Wednesday, January 26, 2022

Bakc to basics: A lesson in trail

 


I ride trails. Not trials. I partake in trials, tribulations, try anything once. Tried it before. Might  try it again. Long ago I learned what rake angle was. It broke and I had to buy the wife a new rake. I also learned what off set and trail where. I let my un diagnoised ADD number fearing brain let those equations fad away and just know what it feels like when my forks are too steep or when the off set is twitchy. But this nice tight discussion from Richard Pollock of Mule makes much more easy sense than my normal eyeball it, cut, grind, eyeball it more and say "fuck it, fuck yeah". I must be getting old. preaching about doing things correctly. Whatever. Give it a read and maybe you will be less lost loading dog turd leaf piles into the bin with a broken rake while rationalizing why a trail and a trial are of importance at all.

https://phillittleracing.com/richard-pollock-of-mule-motorcycles-talks-about-sportster-race-handling

Sunday, January 23, 2022

KX500 Trackmaster





 I have been saving a Trackmaster frame for about 5 years now. Good old Tommy bought it from Jim Henry and gave it to me to do something with. Jim Henry was the first person to help me out on the old Flattrack.com forums when I started building my XS. He set me straight on my maiden voyage into flattracking selling me a front to rear wheel quick change adapter and a seat. Thanks to him my XS was a well set up and behaving racer right from the get go helping me immerse myself into the sport of flattracking. Right after Tommy bought it Jim passed away. Maybe a year after the 80+ year old brakeless class racer had one gnarly get off at Stockton 1/2 mile. Tommy and I thought about putting an XS twin engine in the frame but I found out the frame was originally built for a single two stroke engine. The engine mounts had been heavily molested so I thought a lighter engine might be better, knowing my less than great welding on top of previous less than great welding added to a heavy 80 HP engine might go over like the Hindenburg. It sat. I moved. Tommy died. Rest in peace my Cosmic Cowboy amigo. A special frame awaiting a special engine. I thought of retiring it to a street tracker cradling the Gt550 2 stroke triple I have hoarded. I thought of another CRF450 framer. Then looking at it one day it hit me that I had a 1987 KX500 engine horded away awaiting a special frame. I learned some of the KX500 engine mojo tuning when building the KX500AF and it's stock frame sister build a few years ago. A powerful light engine in a classic known dirt oval track weapon. It won't be vintage class legal so the Durrell racing forks hoarded find themselves a worthy home along with a spare nice old heavy XS rear(old front) mag wheel with quick change adapters the Ranum bros machined up using my old Jim Henry as a model.    First I cut the swing arm out and boxed it to accept modern wide rear tires. I fit the engine with the counter shaft as low as possible in relation to the swing arm pivot. Both the swing arm and motormounts are the first tig welding I have ever done not on aluminum and I am amazed how much fun tig welding steel is rather than aluminum. Much easier but still my weld quality leave much to be desired. For the past week now I have been masochistically torturing my ADD ridden, math class flunky of a brain with designing an expansion chamber.... Wish me luck.  

Friday, January 7, 2022

Editorial



“There is a moment, an eclipse of conscious action and reaction, when a motorcyclist’s complete well-being depends upon calm, level headed perception. Perception of the ground and tire- a perception based on synapses that can key the body’s action to turn clumsiness or disaster into flowing motion. Maybe it happens crossing the crest of a razorback where the ground drops away sheer for a thousand feet to either side, or maybe it happens the first time the motorcycle becomes an extension of the feet when bike and rider leave the rise of a jump to clear the next in the air and land smoothly on the downhill side.

A complicated feat of hand/eye coordination? Sure. But what may have been luck, or skill, or practice has launched into a field of understanding. It is a moment where the concept of controlling a motorcycle goes far beyond what it meant in the past. A connection grows between the rider and the bike that appears as skill of speed.

If the new found abilities are to continue growing it must be a graduation into a new set of responsibilities; responsibilities where competence, judgment and sensitivity combine with satisfaction. From this point on riding a motorcycle begins to take on more subtle definitions: control becomes finesse, picking a way becomes taking the way, the earth becomes a friendly medium. Traveling over the earth with finesse, understanding and compassion provides satisfaction rather than gratification. Pleasures necessarily become more subtle, too.

In its finest form motorcycling should be like a martial art. The mind must work with the body to produce precision, rhythm and conservation of energy. A goal is to establish the most direct and efficient connection between the senses and the muscles. Without the cooperation of a calm and rational brain nothing is possible. 

In order to expect to control a motorcycle the rider must understand the stimulys provided to him by the motorcycle. Actions from the handlebars and footpegs must be quickly translated into reactions. And the hands and feet have to be able to feel all the way through the motorcycle to the ground to sense its texture and slipperiness and interpret the news. The messages are infinitely subtle and require the utmost mental acuity to make good use of them.

Instrumental to both the establishment and maintenance of this calm but alert state of mind (meditative?) is a machine which comes easily to treaty with the mind/body energies. This means things such as steering geometry and weight distribution, seat comfort and shift lever location and how smooth and quiet the engine is. If any of these systems-handling, comfort or gentlemanly demeanor- are not adequately designed and constructed the result will be an inharmonious motorcycle, one which will inhibit rather than enhance good mind/body energy.

Of course, to construct a motorcycle which functions perfectly and in total harmony would be to assume that there is some individual who possesses both of those qualities. Or, that a group of individuals could work together, combine talents and produce the perfect product. And so it goes.

A sensitive motorcyclist may perceive, with no small astonishment, that a number of motorcycles have progressed an impressive distance towards that goal. Most impressive is that in many areas the manufacturers are offering potentials that many people have never imagined. Least impressive is their child-like possessive grasp of performance at the expense of more important qualities. And so it goes.

Not only does the responsible motorcyclist have competence in mind, body and machine and their interrelation, he can also apply them to what he is doing- the traveling over earth. The motion itself is the least productive of the activities contained in the sphere of motorcycling. Even the maintenance of the machine at least tends to perpetuate the activity. Therefore, the traveling requires the most attention if it is to be at all profitable.

A good place to start is the minimization of destruction. We are so retarded as to be seeking neutral grounds of good and bad. They aren’t inaccessible. In essence a motorcyclist and the machine are no different than the earth they travel upon. Carbon and hydrogen and some minor others like silicates. To say that a path in grass is of no harm because it will regrow in two or three years is conceptually the same as saying that a cut on the skin of a person is acceptable because it will heal in time. This doesn’t mean that all life must be cherished above all other concerns. There is no right and wrong, and pursuit of more right or more wrong is a lonely journey. The mere application of rational thought from that calm, aloof brain will result in the optimization of potential.

As the motorcyclist traverses the earth thinking about the more general concerns of the activity, the way the wind feels against the skin, hearing birds singing in trees, feeling the muscles enjoy the work, feathering the throttle to avoid needless tire spin and useless skids and enjoying the calm responsive way the body and mind work in gentle rhythm with motorcycle and earth, motorcycling takes on horizons much larger than all the crassness that it can just as easily mean.

Motorcycling can be a profit to mankind, can help people think better and understand their environment more thoroughly. Like any tool with cast potential for good, it can be equally bad. It can and does help many people to avoid thought and disregard their environment. It can inhibit rather than enhance perception. It can be a sickness.

Not only does motorcycling need a better public image, it needs a better internal image. On any given Sunday I can find you a thousand motorcyclists pursuing degradation of themselves through degradation of the land, the machine and the sport. They’re not pursuing satisfaction, they’re pursuing gratification. That is a sickness- a very visible one at that. 

Eventually, and it may not take long at all, these people are going to tend to force you and me to quit riding our motorcycles through shame and embarrassment if not through the law. And so it goes.

I am no activist. I have no interest in or use for causes. I am only speaking for myself and I hope for the rest of the people associated with this magazine. What you have read is obviously no indictment. It is simply the philosophical background for the bike riders who prepare this magazine, presented so that you might better understand what we do. And there is no satisfaction in life without understanding, only gratification.”  - Dave Shoonmaker


This is from the December 1975 Dirt Rider magazine. It resonated with me so I typed it out to share here. It reminds me of how thoughtlessly sick I once was and how I still find myself at times seeking that gratification over satisfaction. Peace!

Sunday, January 2, 2022

Bugging in the desert

https://youtu.be/TKoRfvU9j6M