Indianapolis GP Day 0

The big day has come: MotoGP Race 12 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Weeks (okay, days) of preparation has gone into steeling my nerves for the longest land journey I've ever undertaken. What's more, the distance will be traversed by two wheels instead of four with wind in my helmet and bugs plastered on my visor. Of course measures were undertaken to make the daunting 1000km trek to the great state of Indiana more manageable.

The mystery box contains the answers...

Its Christmas!!

I didn't manage to get everything installed on the bike but some of the most crucial things were:

Rearset adjuster plates - adjusts the rear set one inch up and one inch back help create a more natural riding position. $10 bucks well spent.

2004 ZX10 throttle tube - The larger diameter of the ZX10 throttle tube makes it so a gentler tug will create a greater throttle opening. This makes it easier on your wrists over the 8 hour trip. Another $10 well spent. For fellow ZX7 owners out there, no you do NOT need to modify your throttle housing in any way nor do you need to modify your throttle cables (although you may need to extend them all the way). The ZX10 throttle is more or less plug and play.

Since the ride to Indianapolis was going to be made up almost entirely of highway riding, I decided it might be a good idea to play with some different jetting settings. 1000kms is a lot of road to experiment with different throttle actions.

Swapped the stock needle jet for the Factory Pro item

Swapped stock jets for smaller Factory Pro ones. 170 - 168 for the outside carbs and 180 - 178 for the inside carbs. Yes the ZX7 has MASSIVE main jets

I swapped the original slide springs for Factory Pro ones too but I forgot to take a picture of it. So instead here's a picture of Rolocat ruining an otherwise perfect photo.

With my bike preped as best as time would allow, and an entire tank bag full of skivvies I was all set to rock and roll. On Thursday August 25th, 2001 06:00 hours R1 buddy and I head for the border.

Stopped for sustenance

As we approached the Ambassador Bridge, R1 buddy couldn't resist the urge to pull over and perform a VERY gay dance

Having successfully crossed the boarder without being arrested, we ponder how to slither through the alleys of Detroit without being shot

We're all gonna die...

... but first, lunch.

Unhappily, we immediately proceeded to get lost... in Toledo, where you won't be shot, but stabbed. R1 buddy desperately searches for implements of self defense. A mallet perhaps.

Having escaped Michigan and Ohio, we take take a breather

Before we knew it, we had arrived at the Indiana border.... where we immediately saw some very queer things...

... Large bits of roadkill ...

... (a lot of it actually) ...

... wild animals in the grass ...

... and generally sketchy people running amok.

This image really sums up biking for me. Loitering with bikes in a McDonalds parking lot with a large soda.

Well fed and well equipped, we pressed on.

The last 150km were by far the longest the the journey but we made it! Yay! Here, we see R1 buddy giving the universal  signal for 'job well done'

We settle into our den of luxury ...

... grab some grub (along with 7 dollar pitchers of gourmet beer)...

... and call it a night.

Tomorrow, day 2 of our epic trip (but technically day 1 of the Indianapolis GP)

More pics of day 1 here.

New toys!

So there I was chillin' in the office one day and along comes R1 Buddy with a very important message! Contour HD helmet cams for $150! HOLE 'E CRAP! Down to Best Buy we go, and the next day:

The sound of sexual thunder.

Unfortunately with everyone and their third cousin jumping on the Apple bandwagon these days, the stupid designers of the camera decided to only allow it to record in the ridiculous .MOV format. There are less video editors out there that support MOV files than there are hairs on Patrick Stewart's scalp. As a result I was forced to use demo software hence the annoying text in the middle of the screen. I suppose the noise from the wind is also pretty offensive... but hey for $150 its not half bad! There are worse things you could get for your bike for the money, that's for sure.

So while I was fiddling around with video editors I also put together this footage from my Port Sydney trip some months ago:

Glorious.

I think what these videos definitively show is that the Kawasaki's of the 90's had by far the most melodic engines in the universe.

Lazy Summer

With riding season in full swing I've found it increasingly difficult to find time to work on the J2. Between rides to cottage country and doing crap around the house, the J2 has a hard time getting on my calendar.

Fast bikes ...

... sweeping hills ...

... peaceful lake towns ...

... and ducklings! Its a good summer :)

On top of all that I bagged myself a ZX7 N1!

The first and last generations of the ZX7 P/N

Anyways, about a month back, I had my cylinder head and valves machined. The cylinder head had its mating surface leveled and ports ground down a bit to help with flow into and out of the engine combustion chamber. The valves got a two angle cut. All the work came out to roughly $200.

Clean! Hard to see, but those ports have been rounded out

Looks cozy in there

Can you see the two angles? ... well its there!

Other goodies include fancy new BLUE valve seals and valve seats, caps, and springs off of a ZX7 K1.

Dear lord they're SO BLUE!! Nothing says 'aftermarket' like fluorescent, flamboyant colors.

ZX7 K bits! Neat!

So now I get to put all this stuff together which was a massive pain. Lots of small pieces to get lost and plenty of nooks and crannies within the head itself for things to hide. The fact that there are 16 valves just multiplies the grief.

Nothing like some good 'ol fashioned valve lapping to bore to you sleep at night

ZZZZZ... zzzzzzz...

All that ass pain gets you a hazy ring around your valve seats as demonstrated by the valve on the left

The same effect can be seen on the valve port (left is lapped)

Just repeat that 16 times and your done!

Next, it was time to get the springs back in the head. Installing the valve locks was the BIGGEST pain in the ass EVER. They're so bloody tiny and you've gotta manipulate them with tweezers in this confined space within the valve spring compressor. I've lost count of the number of times I had them squirting out form between the tweezers and shooting across the room. This is usually followed by a flurry of curses followed by 10-20 mins of crawling around my garage looking for a piece of metal approximately 5x5mm. Grrrr

Half way there

GOAAAAAAAAALL!

Sexy blooming effect :)

Installing the rocker arms afterwards was simple in comparison.

Rock out with your block out!

More blooming sexiness

You probably haven't noticed but the resolution of all these pics are different from ones in my previous post. That's because I got a new HTC Incredible S which has a 8 megapixel camera! That's right all these AWESOME pics were taken with a freaking PHONE!!!! Win.

Visit my Photobucket page here, here and here for more pictures related to this post.

A different animal

I thought that surely, out of all my friends, I'd have the oldest bike but R1 buddy just HAD to go out and get himself a 1988 Honda NT650 Hawk.

Now I've never been a huge fan of naked bikes but no one can say this isn't a sexy machine.

So the first night R1 buddy brought the bike home (he's still got a R1 so the name is still valid) it ran, how do i put this gently, like CRAP. When I rode it the first time it seemed to pull slightly WEAKER than my old ninja 250. The Hawk would bellow it's signature v-twin song but not much happens. Hell, cars were beating it off the line. And then when it couldn't have been a larger pile of (very nice looking) crap, the battery died :)

While charging the battery, R1 buddy and I go to work on the Hawk to wake it up from its slumber.

Hawk - seat - gas tank

V-twin carbs are a pain to remove

grrrrr...

ah HA!

Pictures don't do justice to how mind-bogglingly gross that hole is. The gas tank goes in there.

Carb cleaning

KA-POW

While I was carb-cleaning, R1 buddy was going to town on the aluminum with a rag. Shine baby, shine.

If you thought the carbs were a pain to get out well, try getting them back in...

All slapped back together and ready to rock

Last thing we did was swap the hideous (possibly vfr) rim for the oem original

For more pics go here.