It was a mad thrash to get the Yellow Bike ready for the dreaded sound test at Calabogie, but when the nice man at sound check gave me the thumbs-up and told me that I had blown a high reading of 96db, I was obviously relieved that the WhisperJet Mk II was gonna work out.
This was Show-up, Shut-up & Ride – an invitation-only event that provides more safe and sane track time than you can imagine.. 54 riders who are at most only three degrees separated from the organizer means that if you want an open track, you can get it and if you want to mix it up – you do so with friends. The only down side to the event was the incredible heat; 42 degrees Celsius with the Humidex factor. Calabogie’s sparkling clean, air-conditioned washrooms became an unlikely oasis.
At Calabogie, the Yellow bike was a revelation. With the old 853; at knee-dragging angles, the level of communication from the front tire would reduce to a low whisper. On the Yellow Bike, the message was loud and clear and the handling flawless. We were so paranoid about the sound check that we tapered the perf-core down to 2” and the result was an increase in torque and unfortunately a big hit in power. The good news is that we were under a few db, so we can redo the can with a straight-through 3” core and hopefully get back the power. Regardless, the machine was hoot to ride on the 23-turn, 3 mile course.
But on the 2nd day of the event, it seemed that there might be something else going on.. The motor was sounding mechanically louder with a pretty sharp ringing on deceleration and towards the end of the day it started worrying me enough to slow down and listen to what was going on. As I did so, I could hear suspicious mechanical noises at neutral throttle and this turned into a clatter that had me headed back to the pits.
With the Yellow Bike parked, day 3 was all-BMW and what an interesting ride. The bike rewards careful throttle control and smooth downshifts with fast laps and a really comfortable and fun ride. The brakes could be better, the Pilot Powers were a little greasy and I spent most of the time being spooked about decking the cylinder heads, but I had a blast. Rob (now officially a fast and smooth kinda guy) followed me around for a few laps and told me I had ½” to spare (which the photos confirmed). With the Yellow Bike in dry dock for a while, the Boxer’s going to be my only ride for the DOCC Calabogie event at the end of this month – and I have a plan.. The Bridgestone slicks are coming off the Yellow Bike wheels and onto the Boxer – then I’ll move the clip-ons below the top clamp and drop the tubes. And order a new pair of cylinder head protectors…
But it wasn’t all riding at the event. Walt Siegel was back; recovered from last year’s crash and had his latest creation with him He had one of his latest creations on hand – another tidy 2V 900-based machine for his customer (and riding partner) Fritz. I think we’re each others’ biggest fans which is kinda cool ‘cause the way we approach building bikes is so different. If you haven’t heard of Walt, check out his work at www.waltsiegel.com.
So, what of the Yellow Bike motor?
We’re not sure.
I see effects, but no cause. Oil the color you would expect from an old Buick that hadn’t had an oil change in 50,000 miles, but no metal content. Aluminum in suspension, but nothing magnetic. Nothing on the magnetic drain plug or pre-filter. No signs of excessive heat. No funny smells.
But there’s scoring on both cylinder walls and some on the piston skirts. Two pistons rocking on the wrist pins and one rod maybe rocking on the crank pin. Gary’s perplexed as well and short of splitting the cases, there’s simply nothing to point at as a cause. And it’s a relatively fresh motor as well, which has us even more confused. It’s conceivable that in running the FCRs without filters, I ingested something – and also that something went silly with the oil pump. In any case, the motor went off to Gary (he graciously offered to dig into it) today and hopefully he’ll be able to pin down the cause once he opens the cases. Good thing I was running the muffler or I’d never have heard the clues in time to save the engine from something more catastrophic. Oh, well – if it was easy, everybody would be riding a Yellow Bike and how much fun would that be?
I’m actually surprised at how well I’ve been taking things like this lately. Must be mellowing in my old age…
The three-day event finished in the same kinda upside-down way that the Mosport event did. Rob suddenly fast, smooth and completely on his game - Fran improvising on one of Gerry’s 900SSs - and me on a Boxer.
So I guess that’s the way it’s gonna be this season. Make plans, but don’t expect anything to go according to them. When things get strange, roll with the punches and have fun.
We all did.
The Yellow Bike is based on a 1988 Ducati 750 F1. loudbike is a state of mind, a weblog about fast, loud Italian motorcycles and an internet store offering more vintage Ducati parts than you can shake a stick at.
Comments