Who’s News March 2008
The MSR Home Page accumulated 697 hits during March. Total visits are
42,805 since April 1996.
Seen
at the Social
Sip Mark’s Place on Thursday 6th March held at Mark’s Place,
Welcome to new member Bill Simpson riding a Honda VTR1000 and living in
Welcome also to Mick Canny riding a green Kawasaki ZX9. Marty Thompson, also now riding a Kawasaki ZRX1200, steered him
towards the Club. Mick’s first ride was
a lazy 600 jaunt to
Email from Rob Langer travelling around
The Club Participant of the Year is based
on aggregate points accumulated at 1 point per ride, an extra point for leading
or being rear rider, and 1 point per magazine article (maximum 2 per magazine).
Attending one or more days of a weekend event scores 3 points for leading, 3
for rear riding duties and 2 points for participating.
The count is for the
2007/8 year ending at the 2008 AGM in May. Top ten totals after 11 months are:
Front Cover: near Balook
on the Yarram Ride, Sunday 23rd April.
Back row Dave Ward, Tim Emons, Chris Pointon, David Haine, Marty
Thompson, Richard Marek, Willem Vandeveld.
Front row: Dennis Lindemann, Pina Garasi and Misho Zrakic.
Email from Geoff Jones (31/3) after his bike developed a horrible sounding rattle on the Buninyong Fire Tower ride in 42 degree heat:
Rattle result of damaged piston skirt in
cylinder 4. Bike was still running on four cylinders and got me
home okay from Bulla. Knock volume was getting louder through the day. Parts
for repair ordered via web from the
“What is the cause?" Too much messing with factory settings me thinks.
Hard to tell, there was a small piece of the intake side piston skirt missing, I did not find it on the strip down but as the pistons come out at the end of the strip I was not looking for piston parts. I thought the noise was bearing related but all the bearings appear fine apart from a small score on the main bearing five which is one of the bearings at piston four. Big end bearings seem fine. Yamaha numbers from the left as seen from sitting on the bike. Chopped up by the gears would seem the likely fate of the missing bit.
Number 4 was showing more sign of carbon build up on the piston crown and in the exhaust port than the other three cylinders. Maybe there was a loss of compression if the piston was rocking in the bore, not supported fully by the skirt.
The replacement engine has much cleaner exhaust ports. (I will not lift the head to check pistons) and will be fitted with number 15 pilot jets when they arrive (on back order) as they are standard on the later engine. The pilot jet size on the 1998 engine is 17.5. Other jet sizes are the same on both engines. It turns out the idle screws vary slightly: 2.5 turns on the early engine and 3.125 on the 2001 engine.
Clearances in the 2001 engine are tighter than the 1998 unit, mainly in the top end, valve stem thickness to guide internal diameter, and cam journal diameter to bearing journal diameter, etc.
If the 2001 engine settles in okay I will do the EBAY thing after rebuilding the ‘98 unit. There seems to be a demand for R1 engines.
Email from former member Rod Miskin (23/3). When we knew him he rode a Honda VF1000FII. He has since gone off, got married and had kids. Now he owns a Harley! Here is what he had to say:
I went for a ride over the Spurs a couple of weeks ago with a bunch of HOGs. (Yeah apparently Harley riders like them too). The pace was somewhat more leisurely than when I last rode it.
OMG, haven’t they made the Reefton Spur
a good ride! The last time I rode this road was with the MTCV back in the early
1990’s. The road was slippery from gravel and from Woods Point to
Anyway, back to my recent ride. There was a speed camera on the Reefton Spur but riders coming in the opposite direction gave us plenty of warning. I’m surprised the greedy government hasn’t tolled this stretch of road with motorcyclists having to pay a full toll and discounts for car drivers…perhaps that is what the speed camera is for? The Black Spur is also in good nick but car drivers keep the pace slower than we want...as usual.
I tried on a Ducati Sport 1000 S for size in the shop the other day but got dizzy from leaning so far forward. Oh, and my guts were pressing hard into the fuel tank. Must do something about that. The guts I mean...not the fuel tank.
Email from Dave Ward early in the month:
“Cliffy Peters SMS’d me last night saying he is looking at a great deal on the new Kawasaki ZX10R. I may be able to help him out there.
Pina should notice a difference with the suspension rebuild on her Yamaha R6 by Kruztune but I don’t think it will be black/white. They went a softer spring on the rear amongst other things.
Danny Hawker is waiting on suspension work by Kruztune for his new GSXR1000 Suzuki, similar work to his Kawasaki ZX10R. Looks like I will be back on the floor soon so I might not make a few rides in the next couple of weeks. Still working through it.”
Ben
and
Yarra Ranges Police are adopting military-style tactics to trap lawless motorcycle riders on the notorious Black and Reefton Spurs. (Media Release.)
Operation
Surreptitious has seen police in the
In the five years to December 2006, there were 82 casualty crashes on the Black Spur, with 43 per cent of these involving motorcyclists. 75 per cent of the motorcycle accidents did not involve another vehicle.
In a further effort to combat accidents on the Black Spur, Roads Minister, Tim Pallas, last Friday announced a $547,000 grant to improve motorcycle safety, including shoulder sealing, installation of guard rails and reducing speed limits.
In March 2008, more than 20 motorcycle riders were booked for speeding and more than half of those were doing speeds 45km/h or more over the limit, which carries harsh penalties such as impoundment and loss of licence.
Sgt John Morgan, TMU officer-in-charge, said there was a big problem with a "fringe" element of riders who thought that the area was a law-free zone.
"We are hitting the hell out of the Black and Reefton Spurs. We are aiming at the psyche of the riders who think that they can do anything on these roads," Sgt Morgan said.
"The operation will remain active until riders stop killing themselves and other people."