OK…so after a member recently posted a video of his exploits aboard his MHe, I promised to take similar video of the roads here in New Mexico and post them to the board.  To honor that promise, I purchaed a GoPro Hero HD Motorsports kit and took the following video….

MH900e on Sandia Crest Road

This should answer a couple of the questions raised by the original video:

Yes, the tach will climb above 5,000 rpm

Yes, there are twisty roads in America

No, I’m not Valentino Rossi….well….that wasn’t an original question, I just thought I’d point it out. 

Whilst I’m typing, I’ll share the excuse for my recent lack of blog updates.  The last two races at Sandia Raceway have been canceled due to inclement weather, so I haven’t really had much to write about.  During the practice sessions for the last race (before it was scrubbed due to heavy rain later) I met one of my personal goals of a 1:10 lap.  I guess I’ll have to set the bar a little higher and shoot for 1:08, huh?

I also recently acquired an Aermacchi/HD CRS engine, which will mean very little to many of you, but it’s a factory racing engine (for dirt racing…..it would be CRTT for a roadracing engine) that should push my efforts much further toward podium finishes.  The engine alone should be good for five seconds per lap, so maybe there’s hope of putting this bike in the sub-one-minute club before all is said and done.  Keep your fingers crossed!

That’s all I have for now.  If you have information that you’d like shared with the community, please forward it to my attention via email or a post on the Forum and I’ll see that it makes it way to this page.  If you’d like to see a story about YOU appear here, please let me know and I”ll put you in the “Member Spotlight”!

Greeting to all you, MH900e owners and fans alike.  This installment of the blog will be short and sweet, as I don’t have anything extraordinary to tell you, but I didn’t want to leave things untended for too long, so here goes.

I raced in late June, and though I placed an unremarkable fifth of sixteen entrants, it was definitely the most enjoyable day of racing thus far.  The Aermacchi ran beautifully for the first time this year, and I got to dice with two other riders for every lap of the race, which always makes it more enjoyable for me!  I won’t bore you with details, but I think I’ve maximized the bike’s mechanical potential, so now it’s time to start working on mine.  I’m currently 3rd in the points standings, but I expect that to slip somewhat as more bikes with substantial horsepower advantages have begun racing as the year has progressed.  I think my best possible finish barring failure by one of the faster bikes is fourth…..but I’ll keep hammering at it!

Chris Scherle, a member of our small band, is working on a sweatshirt/polo shirt/golf shirt/whatever kind of shirt you want to embroider upon design for the club.  We’re trying to make sure it’s kosher to use the MH900e logo, but I think we’ll find that we’re OK to embroider that onto shirts for our use.  See the forum for additional details, or to leave feedback/encouragement for Chris.

And, finally, happy Independence Day for those of you in the United States.  For those who don’t know, the 4th of July is a major holiday in the United States, as it’s the day the United States formally declared independence from Great Britain in 1776.  Be careful out there, and watch for drunk drivers.  I’ll be celebrating by taking a ride through Jemez, NM with the local Ducati Club.

As always, holler if you’re having problems with the site, or if you have suggestions or opinions, or if you just want to say “Hi”.

By the way, any MH900e owner is welcome to write a piece for submission to this blog page.  All you have to do is:

1)  Do something interesting

2)  Write about it

3)  Take a couple of pictures

4)  Send your story and pictures to me for editing, formatting, and uploading.

I’m sure lots of others would love to live vicariously through you, so write about your adventures and send them in.  Your submission doesn’t necessarily have to involve your MH900e as long as it’s about something important to you and interesting to others.

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

Last night a friend of mine, Nic Rosato from Long Island, came over so I could help him repair a leaking fork seal and do a little routine maintenance on his ‘97 Monster 900.  Nic showed up around 6:30 and we got him squared away and out the door around 9:30 after repairing the leaking seal, changing the oil in both fork legs, changing his engine oil and filter, and adjusting his chain.  During the three hours we shared, Nic repeatedly thanked me for helping him while he was away from home and was sincerely thankful to have a place to work on his bike 2000 miles from his Long Island garage. 

Nic’s visit started me thinking about the community we all share, and how thankful I am to be a part of it.  During my years of riding I’ve seen motorcyclists treat each other with attitudes ranging from disdain to admiration, from callous to charitable, and from enmity to solidarity.  I bought my first Ducati in 2000 and immediately became acquainted with a different riding community.

In my experience, Ducati riders tend to treat each other with a little more respect, a bit more brotherhood, and a ton more enthusiasm than the riders of other marques.  A Ducatista rarely refuses another any reasonable request, and often goes out of his way to help another in need despite significant costs in time and resources. 

Shortly after I bought my first Ducati, a ‘95 Supersport, a fellow Ducati owner, Buddy Turner of Intrepid Cafe Racers fame, took me under his wing to show me the “ins and outs” of Ducati ownership.  When my Supersport spat its chain 40 miles from home, Karl Zaster loaned me his brand new 1098 so I could make a parts run.  When I wanted to buy a bike in San Francisco, Kevin Kachadourian volunteered to drive 50 miles out of his way to take a look at it and give me an honest evaluation of its condition.  If this was all I could relate, then my anecdotes might be considered random acts of kindness.  However, this is just the tip of the proverbial iceburg, and the number of these acts that I’ve been party to or witnessed is such that it would take me hours to type them all here!  I’m glad that I could contribute to the list.

Maybe it’s because we’re generally older, and realize that nobody can easily get along without a little help.  Maybe it’s becasue we’re more experienced, and realize that what goes around comes around.  Maybe it’s because we’re just nicer people who, for some unknown reason, are drawn to red paint and basso profundo.  Whatever the reason, I’ll wager that “you meet the nicest people on a Honda Ducati.”

Cloner:  ABQ, NM