Le Mans Fail!

So after 3-4 months of slowy building my mates NC30 back up to road standard, then a final 2 week rush to get it MOT ready (which it passed 1st time, a thank you!), getting my mate rushed through his CBT, which he passed. getting him some new head gear and jackets n boots etc, then rushing him thorough his Module 1 (1st half of proper bike test here in the UK, for you Yanks!) which he passed, booking all the ferries, me making panniers for my Dakar.... then what does he do! Fail his Module 2! Gutted!

But, what-ya-gonna-do! Never mind, we all tried our best, and there's always next time. That's the whole point of Le Mans, for us anyway. Its always been a bit of a last minute affair. This being the most last minute compared to the last 3 times we've been.

Well, the point of this post was not to concentrate of what we're not gonna do, but to concentrate on what we are gonna do.... we're still gonna drive to Barcelona, get some beach drinkin action on the go, see some of them bitchin tunnels throuygh the alps, hopefully stop off at the old German sub pens on the French west coast, and then end up in Le Mans for the week and have a fuckin awesome time as usual!

Also, when I get back I still plan on selling the Dakar, giving me much needed funds to try and do at least 1 or 2 race events before the year is up.

So here is some inspiration for myself... some pics of my 1st season. (2009)

Ignition Problems Cont...

OK, 3rd night on the bike last night and it did the same. thing. again! Cleaned the carbs, started her up perfectly, idled for a bit, steadily idled worse and worse, then she cut out, then cant start agen!

All we've adjusted is the idle screw, (sounds obvious that that's the problem???) however that is now in the same place it was before we started messing with it? So I cant work out why it wont idle properly?

Unless when I 1st screwed them all the way in they've been damaged slightly? they didnt seem to screw in very nicely? and maybe even thou the idle screw is turned out 2 1/4 turns like it should be, its actually broken n still running lean???

NC30 Ignition problems....

Me mates NC30 was thrown together a few months ago to try and build her up for this trip to Le Mans. When we put her back together there were certain things we did along the way that were gonna be properly sorted later. For example, we opened up the carbs, cleaned and air blew them out, and when putting the pilot jets back in we screwed them all the way in and reassembled them onto the bike (thinking we were gonna get them tuned properly later). Anyway, even in her 'lean' state (pilot jets all the way in) she has been running and starting reasonably well, with obvious flaws in low down pick up (once she's on the main jet no problem). 

We took her out for a final shakedown before the MOT and we noticed a tapping sound coming from the engine at idle. Thought Id mention it to the MOT garage, they suggested after MOTing it, that the right rear cylinder (no. 3) was misfiring due to. Perhaps due to running lean? - we guessed. (seeing as we knew we'd turned the pilot jets all the way in). 

So took her home, carbs off, pilot jets out from bottom by 2.25 turns, put them back on and she ran but still with the misfire. We were looking for air leaks as the carb/cylinder head rubber tubes are a bastard to get on properly, when me mate noticed that the wires goin to the coil packs could have been the wrong way round? we checked the Haynes and apparently they were.... and as were the front pack??? However, due to how the coil pack works, the engine would have never run with them the wrong way round??? so we swopped them for what looks like the correct way round  (Haynes wiring diagram), and it wouldn't start, so we swopped them back to apparently the wrong way round but was how it was working before and now it wont work in that way either! 

Very frustrating, especially when you've got a 2000 mile euro trip planned for the end of the week! 

Building me some Dakar panniers!

Right, so we're off to Le Mans on the bikes. Me mates got some soft sporty throw over panniers for his NC30, so I need some hard alu panniers for the Dakar. Ive got a massive piece of 3mm thick alu kick plate which used to be the floor of my late Tranny Van (1995 - 2010, R.I.P.), so that will be the panniers.

Started out by cutting up the kick plate flooring into 40x45 panels, for the sides of the panniers. Then a load of 23x40 for the front and back panels, and 23x45 for the bottom panel. 

Once I had all the panels, I cut up a load of pre-drilled 'L' section for the corners. Bit o' no more nails lathered on stuck the l section to the panels no problem, let that dry for a day and then drilled them.

Once the basic parts were assembled and was in a box shape for the first time, I strapped it to the bike to see what the shape would look like. It does look pretty big but compared to stuff on the net, the overall dims are about correct, and there are some others that look ever bigger than these!

This is pretty much one finished, apart from the lid! and oh wait, i still need to make the other one! I am goin to be busy!

Sortin me mates NC30 for Le Mans 2011 trip!

Just a couple of pics from some of the times when me n me mate have been spending time on his bike, getting it painted, attaching the fairings, basically building it from a bit of a pile! (It wasn't me - in the voice of Shaggy) shes looking pretty good now though...

strapped in for its trip back to Lincoln for some MOT action!

BMW F650 Dakar Screen

Right, for months now I've been looking for a new, taller more vertical screen for me Dakar, and cant find anything! It's a 54 plate GS Dakar, which requires the 4 hole front screen and there's nothing! There's loads of the old 3 hole screens, but no 4 hole! Even the Touratech website doesn't have anything!?!?!?!

Anyway, It's slightly frustrating to say the least, here a pic of the kind of thing I want if anyone has any more...

 This is taken off the www.touratech.co.uk website, (just so I don't get into trouble for breach of copyright :/ )