Doing a little catching up

I was tired of my 1203 Harley engine sounding like a sewing machine so I put on a new exhaust. I purchased a Jardine RT1 from my local Harley / Buell dealer. They installed it, and the next day I rode out to the race track to watch Higbee and Dixon battle it out in Willow Springs.

Oh, the power!!! The beast has been released. Never mind the awesome sound, I have a lot more noticeable power! I also added the K&N air filter to allow it to breath. Man, it is a whole new bike. I can't wait for them to come out with an 08 race ECM. This bike is so much fun and I love riding it.

I did have some small issues recently that has caused me to lose confidence with my machine. I am taking it in to get looked at before I get back on the road.

What am I going to do next to the bike? Paint it. I will post a poll to see what people think. I am leaning towards a matte black with spot gloss Harley orange racing stripes down the middle.

Ride to Willow on Sunday

We will be meeting at Glendale HD - Buell to ride out to Willow Springs. They are in the first race of the day and finish at race 5 so we will need to leave by 7:30AM. I think we will take two routes out there. One over the crest for the adventurous, and one via freeway for everyone else. On the way back we will all take the canyons. Let me know if you have any questions.

motocaliblog@gmail.com

Editing Software Crashing

Sorry for the delay on the video. I have been working nonstop for the past few weeks and have finally found some downtime to work on the video. Now both iMovie and Final Cut are giving me problems, which leads me to believe the issue it with my hardware. Once I get it sorted out I will post them. What I have been able to edit so far looks pretty cool.

Sunday at the track

The track was fun as usual. I had four bikes ride over Angeles Crest with me. We talked about riding techniques and headed up the canyon with no issues. Once we were at the track our hosts, Glendale Harley-Davidson / Buell, were already set up and waiting for their race. Unfortunately, Patrick was not able to race due to a crash the week prior. Apparently he was knocked out by someone else with a few laps remaining. He was still awarded 2nd place despite not being able to finish the race.

Jeff "Slipp" Dixon didn't get much of a chance to run on Sunday. His RR was being worked on so he rode Patrick's XB12R. There was some mechanical issues with the bike that Ernie was able to sort out before the second race, but by lap four or five the bike started experiencing issues. Hopefully Jeff's RR will be ready to go next weekend for the Pro races (check the event calendar).

On the other hand, Buell had a great day. Shawn Higbee rode the new 1125R for Bartel's, pretty much stock, and did a great job. I have some video that hopefully turned out. I have not had a chance to look at it yet, but will try to get around to in the next couple days. I think with a little modification that bike it will be a rocket. BTW, Shawn is a professional racer so he had a skill advantage over the rest of the field.

One Lap at Willow Springs

I would like to thank Mario Vindeni at Glendale Harley-Davidson / Buell for the video. The rider that is being chased by the camera is Mario on a track day. I edited the video to make it shorter and changed the music.




Music Clip: Before I Forget - Slipknot (www.slipknot1.com)

Willow Springs

I will be headed down to Willow Springs on Sunday to watch the races and to support the Glendale Buell team. Hopefully the weather will be good enough to race. Looking at the current weather forecast it looks as if it may rain. If that is the case I am sure they will cancel the race. It will be interesting to attend one of these events. I have heard that they are a lot of fun and am looking forward to it.

According to the Glendale Harley website Jeff Dixon (Glendale Harley / Buell's guy) won on Feb 17th beating the Ducati 1098. Great job Jeff! Can't wait to see you fight it out on Sunday.

I want to see the 1125 on the track. Since I am a Buell owner I can attend the Inside Pass track day where you get some track time with the 08 models. The Willow Springs day isn't until Nov. Maybe I will catch one in a different city during the summer. I need to purchase some leathers before then. I have been trying on every brand under the sun and nothing fits me properly. I have come to the conclusion that I will need to have them custom made to fit me. More to come on that.