Through the wire

A quick glance at the ohmmeter mesuring resistance of the ignition cables.

Stock ones :

Nology ones :

There got to be a nice explosion at the spark plug end of these red cables !

Gauge obsession

Am I growing a gauge obsession ? Call that whatever you like, but 2 posts a year to talk about gauges, tachometers, speedometers or dashs got to mean something ... With that kind of addiction, I know that later in life, when I'll be ready to build my own prototype (but too old to actually ride it), the dash department will certainly be the most over designed part of the project.

The first product is an analogic meter made by Pivot Racing. Check out their website as it contains some nice videos that show how their gauges work and how precise they can be compared to stock ones. Especially the stepping one.


The second one is a complete digital dash that is close to what 2D is bringing to the competition (and more and more to the road also now, as they worked on several Ducatis and BMWs like the Desmosedici or the HP2 Sport). What HM Quickshifter has built is a lot cheaper though. Both are European companies as 2D is German and HM is British.

A25 bridges and tunnels road

It's funny how you can miss so much things riding on A roads. Who could have imagined that there are so much bridges and tunnels along the A25. Well you could still get an idea with just bridges you can spot driving from Lille to Dunkerque, but that would give you a mere idea of how much tunnels crawl underneath the road.

As I was stopped in the traffic the other day, I decided I'd try to find a road that would pass through every bridges and tunnels crossing the A25. I started from my home and passed on and through 11 of them riding only 60 km. I must say I discovered unknown places ...

With as much bidges and tunnels, no wonder why this road will never get a third lane.

By popular demand

I remember having posted some time ago a picture of the French 1200 GSF Bandit that got a cool Cafe Racer treatment. While I was wandering around the web this afternoon, I found this one on the Blood Falcons blog. And since I'm getting a lot of requests for Cafe Racer Bandits, I thought this would satisfy some of you.
I've never been a big fan of Bandits, even though I can understand why one would want one, and most of the Cafe Racer converstion attempts end up badly, but this one caught my eye. Maybe it's the color scheme or the way it's pictured.

From the shelf

While the project is kind of stuck at the moment (mainly due to brake issues) and the fiber race fairing is still missing (it's 2 weeks late already), parts coming from the UK and Germany are piling up on the shelf waiting to be fitted. Let's have a look on what's getting dusty.

This is a Becker Technik central stand. This one's not really wating as it's already in use as a "racing" central stand.

That's a short paralever arm that comes from a GS. Since this arm is shorter, the bike's rear is lifted a bit putting more weight on the front. This helps making the bike more manoeuverable in the twisties.

A Touratech part. It's a steering stop protector that fits on the telever lower arm. On undamaged motorcycles it helps preventing the steering stops from breaking when the bike is dropped. On the track bike project, this part will act as actual steering stops since they are already broken.

An extra pair of engine covers. This might come in handy if the bike want sto taste the track sands (of if I'm getting a bit too optimistic with the lean angle).

Relays ! It's a box full with relays for the R1100S. It did come cheap from eBay and saved me a huge expense. Some relays were missing when I got the bike from the breaker. Among those were the starter one (you can't start the bike without this one) and the blinker one (the bigger black relay on the left). The latter costs around 150€ new, but the whole box came for £15.

An extra O2 sensor that will be bolted to the Laser Daytona system, since the one that came with the bike is seized in the tube ...

Some Cera protective additive which will be poured in the engine, gearbox and drive shaft oil compartements.

Nology cables. These extra permissive wires will help the plugs producing a proper spark.

Nice collection of parts waiting isn't it ?