Royal Enfield Fury

Can anyone keep me one of these ?

This is the new Royal Enfield Fury. I hope what the ultra classic British motorcycle company is actually trying to achieve with the new Fury is to target younger customers, otherwise that would mean I'm really getting old this time.

Prettier rear end

This is what I've worked on last week. I've tried to make the rear end prettier while certainly a little lighter too. Again I had this parts gathering dust for several months now and finally took some time to fit them on the BMW. 

So here it is before the parts swap ...

... and after the turn signal lenses and the licence plate holder were changed

The main point here, I have to admit, was the look enhancement while trying to stay more or less road legal. Weight gain is hardly over 200g, but that's another 200g that makes the bike 1kg lighter now with the bar ends swap (don't know if you've noticed that already).

The indicator bulbs are still clear ones making the signals to flash way too bright. I still have to replace them with orange tinted ones. Front turn signals are still ugly orange ones, so I guess I'll be looking to arrange that soon.

Miob's bikes

I've just come to realize I haven't pointed you out yet to this great website : Miob's bike. This kind dutch man buys cheap classic bikes and restores them as tasteful Cafe Racers. And he does that on his own on his spare time !

Plus he has built one of the finest BMW Cafe Racers out there. One I would really love to give it a try ;)

White stems

Last week, as the list of things to do on the R1100S wasn't really reducing, I decided I would brave the freezing temperatures and start to strike out some of the lines on the list.

This is what I did : 

- drained and replaced the clutch fluid

- changed the damaged clutch master cylinder cap

- dropped the exhaust down pipes and drilled them

Pics ? Sure :

And a last one. I just hate what I see on this one : white valve stems, which only prove what we already know about how bad the injection is currently set up. Look at these valves ! It looks as if they were made of plastic. A cure is on its way ...

Ducati red

First official pictures of Rossi dressed in red ... and a bit of yellow of course.

Oh and let's not forget the brave Nicky who's having less press coverage these days, go figure ...

And since wer're on the MotoGP topic, Yamaha have lost their Fiat sponsorship and are still looking for a main sponsor deal, while Ducati - who had already signed with AMG in late 2010 - have announced this week a new deal with Diesel.

Me ? Being partial ? Yeah maybe ...

Rapid Bike box

In order to sort the fueling issues we (the dyno guy, Robert from Foster Performance and I) discovered on the R1100S just after the Laser complete exhaust system had been fitted, I've been recommended a Rapid Bike box. Everyone goes with a Power Commander to remap an ECU, but these Rapid Bike boxes are powerful italian technology worth every penny.

Anyway, Foster Performance have been very keen on pointing me out that they were currently having a clearance sale on Rapid Bike boxes for the R1100S. Add to this an attractive euro-to-dollar conversion (well, at the time of the deal) and a promise on custom maps to start to work from and fit my specific needs, and I couldn't decline.

The box arrived a couple of weeks ago as you can guess from the picture below. It hasn't been installed yet, but from what I've seen today (story soon to be covered in another post), I can't wait any more time to fit it.

Displayed in picture (clockwise) : 

- Rapid Bike software + custom maps

- USB cable to connect on laptop

- Quick shifter

- Wire harness that plugs on both Bosh injectors

- Rapid Bike module (center)

BikeExif 2010 top 10

Here's a link to an interesting top 10 post on the always nice Bikeexif website.

The editors' approach for this retro' is not to elect the 10 most beautiful bikes for 2010, but rather show which have made their website's traffic hit sky high values.

BCR fork legs

Just for the memories, these are a pair of fork legs down a Boxercup Replika R1100S. 

Why is it there ? Well it's mainly because these are a bit different from the standard R1100S fork legs. As you may (or may not) notice they are longer under the lower clamp. It's aslo because I've been looking for that information, so that's a kind of a way to both store that picture here and share it with others looking for it.

Happy new year

Happy new year to everyone. A nice way to start this new year is to wish you all the best for 2011. Have fun riding or upgrading your motorcycle(s), keep on waving other riders and stay safe.

On a personal note now, I still don't know what I'll be up to in 2011. While some personal things are certainly in the move (some still needing a lot of attention) and hence might definitely affect plans, everything closely related to motorcycles stay rather uncertain. 

Firstly because although a lot of efforts have been thrown in the '11S project, there's still so much to be done before the bike can actually be considered as ready for a track usage. Small issues here, pricey parts there, well you get it. It's been a bit more than a year now that I started the project and I must admit I'm not going as fast as I expected, but I'm determined to finish it as I want it. The huge leap forward from the past year is that it's now got proper papers and that's a big relief. As long as I've got ideas and plans for it (and trust me I do), the project will be (slowly) moving forward. As always, I'll keep you posted here.

Secondly, since I sold the Speed Triple back in early September, I'm still looking for another project bike. I can't seem to be able to make up my mind on which motorcycle to choose. Don't get me wrong, it's like I've been offered dozens of deals, but it's like I'm bored somehow. Time has come (I believe) that I don't seem to get excited by whatever new Japanese sportsbike anymore, so it's getting a bit harder to find a project that would make me stand out the crowd again. It's taking a bit more time than expected, but I'm pretty sure I'm soon going to find what I'm looking for.

Finally, I'm glad to announce that with this blog getting a little more attention that last year (and a little more that the year before), I'm considering to extend this blog experiment a little longer - let's try for another year.