Hi all,
I lurk quite a bit here but haven't posted om my progress (or lack of it depending on your view point!!!) since 2011, a long time... My original build diary can be read here:
http://www.landracing.com/forum/index.php/topic,8744.0.htmlOnce the bike and meself were back in GB, it was obvious there was some unfinished business and the Salt Fever kicked in...
It has involved inputs from Lady Bad Luck, Lady Luck and some of my closest friends and maybe it is time to set the record straight before we make another attempt in 2014 at these elusive records...
I used to write a lot on the XLForum where there's a nice crowd of ironhead Sportster nutters. One of them, Joe, aka "DrDick", offered his services for Speed Week 2013, promply followed by his brother Mark, aka "model H".
On my side of the pond in Great Britain, another friend, Richard, learned I was coming over again and said he'd come as well... Then his friend Graham at the antipodes in Australia, well known here as "Graham in Aus", followed suit so it was that the 5 of us converged from all over the world and met on the Salt Flats last August.
Joe started a thread on the XLForum where you can read what actually happened in real time on Speed Week:
http://xlforum.net/vbportal/forums/showthread.php?t=1666561The outshot was, that after 8 runs, 5 good'uns, 3 aborted, our luck ran out and we ended up with no compression on the back cylinder and a crank slightly out of shape. So nothing really broke, no record still and no way to get more runs in 2013...
Back again in GB, I set a few goals for next year...
1) Better aero so the threshold between proper drive and wheel slip can be pushed further up the mph scale (we attained 121.775mph with a 135mph gearing and rpm...) On my best 121.775 run, I entered the 2nd mile at 118mph and it took a whole mile to get to 123 and a bit, it was just constant wheel spin whatever I did with the throttle...
Looked around on the net for various better fairings... really wanted a fully enclosed Harley alloy XRTT type as seen at Daytona in 1973/74 but prices of replicas are pretty steep in the USA, plus postage and customs to get it in GB...
So settle for the next best thing, and the one that probably inspired the Wixom Brothers that did the XRTT one, a red replica of the 1960 Peel Mountain Mile... The whole lot in 2 parts plus perspex screen for about $200.00. But no fittings or brackets...
Found a lady's bicycle at the breakers to pinch some lightweight tubing for all the new brackets... Then a few 1/4 turn Dzus kits on ebay
2) Better way to put power down on the Salt Flats, so installed the old shocks for a better ride on the salt and dumped the rigid struts on the shelves...
Sounds easy? It never is... Half the rear of the bike was hung off these rigid struts, so a multitude of other brackets to be done, some of them, like for the oil tank, pretty essential, not done yet!!!
That's it for today, see you at the next instalment...
Cheers from Patrick