Bonneville, Sept.5-9 '05

[Skeeve]

I'm curious if anyone is going to the BUB speedtrials next month?

 

AMA/FIM motorcycle landspeed trials

 

While I'd dearly love to enter 1/2 dozen different classes if I had the money & time to work up the bikes necessary, I was hoping that somebody w/ a V11 or Daytona/Sport was going to give the Cooked Goose people a run for their money?

 

Seems like a V11 LeMans has a chance in Production Pushrod. Today's Tech Question: does a Daytona (or Centauro, MGS-01...) compete in the Production Pushrod category (yeah, they're cam-in-head, but they gots short, stubby little pushrod!) or not? Enquiring minds want to know... ;-)

 

I imagine at least one Buell entrant is going to be there...

 

[robbiekb]

I'm thinking of entering Ingrid (see avatar) on my 2001 V11. We'll see though as i saw a bike at Mark Etheridge's shop that was destroyed by the salt and i'm not too enthralled to lose my baby to corrosion.

 

Ingrid only weighs 110 pounds and should be able to haul ass when tucked in under the itsy bitsy bikini fairing.

[Skeeve]

I'm thinking of entering Ingrid (see avatar) on my 2001 V11. We'll see though as i saw a bike at Mark Etheridge's shop that was destroyed by the salt and i'm not too enthralled to lose my baby to corrosion.

 

Ingrid only weighs 110 pounds and should be able to haul ass when tucked in under the itsy bitsy bikini fairing.

58003[/snapback]

 

Ah! That explains a lot! I never could figure out why that cute lil' gal w/ the green V11 went by "robbie" & wrote like a guy! Good on you for having the patience to deal w/ a red-head...

 

WRT the salt: Buy some cans of LPS3 or Boeshield T-9 & spray *everything* down with it well before going up there. At the end of the day, after you get off the salt, rinse everything off & blow it dry. Once you get back home, do a complete detail, taking everything down to below the layer of LPS3 and rewax.

 

As far as Ingrid's wt. goes, you usually want a *heavier* rider, not a lighter one: the weight helps to maintain traction, and the limit on a vehicle's speed is generally due to aerodynamic drag & horsepower (or gearing), not mass. That said, her being so tiny may help with tucking in & decreased drag, but I'm not going to guess which would be more important in this case...

 

Maybe we'll have to have all the SoCal Guzzisti show up at one of the SCTA meets @ El Mirage this fall & wring our bikes out? It could be a lot of fun, and the entry fee is definitely more reasonable!

 

Ciao,

 

[robbiekb]

yah el mirage would be a blast ! my issue is that my bike still needs some service love as well

 

think traction would eb a problem on a guzzi though ? the damm bike eats back tires as it is there's so much frickin weight to it.

 

thanks for the tips on coping with the salt, i used to ride every day back home in scotland and i'ev lost more than a few bikes to pitted forks and the salt monster over the years.

[Skeeve]

yah el mirage would be a blast ! my issue is that my bike still needs some service love as well

 

think traction would eb a problem on a guzzi though ? the damm bike eats back tires as it is there's so much frickin weight to it.

 

thanks for the tips on coping with the salt, i used to ride every day back home in scotland and i'ev lost more than a few bikes to pitted forks and the salt monster over the years.

58120[/snapback]

 

Dunno if you're interested, but if you're down here in Hell-A, you might want to join the LABiker list-serve.[Or even if you're not; we've got some NYC members...] GuzziMike over on the WildGuzzi boards used to be one of us, but he couldn't handle the email traffic (plus he took some of the pinheads too much to heart.) At any rate, there's one or two people that'll periodically host garage days, where you can get together & tackle jobs you might not have the tech know how, # of hands, or tools to do on your own. Naturally, I've never been able to make them, since the occasional date invariably falls on a day when I've got some prior, unreschedulable committment.

 

Traction on the salt seems to be invariably cited as a reason why top-speeds are lower than expected [for traction-driven vehicles; jet- or rocket-cars need not apply! ] Moto Guzzi's eat rear tires on asphault because they have lots of torque & weight & the asphault doesn't have much give to it. Salt, otoh, is friable and not the most stable surface in the world. Even the caked dry dust of El Mirage is a HUGE improvement over the salt @ Bonneville (according to those who know. I'm just relaying other's words.)

 

Salt: yes, well, you're completely correct about the best way to deal with it: stay the fcuk away! Amazing how many 20 y.o. cars there are out here on the road in So. Cal. compared w/ how few 5 y.o. cars there are back East...

 

I'm going to Mirage once I get the Lemon broken in, just to see what the topspeed really is! At least once I have a baseline established, I can determine if further changes have had any beneficial f/x... & besides, it'll be a lot of fun!

 

Ride on!