A picture a day....biker banter (Vol 4)

[naetype]

Spanglepants said:

Thanks Podman. Possibly Dumfries, can't be sure but that is where his sister (on the bike) grew up. Although born in England he spent his childhood in Tillicoultry/ Alloa area so could be there as well?

Those hills in the background have a similar profile to the Ochils, so Tillicoutry/Alloa would be a good bet...



Forgot to add: good biking roads round there, so that increases the chances too.

And adding again: Look at the main gully/ravine in that photo, I reckon a few miles further east would frame those hills and your picture perfectly.

Edited by naetype on Monday 9th October 13:57

[Sowts]

afew of the bikes at RTTW on Saturday at the national arboretum Alrewas

[Origin Unknown]

Birky_41 said:

Spent sunday trying to get my boy quick with his race starts & flying gear changes. Not really road bike related but I uploaded the video to hopefully look back on years to come and have a laugh with my boy at the hours we put in getting him better at the hobby he and I love.

Video here of the starts >>> https://youtu.be/acaRz-t-0xY

For any parents on PH that dedicate their lives to their kids with competitive sports I take my hat off to you. The commitment, emotion, money and time needed is on another level - especially when you are also into riding/racing yourself

Its well worth it though just for the atmosphere and seeing them do well. On a personal to me it actually scares me at times how quick he's become on a bike. I just hope it helps him in years to come like my old man did with me

Picture of yesterday just so this isn't too much of a boring post

Not a boring post!

You're boy is getting off the line there nicely Birky mate. It's the same drill I practiced over and over again with my dad when I raced Schoolboy MX. What I will say is getting the power down is just one part of the start. Is there anyway you can fabricate something that simulates a proper gate? Getting the gate right was something I struggled with for quite a while*.

Bit of a boring story from me but this weekend I searched for Portsmouth Schoolboy Scramble Club for no reason and stumbled across a facebook group for PSSC racers and family from the 80's and 90's. Looking through the photos and finding a couple of me and names I sort of recognised caused me to get the scrap book my mum kept of my schoolboy career (loose term).

What really struck me was that we were there every weekend. We had a Mercedes 208d (I think) sign written with SCHOOLBOY MOTOCROSS and my name and other graphics. Mum and Dad sat up front and my two sisters and I on a wooden garden bench in the back of the van with the bikes, tools, kit, a 50 gallon plastic barrel of water and a petrol power washer.

I say bike...s because my 6 year old sister was keen to get involved so raced on a PW50 and then a Malagutti at some point. I'll never forget the angry MX dads as the little lads came into the pits to be berated (and physically smacked around the helmet in some cases) for being beaten by a girl!

My middle sister also gave MX a go but her career was very short lived as her second race saw my Dad forget to do her chin strap up and as she powered off the line, her helmet twisted back meaning (when I grew up, most of us had second hand kit that was "in the region" of fitting) the chin guard covered her eyes. Rather than come to a stop, she kept the throttle pinned wide open. Dad and I looked at each other as she shot up the start straight thinking "She's going to get the holeshot!". She did! Although I'm not sure if it counts as the holeshot when you lead the pack into the first corner...

....but don't actually turn the first corner. Instead she went through the buntin and was eventually stopped when she hit a St. John's Ambulance man head on. And that was the end of her MX career.

Anyway, the point was, we as a family did this every week. Week in, week out. In fact on Saturdays, Dad and I went to Matchams, Ham Lane or another place that escapes me currently to practice. And when PSSC didn't race, we filled the gap with Ringwood and other clubs. It was a huge investment from the whole family just to support me and latterly my sister and me in racing.

One thing Dad was always very clear on, this investment meant it was a sport for me. Not a hobby.

• When I started racing PSSC, we didn't have gates. There was a long length of elastic that held the line and was released to let the pack go. It took a special skill to work out when to drop the clutch!

Edited by Origin Unknown on Monday 9th October 20:44

[Benni]

Small steps in my small bike, customizing is time-robbing but rewarding if everything comes to plan.


You can´t really polish a turd, but you can smoothen it a bit.
45mm USD phony forks with rubber boots, floating disc, 4pot caliper, hovering fender........and 5° rake
Too bad I have to blackout everything in order to fly stealth under the cop radar, this looks stock, riiiiiiiiight ?

I have a 120mm longer swing arm, in a bike this small that is a lot of length added and I wanted to avoid the "Super Street Bike" look
where the rear wheel is located in another postcode than the rest of the bike.
So the rear fender had to move backwards, too, and it will get shaved, rotated and ducktailed with a front fender ender as well.

But wait, now I have a huge hole in the bum area that needs stuffing, but German Engineering will take care of that.



Front half is 3D stamped 3mm steel, was a barrier rope bollard baseplate, rear end is 1,5mm DOCOL steel,
was very tough to cut, twist and bend but will -hopefully-not vibrate off after being welded to frame.

And what´s hiding underneath the duck tail ?

Twin Sharknose LED tailights for the custom look.
Upper half of the still outward-protuding tire will be covered by self-illuminated number plate.

My goal of getting the bike on the road for the local Christmas eve run is almost impossible,
as I have no lathe/welder/mill and have to wait for external work sometimes.

[rev-erend]

It's been about a year since I sold the HP4 but I fancied something different and easier on the wrists (getting older and carpel tunnel is a pain..)

So after a load of looking around I have bought a street fighter Z1000 that has had some fairly useful mods done like custom paint job, ktec rear shock, rear sets, flippy leavers, power commander, quick shifter, quick throttle.

[B'stard Child]

rev-erend said:

It's been about a year since I sold the HP4 but I fancied something different and easier on the wrists (getting older and carpel tunnel is a pain..)

I know that feeling

rev-erend said:

So after a load of looking around I have bought a street fighter Z1000 that has had some fairly useful mods done like custom paint job, ktec rear shock, rear sets, flippy leavers, power commander, quick shifter, quick throttle.

I've never really got the "streetfighter" thing - it always seemed like an excuse for what you did to a sportsbike after you crashed it and couldn't afford to fix it properly

But I do like a good naked bike where everything is done well and that looks to me like it's just that (assuming it has a single headlight and not this double lamp set up that always looks odd) - I like the fact that 70-80 mph is back to being fun rather than feeling absolutely glacial!!!!

edited cos i fugged up the quote and didn't check after I'd posted

Edited by B'stard Child on Tuesday 10th October 22:43

[Biker's Nemesis]

Birky, does your lad use a "Holeshot Device"?

[rodericb]

rev-erend said:

It's been about a year since I sold the HP4 but I fancied something different and easier on the wrists (getting older and carpel tunnel is a pain..)

So after a load of looking around I have bought a street fighter Z1000 that has had some fairly useful mods done like custom paint job, ktec rear shock, rear sets, flippy leavers, power commander, quick shifter, quick throttle.

Ha, from that angle and at first glance I thought it was a customized version of Kawasakis version of the Honda Grom!

[Yazza54]

Biker's Nemesis said:

Birky, does your lad use a "Holeshot Device"?

Bit personal.

[Triaguar]

My 60th birthday present, and very nice it is too !!

[podman]

Triaguar said:

My 60th birthday present, and very nice it is too !!

Much,much better than a pipe n slippers...

[rodericb]

podman said:

Much,much better than a pipe n slippers...

I can see the pipe and I think those ones already have the slipper......clutch

[cwis]

Dragged a box down to South Wales, pulled a tent out, camped and drank beer, chucked the tent back in the box and dragged it home.

[graham22]

cwis said:

Dragged a box down to South Wales, pulled a tent out, camped and drank beer, chucked the tent back in the box and dragged it home.

If it wasn't for the shadow you could be mistaken for parking your bike behind a CRV towing a trailer.

[Biker's Nemesis]

In the wet at Jerez, I was the only 1 on track here.

[podman]

Biker's Nemesis said:

In the wet at Jerez, I was the only 1 on track here.

Must have been quite surreal!

[podman]

cwis said:

Dragged a box down to South Wales, pulled a tent out, camped and drank beer, chucked the tent back in the box and dragged it home.

You know, I could have guessed you'd done that just by looking at the bike /tailor combo...

Fair play !

[Biker's Nemesis]

podman said:

Must have been quite surreal!

It was, doubly so with being sober.

[epom]

This volume must be due to end right about..........now.

[Biker's Nemesis]

epom said:

This volume must be due to end right about..........now.

3 after this 1.