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I just got word today that Scott Jesen has been given a world superbike wildcard position for the June 1st race at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. 

For those who don’t know who Scott Jensen is, he is a Phoenix, AZ road racer that for the past few years has been chasing a dream to be an AMA road racing star.  Scott Jensen is not some rich guy who is going racing, but an average motorcycle Joe that has put his whole life on hold to chase the dream.  Last year Scott Jensen got a 3rd place at Road America in the SuperSport division.  He ended up last year 5th overall in AMA SuperSport

Last December during the Xmas holiday (Darn Pagan Rituals), I was out in the OC.

Being it the giving time of year, I gave a call to Kendon Industries about picking up a Sport Bike Lift.  The nice lady on the phone told me they were having a scratch and dent sale, and to run on over to their Anaheim, California office on La Palma Ave.

Never to be one to pass up a good sale, the wife and I went over to check out the deals.  Within 30min of being at their office, I was the proud owner of one lightly blemished lift at a substantial discount… Psst, don’t share it around but it was over 50%

…since I have been without a street bike.  Its wierd.  My garage is empty, clean, and roomy.  I hate it. :) 

The Futura was a great bike and I plan on doing a full review at a later date.  I really had no complaints, and she never left me stranded.  I think its the best sport-tourer to have if you want to ST fast.

Anyway, the new owner picked it up today and created a hole.  That hole will be filled eventually, but probably not for a while.  I have a fancy for the Triumph Rocket III at the moment, but time will tell how the used market has them priced. 

Heh - someone else is going to have to do the heavy lifting

Ok,

It’s Round #5 of the CCS/SW road racing series this weekend.   To tell the truth I am looking forward to the forced summer vacation.

See I have been racing most every month for the past 9 months.  9 rounds, 11 race days, a number of Track Days, Track Schools, Working Out, Going to Two Wheel Tuesday and much more.    It just has been a ton of motorcycling racing and its time to go street riding and enjoy just hanging out.

Last race weekend my buddy got a bit aggressive and low sided behind me.  That gave me the opportunity to have my first high side.  3 seconds later, I was up running to my bike.  I don’t know what has changed in

My wife and I were driving somewhere last night and we got on the topic of cars.  My wife said that her favorite car of all time was her first car…err SUV…a Jeep.  She loved to looks and the convertible’s wind in the hair, but I was amused at her number one reason:  “because everyone else in a Jeep waves to you”.  I get that…I completely get that.

If I saw a complete stranger and the only thing I knew about him was that he rode a motorcycle, he would have an in with me.  I think its why the sport, on one terrain or another, has survived in my arsenal of activities for so long.  The  common bond of knowing

It’s a problem I have not had to face in many years due to fuel injected bikes.  Since 2001, I have had Aprilia’s which are all fuel injected and my trusty YZ426 that came to me already jetted.  Now as I go through my YZ450 to get it ‘right’, its the learning process all over again.

As an avid believer in motorcycle forums for the best knowledge available, I am a member of thumpertalk.com.  It seems like everyone and their mother is running a 45 pilot jet and a 165 main jet.  The main has been on since the beginning, but the idle circuit has not.  Starting this machine has been a bitch from day one - cold or hot.

Checking the

It’s been decided, the mighty Futura is for sale!  The bike is in excellent condition with 11,344 miles (edit) and is located in Phoenix, AZ.  The add-ons are as follows:

• Staintunes exhaust with AF1 H-pipe
• Tuneboy module with custom map (passes AZ smog);
• Heli-bar risers
• Pyramid double bubble screen
• BEF fender eliminator kit (powdercoated satin black)
• Grip heaters + heat-troller
• Braided front brake lines
• Throttlemeister
• Upgraded alternator, ‘brown connector’, & quick-disconnect
• Two extra power outlets
• New Dunlop ‘Roadsmart’ set to be installed
• Factory matching hardbags
• All stock parts included

Here’s the bike…

Price - $5800.

Your Utah friends call you the “polygamist biker”!

I just penned an email to the guy who sold me my current Aprilia Futura.  His condition for selling it to me was that if I ever wanted to sell the bike that I would contact him first.  You can see where this is going…

The bottom line is that I haven’t ridden the bike since November 4th…when I got a bullshit ticket.  The two main reasons are simple:  the new found love for the dirt & the ticket.  I have been trying to go off-roading every weekend since the new year and have almost succeeded.  I’m having a total ball with the dirt bike and I only have to go about twenty minutes away from my house. 

Second, no cop is

Even when Murphy comes to call, the Rising Sun can dispell the gloom.

I was stranded at a gas station in Tres Piedras, New Mexico after a regulator failure on my Ducati 748. Just to set the scene, TP (as it’s affectionately known to locals) is a crossroads in the middle of Bumfuck, Nowhere. There’s a crumbling gas station, a dilapidated restaurant and that’s about it. The nearest “town” is Taos which is about 50 miles away. With no tools to properly troubleshoot a dead electrical system, I assumed it was my battery that had died. After locating/calling a Honda dealer in Taos, who just happen to have the oddball size my euro-scoot required, I settled into that that semi-conscience trance

I am having to learn all over how to jet carbs on bikes.  It has been since 2000 since I have had to jet a motorcycle.  It sucks at first, but I have a better understanding of how stuff works now.  For an excellent techie look at what attribute of the carb affects performance at a certain throttle position, click here.  I have been using this graph for years now and it is the absolute bomb when it comes to understanding jetting.

I am going through my bike now and trying to sort the jetting. This is the history to date:

1. As purchased (used & stock performance parts with Keep reading >>

Actually, I would consider mself having pretty good luck, but not today.  See my wife is going out of town for one week, with the kids, starting this Wednesday.  I have huge off-road plans for me and my dirt bike.  That might have just changed.

Since we planned on riding on Sunday versus the normal Saturday excursion, I decided to check out the fueling and how easy the bike starts after an oil change.  The bike fired up on the first kick and idled very nicely.  I took my daughter out with me as I rode around my subdivision to warm up the oil to ease the draining process.

After the oil change, I went to kick the bike to get the new