Archive for ‘Weekend warrior tales’

Weekend warrior tales

By The Zor, 6 September, 2010, No Comment

More than a weekend tale, this post is going to be the last before my long waited holiday.

I will start in a sad tune; 19 year old Shoya Tomizawa had a fatal crash during the Moto2 race from Imola.

The fatal crash made some participants reluctant to compete. As an honor to Shoya Tomizawa, the flags were kept at half mast and there was no champagne at the conclusion of the race. RIP Shoya.

You`ll love Malawi. This is what Loic and Aurel expect from their readers. And they are right, just read the last post here.

I received my last copy of Sideburn. Again not a disappointment, worth the money spent. Thank you Gary for sending it to me after a mobster style payment – money in envelope.

I mentioned that we leave for a much disserved holiday; the next few days are going more as in Shinya`s picture – packing, loading and planning than anything else.

Till I am back I hope there will be some guest posting from OLGV from Gravity One.  Friday`s Bike Porn is going to grow double in size and be automated with scheduled posting offered by the WordPress platform.  At least I don’t lose all my visitors during the holiday.  Maybe there will be some mobile uploads on my Facebook page so check that one too.

Just a teaser for Friday`s Bike Porn.

To end in a happy tune, I leave you with a blog worth crawling into it – Stuff no one told me.

PS: The pictures from the Old timer race from Vrsac are under work I hope they are going to be squeezed into a post before we leave.

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Weekend warrior tales

By The Zor, 31 August, 2010, No Comment

Searching for a garage at the moment is like taking up a nomadic lifestyle and at a sudden point stopping for a rest in a very small garage.  All my tools, motorcycles, bikes and parts are stuck in my father`s small garage.  All enduro-rides are postponed due to some bad logistic; my KTM was the first to find shelter in the small garage and then came all the rest.

The dilemma. Finding the perfect space is a fine balance between budget, square meters and future plans. From 100~80 sq. meter I am down to 50~40 sq. meter.

Since I missed to inform you about some events I write in advance about the BMW Old timer meeting from Vrsec/ Serbia and the old timer race from the same city. Date – 4, 5 September.

Motorcycle Cannonball September 10-26 September from North Carolina to Santa Monica/ USA  - This fall, men and women from across the globe will gather in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina for a ride of epic proportions.  The world’s first “Motorcycle Cannonball Run” will kick off its coast to coast journey on September 10th at the birthplace of aviation in North Carolina as over 70 participants gear up for a true test of man and machine(built before 1916) on their way to Santa Monica /USA


Loic and Aurel reach Tanzania, and one of my childhood’s dreams – Kilimanjaro, even if some of the pictures are fake,  :) .  Read more about here.

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Weekend warrior tales

By The Zor, 24 August, 2010, No Comment

When you have a wedding in the week-end there is not a lot to be told about motorcycles.  In all the fuss around the wedding I remembered this quote:

“Every man’s life ends the same way. It’s only the details of how he lived that distinguish one man from another.” – Ernest Hemingway

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Weekend warrior tales

By The Zor, 17 August, 2010, No Comment

This weekend could have been a real war over at Sziget Festival  in Budapest, but luckily there was a change of plans and we ended up in Vienna. So instead of a rock mayhem in mud with bands like Iron Maiden,Muse, Kasabina (I realy like them…no, realy!) and more it was all about museums and chilling in Vienna.

So this:

Got replaced by this:

My view on modern arts got an update with the current exhibitions at MuMoK . The exhibition-  Keith Haring 1978-1982 offers an impression of the artist`s manifold maturing process and shows Keith Haring as a philosopher and untiring initiator of political activities, performances and groups exhibitions, reflecting his collaborations with other artists.

Next stop – The Moderns, Revolutions in Art and Science 1890 – 1935, The exhibition deals with the period 1890 – 1935 with paintings, drawings, photographs from the MuMoK permanent collection, including works by among others Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Kupka, Mondrian. A new generation of artists who sought to combine the revolutionary advances in science and the ensuing new knowledge about the world with equally revolutionary perspectives in art.

Next day started with a perfect breakfast for an enduro ride.

But instead it was the Technisches Museum Wien, a perfectly laid out museum, with a simple and honest message about the impact of industry upon our planet, alternative energy and among others motorcycles.

Pick one

Potty trained Fiat.

The grandfather of the lathe mill.

The museum reminded me that there is nothing new under the sun.  Does the following picture look familiar? Just think of the “new” trend of filming all kinds of action sports.

Trust me, the camera is there, in the back.

And now some other events:

Known in the F1 and road racing scene, Cosworth has decided to enter the MX market in the USA this year and are doing some development with the BikeIt.co.uk team.

Pipe budies from Bucharest had their first bicycle pipe ride because we all know that smoking is resistance training for the lungs. Picture was taken by Humidor.

Sideburn no 6 is ready for pre-order. Sniffing around blog this issue is going to be as good if not better then the last one.

Down in Africa Loic and his friend are wondering how many warm showers they had, they also started a quiz with this question.

Have a nice week.

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Weekend warrior tales postponed

By The Zor, 16 August, 2010, No Comment

Due to some technical problem, my laptop charger looks like in the picture below , the Weekend Warrior Tales post is postponed till tomorrow, I hope.

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Weekend warrior tales

By The Zor, 9 August, 2010, No Comment

The week starts with a major scandal for the national motorcycle federation after the events from this week-end. To start with the lighter incident – a racing motorcycle worth more than a few African countries GDP (or PIB for the French speaking ones) caught fire. It happens in a race; it only takes a spark for the high grade fuel to go up in flames. But what usually happens after is that a race inspector comes with a fire extinguisher and stops the flame and the race organizers come and pick up the rest of the motorcycle. Not in Romania. They don`t have fire extinguishers, not to mention a decent transportation to bring back  the motorcycle wreck  to the paddocks.

Yes, that is the race track.

Event number two, a racer lost control of his motorcycle and crashed, nothing new in this field of activity, but the reason – he started the race with major problems with his clutch. Where are the race track referees? The race (national championship) had only one referee.

And now to finish with the major event – a car entered the race track, done a lap, almost hit the juniors preparing for the start and exited the race where the paddocks should be, running over everybody in his path. I don`t question or judge his fucked up behavior, but I wish to ask the organizer of the race – how on earth can somebody pass security and enter the race track. The answer is simple; there is no security to stop you or me from entering the race track and crossing it during an ongoing race.  There is nobody to clear the corners from people who watch the race, the organizers don’t even put a fence or along the race track.

To sum up the questions:

  1. Why is there no fire extinguisher at the race track?
  2. How can somebody have a race without firefighters and security?
  3. How can you have a race with only one referee and questionable technical inspection?
  4. How can the Romanian Motorcycle Federation approve such a race? If the money they receive is right, anything goes.

Racing in these conditions is suicide and I did not mention yet that there is no: decent toilet facility, washing facility for the motorcycles with proper waste disposal, not paddocks, secured access, parc ferme . Not even a proper runway.

I hope that this was the last race held in this conditions.

And now to something completely different, down in Africa, Loic and his mate are having a great time. More about their trip here.

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Weekend warrior tales

By The Zor, 2 August, 2010, No Comment

The God of Speed asked for his tribute this week-end. I have lost a glove, a gas canister,  scratched the goggles and the motorcycle is a wreck.  But riding the trail was a blast.

The week end office

The pit stop in an abandoned village

Driving home I was wondering why all these tributes to the God of Speed. When the phone rang I immediately realized that it was a payment for my selfishness for writing the post from Thursday without mentioning the first Old Timer Race from Romania.

Checking the damage, it hurts.

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Weekend warrior tales

By The Zor, 27 July, 2010, No Comment

Down shifting a few gears the speed of this weekend was more that of a bicycle then of a motorcycle. It was thinking about  changing  the title from “Weekend warrior tales” to something mellow and peaceful, apparently the weekends have nothing to do with the war like atmosphere of a race.

What did others do during this week end? Well… Deus ex had a Bicycle swap meet, the fifth, and judging by the pictures posted on their site it was great.

The latest work from Imperial Cycles surfaced on Facebook.  There is no better way to describe the work then the builders own words: “ Black powdercoated Shorty Fatz/ Imperial frame, custom orange marine vinyl seat, custom boardtracker gas tank orange/ gold color, all black powder coated triple tree forks, front disk brakes, extra wide 3-piece crank, black aluminum mag wheels , 2.25″ thick wheel s in rear and 1.5″ thick wheel in the front, black oury grips. A true beauty to look and to ride.”

Loïc added a stretch to his ride report about Ethiopia.

At the LA Calendar Show this bike by Chris Fletcher of Speed Shop Design was presented, who by the way have some great bicycles in the portfolio, only if their site would work properly. Back to the motorcycle presented at the Long Beach show – the Beezerker, built around a 1965 BSA A65 motor, is so minimal that it hurts. The picture is from Metal Head Fabrication`s blog. Their motorcycle is also a blast, I love the new trend of cross tires on bobbers, choppers and café racers.

speed shop desing

A friend from London started a blog about gadgets. His description about the blog is full of heavy words and honestly I don’t understand a fuck. Although I disagree with his opinion about fixed gear bicycles expect in the future to see some collaboration. I have a few gadgets to add to his list. The blog is called Gravity One and can be found here.

To end this week-end report I have nothing more than a picture with Paul Newman performing  his own bicycle tricks after it turned out that his stand-in stuntman for the film could not ride a bike in George Roy Hill’s 1969 epic Western “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”  Picture from The Selvedge Yard.

newman

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Weekend warrior tales

By The Zor, 19 July, 2010, No Comment

In this weekend there were no wars, races for me, not even wrenches or internet. Just a mountain lake, a boat, some beer, pipe with tobacco and my better half to share a few lazy days in the sun.

Loic`s adventure turns out to be a good Agatha Christie novel, it has: the Nil, a midnight robbery, police, a big ship, some French man with mustaches, but no prison for the two riders. A bit disappointing, especially after the “viral marketing” stunt pulled by Loic on his Facebook page. The complete story of the adventure can be found here.

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Weekend warrior tales

By The Zor, 12 July, 2010, No Comment

This week  ended with a nice win for Spain and we got to see La Plebe live, the finest Ska Punk from San Francisco -  CA , in their Balkans and Central Europe tour. Great band.

Crawling around the Web I found this beauty via Pipeburn, Sideburn and many other burns or blogs. I like the fact that is a lovely café racer done in Indonesia by a young architect. The motorcycle was done on a fraction of the budget spent by guys like Wrenchmonkee, MULE or the others. More about the bike on the Hajarbroxx Facebook page.

The Honda 250 XL is ready to run but unfortunately a lot of paper work waits to be filled because the technical inspection is overdue. So the bike sits in the garage with not technical inspection and no insurance, waiting for a photo session.

For the older Honda 185 XL I won an auction on e-bay for the muffler assembly, nice seller, got in contact with the German Honda 185 XL Club, but unfortunately the delivery company, DHL, is a total ass.

Loic did not update his blog about the trip round the world, yet. I hope it is not due to the time spent in jail. Some hints about the story on his Facebook page. Hmm… a lot of Facebooking lately.

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Weekend warrior tales

By The Zor, 28 June, 2010, No Comment

The Red Bull Romaniacs has started and already some of the riders are wondering what the hell they are doing here. If looking for more photos and the current standings look on Red Bull Romaniacs` site – here.

I think this T shirt from KTM is going to be a top seller for a short period in Sibiu.

Loic and his friend are in Egypt and it seems that they are stuck there for a short period due to an injury.  Read the complete story – here. Best wishes to Loic.

The Honda XL 250 R is starting to look like a motorcycle again. I have to wait till the 3rd of July for some parts to arrive.  I have a longer post almost ready about the assembly of the engine and the markings.

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Weekend warrior tales

By The Zor, 21 June, 2010, No Comment

Ride the word reached Egypt after some problems at the border. Their story here.

Friend Remus G. got the 4th place at the Supermoto race this week end.

Actually he is not Mr R, just a mini rider

He is Mr R before ending in the 4th place, the KTM Cafe racer project has to wait.

JTWK8V9MVTVM

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Weekend warrior tales

By The Zor, 14 June, 2010, No Comment

After so many days in rain I forgot what it means to ride in a hot sunny day.  I could do this on any Sunday.

Loic is in Egypt and his tales from Libya are worth a read. Keep feeding our dreams.

Roland Sands finished his KTM 560 Café racer. I had a similar idea a while ago.

And for sure all the motorcycle races had a winner.  Except for sidecar races – they had two.

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Weekend warrior tales

By The Zor, 8 June, 2010, No Comment

Teddy won the Erzberg, Rossi broke his leg and I have lost all the pictures taken in this week end. All! Not that the events can be compared  but no pictures means no proof that we had such a great week-end.  It started with a nice breakfast, work on the Honda 250Xl and a great evening pick nick at the garage. But then again why do I have the need  prove that the week end was perfect.  Thank you love for the food.  Now I am just pissed off because most of the pictures were taken to document the work on the motorcycle, and some were truly a legendary proof of bad maintenance.

At least an old acquaintance decided to ride the world. It is the story of Loïc and his friend Aurélien who are going to ride around the world the French way: down in Africa and up in South America. Since yesterday their site is worth a bookmark.

I wish them a great ride. Bonne Route!

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