First Event of the Season

Rock-n-Rods

Saturday, April 23rd, 2005
Spring Custom, Classic, and Beater Show
10am until 5pm + FREE to PUBLIC!

Last year there was a nice selection of cafe racers, choppers and ratty bikes to oogle. Tons of rat rods and sweet kustoms too. I'll be bringing the R5 out, but not showing it, since nothing's been done to it since last year... or maybe I will... dunno yet.

KAHUNAVILLE Entertainment Complex
Exit #6 off I-95
Wilmington, Delaware

Visitors!

I've been getting a ton of visitors lately, and a lot of people are writing in to ask questions. Almost daily! It's been great! Keep it coming!

Thomas Paxson wrote in to ask about where he can find points... I "pointed" him (sorry) to HVC Cycle...

And Eric Lentz-Gauthler wrote in to ask about the ultra-small fairing I've been lusting after for quite some time (you can get it here), and to offer some help:

oh, and I have to make one more recommendation just because I'm in the muck of it right now. oregonmotorcycleparts.com is a website for a guy who makes a great voltage regulator and rectifier unit for the bike and it works MUCH better than the stock charging setup. Plus once you have a different battery box, his units are much cleaner looking and easier to fabricate mounts for.

Thanks, Eric! I'll be looking into it!

Seriously SWEET Café Racers

Like the title says... take a look for yourself... This is the attitude I want the R5 to have...

UPDATE: New site here, with videos and stuff. Damn, the R5 needs to look like the "black whale"...

R5 Streetfighter

Sweet R5-based streetfighter from HVC

"I like your Yamaha site!"

Got some "fan mail" in my inbox this morning! Brock wrote in to share his story:

Yep, exactly that: your site has been extremely helpful in my quest for knowledge on the Yamaha 350! I recently had one *given* to me by a friend. It needs restored, it has been sitting for about 30 years. It is my first motorcycle, and I am enjoying working on it more and more every day. I'd just like to say thanks for all the helpful links on your site, and the cool, daily stories!

Funny how I've been hearing a lot of similar stories about these bikes. When it was at Mike's shop, many people remarked how this bike was their very first motorcycle, the one they cut their teeth on. It's my first as well. I bought mine from eBay (see first entry way down below) but it too had been sitting around for most of it's life. A number of scooter aficionados in my area have been looking into these bikes, as they are simple 2-strokes but a blast to ride, and many of them are finding them on the cheap, after lying dormant in some garage or backyard for the past two or three decades.

Anyways, thanks for the mail! The whole purpose of this site is to gather up as much information related to the R5 as I can find and put it up here in one central location. Keep checking back - now that the riding season is upon us, I should have much more to post...

Yammy Causes Hit-and-Run!

This weekend, I had parked the R5 at Brian and Michelle's house, while Brian and I went to oogle Russ' new Mini. While we were there, apparently some guy in a primer-grey pickup with a snow-plow was driving down the street, and the driver was oogling my bike. Oogling so much that he hit a car parked on the opposite side of the street. So the driver gets out, surveys the damage, and - get this - gets back in the truck and drives away! While witnesses look on! Nice one, tool!

Yet another person that should be locked in a Port-a-Potty, set on fire and pushed off a cliff.

Spring is in the air...

And with it came the irresistible urge to get the bike out of the house and running again...

I dunno, perhaps it was the umpteenzillion bikes I saw today, including the usual Tuesday gathering of exotics in my neighborhood (see below*), or maybe all the distant wails of sportbikes zooming off in the distance...

At any rate, I got home tonight a little early from the gym and decided to push her out. With little help from Kendra (boy, she is strong!), we maneuvered her down the stoop without too many swear words... it sure is easier to get out than get in... I ran down to the gas station for a gallon of gas (which really confused the attendant) in my little red plastic container, and after adding the contents to the tank, topping off on oil, and aiming the pipes AWAY from Kendra, the house, the general public, etc, I let her rip...

And she roared to life (ok, I'm exaggerating) in a great plume of whitish smoke (ok, I'm not exaggerating)... and with only three kicks...

So she lives! Wintering indoors treated her well, as did the lining of everything with WD-40... from what I can tell, she just needs a bit of polish and some air in her tires, and she'll be ready for the open road once more...

* BTW, I finally found out what goes on every Tuesday at a Belgian pub in my area (from the Moto Guzzi National Owners Club):

(PHILADELPHIA) TWO WHEELED TUESDAYS
Come join us every Tuesday night at 7:00 P.M. at The Abbaye, 637 North 3rd (3rd and Fairmount), Philadelphia, to socialize with like minded riders and have dinner, if you wish. Rain or shine! For more info call: 215-432-4229

That would explain the wonderful assortment of non-Harleys lined up every Tuesday... I'll have to gather up my posse and head down one of these weeks...

Akira's cycle

This may have nothing to do with R5s, or with Yamahas, but it does have something to do with Japanese motorcycles... well, sorta. Someone actually made a full-size working version of the motorcycle driven by the hero in the Akira anime... and now someone's gone ahead and made one from a scooter!

In related unrelated news, check out the sub3wheelers... and you can hack together a cheaper version here...

A Short History of Irony

The history and origin of irony, as recorded by the author of another motorcycle blog.