Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Mid-Century Moto Mecca Makeover
- Thread starter sakurama
- Start date
Workspaces between 485 and 705 squarefeet.
TRS63
Well-known member
Wow, that's a great way of honoring your dad's memories and giving a wonderful experience to youd kids, well done Gregor!
Antoine
Antoine
You're right but we actually have a paper atlas that we keep in the truck that I've had for the better part of 25 years. It's highlighted for all the big trips I've taken and the kids are fascinated with that so we're going to get a big map for their wall and highlight all the trips they've taken so they can keep track.
Gregor
lilscorpion
Well-known member
Booooooo!!!
peanut gallery chant: Gut it, gut it, gut it....
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GDPossehl
Well-known member
That trailer is awesome. Even more awesome is that you have a place to keep it where it may actually see some use! I wish I had a spot for a vintage RV.
mtm_motors
Well-known member
Your dad seems like he was a pretty neat guy. You are carrying on the tradition. Love the Avion and what you're doing for your kids, those trips will be memories to cherish.
Hi Gregor,
This is my first post in your thread. First off, I would like to express my condolences for your loss of your father. I agree with the others that he will live on in the RV, the house, in you and your kids.
I am amazed at the talent you have in so many areas. I am inspired to try some of the things you do, especially welding aluminum. I may even try building some cabinets. I may go metric and Festool as well.
I was a hi fi geek in my youth also (maybe I still am!). I am about the same age as you. I had a HK 705 tape deck that I used to record LPs the first time I played them too!
Anyway, you have a beautiful family, lovely house and many skills. Keep up the good work!!!
Joe
This is my first post in your thread. First off, I would like to express my condolences for your loss of your father. I agree with the others that he will live on in the RV, the house, in you and your kids.
I am amazed at the talent you have in so many areas. I am inspired to try some of the things you do, especially welding aluminum. I may even try building some cabinets. I may go metric and Festool as well.
I was a hi fi geek in my youth also (maybe I still am!). I am about the same age as you. I had a HK 705 tape deck that I used to record LPs the first time I played them too!
Anyway, you have a beautiful family, lovely house and many skills. Keep up the good work!!!
Joe
Months ago, on a whim, I entered the SFRC 6-hour endurance race which is taking place this weekend. I didn't know much more than it was 6 hours and on a go kart track. That sounded like the perfect way to come out of retirement and get back to racing in a low pressure, fun and slow way.
About two or three weeks ago I pulled my Honda XR100 out and gave it a quick kick and she started right up after a year of sitting. Great! I'm almost ready I thought. I signed up for a practice day at the track in McMinnville and wore my dirt riding gear as it was a warm day. It turns out the track is actually not very small and it's pretty darn quick. My little bike seemed like bringing a butter knife to a gun fight. I needed to fix some things.
The thing about the XR100 is that every racer has one. Kenny Roberts popularized the bike as the greatest way to learn to slide a motorcycle. It's small, it makes about 10hp, and it's unintimidating so you aren't afraid to push it around and learn where the limit of traction is. I've done many racing schools around the country and hands down the American Supercamp was the one that taught me the most. The skills I learned there transferred to my TZ250, sliding tires at 100mph on pavement and made me a better, faster rider and I learned all of it on a diminutive little XR100.
Fast forward to my racing days and all my teammates and friends had XR's and our friendly competitive nature meant we all put work into our bikes to make them faster, better, etc. Mine was, as you might imagine, pretty tricked out.
So while I have a 120cc kit, a pipe and CR85 forks along with the de ri·gueur 17" wheels my brakes were woefully inadequate for this small track with a fast straight. Since we are going to get killed on power we're going to need to make up for it in corner speed and on the brakes.
I went to the local salvage yard and found a disk off a Triumph 955 that was 320mm or almost twice the size of the disc that was on it. A little machining got it onto the hub.
I started by putting the caliper from a CR250 on the rotor and holding it in position with the brake lever and a zip tie. From there I measured the various points and drew it on a paper and then, when it was close, onto some plywood.
Then when that fit I transferred the holes to a block of aluminum and marked it in blue and mounted to the rotary table.
And in only a day and a half later I got this:
It was some of the most tedious machining I've ever done but I had everything I needed to do it. The dream of the shop came through for me and I'm building a bike in my garage and to a high standard.
Then my lathe blows up.
I needed a crane to get away from the wall, the shop is a mess and it took a while to figure out the VFD blew up. I'm guessing chips from the mill found their way into the VFD and shorted it out. I was able to find a replacement and I made a chip guard but I lost a day. The good news is that I got so frustrated with the crowded shop that I sold a dirt bike and put some stuff in storage and generally cleaned up. That's a win.
In a vain attempt to find another 1-2hp I fitted a flat slide carb and ditched the airbox.
The rules for this race aren't casual either - the bikes have to be race prepped in a very serious way with everything drilled, wired and sliders all over the bike. It's turned out to be a crazy amount of work. I also needed a catch tank and decided that since I have the ability I would just make one.
My aluminum welding is getting much better.
In addition to the 6-hour race this Sunday (http://sang-froidridingclub.com) I also committed to letting a friend race my KTM AWD at this Saturday's Dirt Quake (http://sideburnmag.blogspot.com/2016/04/dirt-quake-usa-2016.html) and it will run in the "Inappropriate Road Bike" class where I'm hopeful that it will win. That was another few days of work as the fuel pump blew up a few months back and I hadn't addressed it. So this has been a very busy week of work in the shop but the best part is that the shop is complete and functional, if not a bit crowded.
If you're free this weekend I'd encourage you to get out to one of the events as they'll both be lots of fun. Everyone is welcome and if you show up for the endurance race you'll automatically become our pit crew - since we don't have one. Practice for the endurance race is Saturday morning, the KTM races Saturday night in Castle Rock and then Sunday is the 6-hour race so it's a busy weekend for me.
Okay, I'm not nearly done with the XR100 but I'll let you know how it goes.
Gregor
About two or three weeks ago I pulled my Honda XR100 out and gave it a quick kick and she started right up after a year of sitting. Great! I'm almost ready I thought. I signed up for a practice day at the track in McMinnville and wore my dirt riding gear as it was a warm day. It turns out the track is actually not very small and it's pretty darn quick. My little bike seemed like bringing a butter knife to a gun fight. I needed to fix some things.
The thing about the XR100 is that every racer has one. Kenny Roberts popularized the bike as the greatest way to learn to slide a motorcycle. It's small, it makes about 10hp, and it's unintimidating so you aren't afraid to push it around and learn where the limit of traction is. I've done many racing schools around the country and hands down the American Supercamp was the one that taught me the most. The skills I learned there transferred to my TZ250, sliding tires at 100mph on pavement and made me a better, faster rider and I learned all of it on a diminutive little XR100.
Fast forward to my racing days and all my teammates and friends had XR's and our friendly competitive nature meant we all put work into our bikes to make them faster, better, etc. Mine was, as you might imagine, pretty tricked out.
So while I have a 120cc kit, a pipe and CR85 forks along with the de ri·gueur 17" wheels my brakes were woefully inadequate for this small track with a fast straight. Since we are going to get killed on power we're going to need to make up for it in corner speed and on the brakes.
I went to the local salvage yard and found a disk off a Triumph 955 that was 320mm or almost twice the size of the disc that was on it. A little machining got it onto the hub.
I started by putting the caliper from a CR250 on the rotor and holding it in position with the brake lever and a zip tie. From there I measured the various points and drew it on a paper and then, when it was close, onto some plywood.
Then when that fit I transferred the holes to a block of aluminum and marked it in blue and mounted to the rotary table.
And in only a day and a half later I got this:
It was some of the most tedious machining I've ever done but I had everything I needed to do it. The dream of the shop came through for me and I'm building a bike in my garage and to a high standard.
Then my lathe blows up.
I needed a crane to get away from the wall, the shop is a mess and it took a while to figure out the VFD blew up. I'm guessing chips from the mill found their way into the VFD and shorted it out. I was able to find a replacement and I made a chip guard but I lost a day. The good news is that I got so frustrated with the crowded shop that I sold a dirt bike and put some stuff in storage and generally cleaned up. That's a win.
In a vain attempt to find another 1-2hp I fitted a flat slide carb and ditched the airbox.
The rules for this race aren't casual either - the bikes have to be race prepped in a very serious way with everything drilled, wired and sliders all over the bike. It's turned out to be a crazy amount of work. I also needed a catch tank and decided that since I have the ability I would just make one.
My aluminum welding is getting much better.
In addition to the 6-hour race this Sunday (http://sang-froidridingclub.com) I also committed to letting a friend race my KTM AWD at this Saturday's Dirt Quake (http://sideburnmag.blogspot.com/2016/04/dirt-quake-usa-2016.html) and it will run in the "Inappropriate Road Bike" class where I'm hopeful that it will win. That was another few days of work as the fuel pump blew up a few months back and I hadn't addressed it. So this has been a very busy week of work in the shop but the best part is that the shop is complete and functional, if not a bit crowded.
If you're free this weekend I'd encourage you to get out to one of the events as they'll both be lots of fun. Everyone is welcome and if you show up for the endurance race you'll automatically become our pit crew - since we don't have one. Practice for the endurance race is Saturday morning, the KTM races Saturday night in Castle Rock and then Sunday is the 6-hour race so it's a busy weekend for me.
Okay, I'm not nearly done with the XR100 but I'll let you know how it goes.
Gregor
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GDPossehl
Well-known member
Great work on that brake bracket and the aluminum welds on the tank look very clean to my amateur eye.
tjpavlov
Well-known member
What's that tool trolley in the background? It looks like a Hazet but I've never seen a red one.
It's a Japanese knock off of the Hazet from the 60's. I got it from a fellow GJ member when I saw it on CL when my "Hazet" alert went off. It's basically the same but it was much cheaper - I think less than $150?
I discovered them at the end of my racing days and always wanted one for the track and to keep a set of tools that could be wheeled to the place where they're needed. So far I'm liking it and I like that it's red - not blue. I'll post a photo when the XR is done.
Gregor
Hostyle
Well-known member
Dang... What a cool SM. Sadly it's a bit of a journey for me, but I would have been happy to be a member of the pit crew.
TRS63
Well-known member
It is always such a pleasure coming here and seeing some news! Cannot get enough of these awesome pictures of your top notch work!
Brakes look awesome like that, and brought back good memories from when I used to work for Beringer and made some prototypes for supermoto-bikes!
Antoine
Brakes look awesome like that, and brought back good memories from when I used to work for Beringer and made some prototypes for supermoto-bikes!
Antoine
fergus
Well-known member
Man, if Portland was just a little closer...I'd be tempted to come up and crew. I miss racing for sure...even just the "fun" races.
pitterpat
Well-known member
Haven't been on here a lot, been busy re-configuring 4 rooms (bathroom, powder room, bedroom and a closet) so that's why this is late. Wanted to send my condolences on the passing of your father. Mine died almost 6 years ago and he gave me the bug to repair, take apart and build things, even though girls didn't do that stuff in his era.
Sorry to hear of the passing of your dad; from reading your thread he's given you a fine legacy.
Good luck this weekend.
Pat
Sorry to hear of the passing of your dad; from reading your thread he's given you a fine legacy.
Good luck this weekend.
Pat
dhubbard422
Well-known member
Nice work (as usual). FWIW, I'd be very pleased to weld aluminum that nicely... I hope you have a ton of fun this weekend. Keep the shiny side up and the rubber side down!
It's a Teco N3 202 - I just replaced it with the same one I had - speed was of the essence and I didn't want to reconfigure the whole mounting set up. I like this one for it's remote display which I put up near the VFD. Spinning a knob is a fast way to adjust the speed but I still change gears. I have it wired into the lathes controls so I can just slam into reverser and it will engine brake the motor and then reverse it. I have it programed to ramp up and down over 2 seconds. The one thing that bugs me is that it turns off randomly with a Step 2 error. I put a call into their customer service but haven't heard back. Hopefully it's just a setting.
Whoa, Beringer made some serious brakes - very cool!
Thanks, I'm going to need it!
With only hours to go it seems to be done. The brakes are making a noise like the disc is hitting the bracket but I can't find anything. It might be the sound of the metallic pads on the large holes. I guess tomorrow's practice should sort things out.
Oh, here she is, a silly yet serious mini super moto.
Oh, and early reports from practice at Dirt Quake are that the KTM is scary fast and should kill. Can't wait. Hopefully I can get some video.
Gregor
Wow. I've been lurking on here for a while and your thread encouraged me to register so I could comment but, after spending the last few weeks diligently reading every single word in this thread I'm simply left awe struck. My wife keeps wondering what the hell could be sooo interesting that I spend every spare second pouring over this thread.
I just spent the last couple/three/four (I don't know, it's all a blur) years building my own house in central Alberta. You make me want to bulldoze it, so thanks. I left my attached 27'x32' garage unfinished as I wanted to really take my time to make it into something I'm going to enjoy working in for years. I'm glad I found the right place to glean ideas and information from.
Sad to get through this whole thread and hear that your dad passed away, my condolences. He must have been larger than life. My dad is not a tradesman but he helped me on my build wherever he could. I'm so thankful for those kinds of opportunities that are so easily taken for granted in the day to day ****.
Cheers, and good luck in the race.
I just spent the last couple/three/four (I don't know, it's all a blur) years building my own house in central Alberta. You make me want to bulldoze it, so thanks. I left my attached 27'x32' garage unfinished as I wanted to really take my time to make it into something I'm going to enjoy working in for years. I'm glad I found the right place to glean ideas and information from.
Sad to get through this whole thread and hear that your dad passed away, my condolences. He must have been larger than life. My dad is not a tradesman but he helped me on my build wherever he could. I'm so thankful for those kinds of opportunities that are so easily taken for granted in the day to day ****.
Cheers, and good luck in the race.
We wandered through Yellowstone and made it to Colorado where we found a memorial to my father at his building in town.
Gregor Sorry for the loss of your Dad. Somewhere back in this thread when you showed a picture of your dad with you at your house during the renovation, I thought to my self "He looks familiar, have I met him?" When you posted the photo of the town memorial to your pop, I knew exactly who he was. Bob and I had a wonderful conversation during the summer of 2008 when I spent the night in his home town while I was out on "Ride About" for most of the year. We had some fun comparing my 2008 BMW GSA with his GS. That place is a very special valley and I am sure it will miss your dad scooting about town on his GS.
Godspeed.
Darin
Gregor Sorry for the loss of your Dad. Somewhere back in this thread when you showed a picture of your dad with you at your house during the renovation, I thought to my self "He looks familiar, have I met him?" When you posted the photo of the town memorial to your pop, I knew exactly who he was. Bob and I had a wonderful conversation during the summer of 2008 when I spent the night in his home town while I was out on "Ride About" for most of the year. We had some fun comparing my 2008 BMW GSA with his GS. That place is a very special valley and I am sure it will miss your dad scooting about town on his GS.
Godspeed.
Darin
Yeah, it was his favorite thing to keep his biked parked in front of the building, the town even painted him his own motorcycle parking space when they painted the street. He would sit with his bike and visit with every single motorcyclist who passed through town. When he wasn't able to ride anymore he enjoyed hearing of others' rides and telling of his own.
Thanks for visiting with him - it's a small world isn't it?
Gregor
Wanna Ride
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- Messages
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Gregor, so sorry to hear about your Dad.
It's been awhile since I've caught up with your thread, somehow misplaced it. But I'm looking forward to going back this weekend, and rereading through and catching up. Thanks for all the great pics and details you post here.
One question; whatever became of the legal battle that your helper was enduring when you were rebuilding your house?
It's been awhile since I've caught up with your thread, somehow misplaced it. But I'm looking forward to going back this weekend, and rereading through and catching up. Thanks for all the great pics and details you post here.
One question; whatever became of the legal battle that your helper was enduring when you were rebuilding your house?
tjpavlov
Well-known member
Just got an email about Festool going Imperial. Love to read your thoughts on this. I've been trying to talk myself into a track saw and dust extractor for quite some time now!
http://blog.festoolusa.com/2016/06/20/festool-will-begin-offering-imperial-scale-tools/
http://blog.festoolusa.com/2016/06/20/festool-will-begin-offering-imperial-scale-tools/
rice rocket
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- Messages
- 3,175
Does this mean they're abandoning LR32? How else will they be able to sell $600 shelf pin drilling guides?
OopsClunkThud
Active member
That *****, I had convinced myself that Festool would get the US to finally go metric.
I have never been able to find out - I'm sure at this point that he was deported and I know he lost all his money and property to civil forfeiture despite the fact that they found no drugs and brought no drug charges when they stopped him. They simply used that law to steal, there's no other word for it, all his money and property.
It's a disgrace and I fear it would become the defacto standard if the ***** Trump were to get the presidency. Sorry, 20 years of living in the same city as him and watching his business' fail and his disregard for anyone but himself makes me extremely cynical.
This bums me out almost as much as Trump!
I find it frustrating that stubborn carpenters have forced the change but I suppose if they want to make inroads into the trades here they have to. I guess I'm very frustrated that they wouldn't include both measurements which seems like the obvious thing to do.
There are plenty of places that offer adhesive tape scales that can be applied to the tools to give imperial measurements but I know for certain that I won't be going imperial.
First Trump, then Brexit and now this... what is the world coming to?
Gregor
PS I will have a race report in a week or so. I went straight from the track to the airport for a job and I've been swamped. I could just tell you but I prefer to have photos for every story - go figure right?
Wanna Ride
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- Jul 28, 2010
- Messages
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That's too bad, and I feel for him and others in similar situations. Like many other situations, it's unfortunate that a few bad apples can have such a negative impact on those like him, that truly want to better themselves, and be a productive part of our society and embrace our culture.
Regarding the adhesive tape scales, I acquired a roll of it in a box of miscellaneous items that I purchased at an auction. I cut off several sections and put one on my bike table, and a couple work benches. Pretty convenient to have right there, so you don't have to stop and go grab a tape measure on the other side of the garage, for every simple thing that you just need a quick reference for.
kjdhawkhill
Well-known member
I'm kind of disappointed that I finished this thread on a down note, the loss of your father. My condolences on the loss of your father.
On a more positive note, I can't think of a better way to spend one's last days than with family, as part of their day to day life.
Your home rehab is superb. I have no doubt that you have taken the level of construction in that home to somewhere it never was, above and beyond where the architect would have expected it to be built.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
On a more positive note, I can't think of a better way to spend one's last days than with family, as part of their day to day life.
Your home rehab is superb. I have no doubt that you have taken the level of construction in that home to somewhere it never was, above and beyond where the architect would have expected it to be built.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Thanks. At some point I'm going to print out the photo of my dad sitting on the fireplace and hang it up in the house. He was here with me as I worked on this house and in many ways he is still here and I take a lot of comfort in that.
_____________________________________________________
Hey! It's update time!!
I know it seems like I've fallen off the wagon but that's only because I've fallen off the wagon. Summer in Oregon is the time to get out and do things and for the past month or so that's what has been happening. I'll try to catch you up.
You remember that 6 hour endurance race I was going to do? The same weekend as Dirt Quake? Well, it was a good news bad news situation.
The bike worked great but there was a rule change that no one mentioned which was that modern bikes could be up to 300cc's to accommodate the Ninja 300's which are very popular. That is a quick little bike making three times the hp that our little XR100 makes so were were set to get creamed.
This is my teammate Nobi Iso who is a super talented rider. All of us were within about 3 seconds of each other so we were pretty well matched but we just got waxed in the straights. After about 4 hours we were in 4th place but we sprang a leak in the rear tire. It was a leak I'd repaired and had held for three days but the stress of four hours undid it and we had to retire. We won the award for most inappropriate entry or bringing a knife to a gun fight but we had fun.
The night before the endurance race was Dirt Quake and my friend Scott Rounds entered my bike into the "Inappropriate Street Bike" class and it was a bit of a rout. He almost lapped the entire field in the six lap race so that was fun to watch.
So weeks of bike prep and the night of the endurance race I was set to fly out to NYC with my son Lucas for a week of work and visiting my mom and stepdad outside of Philly. That flight was the first time I have ever slept the entire redeye to NYC so I'm thinking I need to do an endurance race before every trip.
It was the first solo trip for Lucas and he had a great time. I think it's important to get a feel for all sides of culture so we took a trip through the hood where my studio is but also hit up the Met for some knights, because... knights!
As soon as we landed back in Portland my goal was to get the trailer ready for a week long trip to Northern California with Ben and his family. I figured it would be a lot of cleaning but I was wrong, as usual.
Next up will be an update on the trailer and then an update on the house. Can you believe it? Three updates in so many days? It's an embarrassment of of updates.
Gregor
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TRS63
Well-known member
Gregor, thanks for the update!
Well, not the results you wanted with the XR but still looks like it was a lot of fun and that is what matters!
Looking forward to the next updates!
Antoine
Well, not the results you wanted with the XR but still looks like it was a lot of fun and that is what matters!
Looking forward to the next updates!
Antoine
E12-535iTurbo
Well-known member
Jeeej! Gregor thought of us! We're thinking about you too 
Hostyle
Well-known member
Go team Gregor! Great to read your update. The bikes look awesome, the little Honda that almost could
Weekend_warrior
Well-known member
The little BBR is pretty cool. This even goes down pretty close to me every year. I'd love to do one of his boot camps.
http://www.texastornadobootcamp.com/camp---events.html
I'd like to enter the dirt wars... I may have ride out an catch some races. Its not very far from my house.
http://www.texastornadobootcamp.com/camp---events.html
I'd like to enter the dirt wars... I may have ride out an catch some races. Its not very far from my house.