A Little Tinkerin', A Little Drinkerin'

[Leigh]

Maxwell was taken out by the other rider sliding out.
Personally, I thought he was childish and petulant.
He is a wildcard rider looking for sponsorship and a factory ride. I don't thinking smacking him in the face was the right way to reach those goals. It was plain embarrassing.

Stoner? Who's Stoner? Did you see the fight between Rossi and Hayden for the last 10 laps? Wow!
0.0038 of a second between them as they hit the line.
If the finish line was 20 metres further down the straight the Duc would have over run the Yammie.

 

[Guest]

Yeah that's the impression I got from the TV, they didn't show the incident just the aftermath and I thought "you arrogant little s*&t"... I have a feeling he may have just cut his international career opportunities...

Now don't be like that... Stoner's the guy you only see the rear end of as he disappears into the distance... or the gravel trap

That battle was good stuff indeed! I really enjoyed that, and it's something that's been missing big time this year which is quite sad really.

 

[Guest]

There was a lot of GOOD racing "back in the pack" . :clap:
I think everyone is just doing time now , until NEXT YEAR .
Who's your money on for next year's championship ?
I'll stick my neck out here , and go with Jorge .

Cheers , Simon .

 

[Leigh]

I think you may be right, Simon.
George The Janitor may be the one.
The Brat will be fast on the Honda and get faster as the year goes by.
Rossi will be a force to reckon with, as usual.

I reckon the two to watch for will be Dovi and Spies.
Dovi is getting better each lap and Spies will go like a cut cat on the full-spec Yamaha.

Did you see him fight off Dovi a few weeks ago?


p.s. Roll on the 1000s in 2012.

 

[Guest]

Yeah I'm hoping for a big mix up next year, Jorge certainly isn't going to have it so easy as this year! Seems like as soon as someone challenged this year they'd either fall off and injure themselves or the bike would magically turn to a Moto2 bike... or at least it seemed that way, and I mean no disrespect to Jorge's talent by saying that either, coz he is damn quick!

If Stoner gets on the Honda and goes quick like Pedrosa can occassionally do, and Rossi can get the front end of that Duc sorted (Burgess and him should make it handle like the Yammie), then the aliens should be back to flying form.

I agree on Spies as the dark horse though, won on debut in Superbikes, beat Mladin in AMA, and adapted the best of all the recent ex-Superbike riders in his first year on the *satellite* Yammie, so he will be quick next year on the factory one.

Dovi I'm not so sure of, I liked him in 250's and he has moments of quickness but just hasn't got that consistency happening, sort of like Pedrosa...

Big question though... can the Yammie development keep up without Rossi/Burgess doing it??

However it turns out, surely it can't be as dull and boring as most of this year has been can it? I'm glad the Moto2 is there for the entertainment factor at the moment!

Anyways... enough hijacking of this here thread... unless of course we all like the new direction

 

[Leigh]

The Yammies will move forward a bit.
The Duc will end up sorted by 1/3 the way through.
Dovi will level out the Honda, if they don't loophole him to the satellite team.

Moto2 has been the greatest thing. Elias has handed out a lesson on what racing should be. All elbows and scrape marks. Good close racing.

NOTICE: Normal service will be resumed to this thread as soon as I do something else to the bike...

 

[Guest]

Read in AMCN yesterday (I'm an issue behind) that Pedrosa has finally signed with HRC and it's looking very much like Pedrosa + Stoner in Repsol colours and Dovi back with Gresini but on a factory bike.

Rossi's also been released to ride the Duc in the post season tests which is probably why he's not getting his shoulder surgery done yet.

We shall see...

Thought I'd squeeze one more post in since notice has been given

 

[Leigh]

What a top lazy day I had.
I wandered out to the shed just before lunch and tinkered around all day.
Polishing a little bit here, sanding a bit there.
Nothing definite, or defined, just a day to be had.

I bought myself a little brake bleeding kit and got the fronts up to spec. Maybe.
The lever still comes halfway back, but it's enough to get me to the bike shop and they can pressure bleed it properly for me.

Then it was off to the back end of the bike.
I managed to get it up onto the centre stand by myself today. A sure sign that the broken collarbone is on the mend. I didn't hear any clicks or cracks coming from within, so that was good.

With the front of the frame brushed and painted I got busy on the back half.
Again it was only light surface scaling and it fell to the nylon brush with ease. A couple of coats of the flat black and it was looking pretty cool.

I reassembled the tail light pieces and put the tail piece on.

I looked at the tank and the tail and figured I might as well put the other body pieces on too.

Then it was time for the wheel to come out.
The split pin through the cotter nut was new and shiny.
I took that as a sign of recent servicing. Good.
The axle was heavy with grease and slid out nicely.
That was followed by a the dual *ting* of metal hitting the floor.
Bloody spacers! I forget them every time I do a wheel.
So, a question for the brains trust..
From the left of the bike to the right, are these in the right order and the right way around?

I mean :
Swingarm-spacer-wheel-spacer-brake-spacer-swingarm?
The middle on is my main concern. Is that the right way around?
Anyway, the chain is in great condition. No signs of stretch and the thing is covered in chain wax. Good again.

The sprocket doesn't look that old either.

The wheel and cush drive rubbers are in good nick too.

A quick regrease of the wheel bearings and a check of the swingarm showed it all to be rather good.
I think the old girl has been looked after properly.
A lot of the electrical connections have been replaced by newer looking spades.

Anyway after that it was time to wander on in for the evening.
One last parting shot as she stands, with her bum in the air..

Please excuse the crap I am passing for photos. I only had the phone with me and it doesn't handle fluoro lighting too well. I'll take the big camera out tomorrow and get some in daylight.
I promise.

 

[Guest]

Looking like some nice progress there Leigh! Looking forward to those better pic's for sure

Not sure if this is right or not, but from a 1981 GS750E it appears there're four spacers, but one of those is in behind the sprocket. So with the sprocket on, it looks like what you're showing there is right (this is from Alpha Sports).

PS: Glad this thread has resumed normal service

 

[Leigh]

Hmmm..
The suspect piece looks like number 7 in the diagram.
But that shows it behind the rotor.

I'll work it out when the wheel goes back in.
I might get the tyre swapped while I have the wheel off.
Save a couple of bucks on labour anyway.

 

[Guest]

Sounds like the way to go, sometimes it's hard to see how it goes until you actually try it.

 

[GS750cafe]

I'd love to talk motogp smack... is there a thread already for this??? Hate to highjack.

Rossi seemed a bit desperate last few races!

 

[Leigh]

Get out of here with your "Rossi seems desparate" nonsense.
Having a 3/4 healed leg and a wonky shoulder wouldn't help.
Still, it's better than taking off half a season for being lactose intolerant..

 

[spyug]

Get out of here with your "Rossi seems desparate" nonsense.

Exactly. He may have been down this season but just wait 'til he suits up in red and climbs aboard the "rocket". You think Stoner was fast on that bike? Look out Casey, Jorge, Nicky, Danni and all the rest. The Doctor is far from done my friends. Still a lot of life left in the "old man".

I predict another world championship for Vale in 2011. Climb aboard, strap yourselves in and hang on.......its going to be a wild ride!

Sorry for aiding and abetting the hijacking.

Cheers,
Spyug

 

[Leigh]

You and I, Spyug, will sit and drink beer and laugh like men who know things whilst the GOAT adds another crown to his hoard.



Re-hijack : All I did to the bike yesterday was run the tyre and rear wheel down to the shop for fitting. I got mugged by the Ex and the neighbours to help them out with stuff.

 

[GS750cafe]

I thought that might stir things up!

Don't get me wrong, Rossi is the GOAT and I commend him for coming back after injury so quick... but Rossi's passes on Hayden at Phillip Island seemed, well, desperate. Nicky followed and followed, finally outbraking him and made nice clean passes. Mean while Rossi, bumped Nicky out of his line, forcing him wide. It just wasn't that clean style of riding like we're use to seeing from the Dr...

As for Stoner, I don't think he's got it in him for another Championship run... he doesn't have the stamina!

Spies on the other hand!!! Can't wait until Spies is on the factory ride! He's got to learn to get a good start and put his head down early in order to create a gap. Too many times he gets bumped around or goes wide and looses several spots early in the race and then has to work to make them back up. But 6th in his first year?!!! WSB Champ in his first year! AMA Champ!

It's so great to see all 3 Americans in the top 10!

We'll see what happens next year...

 

[Leigh]

Rossi and Spies will be the two I will be watching next year..

I think Rossi's "desperation" may have come from the knowledge that the Duc would run him down if he didn't get through early enough.

 

[Guest]

You poor misguided fools .
Jorge is the man . Same team , quicker version of the same bike , bigger goolies than the others put together .
You reckon he's going to be any slower next year ?

I picked him for this year (before the start) and will put my money on him again for the next .

Twill be a good year .

Cheers , Simon .

 

[Leigh]

You better stay out of the sun a bit, mate..
George will be re-educated next year.
Do you think Honda have been sitting on their bums?
Spies will show him how to do it.
Anyone care to bet how long before the Wall goes back up in the Yamaha pit?

 

[Guest]

I read somewhere (AMCN I think) that the wall's not even coming down...

All I want next year is some exciting racing.

I'll take either Rossi or Stoner winning, but I do expect big challenges from Spies and Lorenzo. I expect Pedrosa once again to have some brief shining moments but not much more...

Unfortunately I see Hayden becoming the newer fresher Edwards for Ducati; nice blokes, funny as hell to listen to in interviews and a great asset to the paddock, but just missing something that takes them to the top.

Of course, I don't want to be too crytical here because even the slowest rider in that field is about 1000 times the rider I am