3.25.2009

Little planned, lots of progress

About a month ago I came to grips with the fact that hardtailing my motorcycle was now pushed back to next year. Mainly because I lost all of my "Winter Garage Time" due to moving and traveling. With that in mind, I still wanted to make some considerable changes to my bike before riding season which starts right about now. I figured I would make a handful of subtle changes that would add up to a noticeable difference. I got the tank last weekend but still didn't really have a direction from there. My bike had been down for the count after I chopped my cam cover, but I was able to take it over to Tim's house(our team mechanic) and have it all dialed in. When I picked it up last night he mentioned I was losing a bunch of low end power because my drag pipes not only had no back pressure but they were also too big in diameter to retain power. My search began for a solution.

I have had my eye on a certain type of exhaust since Dustin, Landman, and I went to the Smoke Out West. Its a super simple two into one that dumps just below the leg. Chris Brown wanted the same style as well and the company that did his weld on happened to make the exact setup we were looking for. When he sent out his frame, he also put in a little order for the exhaust. (Side Note: When I mentioned to him my current problem he recommended that I try some torque cones to help with the back pressure.) His bike is completely torn down right now so I rolled over to his house today to grab the torque cones. Well when I got there I saw the exhaust sitting in the garage with a beaming light from heaven bestowed upon it. We decided that I should mount it up to see how it looks and sounds.

Just back from Tim's, freshly cut cam cover

I got back to my house and ripped of the drags and mounted up the new setup. I was very pleased but I now had this feeling that more change needed to occur. Brown came over to hear how the pipes sounded and then I just started going to town on the grinder. I cut the fender struts off and mounted up a fender that Brock had originally planned to use for his bike. Then I put the new tank on to see how proportional things were going to be. At first I was not backing it, but now I cant imagine another tank looking better. I cannot believe the amount of change that occurred in a matter of three hours.

With New Exhaust


This weekends roster includes: New Headlight, Mounting the tank, taking off all of the controls, and rewiring the necessities.

I feel like I just got a new bike!





Looks a little sketch since the tank isn't mounted yet


1 comment:

theoldepro said...

jake.........awesome! that's all I can say. I can't wait for this summer's escapades between SD and SLC.