my dirty-ass bike

the season is winding down and i went over the silly machine to see what i need to fix over the winter.  despite a few operator errors, its been a pretty good season and the bike wasn't at fault for any unexpected stops. except, maybe, the carb re-build on one of the wyoming trips. a few things did rattle loose though. 

the wire that i thought would hold the battery in lasted a little while but wasn't around in the endzone. it did have sufficient time to rub a notch in the battery but that POS is getting replaced with a sealed unit of dylan's choice. 

not sure where this little buggy-wug decided to hitch a ride. 

i really need to get to this leak. unfortunately the jugs are aftermarket and wont allow me to pull the lifer-block without pulling the jug off too. i think dylan told me these should be almost a press fit, i hope not cause they ain't. 

stupid battery with it's stupid over flowing acid ate my damn bag. i liked that bag. 

skate wheel holding strong. the exhaust pipe took a hit on an on-ramp though. 

dumb chain trying to give up the ghost and steal my eerl. 

"top end oiling indicator"

the chain is probably at the end of it's life

This is Gilman, CO. abandoned around '85 i think. its located on scenic byway 24 on the north side of Tennessee Pass (10,423'). the days are getting shorter and colder so get out there while you still can.

just a little yummies

oh wow

there is some silly/creepy stuff floating around in the great grid

Ol Greg

a quick re-acquaintance with some old stomping grounds

i went for a little jaunt to see some familiar sights. 

after re-jetting the baloney pony was pulling up the hills like they weren't there. its fun blasting by the prius while it gasps for air on the uphill but they make short work of me on the downhill side. 

10th Mountain Division's Camp Hale

so i went on a little trip...

so i went on a little trip. about 600 miles all the way around...

it started out on a friday morning, way too early and way too underdressed. the plan was to ride out to Billings and then kick south to Sheridan for the Absaroka State Takeover. this was a car show that Adrien had talked a few of us into going to hosted by The Moonshiners CC. really i just needed an excuse to blow off my shitty job and it seemed like a great way to kick off a little trip. i had promised myself a jaunt around Yellowstone and the Tetons before i left Montana and this would fit the bill perfectly. 

 we hooked up at a gas station in billings a jammed onward and downward. it was nice to cruise a bit...

but eventually they got sick of doing 65mph. 

off we went through the Res 

the hosts were super chill. these guys really know how to treat a guest. i had a nice patch of grass and was charged with keeping an eye on things overnight. i ended up taking around 600 pictures of the event but i promised to hand them over to the Moonshiners so they could post them up. easy enough.  

after breakfast on sunday morning in Sheridan...

and on to Yellowstone

the park's camping was full up and a little dicey due to the bears so i back-tracked a little and found a little slice of heaven

 yeah...

 right next to the river is the best place to sleep when in bear country. its not like the bear mace i had as a pillow would really do anything if a bear was gonna eat my face. but at least the river would drown out the noise of them stomping around all night.

the next morning

 oh look! handlebars again!

the Grand Tetons. these things come out of nowhere. striking does not begin to describe them. terrifying would be a good place to start

 TETON PASS! this place is on my bucket list as a snowboarding spot. look it up and it'll blow your mind

and then there is Idaho...

and back home in time for dinner on tuesday. not too bad for a moron on an ironhead.

cherry flathead

so there i was, minding my own bidness at the Absaroka State Takeover when this little treat shows up.  this is an un-stamped, 45" still in it's original crate and covered in cosmoline. it ended up here when it was labled "radio parts" and smuggled back state-side at the conclusion of WW2.  yeah, holy shit is right.

poor man's 2-stroke exhaust construction

Getting an expansion pipe the hard way.

Two-stroke exhaust is a no-joke topic among those that love these smokers. The fact is: if you want to go fast, you need the right gear and a good pipe is integral to that end. But pipes are very specific not only by make and model but also application. Thus making my search for the “right pipe” almost pointless. The only viable option is custom fabrication. But even this is not easy and can be very expensive.

This was the pipe i took on the first trip out to the salt. The math was primitive and the fabrication wasn't very good. This was replaced by an aftermarket DG once the engine was ported. Unfortunately that DG was designed for MX and not WOT.

I got lucky though, I met Paul of olesenmoto.com. With his help I may have the “right pipe”. 

Step number one is to read everything you can possible get your hands on pertaining to the 2-stroke engine or internal combustion. Bone-up and read.  Any of the old articles by Gordon Jennings is a good start.

         Then crunch numbers. Finding a 2-stroke exhaust design program is not that hard and who’s to say the one I used is the Bible. But they are not the easiest to use. Fortunately I had Paul. It was all him that interpreted my measurements and requirements into a physical shape. Along with all of the engine specs that went into it, things were altered according to materials and tools available. 20 gage carbon was gonna be the ticket.

The shape is now rendered on paper and now must be adapted to the bike. Paul turned me onto this nifty trick using some 1/8” all thread and some fender washers. The path was plotted and now I had some bends to incorporate. A few emails were exchanged and the rendering was now in my hands.

He was able to augment the design and then lay these segments flat, giving me templates to use for cutting out the proper shapes. This was integral in the fabrication because the tapers, diameters and lengths need to be spot on for it to work. Everything except two pieces were cut from flat sheet with a skinny wheel and then the careful application of a flapper-disk.

Most of the smaller pieces were easy enough to manipulate with just bare hands but the longer ones were a different story. Welding two pipes parallel to each other while leaving an 1/8” gap between created a shade tree break. And drawing radiating lines kept the bends spaced properly enough. Then the creases were handled with the gentile use of a rubber mallet.

MIG welding this material would have been down right stupid. This made polishing all of the seams inside and out before assembly necessary in prep for TIGing.

The rest of mock-up was just a matter of fitting the seams closely and making it work on the bike. The next step is finishing welding which has been delayed due to my employer, its his machine so its his rules and hopefully we can strike a deal. The mounts have been skipped at this point because I think the heat of welding will warp it a little. So the location of those will happen afterwards. And then its off to the dyno with fingers tightly crossed…