A Tangled Web

Unbelievably Good Luck!

Wow, did I get lucky. My previous post was about destroying the rear fender on my BB1 on its first ride after finishing the repairs. I was certain that I'd have to pay someone major bucks to custom-make a replacement for me. Well, as it turned out, the guy who bought all of the Bimota parts stock from the previous Bimota US importer found a brand-new BB1 rear fender in his pile of parts! And it didn't cost me an arm and a leg.

Here it is installed on my bike:

I'm quite pleased with how it came out. I took the bike for a nice 120-mile loop on Mines Road with my buddy Bill on Labor Day and it was a total kick to ride on the twisties! Bill was following me and he said it looked like I wasn't even trying even though we were riding a nice brisk pace. Of course, when we got to The Junction to have a snack, all the motorcyclists there gravitated over to check out this bike, as very few people in the US have ever even seen one in person. Everyone thought it was a very cool little bike, myself included! 

Posted at 06:39PM Sep 15, 2009 by mwhite in Motorcycle Mania  |  Comments[0]

Bimota BB1 Exhaust

I've had a number of inquiries about the custom exhaust that is on my Bimota BB1, so I decided to post some information about it. One of my Bimota mail list friends, Anders Hørtvedt in Norway, sent me a bunch of information about the history of my BB1 (he knew the original owner). The custom exhaust was actually fabricated from a section of a sailboat mast. Yes, you heard me right - a sailboat mast! It's amazing how you can find unusual things from which to fabricate custom parts. Here are a few pics of the exhaust. On the left side you can see the channel where the sail fittings slid up and down the mast.

Posted at 09:53AM Aug 02, 2009 by mwhite in Motorcycle Mania  |  Comments[0]

Unbelievably Bad Luck

Okay, this is unbelievable. I took the BB1 for a ride over to San Francisco yesterday, only about 15 miles each way. I was coming out of the toll plaza to get on the Bay Bridge (which connects Oakland and San Francisco) and I apparently ran over something metal that I never even saw. I heard this loud scraping sound and then some clunking. I was in the middle of about 12 lanes that merge down to 5 so I couldn't pull off the road, and once I was on the bridge, there was no shoulder and stopping would have been seriously dangerous. The clunking stopped, but the bike started handling kinda funny - weaving a little bit. I slowed way down, and once I got across the bridge, took the first exit and stopped to discover that whatever I hit took a chunk out of the rear tire, and ripped a huge section out of the entire length of the carbon fiber rear fender. The tire was completely flat but luckily the rim never touched the pavement. I couldn't leave the bike where I was, as it would have surely ended up stolen. So I rode a few miles on city streets in first gear to get to my local Bimota dealership. Luckily they had a tire in the size I needed and mounted it up for me (I had to wait a few hours).

Is this bike cursed? When I last rode it in September I got hit by a car. Then after the months of time it took to get it all back together, this happens on the next ride. I'm almost afraid to take it out again!

I'm going to try to find someone who can take the rear fender and make a copy of it. I've gotten a couple of referrals to check out.

Here are a couple of pics of the carnage:

Posted at 09:25AM Aug 02, 2009 by mwhite in Motorcycle Mania  |  Comments[2]

Bimota BB1 Finally Finished

At long last, I finished getting the BB1 back together with its new paint job. What an ordeal that was. I had all sorts of problems with the fuel tank. The first time I put it back on (which is an absolute bitch of a job), no fuel was making it into the carbs even though I could hear the pump running. After removing it I tried to remove the fuel pump to make sure all the hoses were connected properly and it turns out you can't get the fuel pump out of the tank, at least I couldn't even with the help of my friend Mark Ellsworth. But we were able to see that the hoses were all intact, and put it all back together. We tested the fuel pump by putting some gas in the tank and running the pump with a battery, with hoses feeding back into the tank. Everything was working fine. I put the tank under the bike and used some longer hoses to connect it all up with the tank just sitting on the floor. The bike started right up, but then I discovered fuel dripping from the carbs right onto the exhaust - not good. I suspected this could be due to a sticking carburetor float, and tried the old mechanic's trick of tapping on the float bowls with the plastic handle of a big screwdriver. Voila - the dripping stopped! So I reassembled everything and filled the tank all the way. Later I noticed a very strong gasoline smell in the garage, and looked down to see a huge puddle under the bike. Aaaaarrrrrggggg!!! Started all over again, removed the tank, emptied it into a gas jug, and removed all the fittings - there are 3 on the top of the tank, one for the wiring that goes to the fuel pump, one for the fuel level sensor, and one for the fuel line connections. Two of these are sealed with o-rings and one with a rubber gasket. I discovered a tiny tear in one of the o-rings so I replaced that. Just for good measure, I used some RTV on the two o-ring seals and reassembled everything. I waited overnight and then filled the tank to check for leaks, and there were none. So once more I reassembled the tank to the bike, and in the process added a quick-disconnect to the main fuel line where it goes into the carbs, so that this job will be easier in the future (hopefully never again).

Next was to re-fit the fairing and the seat/tail section. The fairing was a challenge, it's a really tight fit. The tail is an even bigger challenge to get it over the exhaust without scratching it up, and then getting it into position for bolting into place. After a lot of sweating and swearing I finally got the whole thing together. I fired it up and took it out for a quick ride just to make sure everything was in order. Anyone who knows these bikes knows that they vibrate like there's no tomorrow. So, of course one of the bolts holding the bodywork on vibrated loose and fell out, along with the fancy custom-machined aluminum bushing. I'll have to get another one made (I really wish I had a lathe of my own). I'm thinking Loctite should be used on every bolt on this entire bike!

The good news is that the bike runs great and looks better than it did when I bought it. Here are a few pics of the finished product:

Posted at 11:36AM Aug 01, 2009 by mwhite in Motorcycle Mania  |  Comments[8]

Bimota BB1 Paint Job

Well, finally I'm getting around to posting an update about the BB1. About 2 months ago I picked up the bodywork with its final decal application and clearcoat. A you can see from the pics, it looks great! Thanks to Andrew at BodyMold in Australia for providing the great decal replicas (and a spare set to boot). And thanks again to Frank at FZ Restoration for the excellent paint job.

Posted at 07:41PM Jun 16, 2009 by mwhite in Motorcycle Mania  |  Comments[0]

How extreme can a motorcycle get?

Every now and then, someone decides to build a totally outrageous machine. I remember the guy in the UK who built a working 48-cylinder motorcycle by grafting 6 V-8 engines into a single power plant. I saw/heard a video clip of the bike actually being started up; it was a mechanical marvel, albeit completely impractical for any real use.

Well, enter German engineer Clemens F. Leonhardt, whose company, Leonhardt Manufacturing, has designed and built an absolute behemoth of a motorcycle, the Gunbus 410. Looking at the first two photos, it doesn't look that big, but scroll down to gain a proper perspective.

Get ready.....

A typical superbike-class sport bike has a 1000cc engine, which translates to 61 cubic inches. This baby is 410 cubic inches, or 6728cc's! The fuel-injected, 45 degree V-Twin engine runs through a 3 speed transmission with reverse and puts out 523 foot pounds of torque. The seat height is a reasonable 31.5 inches but overall length is an insane 136 inches. At 1433 pounds it might be a beast to handle. I'm still waiting to see a road test...

Posted at 12:44PM Feb 19, 2009 by mwhite in Motorcycle Mania  |  Comments[0]

Bimota BB1 Progress

Here's the latest update on my Bimota BB1. Frank emailed me pics of the painted bodywork today. One minor detail is wrong; the fuel tank is supposed to be half black. Hopefully that won't be too much of a hassle for him to correct. But the paint looks fantastic in the photos! He'll be sanding/applying decals/clear-coating soon, I just have to wait for the corrected left side decal to get here before he can start. Oh and here's some amazing news on the decals - Don from Scuderia called me yesterday and Bimota still has a few of the decals in stock. Of course the one they are missing is the one I need, but they said they could probably make another one. So hopefully we'll hear back from them quickly.

Here are the pics:

Posted at 06:01PM Feb 06, 2009 by mwhite in Motorcycle Mania  |  Comments[0]

Bimota BB1 Repairs Underway

Finally, an update on my Bimota BB1: A couple of weeks after I posted about the accident, I was contacted by the driver's insurance company about the accident. As it turns out, she did have insurance, she just didn't give me the right information, and refused to respond to my phone messages. Long story short, the insurance folks agreed it was not my fault, and they are paying for the medical bills and the repairs to the bike.

Unlike repairs to a more current model actually sold in the US by dealerships, where you just drop the bike off at the dealership and let them do all the legwork, it was up to me to locate parts, decals, and a painter. The really difficult part was finding the original graphics decals. From the Bimota mail list that I'm on, I was able to find a company down in Australia that had made a decal set for a BB1 in the past. I got the decals in December and they're nearly perfect. One for the left side needs to be modified and remade, but I'm hoping someone local can do that for me. I was able to find a shift lever through through my friend Bob Steinbugler, a friend and Bimota dealer in Raleigh, NC. I discovered that the billet aluminum footpeg mount was slightly bent, so I will try to straighten that out by heating it and applying some mild force (i.e. carefully beating it with a hammer without denting the aluminum). The only non-stock cosmetic feature of the bike is that the original mirrors are gone and have been replaced with CRG bar-end mirrors (this was done before I owned the bike). I was able to find a replacement for the damaged left-side mirror online (CRG is down near Monterey).

A fellow customer at my local Aprilia/KTM/Bimota dealership (Scuderia West in San Francisco) referred me to a really reputable painter in Livermore, Frank Zucchi (FZ Restoration) and he's started the work. As of a couple of weeks ago, the bodywork had been stripped and prepped for priming. Now here's an example of excellent customer service: Frank emailed me a status update complete with photos of the work in process, totally of his own volition. How many places would bother to do that? Hopefully I'll get another update from him this week.

Here are a few pics of the prepped bodywork:

This is what the bike looks like without its bodywork. It's actually a really cool machine underneath the covers:

I'm hoping the bike will be ready to ride sometime in February. I'll post an update after the next stage of repairs.

Posted at 11:04AM Jan 25, 2009 by mwhite in Motorcycle Mania  |  Comments[2]

Don't ride a rare bike to work....

I just learned a hard lesson the week before last - don't ride a rare, irreplaceable bike to work! I was on my way to the office on my newly-acquired 1996 Bimota BB1 Supermono on a sunny Tuesday morning, when all of a sudden a car changed lanes right into me. This was on I-238 between I-580 and I-880 where they're doing construction and there's no shoulder, just a temporary concrete divider. It happened so fast that I had almost no time to react, and the car hit my right side, knocking me straight towards the concrete divider. I managed to veer away from that but the bike went completely out of control (even though I couldn't have been going more than 35mph) and finally fell down on its left side. My helmet never even hit the pavement but I got some nasty bruises on my right thigh, left knee, right forearm, and both hands. Of course I was wearing full protective gear so there was no road rash. I'm lying on the pavement and the driver of the car stopped behind me, got out, ran up and asked if I was ok, then started apologizing, saying she didn't see me.

Eventually the paramedics and CHP arrived, and the paramedics insisted on strapping me to a backboard and taking me to the ER in an ambulance even though I had been walking around when they arrived. I should have just refused to go, there was nothing wrong with me other than some bruises. My bike got towed away, and I am sure I could have ridden it home even though the shift lever was broken.

Oh, and here's the really good part - the insurance information I was given by the other driver is invalid! Perfect. Add insult to injury. Thank you very much.

Here are a few pictures of the damage. It looks minor, but there's no way to get replacement bodywork, or even the decals for a full paint job. I'm trying to get a shift lever as it's the same one used on a few other Bimota models (you can see where it is broken off in the second picture). It might take some time to find a painter who can restore this to its original look. I may be able to get custom decals made too, at a cost. The only lucky thing is that the bodywork is not plastic, it's fiberglass, so it can be repaired.

Posted at 10:56PM Oct 08, 2008 by mwhite in Motorcycle Mania  |  Comments[2]

Had to have it

Being a long-time Bimota fan, I've always lusted for their only BMW-based model, the BB1, fondly known as the "Supermono". This bike was made from 1995 to 1997, and only 371 of them were made. It was never imported to the US, so the rare few that are in the US are grey-market. The bike is extremely light, and is powered by the Rotax-built single-cylinder 650cc water-cooled engine that powered the early models of the BMW F-650. In stock form, the engine is rather unexciting, delivering a whopping 48hp at the crank. But I just love the look of this bike.

One of the more interesting features of the Supermono is that the fuel tank is not above the engine like on most bikes, but below it! Yep, what's normally the belly pan on other bikes is the fuel tank on this one. This keeps the center of gravity extremely low and makes the bike so flick-able it feels almost like a bicycle.

Back in August, I saw a post on a Bimota mail list I'm subscribed to by a guy down in the LA area who was selling his Supermono. This one caught my eye because not only was it in excellent condition, but also had a pumped-up engine built by Ron Wood (a well-known Rotax 650 engine guy) that delivered 60hp to the rear wheel. With dual Keihen FCR flatslide carbs, a ported head, high-compression piston, and custom exhaust, this one sounded like a dream. I emailed the seller and got a bunch of photos of the bike, and became pretty certain that I was going to buy it.

I couldn't get down to LA for a month or so but he said that was ok as long as I sent him a small deposit. Finally the weekend of September 7, I drove down to LA with my empty bike trailer behind my gas-guzzler Jeep (sorry, I only own it for towing bikes to the track and such). As soon as I saw the bike and heard it start up I was hooked. We loaded it up and I wrote a check for the balance and headed home. 

I took this thing for a ride the next day and it was a total kick - vibrates like hell, sounds fantastic, and is surprisingly quick. It's so light that it's effortless to turn. My 800-mile round-trip drive to LA to pick up the bike was definitely worth it. No buyer's remorse on this deal!

Posted at 10:55PM Oct 08, 2008 by mwhite in Motorcycle Mania  |  Comments[0]

Back on the Track

Well, I finally got back out on the track after 2 1/2 years. My last track time was in February 2006 at Buttonwillow Raceway. This time was at a track I had never seen, Reno-Fernley Raceway in Fernley, NV, about 40 miles southeast of Reno. Three friends and I piled into a truck pulling an RV and made the long journey to the track for the weekend of August 9-10. It just so happens that my 53^rd birthday was August 10, so this was sort of a birthday gift to myself. I took my trusty '98 Ducati 748, mainly because I'm very comfortable on that bike on the track, but also because I have full track trim for it - fairing stay, race bodywork, etc. I got some Dunlop slicks mounted up for the weekend too.

Fernley is a pretty technical track. On Saturday we ran only the upper part, only 1.8 miles but with 18 turns. A few of the turns are pretty bumpy and challenging. It's not real fast either - I don't think I ever got out of 4^th gear - and I reached 4^th only on one section where you could get up some speed between turns 16 & 18. This is what that part of the track looks like:

After the first couple of sessions I was feeling pretty discouraged, I felt completely out of sorts on the track. Then, in the third session something clicked and it all came back to me. By the end of the day I was having a blast and getting around pretty well. This was a fun turn (I'm the one on the left):

On Sunday, we got to run the full 3-mile course, with 30 turns plus a nice 1/2-mile front straight:

Wow, what a blast! There's a set of kinks - left, right, left, right - at the end of the straight that you can fly through if you take the correct line and have the cajones for it. Then after a few more turns is a spot they call the Hoot-n-Holler Hill Climb - a very steep hill with 4 turns that you can take pretty fast. Of all the tracks I've ridden, this is the biggest elevation change I've ever seen. This is what we look like coming up the hill:

Overall, I'd have to say my return to the track was everything I'd hoped for - I loved being back out there.

Keep the shiny side up!

Posted at 01:11AM Aug 15, 2008 by mwhite in Motorcycle Mania  |  Comments[0]

Fibula Plate Removal

On Thursday February 14^th, I had the second of two hardware removal surgeries, this one to remove the fibula plate and its 9 screws. I was back to lying on the couch with the leg up on pillows covered with ice packs for 4 days, then on crutches for another 9 days. On Wednesday the 27^th they removed the stitches and replaced them with strips of tape. I went into the doctor's office on crutches, and walked out carrying them under my arm. It hurts a little when I walk, but that will get better over time. Removal of the fibula plate was a little more invasive because there is so much muscle they had to move out of the way to get to the bone. They also sawed off a shard of bone that was sticking out and digging into my calf muscle, so once the soreness from the surgery is gone there should be no pain. When I talked to Stacy, the PA who has assisted on each of my 4 surgeries, she said that when she was digging around in my leg feeling for the bone shard, it nearly pierced her surgical glove when she found it, as it was really sharp. No wonder it was causing me pain!

Here are a couple of pics of what was removed. It looks rather wimpy compared to the hefty plate that held my tibia together.

I'll spare you having to look at any external post-surgery pictures, as some people can't handle seeing stitches. Suffice it to say that it took an 8-inch incision to get that plate out so there were a lot of stitches.

Here are a couple of x-rays taken the day they removed the stitches. The holes in the tibia are faint, as they've now had 4 months to repair. The holes in the fibula are pretty scary, just because it's such a small bone and the holes large relative to the size of the bone. I guess that's why they told me no activity with any impact beyond normal walking for another 8 weeks. It wouldn't take much to snap the fibula in its current state.

Posted at 11:49AM Mar 02, 2008 by mwhite in Motorcycle Mania  |  Comments[8]

Hardware removal surgery

On Thursday October 11, I had the first of two hardware removal surgeries, this one to remove the tibia plate and its 14 screws. This hardware had been in my leg since April 8, 2006 (see here). I was on crutches until yesterday, and although my leg is still a bit swollen, bruised, and sore at the incision sites, today I can walk without any pain in the bone. I am thrilled to no end - prior to this, every single step I took hurt, causing me to limp. Now I can walk without any limp at all.

Here are a couple of pics of what was removed:

I had the stitches removed Wednesday, October 24, and talked to the surgeon about the fibula plate removal. I had hoped that this could be done next month. Unfortunately, the doctor wants to wait a few months before doing that, so I have to live with those stupid screws on the outside of my ankle until probably February. Being right on the ankle bone and right under the skin, they really do cause a lot of irritation, especially if I try to wear hiking boots or my motorcycle riding boots. I have to get creative with padding to make it possible to ride over long distances. Here's an X-ray of my leg with the tibia plate out. You can see all the little holes in the bone where the screws were. 

Posted at 10:43AM Oct 21, 2007 by mwhite in Motorcycle Mania  |  Comments[95]

Big Bike for a Big Trip

Well, I have finally broken down and bought myself a real touring/enduro bike, something I've been needing for quite a while. I ended up getting a nice deal on a used 2006 BMW R1200GS with only 918 miles on it. It's already outfitted with a Touratech headlight protector and windscreen; Adventure engine guards, cylinder guards, and footpegs; plus heated grips, expandable BMW side luggage, and spoked wheels so it's suitable for both on- and off-road riding. It literally looks brand new, not a scratch on it. The only accessory it needs is what my friend Mark calls a "sheila" - a nice sheepskin pad for the seat that is really great to have when you're in the saddle for days on end. Mine will be here this week.

I'll be leaving on May 20th for a 3-week trip with a couple of friends, Terry Naumann and Mark Ellsworth. Mark and I are riding up from the Bay Area to Bellingham, WA where we and our bikes will board this ferry:

The M/V MALASPINA carries 500 passengers, and provides 53 four-berth and 30 two-berth cabins. The vessel
was built in Seattle in 1963 at the Lockheed Shipbuilding yards, then lengthened and renovated in 1972 at the
Willamette Iron and Steel Company shipyard in Portland. The Malaspina is now 408 feet long, with capacity for
88 vehicles (20' lengths), and a service speed of 16.5 knots. Passenger services include a cafeteria, gift shop,
cocktail lounge, solarium, and forward observation lounge.

We'll take a 4-day cruise from Bellingham to Haines, AK, arriving there at 3:30am Saturday May 26. Terry will be arriving there from Anchorage (where he's a geology professor at University of Alaska) on his GS and we will leave Haines together headed east towards the Yukon Territory. The plan is to ride south through the Yukon, then through British Columbia, and into northern Idaho, where we will spend a day in Moscow (where Terry went to college).

From there, we head to Boise and will spend two days there. Another friend, Billy Hines, will meet us there in Mark's RV. Billy has the unenviable task of driving the RV from the Bay Area to Boise, but his compensation is nice - two paid track days. Inside the RV will be Billy's, Mark's, and Terry's dirt bikes and Billy's and Mark's track bikes. Billy, Mark, and Terry are competing in an ISDE qualifier on Saturday and Sunday, June 2-3 (see ISDE 2007). I'll spend some time as a spectator and more time out exploring the Boise area.

Then we head down to Salt Lake City, UT to Miller Motorsports Park, where another friend Dave Johnson will be meeting us from St George, UT with his track bike and Terry's track bike in his truck. All the guys (except for me) will be doing track days on Monday and Tuesday while I sit there green with envy. I'm really dying to get back out on the track, especially such a fantastic track as Miller. But I can't risk it when my broken leg is still being held together by steel plates and screws - see my blog entry here. Perhaps I'll jump on the GS and do some canyon riding around Salt Lake - there are some great roads around there!

From there we will split up, Billy gets to drive the RV back to the Bay Area, while Terry will ride down to his summer home in St George and Dave will drive back there. Mark and I will probably ride across to the Sierras and come through Tioga Pass and Yosemite on the way home. The plan is to be back home sometime the weekend of June 9-10. I should
have some great photos from this trip!

Here's a photo taken just as I was about to take off on the trip:

Posted at 04:57PM May 02, 2007 by mwhite in Motorcycle Mania  |  Comments[2]

International Motorcycle Show in San Mateo

Last weekend I went to the motorcycle show with a bunch of my riding buddies. I had to wear my leg brace and use crutches to get around, but it was really fun to get out and hang with the guys. The show was quite good; I'd have to say the bike that took the show was the new Ducati 1098 - WOW! After Ducati's total flop, at least in customer appeal, with the 749/999, they got this one right. It's like they threw the classic 916/996/998 style in a blender with the Desmosedici and out popped the perfect hybrid of the two. The styling is another milestone, and you just can't beat the performance for the price - 160hp for just $14,999. Of course they also have the limited edition "tri-colore" version in Italian flag red/white/green, but to be quite honest, I liked the solid red much better. The white number plates from the tri-colore would be a nice touch but other than that I wouldn't change it at all. Nice job, Ducati!

 They did have one of the street-legal Desmosedicis there, and that was quite impressive. I love how the exhaust is routed out through two oval-shaped openings in the top of the tail section - yes, the top! Definitely a monoposto bike. I'd love to be behind one at night and see flames shoot out of the top of the tail section with a throttle chop.

 Aprilia had a lot of cool new stuff too, their super-moto and off-road bikes with the 450cc V-twin engine were quite nice. In fact, one of the guys I was there with just bought one of the super-motos. I hope I get the chance to take it for a spin sometime. The new Mille-R Factory looks really good, too. I'm still hanging on to my 2000 Mille-R, which I just can't part with...

Posted at 05:38PM Dec 22, 2006 by mwhite in Motorcycle Mania  |  Comments[0]