thorny path?

this is not how i wanted to finish 2010...

i thought i got everything. surely i got every part i needed but it didnt quite go well as i expected. somehow a couple of tappet clearances were out of range. how? that's the mystery. it looks like the 2011 is also thorny.

another update

replaced the problematic needle bearings to bushings. this is probably one of standard updates most of xr1000 owners would do. i don't know how many xr1000 owners up there reading my blog, however, i hope i can bring some ideas to them, some good, some may not be useful... i hear a lot of rumors about the model, mostly sever crticism. it maybe not wise not listening all that but i much prefer to experience myself before i speak.

colors

i got the valves. made them from harley sportster's ones. cut the stems shorter, made retainer groove and hardened. because they had different material between exhaust and intake, my moriwaki friend had to apply 2 different hardening methods which made different colors.
i tried to fit the valves to my xr1000 engine yesterday, and found out that i need to cut or replace the valve seats for intakes... i shouldve done it before i sent the valves to moriwaki. oh, well, at least i got new valves now.

in hibernation?

not quite.

very slow but some progress on my xr1000 engine.

we found someone in Nagoya could do me a special machining to finish this long time problem i had. the crank bearing case which casted in the aluminum crank case, became loose and i hadn't had complete measure for it. Now, see the photo. i think i can go another 50,000miles with it!!!!

now i'm waiting for the valves i sent to moriwaki which should be here sometime next week. will i be able to join my harley friends for the new year's day ride?

where it belongs

who knows what tomorrow brings...

on the zero engineering floor...
i just realized that i haven't really up my blog for quite sometime. there aren't much progress with my xr1000 engine, anyway. at least i can say that moriwaki engine guy will get me a set of valves can fit into my xr1000!

good snap

as we all expected...
coming out of the last turn of fuji speedway with 2nd gear at lap1, keeping it full throttle until it hits 7,000rpm, then up shit to 3rd... "SNAP". it was the time my small hope that my xr1000 aren't like no other was proved to be wrong... it was just another ordinary xr1000 with weak pinion shaft.
does anybody know where i can find a "andrews reinforced pinion shaft" before next race in october?

escaping from the heat

narusawano-taki, or narusawa waterfall.
i just got a lens filter for my little panasonic. drove up the montains in back of mikawa region and stopped to get some cool breeze and test the filter... i can't tell the difference between with and without the filter... did i spend 7,000yen for nothing??? better learn how to use all these special functions that panasonic put into the camera.

2.4kg of gunpowder

something that you grew up with...

gremlin

i took my xr1000 out last sunday first time since the race in may. started from zero engineering in okazaki and went to see one of my friends' exhibition in inazawa. good 40miles ride in 100F heat. got problem about after 20miles... unstable idling, felt like no gas were sent when i opend the throttle.
anyway, i got to inazawa, enjoyed the exhibit and waited for the sun to go down near the horizon. i started the engine. it was running no problem. i left inazawa and after 20miles, it started again.
i got back to zero, just changed spark plugs and when i left zero, of course, the engine was running "okay." and again, xr1000 decided to play funny.
i don't know what it was but i tried a few things and now it is running fine. one of the things that i found was that the picker rotor had a crack.
i broke it once just a couple of races ago. fitted a secondhand one from zero's storage and it only lasted maybe 5 track rides including 2 races. i'm about to call Nallin Racing Head Service now...

this is what i'm talking about

a photo i found on motoGP site. american honda + moriwaki are bringing a md600 to indy gp in august. i can't wait.

long sleeves for summer rides

i asked to have 30cm wide print on our t-shirt... well it was a little too small on actual t-shirts by the look of it.

i know it's not a harley.

moriwaki md600, the one that leading the inaugural moto2 world championship race series at the moment. toni elias onboard moriwaki just won the german gp.
i really want moriwaki to make an exhaust system for my harley-davidson xr1000... though the managing director of moriwaki is my best friend, i can not ask her that. or maybe...

tsukuba remedy

close ratio transmission...

will it work? wait and see. the $300 andrews close ratio transmission kit will shorten 2sec at tsukuba easily, i reckon.

not bad at all...

when you are a man tuning to 42yr-old in old Japanese way (you are 1yr-old when you are born and you age on every new year day but not on your birthday), you are in "yakudoshi" or bad luck year. a group of locals including myself are going to take a big part of local festival this summer and we decided to make t-shirts... no one said who's gonna have to design it so i did. not bad... not bad at all.

dutch attitude

that's why we can't stop loving them!

keepsake

thank you, grandma!

99yr and 7month

i couldnt imagine my grandma's funeral until it actually happened. close to 400 people came to see her leaving... thank you grandma.

people say it's jealousy

when you spend too much time on one Harley-Davidson, this is what happens.
since i started racing with xr1000, i've been spending less and less time with the panhead.
a few weeks ago, with some friends we went up to the mountains in back of Aichi. we stopped for a gas after about 50miles. i filled my panhead tank and then when i tried to kick start the engine, the pedal broke off. luckily the engine started... i didn't have to look for a slope.
now i got a second hand part from zero enginieering and ready for another ride.

a shot from Tsukuba

i thought i would not spend $40 just to get the photo... but i did.

i told you it was the tyre

finally we went back to the circuit for the last ride before the season opening race this weekend at Tsukuba International Circuit. i got a new set of tyres so i really wanted to go below 1min4sec which i never had. and then what?
i got 1min3.280sec!!!! with new tyre, everythig went good. now i can feel the benefit of the andrews#1 camshaft. xr1000 is running faster at every part of the track. i'm very happy but the brake is becoming the bottleneck... squeezing so hard. i don't know if my right arm can last one race?????? Harley Davidson's stock brake... definitely not for racing.

blame on tyres

just to see how far i got with the front tyre... my front tyre was not really holding the ground and i wasnt sure if it was because of me or tyre. so i decided to blame on the tyre and ordered a new set. now i can see the different between new and the accused one. i will go to the track one more time before the race in May. if my lap time doesnt improve, i will be blaming on suspention... or brakes...

the bear is on the move

this was the moment when i wanted to have better camera.
it is less than a month to the first race in this season. we are almost ready... i guess.

Oh... Mr. J.V.

what on earth people do such thing... thank god nobody was hurt. oh, mr. J.V....

since i saw the "the world's fastest indian"

when i tell people that i have never been to the states, they are quite surprised. just because i ride harleys and speak english doesn't mean that i have been there. But, of course, i would like to visit one day. since i saw the movie "the world's fastest indian," i really want to see the bonneville during the speed trail week.
so as one of my students... he just went there and got me the key chain and post card. it was february so the lake was dampy and he couldn't drive on the salt he said but i envied.
today my friend and i took our racing harleys to our home circuit for the first time this year. the new set of andrews #1 cam seems working good. it accelerates faster than before. my friend said it didnt sound like xr1000 anymore... it got too fast so i ended up in the gravel at the first corner! it was a great fun.

10yrs and 4months

i bought the xr1000 in october 1999. it had 5,500miles on it.
it hit 50,000 mile mark yesterday on my 40th birthday... it had been a commuting bike than nothing else until i started taking it to track rides. it is definitely not a comfortable bike to ride but once you get used to, you kinda enjoy the "discomfort". i'm looking forward to see the odometer goes back to 00,000.0mile... maybe in 10yrs time.

a little detour...

the weather's been pretty funny lately... i thought it's gonna rain whole week but got sunny today so took my xr1000 to meet a customer. on my way, i took a little detour to see special plum blossoms in Okuyama-kogen.
mercury went up over 20c degree again, it was way too warm to ride with my winter jacket. i tried to hit 5,000rpm a couple of time when i stopped at red light. it definitely got power but it needed a lot more gas. i had to open throttle more than i used to... larger jet in my carbs, or lift the needle up for another clip...

luxury...?

so the xr1000 is now ready to hit the road. i rode my panhead to zero and swapped it with the xr.
i think i'm very lucky to own 2 harley-davidsons, and very lucky that zero can keep one of my bike at their garage.
i rode about 100km yesterday. xr1000 seems running okay. i haven't tried to push the bike yet but it definitely got louder exhaust sound now. next race is in 10weeks. i have plenty of time to practice... if the engine endures.

zero test course

about 5 miles from zero engineering, there is a nice park got a museum on top of the hill. mindscape museum.
i got my xr1000 engine running yesterday and took it for a short test ride. i didn't try anything above 3,500rpm but it was running good. i hope i don't have to assemble the engine again this year.

problem solved...?

finally we got the machinings done and it was ready to check the valve-to-valve clearance again.

assembled the new camshfts and head without cylinder. the xr1000 engine always reminds me of Vartan from the Ultraman... anyway, with the 1mm sinking of the exhaust valve made enough clearance now.
now the engine is on the chassis... i should be able to assemble transmission and all the rest next weekend. i hope the weather gets warm by then.

haven't changed much

3 babies in 18months...
i don't know what was the occasion to take the photo. it could be me and my twin sis's 2nd birthday... that makes my younger sis was 5months old... yeah maybe that's it.
38yrs had gone and we are still close. good sisters.
One of my friends is just about to have 2nd bone-marrow transplant, giving by his sister. 1st one was from his brother... he's got good brother and sister, too.
here is his blog: http://kickoutheleukemia.blogspot.com/

no progress

there hasn't been much progress since last time i ground the bits off around the crank shaft bearing.
zero engineering friend set my engine on a nice work bench. it's no longer on the floor with cardborad paper.
i actually checked the valves and piston movement with the new set of Andrews camshaft a couple of weeks ago. i forgot to bring my camera that day. anyway, the valves hit. valve-to-piston clearance seemed okay. now the heads and cam-cover are somewhere in okazaki getting machining and new bushings...
zero always gives me a space to leave my engine or bike on their shop floor... and let me use their tools and chemicals... maybe the zero engineering is famous for selling a custom harleys to hollywood celebrity but it is just those bike shop everbody feels welcomed. i don't know what i will be doing if there wasn't zero...

can't go back

now, i got the camshafts... compare to my last cams, the harley made screaming eagls "E" cams, the andrews xr1000 #1 cams have about 2mm more lift. what the hell is that supposed to mean...
2mm nipping off meat around the crankshaft bearing.
After a few hours of "yes" and "no", got a pneumatic hand tool and put a step into the area where you can't go back. i don't know how many xr1000 still exist in the world, however, not many owners put their xr1000s in danger like i am doing... can't wait to go back on race track.

dining in nagoya

i don't eat out much. only the place i regularly visit is my friend's restaurant in nagoya. for me, this is the best restaurant i have ever been and it will be.

i was going to meet my Santa that night. he was giving me a set of Andrews camshaft for my xr1000.

this is his rudolph... not quite. chopped xr1000. you hardly ever seen harley-davidson xr1000 on street... never one with long stretched front.

had good meals with good friend, talking about xr1000... won't get any better.

Toyokawa Inari temple

a million people visited the temple on first 3days of this year. it's only 20min harley ride away from my house. it's known as a god of business... that's what my friend told me. i hope that 1,000yen i threw into the offertory box will do something about this crisis we are having...

title

i was riding my panhead on the new year's day morning, heading to okazaki on route1 in snow... i only had this stupid cap on my head. my ears were sticking out and small glasses didn't stop wind to get my eyes...
why do i have to do this? only the reason i could think of was the sticker i have on the back of my cap...
"official asshole"... happy new year, everyone. i hope we have good one this time.