Been a Year Already, Man I Miss This Guy

Unk left us a year ago today, I really miss his view of the world and sense of humor.

BOTT XR-1

My buddy Red, of Self Sufficient Slackers fame shot me a link to a motorcycle that got my heart pumping like a shapely young lady strolling past in a pair of Yoga Pants. Those pants on the right behind have been known to send me strait to my cardiologist, and to the chiropractor not long after that. So the bike we are talking about here may have you whipping out your Blue Cross card in a hurry.

If your Buell XB 12 has gotten a little milk toast for you. And you crave a street tracker that handles like a road racer, I have some good news for you. There is help in the way of BOTTPOWER. They have brought us the BOTT XR-1, it blends the DNA of a XB12 with the soul of an Street Tracker. They can build a complete bike for you, or for the do it yourselfers amongst us, they off it in kit form. In kit form, you can use your XB12, XB9 or Ulysses as a donor for the transformation. Here are the specs sniped from BOTTPOWER'S web site:

Engine Air/oil cooled 1203cc Thunderstorm V-Twin, 1203 cm3 (it is possible to build it also with the 900 cc engine), 100 Horsepower at 6600 rpm, Torque 110 Nm at 6000 rpm. Fuel system: 49 mm downdraft DDFI II fuel injection
Gearbox: 5-speed Clutch: Wet, multi-plate, compensated
Final Drive: Belt
Frame: Steel central Spine Bottpower frame, with vibration isolation system.
Front Suspension: Showa inverted fork with adjustable compression damping, rebound damping and spring preload
Rear Suspension: Showa shock absorber
Front Brake: ZTL type brake, 375 mm stainless steel floating rotor, 6 piston caliper Rear Brake: 240 mm stainless steel rotor, single piston floating caliper Dimensions Geometries are the same than the original Buell XB donor bike.
Wheelbase: 52 in OR 1321 mm Seat Height: 30.1 in OR 765 mm Ground Clearance: 4.3 in OR 109 mm
Weight: 179 kgs (20 kgs less than the original Buell XB donor bike).
Fuel Capacity: 13 liters. The bike has a top fuel tank and 2 secondary fuel tanks. Original Buell fuel pump located in the left secondary fuel tank.
Tires: Front 120/70xZR17 and Rear 180/55xZR17

As you can see from the pictures, this one is a looker. I loved the original Harley XR1000, but I am not a big fan of the current XR1200R. I think this bike shows what the XR1200R could have been.

 The XR-1 is being put through it's paces by Anthony "Ant" West, who has more than a little experience wringing the necks of dirt trackers. He has ridden everything from Honda RS125's to NSR500's to ZX-RR's in Moto GP. He currently rides out of the QMMF Racing Team stable in Moto2. Mr. West took two five lap sessions on the bike to get a feel for it. He had very good feedback for the BOTTPOWER crew so they wrapped and headed home with large grins on their faces.

So things at BOTTPOWER are on the upswing, and judging from the styling and feedback they are receiving on the XR-1 it looks to be a very popular option for those who would like to lighten up and get more performance from their XB Buells. Lets see I think I saw a couple promising looking XB's for sale on craigslist.

The Tourer, The Racer, The Dual Sport Maker

Quite a few people are faithful to one brand. Be it Harley, BMW, Ducati, Moto Guzzi, you get the picture. Myself, I'm a motorcycle Lothario, my head is easily turned by many different brands and all types of bikes. While I do find that a certain type of bike kinda gets my blood surging more than others. That would be the UJM, I have always loved naked Japanese bikes. The super bikes of the late seventies early eighties are my most desired rides.

Enough about me, let's take a look at Jimmer. He still has the Yamaha XS500 that he bought way back in '78. Thirty five years, a lot of us don't keep the same bike for thirty five months much less 35 years. It's not that Jim doesn't like other bikes, he does. I even have a picture of him drag racing a Kawasaki Z1000. But there is something about the XS that strikes a chord with Jim. He has adapted this bike for touring, road racing, drag racing and now, believe it or not, he has transformed it into a dual sport bike. Lets let Jim pick up the story from here.

I bought the bike in High School-brand new XS500. First road race-Road America, 13th overall out of 84 teams. After sport touring all over the Midwest, I returned the bike to stockish.

I was fortunate enough to grow up around bikes, cool cars, aircraft, most all motor sports and racing. My Dad, Uncles, Brother, and all his friends gave me a horsepower fix at a young age. By the time I was in high school I new twisty roads were my "thing". The XS was a sweet handler [RD Yamaha type chassis]. I drag raced all through high school, started road racing in 1981. The XS500 got the attention of many people when we placed 13th overall in what was the largest endurance race in the USA. My friend Bob Benedum and I finished 13th out of 84 bikes, all but one[GS450] were much faster/bigger bikes

After road racing for 4 years I did all street riding. The 500 covered every square inch of Wisconsin numerous times, and most of the Mid west. I really liked taking back roads en route to my favorite campsites/camping trips. Fast forward to 1996 and we are now living in Oklahoma, I new right away I needed a dual sport for the awesome dirt roads, AND I was within 1hour 25 minutes of 3 drag strips, so the 500 came off the street and went drag racing only, until this year. I never had the head off the motor until 2011! I have run stock carbs, stock carbs with a gutted air box and rejetted, Suzuki T500 carbs and the 36mm TM Mikunis which have been on forever now. For exhaust the stock exhaust is awesome [but heavy] on the street. It provides fantastic roll on torque with proper carbs and gearing.

I then add a CR500 Honda moto crosser to my spare chassis ,bike hauled azz but really needed a 6 speed or a wide ratio transmission as I had to gear it ridiculously tall to run a 1/4 mile.1st gear was then a dog and it was out of revs by 3/4 track anyways, but in between it was a rocket



My first header was a Dick's Cycle West/Racer 1 I bought from a dealer. It worked great but had really crappy ground clearance. It put me on my ass one time when I levered the rear wheel off the ground. I have been running the Jardine since mid '90's I built two different electronic ignitions for it. The first an after market Ford kit I retro fitted. Turns out it had a built in rev limiter that would shut it down at 6500! So I had to take it off. I also built an amplifier points booster from a kit that I used until I bought the Newtronics. I think that gets you pretty much up to date-sorta?!

Several years ago I had a really nice CR500 that came with some super trick alloy handle bars. I made up my mind then, that I would build an "all around bike" based on those bars. Then last autumn I picked up a 1989 YZ250 roller for $50, and so it began.

I used the YZ complete front end and internally lowered it 3 1/2" and rebuilt the forks at the same time. I mounted a new Acerbis replica fender and cut out the super critical fender vent for the cylinder head. I had the Acerbis headlight and reused that, tucking all the wiring into a PVC electrical box just behind and slightly below the headlight.

I then moved to the back end and removed a bunch of the mono shock junk from the swing arm and bolted that on after adding shock mounts. I treated myself to some new 13" Progressive Suspension shocks and springs. I reused a stock XS500 chain guard clearanced for the shock. Tires are Shinko DOT trials tires with fresh IRC tubes and rim strips. I replaced my old Acerbis LED tail light with a newer, brighter one that also has the white tag light. I added a Wolfman fender bag to the rear fender.

Next up was to detail the instrument cluster to clear the bars and headlight, and mount the reused Tiny Tach. The tach has seen 25,000 miles on my MZ and a couple more years on my brothers MZ. The controls got new dogleg levers and new rubber dust covers. I have lusted after YZ450F mufflers since 2006,so I had been watching for a good one. Wichita Craigslist came though for $40 and I welded that to a collector I had lying around. Tone and sound level is exceptional. Now it is time for an updated title and Antique Kansas tag.

That is quite a love affair with a single bike. While Jim has transformed the bike several times, he has stayed with the same bike he bought all those years ago. I never in my wildest dreams ever pictured an XS500 in off road trim, but then some people have a bit more imagination than others. Most keep stock, build a tracker, bobber or chopper like every one else. I say, great job thinking out of the box Jim.

Storm Thorgerson

Most known for his Pink Floyd album art, Storm Thorgerson also did album artwork for a long list of other bands. Not the least of which was  Led Zeppelin, Peter Gabriel, The Cranberries and Styx. He passed yesterday at the age of 69. I was a big fan of his work.

Do You Have Saggy Bags?

I know there are more than a few of us out there that suffer from this affliction. Well I'm here to tell you, there is help for you and it doesn't require surgery. Help comes in the form of Viking Bags.  For us in the sport touring crowd, they offer a nice selection of tank bags, tail bags and a set of universal soft bags

Their main audience is the cruiser crowd. They have a wide array of leather and hard bags to cater to even the most discriminating of the easy chair crowd. They have great prices and you will be hard pressed to find better bags anywhere else. From Harley to Honda, Yamaha to Indian, Viking has a cure to your embarrassing drooping bag problem. So if your bags aren't as firm and tight as they once were, don't call a plastic surgeon. Stop by Viking Bags and let them fix your unsightly bag problem. Don't take my word for it, this lovely young lady makes a very convincing argument.

1974 TX500 Cafe'

Our TX/XS500 friend Dean has built a very clean and well executed cafe' bike out of  two hundred dollar craigslist find. He buys and restores bike a on a regular basis as winter projects. I'll let Dean take over and describe the build and the impetus behind it.

My hobby is picking up old, titled bikes in the winter and basically doing just enough to make them look and run good. Some I ride for a year or two, however most eventually get passed on to a new owner. ( my wife calls them orphans , meaning I am not supposed to keep them..... and is always asking me about getting some of them adopted )

My '74 TX500 was a November 2010 craigslist find from Kenosha, WI about a half hour from me. The seller had it listed as a "Yamaha 600" ...( It is bit embarrassing to say... I had to look at Google images to find out what the heck it was ! ) So I went and drug it home for $200. It had good compression , a title, and less that 7k miles so I had found a good deal.

The build is of course a theme,,, if Yamaha made a replica of a late 60's Italian bike...... this is it. I am happy with the result. It is Corsa red ( Lania racing red ) with Le Mans stripes painted in white and black, then cleared. The head pipes were modified to keep the mufflers low , the upswept angle of the stock pipes was not vintage Italian. The fuel tank is the garden variety vintage Benelli .

I made the custom seat cowl, seat pan, under seat electronic compartment ( to hide everything ) and the tach bucket and mount all from fiberglass. Much of the wiring harness was modified ( and repaired ) .. most of the wiring is custom or relocated. The ignition key is on the underside of the seat. I used the stock tach, by making a custom face plate ( photo shopped and printed, used white Lexan and a base ) relocated the oil light to where the TX rear brake wear sensor was within the tach face. The big tach is now front and center with no other gauges or caution lights, everything needed is in the tach (I have a bar mount for my little GPS as a speedo.) That is the stock 7" headlight, lowered and mini bulb turn signals ( no led's on the bike ).

I made the headlight tilt bracket , rear turn signal brackets, exhaust hangers, battery bracket, etc all from 1/2" aluminum flat stock. I removed the un-needed brackets and tabs. The rear-set mounts and fuel tank brackets are all I had to weld on. The engine is stock, I just bead blasted the cases and polished every cover. All new seals, gaskets and proper adjustment checks were done. I run the stock Keihin carbs , tuned for the uni-filters.

I restored most all of the nuts, bolts and hardware ( zinc plated ). The 35mm forks and front brake are off my XS500 parts bike. The TX had only 34mm forks with a 10" disc, now we have 35mm with the 12" disc. I polished the fork lowers, before rebuilding. It has tapered roller bearings in the steering neck . That is a stock XS front fender (and my license plate is the rear fender)
The wheels are stock, I just "restored" them, new seals, bearings, some polishing and wrapped in Avon road riders ( love them). Bronze swing are bushings, rebuilt front caliper , new pads in front and shoes in back. The front master cyl is from Mike's, almost as cheap as a rebuild kit so I also bought the clutch lever................Did I mention all of the metal polishing?

I think Dean pulled off the bike he had in his head. He shows us what is possible with a idea and a plan and some motivation. He has put together a real head turner and a bike to be proud of. Way to go Dean.

Modular Housing for Your Skull

First off, I have been an AGV customer for as long as I can remember. And I wear full face helmets exclusively. I friend of mine uses a modular helmet and raves about it's versatility. I like the idea of being able to change your helmet into an open face when the weather gets hot. No matter how many vents the modern versions have, my head always comes out soft boiled when I’m riding in hot weather. So I decided to give a Hawk modular helmet from Leather Up a go and see if this modular thing blows what I have left of my hair back.

Leather Up has their own line of motorcycle gear now to go along with all the brand name gear they sell. Exelement jackets, gloves, boots and helmets, Hawk Helmets and Outlaw open-faced helmets. I just picked up a Hawk H-6611 modular helmet. This lid has MANY bells and whistles on it. First, it is a modular and I can't wait for the warm weather to try out the convertible option of this piece. As winter refuses to give up it's icy grip this year, I have only tried the open face a hand full of times. It is also equipped with blue tooth. I am kinda old school when it comes to motorcycle gear, but I am coming around. I do have a Joe Rocket ballistic jacket now for Christ sakes. And last but not least, besides the regular face shield, this helmet comes with a retractable smoked shield that slides in and out of the helmet shell like on a fighter pilot's helmet.



Let's start off with the Blue tooth. I use blue tooth in my car because I am a very big opponent of distracted driving. The less time I have to spend looking at my cell phone the better. Well the blue tooth on this helmet not only allows you to answer calls while you are riding, but affords the option of listening to your mp3's or XM/Sirius radio as well. I really have not listened to music on my any of my bikes up until a couple of years ago. I picked myself up a set of helmet speakers which are basically flat headphones that fit in you helmet. I found that they worked ok, but the wires were always getting in the way. This all goes the way of the steam engine with this helmet. I have to say, with around twelve hundred songs on my phone, and an XM unit, I am REALLY enjoying this blue tooth stuff. Plus Mrs. Gymi isn't frustrated when I return her call three hours later because I was riding and didn't hear my phone. Now she can call me to tell me she is going to color her hair and I will be able to answer the call and hear the fantastic news real time. The call quality on both sides has been nice and clear, I'm hearing them and they're hearing me. All I have to do is give the blue tooth button on the left side of the helmet a push when a call comes in. I have been riding J.J.'s Heritage to test the blue tooth out because the Viffer is still nude waiting for warmer weather so she can turn black. I found the sound quality to be adequate even with those loud shot gun pipes signing that loud V-Twin bark. I have to say this is the quietest helmet I have owned, it really keeps the wind noise to a minimum. So that makes listening to music very easy, I thought wind noise would cancel it out. This is not the case.



Next comes the retractable face shield. Here is another feature I am all tingly about. Now I don't have to carry an extra shield or pair of glasses with me depending on the time of day I'm riding. Or if I am transitioning from day to night or vice versa. Now I just reach up and slide the control on the left side of the helmet. Plus, you have built in eye protection when you are in open face mode. This internal visor does it's job pretty damn good, no watering eyes so far. There is also a snap in chin strap that I like quite a bit better than the old double ring loop through design that has been on helmets since the beginning of man. I chose a matt black unit because, I like black. So far I really like this helmet, it is every bit as comfortable as any of my AGV's. Plus is slips on to my extra large noggin like a glove. I figured Y'all would rather see a pleasant looking young lady than my ruddy mug, so I enlisted a stand in for the photographic element of this review. All in all, I find the H-6611 a light and comfortable piece of kit to keep the contents of your skull intact in the event you might find yourself bouncing down the road. At $189.95 U.S. it is a bargain as well. I haven't found any downside of this helmet as of yet. If I do, I will keep you posted. Below are the features of this helmet I lifted off Leather Up's page for this helmet.

ABS Thermoplastic shell

One button, one-hand flip-up sytem converts helmet from full-face to open-face Glove-friendly and waterproof controls

Quick-release, anti-scratch visor Interior retractable drop-down smoke tint sun-visor ( drop-down button located on left side of helmet)

Flow-through ventilation system Inner lining: removable and washable Chin strap with quick-release closure and strap keeper.
DOT-approved (non-removable graphics on the back) Hawk graphics on the front and back

  Blinc Bluetooth® Integrated Communication technology: Cell phone compatible (Iphone compatible) Compatible with many GPS units Interference free communications Lithium-Ion replaceable battery

Battery life: 4 hours continuous talk time and 100 hours standby Complete recharge of battery - 6 hours

Noise cancelling mic Full duplex communications with DSP filter Self adjusting volume

  Waterproof controls 30 feet of intercom and communications distance Music streaming

Glove friendly controls Multifunction LED indicators 110V/220V charger

Blinc Bluetooth Module System: Talk rider to passenger (Intercom) Talk bike to bike (2-way communications) Use your cellphone Listen to streaming music from MP3 and phone Listen to GPS directions

One-touch cell phone/intercom override Automatic phone/mp3 override Listen to XM radio through phone