loudbike

Visitors...

You’re a morbid bunch.  94% of the hits on the site this week were on the Loud Bike Crash photo album, and running a not-so-close second – 71% were on the 87 Ducati F1 S Engine Damage album. 

Although I haven’t had a lot of activity in terms of direct comments to the blog, I receive a bunch of email from all over: 

From Paul Hewitt in Toronto –  “I will send you few more (pics) from Mosport, and some as I progress.  Paul’s Pantah is another Keith Harte special  - 1979 500 cases, 750 barrels, factory NCR cams, heads have been ported,  36mm Dellortos (as per AHRMA).”  Paul's bike is Loud.

Mike from the Pantah Heads list wrote about his TT – “Mine is an old Sports Motorcycles Harris Pantah with the later 'rising rate' rear end which I purchased quite recently. The bike was sadly left to stand in a damp shed for the last 5 or 6 years and needs much work, including getting it back to some sort of 'race' spec (it had been converted to a road bike).

Not sure of the spec on the motor yet (it needs completely stripping), but the bike has M1R's, 17" Astralite wheels (horrible!) a White Power shock and 40mm Dellortos. The bike will be a great winter project and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it soon. I'll send a couple of pics over once I get it somewhere near as nice as your bikes (might take a while!).”   Mike also recommended this site (which is a treasure trove of detailed TT and F1 pics).

I also heard from Brad Turner in San Jose, CA and remarked to him that the bike in the pics he sent me bore an amazing resemblance to one that was just sold by a friend of mine in Toronto.   The bike is a "750" Montjuich built in 86, 200 in the world, 20 in the USA, but was one of two competition bikes brought into the United States specifically for US BOTT racing -was "built" by Reno Leoni, and raced by James Adamo -was bought from Leoni by Frank Mrazek in the early 90s, worked on by Keith Harte. He replied: “I bought the bike from Jim Baker.  Jim bought the bike from Reno Leoni used.  It was originally campaigned on the East Coast and in Canada under the Team Leoni banner (I think this is correct, it still has the Team Leoni sticker on the tail) by somebody whose name I don't have yet. 

Thru mutual acquaintance contact was made with Reno in Italy.  He remembered the bike and the guy I bought it from.  I need to get back in front of him to get a little more history detail.  I would also like to hear from him his best recollection of the build detail.”  Pics of Brad's F1  (an obvious relative to the one that John sold recently) are attthis site.

Too cool. 

Loud Bikes Defined…

...A completely subjective opinion on the factors that I'd have to consider in order to classify a motorcycle as a Loud Bike:  First of all, Loud Bikes have to be loud - that’s a given.  How loud?  I’m partial to at least 102db, but I’ve been known to make exceptions; the Aermacchi, the Buell XB9S with Race Kit, the Britten… 

And they have to be Italian and preferably Ducati, but then again I’ve been know to make exceptions for the Buell XB9 series with its Verlicchi frame and funky character - and the Britten, for obvious reasons..  A twin is preferred, but a hot rod Laverda triple with an open exhaust makes the grade.  The sound of a Loud Bike's gotta put a smile on your face – no matter what time of day (like 6AM in the pits) it is and this important criterion unfortunately rules out most Ducati singles. 

Loud Bikes must be at least somewhat irreplaceable, but also should be ridden on racetracks with total abandon and as often as possible.  I’m not implying that only vintage Italian bikes apply, but it should seem to the uninitiated that the rider of a Loud Bike must be out of his / her mind to be hurtling around a racetrack on such an amazing piece of machinery.  Bob Berger’s 1036 Corsa comes immediately to mind (and incredibly, he let me ride it).  Mick Ofield’s “Guido” factory TT-F1 http://www.superbikeplanet.com/tmickandguido.htm is definitely a Loud Bike (that is if it’s still being tossed around SoCal racetracks). 

I think that those of us who own Loud Bikes are a pretty rare breed and frankly, I haven’t met many beyond the few whose bikes are featured in the Gallery section in this blog.  I’ve got a few more to add in the next few weeks:  Gareth’s, revived Original Loud Bike, Curly’s ex-MBP dyno mule / Canadian Thunder 900SS, Rick’s recently revived TT1, Mike Cecchini’s 888, and a couple more that have slipped my mind.

I know you’re out there. My range is limited to Canadian tracks like Mosport, Shannonville and Mt. Tremblant and Grattan in Western Michigan but I’m positive that there are many of us who share the passion.  Most of the hot Italian bikes we read about in magazines don’t get a regular thrashing on the track, so if you run a Loud Bike, I’d love to hear from you.  Please add a comment at the bottom of this entry or send me an email.

Dead Ducks...

I spent yesterday at Guy's shop www.mbpducati.ca tearing apart Shannon's Ducati F1A motor, my F1S motor and a 95 900SS engine that I plan to use as a basis for next year's version of my F1S.

Shannon's F1A motor broke a mainshaft early in the season last year and we're still debating options for its resurection. Do we rebuild it with another Allazurra base or continuing to watch e-Bay for a Paso or early Sport motor?  It's a tough one; we could take the Allazurra approach which is the shortest distance between two points in the short term, but then she's left with a motor that is known for a weakness in the main shaft when punched out to 750cc and breathed on somewhat.  Having said that, Fran's TT is Allazurra-based and has been flogged carefully in endurance and sprint races for years.

My F1S motor failed spectacularly at Mosport during Sunday morning practice at the August VRRA festival - punching the front cylinder rod through the cases and soaking the front and back tires.  Admittedly, the motor was a grenade with the pin pulled given the problems we discovered last winter with the FBF big bore kit, and I had planned to ride it carefully and build a revised config this winter.  The careful riding plans went out the window in the endurance race and I continued the abuse by entering the bike in the Period 4 and Canadian Thunder sprint races.  I qualified well in both heat races and figured on a third in each class Sunday.

I've been looking at what Koba's 900SS powered F1 project in Japan F1 Club site http://park1.wakwak.com/~ari/f1f3/900rh1.html and Guy and I figured we might be able to go a step further by using an F1 crank and maintaining the short stroke and original outer cases.  After taking a bunch of measurements yesterday, it appears that we can do so - using the 900SS cases, gearbox and oil pump and the F1 crank, rods, ignition flywheel/pickups, stator, clutch and outer cases.  We need to go with EFI barrels because the oil jackets in the earlier 900SS barrels won't allow the machining of roughly 11mm off the top of the barrels.  This is already pretty silly stuff, so we're going to go full stupid and get BCM's www.bcmducati.com 944 kit and steal Shannon's Carillo rods.  With the F1 stroke, the motor will be a 853 like the last of the racing F1s.  We also confirmed that the 900SS cases can be milled and bored to accept the original F1 swing arm pin, bushings and seals.  The F1 heads are being upgraded to MBP Testarosso http://www.mbpducati.ca/cylinderheads.htm spec.  After all, it's only money...

Detailed pics of the damage http://loudbike.blogs.com/photos/87_ducati_f1b_engine_dama/index.html

Addictive....

I should eat.  And stop chainsmoking.  But I keep gettin carried away writing up the dialogues for the new the Photo Albums - although I'm certain that the transition from novelty to drugery will occur in due course. Eventually, I need to figure out how to set the order of the pictures in the Albums so they hold the storyline - but assume I'll get it sorted out once I get around to reading the Help file (yeah, right).

I figure the Photo Albums are important to the blog 'cause they can establish the history and introduce the players, so I plan to spend a fair bit of time in there (at least until I get bored).

While I was writing about Gareth's Loud Bike crash, I got mail from him (coincidence or what?) with the attached pic.  The shot is Gerry McDermott and Paul Hewitt  working on Rick Bradshaw's newly acquired TT1 during the VRRA vintage festival.  They got it assembled and tech'd (it hadn't run since a major crash years ago) just minutes before Rick's first race.  It's a pretty cool unit - similar spec to Fran's, but with a Keith Harte-built 818 or 780cc motor (Allazurra bottom).

 

Work In Progress

Too easy!  I'm amazed at how little time it's taken to build the blog to today's level - and how much fun I'm having pulling it all together.