CB desert sled

Long time subscriber and first time poster.

Bummed to read about the news. The bike can be fixed and luckily you did not get hurt when things went south, could have been a lot worse.

That stinks Luke. Good for you for trying to fix last minute, some things you just need to throw in the towel and enjoy the rest of your vacation and support your buddies.

I'm sure you will be back in action soon.

Thanks for sharing Luke, congratulations for running your custom built bike in Mexico! Just making it down there, and finishing the first special was quite an accomplishment. Sounds like quite and adventure!

I must ask, didn't you have a spare motor I case of this? I thought I remembered reading about you building a backup engine. Not that it changes much, or that you'd have had the time to swap it in to finish, I was just curious about that detail. Next time you race this bike it's goi got do some serious damage to the competition instead of to itself.

Looking forward to that race footage after some much deserved vacation time

Just read the thread today, thanks for taking all the extra time to post, a helluva story, hopin' for the best for you and your guys on this project and the ones sure to come....

Luke, amazing effort for the last few months and the days in Mexico. You pulled off quite the feat with that bike. Bummer what happened. Better to have tried and failed, than to have never tried. There's always next year.

bugger, i'm sure you'll smash them next time.

I'm happy to report that Luke (and all our other Outta Sight friends) made it home safe and sound!

Friday night Luke pulled in;



Time to unload;





Checking out the cool onboard refueling system, Luke reports that it worked great;



Ok, time for Luke to get on here and start sharing some of those stories!

Glad you made it back safe and sound... Sorry for the troubles.

Well safe and sound are definitely the watchwords after this race. Rest in Peace, Jimmy; and Heal Well, John.




My story is about all told, all there is to add is the pictures. I don't think I took any, these are all Allan's.

Here're the gas tanks plumbed in. They would have been necessary: I got under 20mpg at the desert 100, but over 30 on the test ride in SoCal. Not good, but good enough.



Side note, the bike's paperwork is still tied up at DMV HQ in Salem, but I was able to get a trip permit for the race.


A little more wiring. Nothing major, just adding power ports for the GPSs. The plan was to run two gpss, and for the roadbook sections just stuff the pages in my handlebar map bag. There wasn't enough time to figure out a roadbook holder.

Two GPSs are a nice luxury. One displays the turn-by-turn directions and the other shows the map. If one stops working the other can be set to display both; it's just harder to read.





Rider's view.




Cory and I waiting in the Mexicali border parking lot while we all take turns getting visas. Also showing off the Doubletake mirrors (that they were nice enough to rush ship; thanks!)






Tech inspection; after waiting in line with the cars for a while, was told that bikes just cut. Ok, let's do it.







I didn't know they had a Jr class.






The starting zoo next morning.



Most of the Vintage bikes: from L-R an IT465, XT500, and SL350


The rest of Vintage bikes, mine and an XR500. We started on the same minute.








I took the slow start


And we're off





Team Lameco started behind me:




And that's it for the riding pictures. The breakdown was in the first transit, right in front of the chase rig. Which, if you're going to break down, is really the perfect place to do it.





We got nowhere on the side of the road, so packed it up and trailered to the Bay of LA. Working on the bike at the BofLA hotel has become a bit of a tradition. We tore it down to the head gasket, soaked the pistons and rings in WD-40 and were able to free it up. We figured that was it and put it back together. By 1:30 it started and ran, so we called it a night.




Fitting the new head gasket. The 650 has a reputation for blowing them so we had a few spares. They needed a bit of work to fit, though.


The though was that it had just overheaded, so we richened the carb needles and retarded the timing.



Setting the valve clearance. The tool is a honda part that came with my first cb650 years ago. I have no idea where the bike is now, but the tool works great on hondas and ktms too.




Next morning, I rode out for a test ride, made it out the parking lot, 50 ft down the road and that was that.




Once again:



After an hour or so of disassembly, we pulled this out of the cylinder


This was the drain pan after draining the oil into it, letting it settle, and pouring it out. Looks like finding gold, doesn't feel like finding gold.



Here was the sump, as removed:




And that's all folks.

Before the race I had been looking for parts bikes for a donor motor, but I needed a 81 or 82 year only. I had most of the parts to put another motor together, except the head- I looked and only saw rusted out junk on ebay. Even then, there would have been no time to put it together.

Naturally, on the way back I found exactly what I needed. A low miles salvage bike of exactly the right year that had been garaged, with most of the parts in far better shape than anything I had bought yet. Oh, and the seller lived less than a mile from me. It's in the bed of my pickup in Rick's last pictures.

I think I have Thursday open.....

Man, that's frustrating. Better luck next year!

Luke, you just need a hug in this picture. Sent you email...

What's really frustrating is that I don't know I can do it next year. I won't go back unless NORRA makes some major changes to how they run the race.

1 in 20 odds of getting run over by a buggy are not ones I'll take again.

Your CB build inspired me to get off my ass and do my own CB scrambler.

If you ever want to bring your CB to a NASA RallyMoto over here in the eastern states I'll cover your entry fee. (making the 40 hour drive to get here is up to you ) I'd love to see your bike in action.

...and there's no chance of being run over by buggies...

And at 900cc I've been outclassed.
That's quite an offer, thanks! Bit of a hike to get there, though. Maybe there should be some sort of FrankenRally meetup, somewhere vaguely central. There are a lot of project bikes I'd like to see.


In other news, the title showed up today. With the wrong VIN on it
Looks like I'll be writing more letters to Salem.

And I will buy the beers