black betty

what to do?

terrydean — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 20:15:24 +0000

racing is coming back to california in 2011, but i don’t think i want to race the vx4 any more.
i want to race in a class that will be competitive. three too-fast super-bikes racing each other isn’t what i want. i want to see lots of kids on roughly equal bikes having fun duking it out for first!
so what to do with black betty?
i don’t want to part the bike out, as far as anyone knows this is the only double dual variated bike in existence, it would be a shame to destroy it.
i don’t want to sell it, chances are some kid with too much money would buy it and not know what to do with it. they would throw some bicycle lights on it, drive it in the street and either wreck it or get it impounded. i won’t let bb go down like that.

i think i’m going to just sit on the thing. i may borrow a few parts here and there to speed up the build of other projects, but the borrowed parts will be returned or replaced post haste.
maybe one day i’ll actually return to bb and push it to it’s full potential.

for the 2011 race season, me and a bunch of kids are building gr1 inspired french bikes.
i won’t clutter up this blog with off topic banter, though, so you’ll have to keep an eye on destroy blog to find out more.

pixxx

terrydean — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:30:39 +0000

here are those photos i took for moped army that i never got around to posting here. as always, click them to see them larger-

and the stats one more time, just for the heck of it-
frame-puch pinto modified to hold gas, vespa ciao gas cap (frame tank is no longer functional)
gas tank-puch magnum x
forks-ebr puch, preloaded and heavier weight oil added
front wheel-suzuki rm80
rear wheel-honda hobbit transmission and hub laced to a 17×2.6 rim
front tire-2.5 kenda
rear tire-2.75 heidenau
crank case-honda hobbit cut up a bit, fdm moby bearings, one hobbit seal one batavus seal
crank shaft-doppler endurance for motobecane
cylinder-metrakit 70cc derbi
piston-stock metrakit 70cc
head-itialkit 70cc for puch, squish and chamber modified
exhaust pipe-puch simonini clone made by me, made to fit the bike by motomatic nate
intake-made by me
carburetor-mikuni tm 24mm flat slide, remote cable choke, k&n air filter
ignition-hpi cdi modified to fit moby crank, made my own stator plate
variator #1-doppler er3 for moby
belt #1-tjt for derbi
counter pulley #1-stock flat reed derbi
jack shaft-made from derb and hobbit parts, and a bit of 20mm steel round bar, running on two super high load sealed bearings
clutch-honda hobbit with heavier springs, clutch bell lathed down to reduce weight, starting clutch removed
variator #2-honda hobbit/derbi 6 weight, hobbit side was lathed down to match the taper of the derbi cheek
belt #2-honda 50 by polini
counter pulley #2-stock honda hobbit
seat-moby long seat pan, split and widened at the rear to fit puch rack, .5″ foam for butt pad
bars-homemade mini z’s, colony bmx bar ends
controls-motioin pro throttle modified, domino rear brake lever also modified, mystery front brake lever
front brake-suzuki rm80 disk, mystery caliper
rear brake-stock honda hobbit drum brake, heavy linear cable housing, over sized cable
rear suspension-chinese gas dampeners with pre-loadable progressive springs
other bits-moby vlx number plate, eastern bikes plastic bmx pedals (best frame sliders ever), peugeot pedal chain tensioner, kmc bmx chain, yellow treats grips, other bits and pieces from various mopeds and other places..

i think that’s it? what a bunch of bullshit, right?

good news everyone!

terrydean — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:47:04 +0000

just got this email from louie-
“Hello Polini Cup Racers,

As you are aware, the Polini Cup will no longer continue this season. However, there are still many opportunities to those of you who hold a current AMMA membership to continue racing in California with no additional membership fee.

SMRRC Championship Race Series, a Youth Road Racing organization, hosts rounds at three different tracks including Atwater, Buttonwillow and Stockton, and have agreed to help continue to support several of the classes offered by the Polini Cup. They will honor the AMMA membership for ALL riders in an effort to keep racing alive through the 2010 season and continuing years.

SMRRC is a program that offers racing for youth, adults and families who enjoy mini motorcycle racing including pocketbikes, mini bikes and supermoto based in Northern California.

Polini USA/SPI-Parts.com and SMRRC came to an agreement that would allow current AMMA members to race in the SMRRC championship without paying for a new membership that will be honored until the end of the 2010 season.

SMRRC also agreed to create Moped and Scooter classes in an effort to accommodate those who supported the Polini USA Cup.
SMRRC’s next round is this weekend, July 17th and July 18th at the Stockton Motoplex in Stockton, CA.

We are sorry to inform you that the Goped and Go Quad classes will not be included in the expansion of the SMRRC racing series.

SMRRC Race Director, Mike Welch, will be holding a meeting on July 17th with all Moped and Scooter riders who show up to determine which classes should be created and honored with a half season championship in the SMRRC series.

The following classes will be up for review as additions to the 2010 SMRRC Championship Race Series:

Moped, Puch Moped, Twist N Go, 72cc Open Scooter,Ruckus Class and Vintage Scooter.

Please be aware that the SMRRC series has a slightly different race format than the Polini Cup. Any suggestions on how the classes should be built will need to be provided this Saturday the 17th at the SMRRC practice located at the Stockton Motoplex with Mike Welch.

If you have any questions, you can visit the website www.smrrc.com or contact Mike Welch directly by calling 541-292-3943 or emailing Mike@youthroadracing.com. You can also call SMRRC president Josiah Taulbee at 626-673-0145 or emailing info@youthroadracing.com.

Practice is from 2pm – 10pm and is $40 per rider.

Polini USA/Spi-Parts.com and SMRRC look forward to seeing you there!

Sincerely,
Louie Peverini
SPI Parts”

so that’s way too short of notice for me to make the races this weekend, already have plans to go camping with the lady, but hopefully i’ll make the next one!

sweeeet, this changes everything!

polini cup was canceled

terrydean — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 10:07:27 +0000

in case you haven’t heard.
me and tony s and pistol pete are going to head up to oregon next month to race with those guys and scope out the scene. i’m pretty excited about it! if i have time, i’m going to build a new pipe for bb before we head up. probably the rr1, same pipe featured on tony s and jimmy’s bikes, i think? i dunno.
anyway, sorry for lack up updates. too busy not doing anything to work on the race bike i guess. and i’m pretty bummed still about no more poini cup. oooooh well.

polini cup fail

terrydean — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 08:47:47 +0000

man, that was the hottest weekend in atwater yet. waay too hot.
no one showed up for me to race. well, pete showed up on sunday after qualifying had begun, but i was already sure no one was going to show so i had settled down to watch the polini puch and scooter classes with a beer by time he got there. he and i decided it wasn’t worth $50 each to race each other in that heat and risk our already running-too-hot bikes.

however, i did get out on the track at saturday open practice. it was horribly hot, i would get maybe two or three laps in and the temp gauge was showing 450+deg f, so i would come back in and rejet. by the end of the day i got it so i could do a few laps and not see more than 430deg f at the end of the straight, so i did as many laps as i could stand to be out there.

thanks to westseattle ryan loaning me his gopro camera, i was able to get some fun footage. only a couple videos of me out there, but i got all of the polini class (though there was only two bikes) and some of the scooter racing. i’ll post those videos over on my other moped blog once i get them uploaded.

anyway, here’s one of the ones of me on bb. i’ll get the other one uploaded soon and post it up too. hopefully next race there’ll be people for me to race and i can get some fun dicing video!

tunin tunin tunin

terrydean — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 20:46:36 +0000

she’s comin along. i went to get one of them lil temp gauges from treats the other day but they sold out already. damn it. so i’m using rafter’s big honkin one at the moment.

i won’t be racing with this, though.. too risky. if i crash the thing’s likely to be a goner.

i couldn’t get my head temp over 380f with a 178 jet and no air filter, i down jetted to 165 i think (it was the next smallest size we had, i gotta order some jets!) and with the air filter now it’s staying around 330f. not bad, except we don’t really have a stretch as long as the straight at atwater here that i can blast on without going out to the tuning grounds, and i don’t have time for that.
i think i’ll take the temp gauge with me and use it during practice where i’m less likely to crash, then take it off for actual racin. i just need to see where my head temp is and tune the carb accordingly.
i was hoping to get a ride out on friday, but it’s looking like no one is going. sucks. jon! from reno is going friday night in his civic, so that may be my ride. gunna be hard to get bb and me into a civic! sigh.
anyway, sorry for the lack of updates. my plate is piled way too high right now.. after this race i should be able to get caught up and have more time to do things worth talking about on here!

clutch modz yo

terrydean — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 08:08:53 +0000

starting to re-tune bb for the newly reworked variators! having the belt start at the bottom of it’s travel on the front variator causes the jackshaft to spend much lower speed initially than it did before, making the motor hit crazy rpms before the hobbit clutch pulley ever engages! so i swapped out the blue dio springs in favor for stock hobbit clutch springs.

i always figured stock springs would be good enough, the clutch needs to engage much much sooner on my bike than even a stock hobbit would need it to, so the stock springs should work as performance springs in this situation.
i did the swap late in the day and haven’t had a chance to try out the lighter springs, hopefully tomorrow!

lots of people at motomatic this week gettin bikes all tuned up. we have a pretty good ride out to colusa on friday where we’ll be campin and tubin till sunday! exciting! but it doesn’t leave much time for bb unfortunately.
not to worry, though.. with the next race next weekend, i’ll be getting on it real soon.
also, westseattle ryan is sending me down a sweet care package from seattle since he couldn’t make it for camping, and in that care package will be his gopro hd digital video camera! that means lots o rad ride-along footage next race and beyond! so stoked!

oh man, i need one

terrydean — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 08:07:27 +0000

nate has been going off on these things, and for good reason! trail tech has came out with this new little digital temperature gauge, and it’s awesome! and cheap! check it out!
next $40 i have to spend i’m gunna pick one up. it’s not all big and bulky like the vapor, and has the only important reading the vapor provides anyway, head temp!

in other news, tomorrow i start up bb for the first time after sorting out the variators! should be exciting!

got the head sorted out

terrydean — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 05:05:09 +0000

just used rook’s .5mm gila head gasket. with a little modification it went on ok, used a bunch of that coper spray stuff and now i’m all good with a sweet, safe squish! stoked!

i also took all the photos for my mopedarmy post about the bike, but i’m not sure that i’m ready to make the post yet. hmmm. i’d like to get some official numbers on the bike (top speed and whatnot) before i make the post, but the longer i wait, the more beat up the poor bike gets. at least i have the pictures of it looking semi-ok!

tomorrow i’m off to a family reunion, then next week i’m going to start riding the bike to see what it’s like now. i hope it’s all i ever wanted!

last race footage and some picturessss

terrydean — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 04:50:42 +0000

mike finally found the time to finish getting the footage from may’s race online!

it’s got me super stoked for the next race! now that i have the variators starting at the bottom of their range i should have sooo much more low end and top speed! finally gunna give those derbies a run for their money! well, assuming i can get comfortable on the bike.. you can kinda tell in that video that i’m not super confident in the corners on it just yet, not like i was on the ciao.. but every lap gets better!

anyway, here’s some pictures. this is the ‘after’ of my gila head after we lathed it. i’m not sure what we did wrong, we either forgot to account for the head gasket thickness i used when taking the squish sample or something, cos my squish is .5mm higher than i wanted.. which was 1mm. so it looks like i’ll be running a head gasket anyway until we get around to fixing it again. at least the squish is the right taper for the piston now, and the piston won’t hit the head!

the modified head on the left vs a stock puch gila head on the right.

and here’s a side by side of a stock hobbit clutch bell/pulley vs the one we turned out. stock pulley cheek is 15deg, the new cheek is 12.5.

as i said before, tony also lathed 1mm off the clutch bell itself to save weight.

i’d say we cut a fair amount of weight off the thing!

i also took the opportunity to check out the clutch.

all three pads have even wear all across the clutch surface, so that’s awesome! they were pretty glazed, though, so i sanded them down. i figure i’ll probably be sanding them after every race or so.. if i could get my hands on an electric impact gun i’d be sanding them between heats! having a fresh surface on the clutch makes the hugest difference ever!

the only thing holding me back from riding it around the shop right now is not having a head gasket for it. once i can get my hands on one, i’ll have it back together and i’ll take some videos of it in action! excited? you are, huh!

oh, and i ran my throttle cable and got the carb back on there as it belongs. every time i take a picture of that area on the bike, the picture ends up being way confusing to look at.. hope you can tell what’s going on ok..

well, that’s it for today. more later!

ps, if this blog keeps looking all weird all of a sudden, it’s cos i’m trying out new themes. seems like every moped wordpress blog has the same theme and i wanna find something different, EXCEPT ALL WORDPRESS THEMES SUCK ASS! frustrating.