Monday, April 10, 2017

My my, what big cylinders you have...

Do you remember Marco's BMW?
It started life as a very early R45 and went through several iterations, evolving with time as a lot of garage-built bikes tend to do.
It had gotten to a pretty good stage, with 650 cylinders, the final transmission off an R80, new Asatek shocks just to name a few of the many improvements that were made to it, but then some electrickery  went wrong, causing the ignition module to fry, timing was all over the place and the engine basically ended up needing a full rebuild after it almost completely self destructed.
Long story short, Marco was able to acquire the 980 motor that had already powered Witold's G/S as well as his R45000, so we know that it runs very well. 
Now it's in Marco's bike and looks fantastic. There are still a few things to do, but this is finally well on its way to being done.
For starters, Marco decided that the Asatek shocks weren't actually working all too well for him as they're just a bit oversized for this bike, so he swapped them out for a pair of softer TSK.
Let's not forget one thing here, this bike has tackled Corsica, the Alps and Abruzzo without ever feeling like it was out of its depths.
I'm looking forward to finding out what this thing can do now...

Friday, April 7, 2017

The warm South beckons.

I'll do my best to be there, together with a sizable group from Rome; I need to get the Norton ready...