Custom Ducati (part 2)

Minimalist 900SS design by Old School Garage. Comes with a pair of tasty Supertrapp exhausts, updated forks, wheels and swingarm from later models plus a tricky wooden seat.

Master cylinder rebuild

The BMW still sits with its braking issue. Since the last brake lines swap (from Goodridge 1 into 2 to Goodridge 2 into 2), it had several fluid bleeds and it didn't change anything. The brake lever feels harder for a couple of days after a bleed and then the bike sits still for another 2 days and the lever ends up feeling completely soft, hitting the right clipon.

I had bought a master cylinder rebuild kit from BMW several weeks ago just in case the lines weren't the issue. With the last result being a spongy lever, the brand new master cylinder piston has had a go.

"The master cylinder rebuild kit" consisting of a piston and a spring ...

The whole hand brake assembly has been removed, inspected and cleaned. Comparing the old and new pistons, I had reasons to be hopeful.

Old and new master cylinder pistons

I could put the master cylinder together with its new piston rather easily. Unfortunately, the brake lever feeling is still as spongy as ever. Now, the brake lines have been swapped twice with new complete kits, the master cylinder has been refreshed and the whole assembly has seen more fresh brake fluid than the pan contains oil. Next in sight are the calipers.

Extreme lean angle

Casey Stoner seems rather at ease on the Honda this year.

Next step ? Scratch the helmet.

We've moved

June's been a rather busy month. Lot of work (the one that pays the bills), hence not enough time for personal projects, but above anything we have moved house. At first I didn't realize this would take us that much time, but all in all things went pretty well and straightforward. Thanks to anyone who contributed.

Workbench

I had been dreaming to have one since I started to work on motorcycles, but always kept the money to buy more and more bikes. A couple of weeks ago, I thought : "Hey what about a smart purchase so that you don't hurt your back at every engine swap, oil drain or brake bleed ?" ... 

So I bought nice workbench from Matthys. It's heavy but still easy to move on the garage's floor. It looks strong but only time will tell.

Loaded, ready to head back home

Let's put a no-caption then ...

 

Oh, by the way, I also came back with this nice bike grab. This is a typical Matthys product : home designed, good build quality and fairly priced product.

eBay find

It's not a very common practice for an official BMW dealer to sell lingering parts on eBay. So when I came across this left side panel the other day, I couldn't help myself clicking the "Buy now" button. I imagine the 40€ claimed price had something to do with this compulsive buy.

Pretty cheap for a brand new side panel for which BMW usually asks 4 times that auction price. It arrived yesterday in a huge cardboard box and it actually looks like new. Still have to decide on the paint scheme though ...

Custom Ducati (part 1)

Let's start a series of posts on custom Ducatis with this nice SS. It's funny how a paint scheme can really change the look of a dull motorcycle. Or maybe it has something to do with the fact it's got a single seat unit and mirrors and ugly standard single headlight are missing (found on Motoblog, recommended especially if you can read Italian).

KTM 690 SMC

Tried one last Friday. Just wanted to know what it's like to ride a lightweight thumper. Guess what ? I had loads of fun. This thing power wheelies in first and second gear like the front-end's so light, but still breaks hard with its single brake disc pinched by a radial caliper. It wants to be ridden hard and surprisingly accepts high revs (7000 rpm is a lots for a single cylinder engine). It's easy to just jump over a roundabout like it never existed as you won't need to touch the brakes when you cross one.

This KTM is a real toy and definitely proves you don't need 160hp to have fun on a motorcycle. But god my butt was really aching after our 50 kilometers trip together. The saddle is so narrow and hard, it's been aching since the very first kilometers. That must something you get used to with a bit more time behind the bars, but if you don't the Duke has a wider and softer saddle and I've been told it will be soon available as a demo bike at the local KTM shop.

Bare Guzzi

Half tracker half café this bare Guzzi is, to me, one of the cleanest build on the Internet today.

If you ever come across some other pics or know the builder, please point these out to me as I only know of the one above.

Update : again, Yvan has proved himself very useful, by providing the link to this beauty's story using Tineye. Check it out there. Technology saved us once again ...

Moto3 coming soon

Back to some more, say err..., futile motorcycle-oriented considerations ...

Curious about how Moto3 will taste ? Want to have a glance on Honda's own treatment to what's going to replace 125ccs ? Have a look at this and you'll wish these 4 stroke singles were already there !