TOPIC:

You got to let us know when the museum opens up. I would love to see your collection. WOW !!

Hmmm...that was interesting. for the last few days, I got the site was down notice. then, when I figured I'd try again, it made me go through the new password thingie. At least, we are back up and running.

Now, this weekend, off to the Savage Pampas, Argentina. This will be fun, Marquez is talking smack, tht he will dominate the race. Only thing, that race track is not good for traction, hardest tires are the ONLY option, and, the place has both dust and dirt issues blown onto the race surfaces, slip-city. Michelin should develop a tire set that has suction cups for places like this one.

for some reason i cant access old emails from this site, possibly thats just me, however i believe i did read the Nevada guy has 300 plus cars/bikes?
and my wife goes on at me having 6 and buying 2 for the kids, ! having done the GP life myself id say your either happy single or you have the most understanding wife on the planet!.
either way good on you.
TZ700, for the street, i believe Kawaboy wanted to do that
one thing that ive found fascinating over the years is that anything you can think of (motorcycle wise) somebody has modified it some way oir other, for better or worse
a guy in Queensland Aus, if i recall correctly, was building one off specials 750cc 2stroke bikes.
i helped people in NZ when racing myself to fit 4 cyllinder engines into 250 frames for racing and ran a GSXR 750 slingshot rolling chassi, with the older H engine (longstroke) for racing
when i was working for Marlborough Yamaha we where based out of part of Yamaha Europe,s building in Uithoorn Holland,to my pleasure in a mezzanine floor hidden away was a hole host of bikes Yamaha had played with, putting different engines into production bikes, pretty fascinating. so like yourself kawaboy it was that fascination that got me into messing with bikes. actually we had just come back from a race somewhere in Europe to find sitting in our workshop a yet unreleased Yamaha model GTS 1000, we where told to keep quiet over that, i would find other manufacturers bikes in peices all around the workshop at times including the art piece 916, of which was in a million pieces.
it was sheer happenstance that started me in the GP scene, i would have rather carried on with the racing but as i liked things left of court, working around hybrids was the next best thing. I got lucky basically, however which ever way you get to working on around bikes is often fascinating, people who buy them purely for transport, don't generally have anything to do with them outside that, forums included, so in most cases you can deduce a person on a bike forum has some rather interesting stories, bringing me round to why i joined this site, partly for the technical knowledge a driven group of people had generated, but also as some one who absolutely loves all about bikes it was the prospect of like minded people having open experience sharing of their lives and the bikes, to that end this Nevada thread i have found to be great, chances are depending how long the Nevada guy has been in moto GP we may have worked with some of the same people, he would also know as i did its not all a bed of roses in the GP circus, their are some really longs hard nights, some downs when the teams not making expectations, but some fantastic high,s as well.
my biggest hate was the constant airports and customs, back then as a Kiwi i had to run 2 simultaneous passports to enable me to complete the season without travel interruption, now air travel has improved with better faster planes, so that would help.
Kawaboy and i have a common experience in that we both started off as Automotive engineers and ended up as 1st class welders( Australian title for highest qualified welder)
i email regularly with Pete KZA13 due to open talk on this site, he was part of a gun club, i was taught how to use guns by the NZ militarily through my years at college, and have used on and off over latter years.
i myself was building a 1 off ducati with a Guy called Brook Henry used to own VEE TWO Ducati, unfortunately that ended in me taking him to court, one day ill get to finish it.
i cut and modified a 916 frame was mating a 900 vee two big bore air coled barrels (of which i welded up all the lower part of the inlets and we shifted in let higher ) to 748 bottom end fitted deep sump,D shaped exhaust oil cooling the set up, 999 front end made to suit 916, cut and filled key hollow in fuel tank, hole sawed through the wing (both sides )of tank and fitted cut down stainless donuts for breathing tubes,fitted 1098 swing arm made a plug to build(which i did in carbon fiber) my own air box,etc etc
my mates always used to go on at me whenever i bought a bike it was always in pieces as i pulled them apart to investigate and sometimes change things.
I did get pissed off after taking Brook Henry to court over the Ducati affair, it was then i thought about my experience of riding aZ1300 when young, it was the first bike i rode over 250cc so even with all the other bikes i had been on it always left an impression on me, i thought something a bit more simple would be a better project for a change, obviously i had no idea how many issues the Zed had when i bought it, HA! thats been a learning curve.
but to any one on this site it does not matter to me how rich or poor you are, how many bikes you have or not , and what level of finish they are in, surely most people on this site would be here for the love of sharing 1300 info and experiences with no judgement,
id bet every one here has a story worth hearing.
thanks Dion

Off to the airplane later this evening, Argentina calls.

Dion, it isn't that much fun any more, way too political these days.

Yeah, lots of both bikes, and muscle cars, and, some fairly rare bicycles, including two bikes built by The Wright Brothers. Yes, those Wright Brothers.

I did not want to say anything, as sometimes people get offended, one of my reasons i did not continue with the circus was as you say how political it was getting, but also more importantly it seemed as most in the paddock aspired to the graces of formulae one!
that was something i felt i didn't want to be part of! being with Red Bull Yamaha gave me some access to the formulae one pits, and i found it to be ea very sterile cold place (regards to the people).
now and then via past contacts and GP contacts i got into the World Superbike pits, i was always welcomed their.
i think this was also part of the reason behind Stoner leaving
but dont get me wrong i did find the odd person in GP to be above the thought (we are so great! look at us) and got on very well
Mike Sinclair , Trevor Tilbury, Howard (plumbton?) used to run Suzuki where really great guys down to earth.
another thing that surprised me at times was how rude/demanding even to the point disrespectful some riders could be at times.
as having raced myself i always figured if i ever had got to that kind of level i would look upon the team as equally important as self!, even the best riders need a bike that works Ala Rossie and Ducati.
i wonce watched John kocinski jump off a bike as it came into the pits < the bike was still mobile!!
the mechanics ran after it! i just looked on in astonishment some one could act in such a way because they weren't happy
the flip side was some of the things you got to do that you may never have if you werent in that scene.
i stopped for a few days at Robert Gallina,s workshop with Mike from Ohlins, much to my joy he was the Custodian of the MV Agusta factory collection!.
i spent the whole day looking at all the proto type stuff that never saw production, and all the old race bikes.
I got to work with the likes of Mike Sinclair,Warren willing doing fabrication and welding of the GP frames /swingarms
i ran a transporter worth millions around Europe, and flew Bussiness class every where else pretty incredible for a guy from Whangamata NZ population 3500.
was that the wright brothers who where actually the WRONG brothers on first to fly ! Ha! hope that doesnt open up a whole other can of worms.
nice talking
Dion

Hi Gents,
This is very interesting reading this but I consider myself to be in the elite club when it comes to the art of joining metals together. You want to try and joining metals together in the most awkward of positions. for instance, under floorboards, behind wash basins, ceiling voids, behind very dirty toilet bowls and flea invested properties. the art in soldering is very difficult in these situations and you have to get the temperature just right or it just doesn't flow and you end up with liquid all over the floor.

ex heating engineer.
PS I have done some silver soldering but prefer the soft soldering techniques.