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Ok,

It’s Round #5 of the CCS/SW road racing series this weekend.   To tell the truth I am looking forward to the forced summer vacation.

See I have been racing most every month for the past 9 months.  9 rounds, 11 race days, a number of Track Days, Track Schools, Working Out, Going to Two Wheel Tuesday and much more.    It just has been a ton of motorcycling racing and its time to go street riding and enjoy just hanging out.

Last race weekend my buddy got a bit aggressive and low sided behind me.  That gave me the opportunity to have my first high side.  3 seconds later, I was up running to my bike.  I don’t know what has changed in

My wife and I were driving somewhere last night and we got on the topic of cars.  My wife said that her favorite car of all time was her first car…err SUV…a Jeep.  She loved to looks and the convertible’s wind in the hair, but I was amused at her number one reason:  “because everyone else in a Jeep waves to you”.  I get that…I completely get that.

If I saw a complete stranger and the only thing I knew about him was that he rode a motorcycle, he would have an in with me.  I think its why the sport, on one terrain or another, has survived in my arsenal of activities for so long.  The  common bond of knowing

It’s a problem I have not had to face in many years due to fuel injected bikes.  Since 2001, I have had Aprilia’s which are all fuel injected and my trusty YZ426 that came to me already jetted.  Now as I go through my YZ450 to get it ‘right’, its the learning process all over again.

As an avid believer in motorcycle forums for the best knowledge available, I am a member of thumpertalk.com.  It seems like everyone and their mother is running a 45 pilot jet and a 165 main jet.  The main has been on since the beginning, but the idle circuit has not.  Starting this machine has been a bitch from day one - cold or hot.

Checking the

It’s been decided, the mighty Futura is for sale!  The bike is in excellent condition with 11,344 miles (edit) and is located in Phoenix, AZ.  The add-ons are as follows:

• Staintunes exhaust with AF1 H-pipe
• Tuneboy module with custom map (passes AZ smog);
• Heli-bar risers
• Pyramid double bubble screen
• BEF fender eliminator kit (powdercoated satin black)
• Grip heaters + heat-troller
• Braided front brake lines
• Throttlemeister
• Upgraded alternator, ‘brown connector’, & quick-disconnect
• Two extra power outlets
• New Dunlop ‘Roadsmart’ set to be installed
• Factory matching hardbags
• All stock parts included

Here’s the bike…

Price - $5800.

Your Utah friends call you the “polygamist biker”!

I just penned an email to the guy who sold me my current Aprilia Futura.  His condition for selling it to me was that if I ever wanted to sell the bike that I would contact him first.  You can see where this is going…

The bottom line is that I haven’t ridden the bike since November 4th…when I got a bullshit ticket.  The two main reasons are simple:  the new found love for the dirt & the ticket.  I have been trying to go off-roading every weekend since the new year and have almost succeeded.  I’m having a total ball with the dirt bike and I only have to go about twenty minutes away from my house. 

Second, no cop is

Even when Murphy comes to call, the Rising Sun can dispell the gloom.

I was stranded at a gas station in Tres Piedras, New Mexico after a regulator failure on my Ducati 748. Just to set the scene, TP (as it’s affectionately known to locals) is a crossroads in the middle of Bumfuck, Nowhere. There’s a crumbling gas station, a dilapidated restaurant and that’s about it. The nearest “town” is Taos which is about 50 miles away. With no tools to properly troubleshoot a dead electrical system, I assumed it was my battery that had died. After locating/calling a Honda dealer in Taos, who just happen to have the oddball size my euro-scoot required, I settled into that that semi-conscience trance

I am having to learn all over how to jet carbs on bikes.  It has been since 2000 since I have had to jet a motorcycle.  It sucks at first, but I have a better understanding of how stuff works now.  For an excellent techie look at what attribute of the carb affects performance at a certain throttle position, click here.  I have been using this graph for years now and it is the absolute bomb when it comes to understanding jetting.

I am going through my bike now and trying to sort the jetting. This is the history to date:

1. As purchased (used & stock performance parts with Keep reading >>

Actually, I would consider mself having pretty good luck, but not today.  See my wife is going out of town for one week, with the kids, starting this Wednesday.  I have huge off-road plans for me and my dirt bike.  That might have just changed.

Since we planned on riding on Sunday versus the normal Saturday excursion, I decided to check out the fueling and how easy the bike starts after an oil change.  The bike fired up on the first kick and idled very nicely.  I took my daughter out with me as I rode around my subdivision to warm up the oil to ease the draining process.

After the oil change, I went to kick the bike to get the new

            Here’s one for you.  A vintage person is said to be one who has “been around long enough to be back in style.”  That’s a true statement in the case of Al Eshenbaugh of Phoenix, Arizona.  Take one look at his fully restored 1913 Indian Boardtrack Racer and you get the idea that Al, the owner and restorer of this fabulous and antique metal pony, knows his stuff.  He is the man who rebuilt this icon from the past to such a supreme state of pefection.  And that took know-how.  The restoration of this motorcycle was a five-year project. 

                       1913 Indian Boardtrack Racer
 

            The bike rebuild was a labor of love for Al.  He is an Arizona Hall of Fame motorcycle race driver.  He

The past few weeks have been very busy preparing for the 3rd round on the CCS/SW racing series. First off, I used some of the money I received from my 2007 Most Improved Amateur award, to attended the 2 Day Advanced Riding School at Arroyo Seco Raceway in Deming, MN. The school is taught by Arroyo Seco track owner Roger Heemsbergen, AMA racer Mike Shreve, and local ASMA racers Tiras Banks, Bob McFarland and Scott Bergen at Arroyo Seco Raceway in Deming, NM.

The school focuses heavily on bike setup, linking turns together, throttle control and riding position. Combine this with extensive personalized one on one instruction and the highly challenging Arroyo

Gone.  I had that bike for about six years now and she treated me well…after my broken ankle of course.  It was a love-hate relationship.  I hated it in the beginning until I spent time researching and fixing the Gremlins in the beast.  Afterwards, I have to say it was pretty good.  The bike never broke down or left me stranded. 

Over the years I learned to predict how the bike was going to react to upcoming events and simply rode it well.  The 426 to dirt was what the 900RR was to the street - revolutionary.  It was the leader in what is now the norm - 4-stroke motocrossers.  It just took a little time to dial it in and the