OK, for this week, the blog will trend back toward the MH900e corner of my personal attention span with a quick primer on how to get rid of the Autoretract Sidestand on your MH900e.  This procedure is very simple and took me a total of about 5 minutes including taking the photographs.

To undertake this modification you’ll simply need a pair of pliers and a new spring plate from Ducati, part number 82912602A.  The new spring plate cost me approximately $6 U.S., so it’s a very inexpensive part.

Replacement Spring Plate

 This part replaces the spring plate installed by Ducati at the factory.  The original piece is rather straight and interferes with the nut on the sidestand pivot bolt.  This keeps the sidestand spring from going “over center” where it would hold the sidestand down.

Original Sidestand Spring Plate Still Installed

 The replacement plate is curved so that it won’t interfere with the sidestand pivot nut.  Here’s a photo of the two pieces side-by-side.  The original bracket is the one with the springs still attached.

Side-By-Side Comparison of Spring Plates (new one below old)

 To change the spring plate, begin by using a pair of pliers to disengage the two sidestand springs from their catch on the sidestand, then slip the spring plate off of its catch pin on the sidestand bracket attached to the motor.  Not lay the two brackets as show above and transfer the springs from the old bracket to the new one.  Now slip the new spring plate over its catch pin (with the elbow of the plate away from the sidestand pivot bolt) and reattach the springs to their catch on the sidestand. 

Sidestand with New Spring Plate

Voila!  Now you have a sidestand that stays put when you put it down.  You’ll notice in the final photo that the new plate curves around the sidestand pivot bolt nut, allowing the spring to extend “over center” to hold the sidestand in place when in the lowered position.  Be careful when riding your bike, as you might be more used to the autoretract feature than you realize….and nobody wants to put thier MH on the ground over something as minute as a spring plate.

Feel free to post on the Forum if you have any questions about this procedure, or anything else you might want to know.

Cloner in ABQ

Last time I took to the keyboard I told you, my loyal readers, of my intent to renege on my 20 year old roadracing retirement and head for the track.  I’m happy to report in this newest installment of the MH900e blog that I have fulfilled that intent and I’m both faster and slower than I could have imagined.  I guess an explaination is in order.

As background, I built my 1967 Harley Davidson/Aermacchi Sprint 250 from the bones of a bike I acquired in 1989 whilst helping a friend find parts for his parallel twin Indian.  We found a motorcycle salvage yard in Statesville, North Carolina that was going out of business and the owner was trying to clear his property for development.  The owner had staked out the entire yard in 1 yard square lots and his deal was $100 per square yard.  If you found anything you wanted, though, you had to take EVERYTHING in the lot!  Troy, my Indian mounted accomplice, found three lots with desireable parts in them, but they were mostly filled with HD/Aermacchi Sprint parts.  As payment for helping him load parts for nearly two hours Troy let me have enough parts to build a Sprint, plus a few spares.  From those meager beginnings my racer was born.

The only stock parts I’ve used are the engine (which is still mostly stock in the spirit of the class where I’m racing), part of the frame, and the swingarm.  The rest has been replaced by bits from various and sundry sources across the globe.  Betor forks from Spain.  Ceriani triple clamps, Tommaselli clip-ons, and Tarozzi rear sets from Italy.  Excel wheels and a Mikuni carburetor from Japan.  MZ-B Magneto electronic ignition from Germany.  Motion Pro cables and Glass From the Past bodywork from the U.S.A.  She’s an international beauty queen in my eyes, though she definitely has an Italian heart.

I told you that I went slower than I thought I would.  That was because the bike started out rich and the hotter it got the worse it ran.  I bought the carburetor from Ron Lancaster at Lancaster Aermacchi already jetted for my application.  It came with a 230 main jet and a 40 pilot jet, but at those settings the bike’s plug was black and the bike was misfiring in no time.  I jetted down throughout the day and ended up racing with a 200 main jet and a 35 pilot jet with the needle 2 slots up from its initial setting.  The bike was still a little rich during the race, but it pulled well for the first two laps, so I guess I’m getting closer.

I also told you that I was faster than I thought.  Well, the final tally is that I finished second in class!  I would have finished first without a doubt, but as the bike got hotter it pulled less and less, and by the final lap I could tell things would get tight at the line.  As I approached the finish line a ‘68 Ducati caught and passed me, beating my by 0.3 seconds.  Drat!!!  

As a side note, I should have been third, but the guy who blew both me and the Ducati away forgot to attach his transponder, so he was disqualified.  He was nearly a second a lap quicker than we were, but I think with a little practice and a little tuning I can hold his pace.  Heck, I’ll probably get half of it with proper jetting!  If I can shed a few stone I might even put him down a notch!!!  That’d be pretty cool considering he’s a national AHRMA series racer!

More to come in May.

Cloner.  SMRI #250