In September I broke a zipper on one of my Sidi Vortice Air boots. I tend to be hard on zippers and in this case the zipper just pulled off of one side. I may have damaged some of the teeth causing it to come off of the “track” but luckily with the help of some duct tape I was able to make it through the day. This gave me about four weeks to get the boots repaired for my next track day. Of course I waited for three of those weeks to pass before taking action.

Since the boots were just over a year old, they still fell under Motonation’s two year warranty. After I sent them some pictures and a brief run down of the problem. They sent me a RMA number and told me to send them to Sole Performance in Encinitas Ca, (A suburb of San Diego). I sent them out last friday afternoon and they wouldn’t be delivered until Monday. This was cutting it close.

Four business days later I receive a box and I knew it was my boot. At first glance, I thought for a second that the boot was brand new, but quickly realized it was in fact my used boot. They had put in the new zipper and it looked exactly as it did when it came from Italy. They even cleaned up all the duct tape residue I had left on there. I must say I was very impressed. I am not sure what this would have cost since Sidi picked up the tab, but next time my boots need some love, they are going to Sole Performance. If you don’t see a post on Monday where I am swearing up and down, then you know the zipper performed flawlessly. Have a great weekend everyone. I am off to the track!

boots

 

Another great weekend at the track is in the books. After taking June, July and August off, I was excited to be back in the saddle this past labor day weekend. I purchased some brake calipers off of a 2008 Yamaha R6. I also picked up some very nice spacers from the Twin Works Factory to make them fit. They say you can just use a 9/16 lock washer, but the TWF spacers look so much better.

We headed out Friday and the temp was well in to the triple digits, I slapped on the new calipers and waited until the AM. Luckily the geniuses at SoCal Trackdays decided we would start at 7am to try to beat the heat. Problem was that after we were done riding we were still stuck at the track with the high temps in the 110’s. As long as I am on the motorcycle and moving, the heat was not too bad. After a while I would feel like the top of my feet were on fire and come in. As soon as I exited the track the oppressive heat would slap me in the face and I would have to drink two bottles of water and rest before charging back on the track.

The brake swapped worked great and I was actually able to stop! My buddy Taylor says not having brakes is good for me, but personally I like having that option. We got the stop part figured out, but then had some issues with the “go”. The bike’s battery was dead from sitting for 3 months, but once we got that sorted out it was game on. My riding started off a little rusty, but by Sunday afternoon, I was feeling good and getting better and better laps in.

Despite spending the weekend in Hell’s Furnace, it was a great time. I am already itching to get back out there and do it again. I am hoping October brings perfect riding weather.

Wow,  It’s been months since I have posted anything. The sad truth is that I haven’t been riding. I picked up a new ride, and I have been having one heck of a time getting it dialed in. Specifically the brakes have been quite the conundrum.  We have replaced just about everything and can still easily pull the lever to the handle bar with very little effort. The are finally at a point where I think they are usable. I am headed to Chuckwalla Valley Raceway again this weekend and hoping to put in a ton of laps. I’ll be sure to post an update upon my return.

engine

The four days at Chuckwalla with SoCal Trackdays were great. The track had a great flow to it with a lot of elevation changes and varying types of corners. I can’t wait to get back out there. Unfortunately my bike was not ready to go. so a big thanks to my friends who were brave enough to loan me their rides for a bit. Another thanks goes out to John from Scorpion Helmets who brought me a new lid. It’s the Scorpion EXO-700 “Engine”. The helmet instantly fit perfect and the ventilation was very good, not to mention it’s stylish looks. I am quite happy with it and recommend it highly. Don’t get an Engine though, get a different model so that I can feel elite.

cvrI am very excited to be heading out to Chuckwalla Valley Raceway for four days this weekend. i will be there Thursday thru Sunday. The first public track days will be on Saturday and Sunday and hosted by Socal Trackdays.  Last I heard, there were still a few spots remaining, so come out and join the fun!

Well, after not touching a motorcycle in several months, I finally got around to throwing my leg over the CRF250R. I spent a couple days in Ocotillo Wells and then later went to check out Pala Raceway. Let me just say that I was a little rusty. It felt good to get back on a motorcycle again. I must also add that I really like Pala raceway. The CBR600RR is still in pieces but it is slowly making progess to getting back into race form. Thanks to Doctor John’s for saving the engine case. Unfortunately they were not able to save the front wheel.

Broken Motor MountWith the help of my friends Doug and Todd, we got the bike completely stripped down. Everything looked like it would require  simply replacing parts with the excpetion of the engine mount. The bolt that goes through the frame and into the engine snapped off the engine mount. Another problem is the bent front wheel. Once I get the frame checked to ensure it’s straight, the rebuild will start.

img00116I was out at Button Willow on April 17th with Take it 2 the Track. When I got into tank slapper that I was not able to recover from and ended up crashing. Other than some bumps, bruises and scrapes,  I am fine. The bike was not as fortunate as it took some extensive damage.  Hopefully it will back in action soon.

Well we went to a new website host and in the process the data did not transfer well and ended up becoming lost. So here were go, gojamesgo 2.0.