |
Hey Steve, Thanks for the commentary. I have fallen way behind in my log. As soon as we get closed on our new house and get settled in, I plan to post lots of photos and product test results. Keith | ||
| Steve899 |
Photos? | ||
| Skully |
Rats. I was afraid you were going to hold me accountable! We are now in our new house but still living out of boxes. Give me a couple more weeks?  | ||
| Steve899 |
Must have photo's ! ! | ||
| Skully |
Well, I had better do a bit of catching up! Back in fall a year and a half ago, I had the priviledge of rding with two of BadWeB's finest in NW Arkansas, Karsten Farley and Bryan T. Nill.  We even bumped into Eor!  Fortunately, we all made it home in one piece. Keith | ||
| Skully |
Then in July of last year, Karsten and I were invited to ride with the BRAG group from the DFW area up to Talimena Drive. This twisty, hilly stretch of road lies in SE Oklahoma and is fun to ride but can be treacherous are seen earlier in my posts. We had a great time together even though the high for the day was near 100dF!  Keith | ||
| Skully |
Wow! July was a busy month last year. I almost forgot! DarkHorseMoto raced its XB9S (also my commuter and sport touring bike) in the CMRA Clubman class and brought home second place!  Once again this was possible only with the help of my friends and the support of my wife. Keith |
