oldguy
Always Broken
- Dec 26, 1999
- 9,411
- 0
but go out and play on a frozen lake.
My son was finally talked into racing on the ice last winter and fell in love with it. He talked about converting either his 250F or 450 into an ice bike but looking at mega repair bills if and when he blew it up I offered up my RM144. A friend set us up with a used set of tires and fenders. Off to Eric Gorrs to do a topend, re-port the jug for topend power, and bump the compression a bit. Despite Eric's confirmation that the jetting would be good I had to play with it (don't know if I was bored or really worried about it) and I bumped everything 2 sizes bigger. Put the bike together and sat waiting for the lakes to freeze over.
Finally Thursday word went out the lake was frozen and Saturday morning a track was going to be plowed. Plans were made and we met up about noon because Spider was limited to 2 hours on the ice then back to college to study for next weeks exams.
Pulled the bike off the trailer and onto the ice when....it wouldn't fire. It started second kick everytime in the 30* garage (gotta fix the furnace this week) but now on the lake wouldn't even fart. Pull the plug and it is soaked so replace it and kick again- still dead. New plug- repeat and still dead. Now nobody is believing I ran it at home so another guy offers up his bike while we work on it. Yet another new plug and first kick IT"S ALIVE but revving to the moon. Shut it down and play some more only to discover the throttle housing at the carb is frayed and the throttle isn't shutting down. Some work with duct tApe and it now runs and the throttle opens and closes.
Spider was just coming in on the loaner bike so he immediately jumped on the RM and off he went. Then half a lap around the course (a nice 2 mile TT) I see him roll to a stop and look under the bike- no way I want to roll it in from out there. As I start the hike out he takes off again but pulls into the pits. Can't get it to run clean on top so a quick jet change (down 2 steps to what Eric said was good) and out he goes for a quick 2 or 3 lap test. First lap you can hear the thing struggling down the long straight and out of corners but by the 3rd lap it sounds nice and crisp. By the 10th lap it is hauling. By the 20th lap he is having a ball dragging a peg in the corners and chasing down some of the other riders. Well his 3 lap test ride (while I stand in the pits with another jet ready to test) turns into a 45 minute ride.
Lucky he came in when he did because we could just see some gas WWWAAAAYYYY down in the tank. it was now starting to drizzle as the storm finally was rolling in. A couple other guys took the RM out just to see how it was running then packed up and headed inside the nice warm bar for some lunch and bench racing. The conclusion was the bike was slightly rich today (37*) and needs at least a tooth or 2 dropped on the rear but it is fast as any lightweight bike out there. By the time I left the bar the rain was turning to snow and by the time I got home had added up to 4 inches. When I got up this morning the snow was 10 inches deep but blowing sideways past the house. Thanks to a great bunch of guys Spider is back at school with a lot of final exam frustration worked out and we both have warm memories of a great day until the next day on the frozen lake.
Looks like it going to be an awesome winter
My son was finally talked into racing on the ice last winter and fell in love with it. He talked about converting either his 250F or 450 into an ice bike but looking at mega repair bills if and when he blew it up I offered up my RM144. A friend set us up with a used set of tires and fenders. Off to Eric Gorrs to do a topend, re-port the jug for topend power, and bump the compression a bit. Despite Eric's confirmation that the jetting would be good I had to play with it (don't know if I was bored or really worried about it) and I bumped everything 2 sizes bigger. Put the bike together and sat waiting for the lakes to freeze over.
Finally Thursday word went out the lake was frozen and Saturday morning a track was going to be plowed. Plans were made and we met up about noon because Spider was limited to 2 hours on the ice then back to college to study for next weeks exams.
Pulled the bike off the trailer and onto the ice when....it wouldn't fire. It started second kick everytime in the 30* garage (gotta fix the furnace this week) but now on the lake wouldn't even fart. Pull the plug and it is soaked so replace it and kick again- still dead. New plug- repeat and still dead. Now nobody is believing I ran it at home so another guy offers up his bike while we work on it. Yet another new plug and first kick IT"S ALIVE but revving to the moon. Shut it down and play some more only to discover the throttle housing at the carb is frayed and the throttle isn't shutting down. Some work with duct tApe and it now runs and the throttle opens and closes.
Spider was just coming in on the loaner bike so he immediately jumped on the RM and off he went. Then half a lap around the course (a nice 2 mile TT) I see him roll to a stop and look under the bike- no way I want to roll it in from out there. As I start the hike out he takes off again but pulls into the pits. Can't get it to run clean on top so a quick jet change (down 2 steps to what Eric said was good) and out he goes for a quick 2 or 3 lap test. First lap you can hear the thing struggling down the long straight and out of corners but by the 3rd lap it sounds nice and crisp. By the 10th lap it is hauling. By the 20th lap he is having a ball dragging a peg in the corners and chasing down some of the other riders. Well his 3 lap test ride (while I stand in the pits with another jet ready to test) turns into a 45 minute ride.
Lucky he came in when he did because we could just see some gas WWWAAAAYYYY down in the tank. it was now starting to drizzle as the storm finally was rolling in. A couple other guys took the RM out just to see how it was running then packed up and headed inside the nice warm bar for some lunch and bench racing. The conclusion was the bike was slightly rich today (37*) and needs at least a tooth or 2 dropped on the rear but it is fast as any lightweight bike out there. By the time I left the bar the rain was turning to snow and by the time I got home had added up to 4 inches. When I got up this morning the snow was 10 inches deep but blowing sideways past the house. Thanks to a great bunch of guys Spider is back at school with a lot of final exam frustration worked out and we both have warm memories of a great day until the next day on the frozen lake.
Looks like it going to be an awesome winter
