Patman's other enthusiasms

 

 

 

 


 

 

Well of course Dirt Bikes are my life...but not my whole life.

Street Bikes,  Mountain Bikes,  Bass Guitar,  & the rest...da da da da.

 In the future, I'll divide this into separate pages with their own tips, tricks, and cheats.   I live for this shi_ !!

 

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       Patman's Street   Cruise

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Gettin' ready for the Saturday jaunt

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Gentlemen, ( & ladies ) to the left, I present to you the Suzuki B12-SST...Mark Two.

 Now some of you may be able to see through the disguise, to find the real bike in there...A Bandit 1200.

 But I assure you that this is NOT what Suzuki sells at the dealer !! 

 I've done the cafe racer thing for so long now that I'm not sure that my back & neck will ever be the same. So the Idea with this one, was to make myself a Super Sport Tourer ( SST), that wouldn't let me down in the company of a CBR 900... or on the long trip to the Colorado Mountains either.  

 As you can see, in the bodywork department there has been some paint work, that includes blacking out all the silver or chrome, to include the triple clamps, & instrument pods. The lower fairing is a Lockhart item, & it came painted to match the stock Suzuki color pretty well, though I did send the first set back, due to flaws in the paint. 

 Zero Gravity, makes a windscreen that is not only smoked, but is an inch or two taller and an inch or two wider than stock. It fit good and keeps a remarkable amount of crap off the patman.

 I've added fairing mounted mirrors, more streamlined turn signals / running lights, foam grips ( they really help with handlebar buzz ), and two extra instruments. One is a fuel air mixture indicator, to keep an eye on the jetting, & the other is an oil temp. gauge to make sure I don't cook the oil. ( this engine is the GSXR oil cooled type, & the oil really takes a beating, as I learned after I installed the temp indicator )

 I've been pretty mild with the engine ( after all, it's a 1200 ), but it did get a Yosh slip-on, K&N filter, and a Dyno-jet jet kit. I drilled a two inch hole in th airbox cover, to get some more air in, & I mounted a little piece of aluminum to the side of it that swings over like a door to close off the hole as I need to adjust jetting. I also use a shift kit to keep things crisp, in that arena, and I've got a timing advancer for it, but I'm not sure if it does anything but make it get hotter.

 I went two teeth smaller on the rear sprocket for the open road trips, but use the stock gears for around town. I've got a two tooth larger sprocket for those Saturday mornin' rides with the guys...I think you know what I mean ! !

I've built a custom seat to keep my weight lower to the ground, without causing me to have to lean too much. I also went with a set of bars that's an inch lower, and an inch further swept back, in order to stay comfortable. The seat handlebar relationship actually has me sitting up a bit straighter, as the seat is considerably lower than stock. I've also got a Corbin Gunfighter + Lady seat for when the little lady wants to get a little rush.

 You can't see it in this shot but since it was taken, I've modified the tail piece to move the license plate up a little tighter, without loosing my trunk space.

  It has 20K miles on it now & hasn't given me a lick of trouble...but my buddy just got an R1...I can feel stage two comin' on ! ! 

I'll keep ya posted...& maybe some more pics.

 

 

 

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...And my other Dirt Bike

 

 

    Mountain Biking is a lot like off-road motorcycling, except ya get to visit with yer friends during a ride.

I started about five years ago, in an effort to stay ( get ) in shape for the cross country wars. I've since become nearly involved in it as I am in  motorcycling.

 I'm riding about 3-4 times a week, averaging about 8 miles off-road. I usually ride around the great trails at Grapevine Lake, but I've been as far away as Austin, and even the Ozark Mountains, on bicycle specific excursions. I like to ride cross country...briskly. I also think downhill, would be bitchen, but here in the part of Texas that I live in, the tallest hill is my driveway.

 My Pro-Flex is about 4 years old now, but is still one of the best overall bikes I've owned. And that would include a Kline, and a Gary Fisher. I think one of the things that attracted me to it, was the Girvin forks, though they use the pencil erasers for shocks, the action is actually pretty nice, & the lack of front end flex is very apparent.  Though I've not compared a lot of rear suspended bikes, I can tell that the back end of this one is pretty, uh...non-flexible.

  This one has Nuke Proof carbon hubs, Mavic wheels, and  Avid / Dia-Compe brakes, with XT pads. 

 I use the old Onza clip in pedals ( also with pencil erasers for springs ) and XT cassette, & derailleur.

I think my next bike might be the K-2...I kinda like the Disco-Monkey...don't know why...but I am hip on the disc brakes !!

     And it's extremely ...flashy.

 

 

 

 

 

More to come... not now...but soon 


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