Taff's racing diary for 2005

ok found out why i had some bad luck! the locked kickstart was infact the screw from the electric start bung. the bung doesn't sit flush and so i put loctite on it and figured it didn't have to do much except sit there. there is old red loctite around the thread of the hole.

the bolt fell in the kickstart mechanism and jammed it there and then!

bloody bugger!

regards

Taffy

hey up bob!

you fella had me smirking, then chuckling, then laughing out loud! hit all the right buttons and definately funnier now we met!

warm beer-mmmm nice!

you're right though, i have had plenty of luck to match that bad luck lately. if you read about the bearing that took the place of the gearbox oil seal that was a 1000 to 1.

if yer commin over i'm afraid all traffic has been re-directed via paris. 8O apparently the hotels have got a lot of spaces for 2012...

regards

taffy

yes , yes i can quite imagine those frenchies were really hot under the collar. i think it must heva e really wound them up something rotten :twisted: :twisted:

regards

Taffy

well i should have raced on the BHM a fortnight ago but alas the water deposited itself in the sump again and i was a bit upset. so i missed the meeting and stripped the head off-gasket ok and then my conclusion was that i'd either screwed with putting the 3 x 'O' rings around the spigot or it was the 'O' ring in the sidecover.

i changed this and the bike was at last fine. this was probably the problem at the last meeting. but there ya go.

since the last ride i had ported the inlet side and used devcom in the base of the inlet port. some have said the flat spot was the exhaust not being right but my money was on the inlet port being too big for a 400.

i had the inlets thinned out behind the seats, the seats were 3-way-cut and i did this nice job on the ports.

well the bike pulls from everywhere again and yet i still have the advantage of power wheel lifts in 3rd gear. i wish the rides had been nearer than 2-months apart though.

the race i entered was a timecard event with the eastern centre at sawbridgeworth in herts. i came 29/60 as an average for the two STs. i could have gone quicker but as i turned right to enter the woods the rear wheel came around and i did a 270. i just stood there laughing in unison with a man and his daughter! it put me right off for the next coupla miles as i got everything wrong!

all good fun though.

the track was very easy and there was no hance of a fall. just slaloming mile after mile of open woodland was all i had to do. i came in at the end of lap one and piddled about. just as i got back on it i discovered that the bars were loose!

panic!

anyway i started a minute late and i figure i should have done that for the rest of the day but didn't so the result will be mullered i'm afraid!

just one incident when i turned up at a huge 16" log and got a neutral. i blipped the throttle at the log and rammed it. then ended up selecting second and the bike didn't have the oooomphh to get over!

kept losing the rear brake as it came in or faded away.

this time next week i will be in GERMANY at the oktoberfest where i hope to collect a 97mm piston from 'husa98' or armin as i now know him. this will give a nice long stroke conversion for the bike!

gonna then try a 41mm carb next and try and find a full DOMA system for the bike.

regards

Taffy

since my last ride i have changed the MJ to a 145, the MAJ to a 155, the needle has stayed at c3, fitted a tailpipe, and just generally the bike is going like a rocket!

today i raced at tunstall forest out near ipswich and tunstall is always a very hard race on people.

i had two very good opening laps with no falls and for once even my ST time felt to be good.

on the third lap i set off behind a kwacker 250 4T and it was tough i can tell you! those bikes are quick! i then fell and dropped my hip bone onto the back of the barkbuster. i didn't move for a while and when i did it was sloth like and with a grimace-oouch that P.....G hurt!

i was so worn out by the experience that i timed out on lap three and was completely to **** on lap four! riding slowly and hitting the top and bottom of every rut reminded me of when i started and rode them slowly, it destroys the body! it really is true to say that the faster you ride them the easier it is on the body!

i spent several periods revving out in second rather than change up. this might be for 100 yards sometimes and the bars were very hard to hold without the counter balancer fitted. i am DEFINATELY re-fitting it next time!

i lost the back brake after the fall and this forced my to use nothing but the front on all that silty soul that you get in the woods under trees!

i don't know why it fades in and out or in this case just fading out! i fell and then i have next to no rear brake-then on the last lap it disappears completely. anyone else have this when converting to LHRB?

so i ploughed on at a corner just before the end and toasted it again!

another problem i'm getting a lot of is gear selection which is gradually getting worse! next step will be to get an uprated later gear selector.

regards

Taffy

ha-ha! badger!

remember the chat with you when i came clean! and that great ride we had together! shoot! i even spotted the husaberg FE450e (2005 model) with a reserve price of just a mere £2,500 which was a BARGAIN sir!

half way through that meeting a deputy C of C came over and said we've had a complaint about your riding so i said if you can't say where and when -phuq 'em!

the next sunday i was in the pits at a banovallum in lincs when the C of C called and said that they were thinking of banning me due to my attitude so i said phuqya and left the club!

the club doesn't want racers but gentlemen and i'm too stressed and competitive for that kind of hassle!

i'll hand in my two sensors and get my deposit back some time...

anyway, good luck with the bike-i think you'll like it a lot.

regards

Taffy

out at the annual john banks national enduro this sunday. first ride for 6-weeks or so. it's the toughest enduro i do and i've finished only 2 from 4 so far as it's so exhausting.

first off the line in the over 40's class in which there'll be about 30+ of us. all i've done is tested scoot's 41mm carb, tested my jetting some more and fitted a more modern gear selector, bar risers, ignition lock due to blitzing it last time into a tree!

the rear brake fade was identified as a loose joint.

regards

Taffy

thought i was going to do well but you can always gaurantee that the moment you think you're half decent you're going to get your arse kicked and sure enough today that's what happened.

istarted well enough pulling in riders everywhere and i guess i should be grateful for that but then a handful got me. they could be ex national riders but i was miffed!

i have never had the bike going this well-ever, on the rollover bumps on the straights i was close to looping it and the bike was very rev hungry. fantastic!

i was given

70 mins
62 mins
51 mins
and 46 mins for my over 40 class.


we were racing in temperatures at -3c and all the open areas were like a skating rink. if you went onto the 'white grass' you had to be real gentle to get it back on the main track.

got going next to big jim on his 501e but got him while he turned his choke off! on the first lap i managed a trivial fall plus in my first ST i did a 270 on the ice and i also did a 360 as well! not happy. hewever i came in on 58 mins so had 12 to spare before signing out for the next lap. this lap wnet a lot better and the ST was reasonably OK. i got in on 60 mins and so sat at the gate.

with the ST cut out, trying to do the next lap in 51 isn't as bad as it sounds and i went around in 52 mins. i went staright around the back of the paddock to the gate and was just 1-minute late signing into my last lap.

now this is the toughest enduro bar none that i do and i felt reasonably good going into that last lap. however, i'd had no break for 2-hours and because it was cold i hadn't been slurping the camel like i should.

the track though had become a beast! the ruts were big 10-15 foot long and 3 foot dep monsters. you had to take them hard in third and if you didn't-well you were going to visit the bottom of each and everyone!

i managed to fall and wrench my foot right round and someone came and got ythe bike off me. luckily the stretching exercizes must be working because nothing was broken.

trouble was that i had to get going in a 6" wide 1-foot deep rut and that was while i was feeling quite jaded from the fall.

i never recovered and became more and more debilitated. i rode like a twit but yet again had nothing left whatsoever in the tank. whoever i'd got earlier-got me back-if they were still out there!

i finished and was just about the last in! maybe a handful were behind me. i guess i should mention that perhaps 10/30 didn't attempt that last lap.

anyway 60 + 52 + over 60 again for the last lap adds up to just under 3-hours of racing on my new slimmed down 7.5 litre tank! as the owners doc says 3+ hours are available from the standard tank with a keihin FCR and the jetting sorted.

enjoyed it but the john banks beat me again! that is the meanest toughest race. i keep swearing that this is the last time and i'm sure that i'll say it again next year!

regards

Taffy

yes mate, seen some phoggies on www.endurophotos.co.uk per chance?

i'm the one puffing!

:lol: :lol:

regards

Taffy

hi paul

no i won't be. there is a cadwell parek with the banovallum club. a superb meeting last year with 2 x 1.5 hours in and out of the cadwell park road race track.

i think it's a bit too far for you essex lads but for me it's about 105 each way and worth doing.

regards

Taffy