dutchinterceptor

What the Whyte PRST 4? yeah I want one! You can't pedal standing up (honk) very well but they 'float' over anything rough x-country. have a look at the new whyte bike's rear quad-link/tara swingarm works. Whyte was a ex-F1 benetton suspension designer. Done rear's for Marin bikes too. :laugh: Friend of mine has one. I've had to service it a few times which meant riding it. There is no comparison to a conventional forked mtb. As you mentioned it does "float" over the rough stuff and it's still as light if not lighter than the standard design.

It's just like when you drop a piece of buttered toast.....ALWAYS lands buttered side down. Graphics looks great! :fing02:

As soon as you get that thing finished drive to the nearest mountain pass and take a hundred pics of it before it gets dirty!! Still think you can make Arkansas?

I've had that place bookmarked for a while. I ran across them when I was looking for a bicycle frame painter. Based on their gallery pics they do nice work!

Good Info!! Wouldn't mind seeing that Vitus when you're finished also. :blush:

[Cue Annoying Infomercial Announcer Guy] For only 15 minutes a day and as little as $19.95 you too can work that clutch with ease....even those shorty Pazzo levers!! :warranty:

The shorty's are less likely to break/bend in a fall and I find them way more comfy than the stockers.

Its hit or miss to get a tentioner that doesnt rattle , just look at those who've replaced them multiple times even at best they dont rattle for a while , being you did get change on the issue , says you replaced the right part. You probably seen my mention on the issue with oil type that corrected my noise and it was loud& Kronic , but I recently noticed The oil hole through the gasket can barely fit a needle through, I wonder if increasing that hole would free the oil flow alittle and aide with the body rattle, so people can use what ever oil they want and be noise free. Turns out I only heard a minor rattle on the couple miles back to my house. After that....dead quiet! So far after 3K miles it's silent.

:biggrin: :dry: . You crazy bastige Cruz............ yeah i dont get it, if somethings fd up on the site or you guys are just trying to be funny. if you seriously cant see it go here: http://vfrworld.com/forums/attachments/mod...like-dyno02.jpg Nothing showing up, nada, zip. Plus, to see it at VFRWorld you have to be registered which not all of us are.

The good: Just did my front CCT in about two hours including bs'ing with a friend during that period. Tank, air-box, disconnect wire harness, pull upper hose that has the squeeze clamp, and bend the other hose out of the way. Old one came right out and new one went right back in. The hardest part was getting the air-box hooked back up. The bad: The constant noise is mostly gone but I can still hear an intermittent rattle/tick/noise so either my back one is bad too or something else is amiss.

Thanks Joshua, saved me the trouble of looking for it. I plan on changing mine this weekend.

That's the spirit! :biggrin:

Doug, you still alive? Maybe I should send out the trashy waitresses to check on you? I'm sure they've missed you.

Ah Shite Doug! Hated seeing this thread. Hope it all comes together for you. Think you can heal enough to ride the RC?

Actually, my little wheelbarrow(86 Toyota Pickup) has tires that are rounded off like a motorcycle tire. What can I say....I love cornering and acceleration! :laugh:

Some really good shots in that bunch. Sucks about the 4x4 jack-hole. I would have done the same.

That's what it felt like all weekend with my stich on. I'm sure there was some residual heat from the motor at work there but it was noon in the sun in the middle of a cement parking lot so it was still darn warm. It cooled down to 94 once I was at speed.

One year ago....one year and two months ago I picked up this sad looking VFR with the intention of doing something with it. What it would be I didn't know at the time but I had some spare cash to throw at it then. Somewhere along the way in this past year I sold the bike, got it back, went broke, got busy with work, busy with family, and certainly had to fit in several rides so this poor bike along with my front yard got neglected. Well, I finally took care of the yard and then got tired of looking at the misc. pieces-parts laying around my house. Thought I had moved in with Baileyrock for a moment. Recently, my mom had some surgery and needed help recovering so what better time to rebuild that bike since I'd have plenty of free time plus her place has a cement pad and carport along with a small garage area. So I tossed it in the back of my truck and off to the country we went. All I had to do was mix in a few extra pain killers with her meals so she'd sleep all the time. Worked great because I certainly didn't want to be bothered with helping her all day when I could be getting greasy and covered in antifreeze. I had already picked up forks from Darth Bling, a radiator from Seb, a mildly dented tank from a very generous Skrugs and I also kept the original tupperware from my bike when I replaced everything after it's fall. So with a little luck I'll have a second Asphalt VFR even if the panels are a bit chewed up in spots. Not being an expert mechanic or expert anything for that matter I was a bit lost on where to start so I just began by looking for broken stuff that I had missed on the first go around. I sorted through the wiring harness, drained the oil, and pulled the original tank. All the tank bits swapped over to the newer asphalt one without any problems. I wasn't sure the foam pad on the bottom of the tank was necessary but I replaced it anyway. The air filter was a bit dirty even after I cleaned it out so a new one went on the grocery list. The radiators were next in line. Silver is a lame color for radiators so I immediately grabbed the Krylon Radiator paint to darken them up a bit. With those blacked out and the hoses cleaned and checked I started reassembling the coolant lines. All went well except that I realized the coolant bottle had a couple of cracks in it so I tried to do a little surgery with my soldering iron(Weller Portasol). Again, never done this before but how hard can it be melting plastic....should be easy right? I was pleased with the results and did a test with the air compressor and then let it sit for a couple hours filled with coolant. Much later I noticed a tiny leak so I figured I'd just hit it a couple times with the soldering tip. Once empty of coolant I again went to work on it, and then a hole opened up. Not being discouraged I kept sweeping plastic around, and then a bigger hole opened, and then a much bigger hole so then I added a coolant bottle to the grocery list. Words of warning: Don't drip molten platic on your bare leg! Sorry, no pics of that. I couldn't wait on a new bottle so I put everything together anyway for a test start. As I was filling up the system the right radiator kept gurgling and gurgling. Thinking that something wasn't right I stood up and noticed a funny looking green puddle forming near the rear tire....Crap! Threw the bottle down and ran to the other side only to see this perfect green arc of coolant coming from one of the hoses near the water pump. It had a tiny slit that wasn't too obvious until I grabbed it to shut off the flow of green money/coolant. Just my luck though, I diverted the arc right into my arm and chest when I tried to pinch off the hose...man, that stuff sure is sticky. Sorry, no pics of that. After shortening the cut hose and adding more coolant I manually turned the motor over a couple times to make sure nothing was frozen up. I replaced the oil cooler, filter, and put in some fresh oil and gas, along with a new battery, then started my pre start checklist. This will be the first time this bike has run since smashing into an antlered rat in '07. I was nervous. Switch on....check. Gauge on....check. Fuel Pump Priming....Fail. Crap! Figuring that I'd have to pull that pump and replace it, I decided to check the easy stuff first. Run switch was on, wiring harness is good, connector tests good, wait a minute.... no relay. Found the relay, plugged it in, turned the key on and voila....fuel pump whirrs, I thumb the starter and she roars to life like a good Honda should. The only flaw is a noticeable exhaust leak....very noticeable. During the crash the front wheel obviously bent the headers and damaged the mounting gaskets. More items added to the grocery list I set about bending the headers into shape. My remaining parts should be in tomorrow and I can hopefully get this baby on the road for a real test. It's been fun so far and still have a lot to go. More to come.... Oops...looks like HS stuck this on the home page before I could update it. I last left the blog waiting on some parts. Everything showed up and I began notching together the last few items. The headers really weren't as bad as I initially thought. One tube was tweaked and the gasket was nicked enough to create an ugly "tick" when running. Putting the headers back together was a pain in the arse needing an extra set of hands. Those copper exhaust gaskets are supremely delicate and easily smashed so keep that in mind if you ever find yourself replacing yours. The tupperware I used were the leftovers from my other bike after I tossed it in the ditch. I cleaned them up as best I could but figured they'll be a good base for a repaint or great for a beginner when I sell it. As nice as it would be to have a spare bike I really can't justify having two identical bikes. A few accessories were added along the way. The Fuzeblock FZ-1 intrigued me so I picked up one to test out. Well constructed and designed especially with the optional switched vs. powered circuits that can be changed by just moving the mini-fuse. One of the components off of my other bike was a Signal Minder Voltage LED so I went ahead and hooked it up complete with it's own switch. Somewhere along the way I ran across a set of symtec grip-cookers for $10 at the local bike shop so figured I'd throw those on as well. Lastly, I toyed around with an unused switch from my other bike and wired it to actuate a fake alarm light on the dash. Once I was comfortable with everything I decided to give the bike a "good" test on the best roads E. Texas has to offer. 300 miles later I felt the bike was good but needed just a bit more....uhh, testing. So a three day Arkansas trip was planned and 1200 miles later I say the bike is definitely good to go. I flogged her pretty well even if it was a bit wet this past weekend. So from this..... To this.....

I'm definitely not a father and I wanted to ride so I decided to celebrate Not A Father's Day. I had initially planned to do a three day run through the Ozarks but thanks to a knucklehead at the pharmacy I had to sort out some issues with my mom's scripts before I could leave. With Friday out I still figured two days would be good so off I went in search of a little curve therapy. The temps were forcast to hit 91 for a high but I think that was a rather modest prediction. Passing bank signs often showed 95-100 along the way. The bike air temp hovered around 93-95 at speed. I must admit that I was having a tough time with the heat especially considering I was wearing my stich but at least I brought my hydration pack. Whew.... One of my goal's was to adventure out looking for new roads but all in all that was a total wash. Out of 5 possible new roads programmed into the GPS all of them turned to gravel/dirt after a few miles. Bummer when you have to backtrack but hey, at least I was riding. Some of the areas in AR are a bit on the scary side when you are out in the sticks on a tiny sidewalk of a road with hardly any humans in site. Thoughts of filming my own Blair Witch Project or revisiting scenes from Deliverence came to mind. I haven't been riding much lately and my first leg was 205 miles. Even then I only stopped long enough to gas-up and check my rear tire. I would stop 30 miles later for lunch. Needless to say my backside was complaining. After pressing on after lunch and finding more gravel roads I found myself hammering up AR7 between Hot Springs and Ola. AR7 is a fun road with it's sweepers, long sight lines and good road surface but the amount of traffic almost always kills it. Saturday was one of those days. AR9 from Morrilton to Clinton isn't too much fun but it was a means to an end heading for AR16/9. That's about as fun as it gets in AR. Sections of that road are reminiscent of the roads in North Carolina with their elevation changes and tight back and forth corners. The heat and traffic were now in the back of my mind as the fear of flying off the mountainside took over. Wow....amazing how rusty you get when you don't ride regularly. I survived and it didn't take long to find my rhythm just in time for AR14 and the finale.....Push Mountain(AR341). Yellville was my final stop and is my usual place of residence when I go to Arkansas. The Carlton Marion Inn is a small family run motel. The owners live on site and are extremely friendly. $50 gets a very clean room, access to a pool, and a cliffside view of the river below with a short walk across the yard and through some bushes. I highly recommend it. Once unpacked, I sucked down a couple beers and then walked down to the Yellville square for some live music. Bluegrass was the music for the night so I didn't stay long. I grabbed a pizza from Breadroux's near the square and hiked back to my room. What a day! Full Size After a whole pizza and 6 pack of Heinekin, Sunday morning came a little too early. I kept dragging my feet and finally left the parking lot around 9am. I didn't know how far I could push my tires(Dunlop Roadsmart) since they were at the wear bars so I opted to run a slightly easier pace. So after an hour of going easy on the throttle I was hammering the roads again. I'd check the tire from time to time and it looked good so I quit worrying a bit. Some of you might have seen the picture of the tire I pushed a little too far on one of my other trips. Didn't want to call the ball and chain again to bail me out. The temps were a little better Sunday. It didn't hit 90's till nearly noon. All of the roads were good with very little traffic. Some even pulled over to let me by which is much better than the ones that try to hold you off. AR123 from Pearcetown to Clarksville was my highlight of the day with a quick run down AR74 also. I noticed an odd site on AR74 just north of Jasper on one of the straight sections. Some guy has motorcycles, mostly 70's-80's street bikes hanging from a tree in front of his house. Next to the tree is an old rusted out pickup and a sign that says Harley parking only. Guess he doesn't care for imports? If you are ever in Clarksville look for South Park Cafe on AR103 on the southwest side of I-40. This place is a truckstop but they offer a great lunch special. You get your choice of 4-6 different meats and that includes three or four sides including desert and rolls. You won't be disappointed. The temp crept up while I was stuffing my face. The bike showed 114 even after sitting for nearly an hour. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful with the exception of a couple of very near-hits with law enforcement. I reeled in a sheriff near Paris that I had to follow for twenty miles at or just below 55. I went screaming past a sheriff hidden on the side of AR23 as I was doing 80+ in a 55 but he never flinched so I kept rolling. After I got back in Texas I kept the speeds around 80 since the speed limits are 70. As luck would have it I topped a hill at the same time as a DPS officer coming the other way. I chopped the throttle and dropped to 78 before he irradiated me but again he wasn't interested. Lucky, lucky me! Over ten years of speeding and only three or four warnings means I must be doing something right! Finally made it to the house and my rear tire had just started to show cords so the ride worked out beautifully. Full Size

I've been using a Mtn. Hardwear one man tent and it's great but just not big enough for me and my gear. Consequently, I'm trying to find a roomier tent before August. Campmor usually has some good deals.

Cool shots! Glad to see you made it up some of the BRP this year. :fing02: