Two Stroke Racelab

Μια ακόμη δίχρονη βόλτα πραγματοποιήθηκε εχτές Κυριακή, 22 Ιουνίου.  Ευχαριστώ όλους τους φίλους που παρευρέθηκαν και έκαναν πράξη ενα γεγονός που τα προηγούμενα χρόνια φαινόταν ακατόρθωτο. Περάσαμε όλοι πολύ καλά και ανυπομονούμε για την επόμενη βόλτα. Για περισσότερες λεπτομέρειες, φωτογραφίες κλπ ακολουθείστε το παρακάτω σύνδεσμο στο  2stroke.gr Παλαιότερες βόλτες...  2strokes, going for a walk... Vol.I 2strokes, going for a walk... Vol.II 2strokes, going for a walk... Vol.III 2strokes, going for a walk... Vol.IV

Working slowly on the Rs125 Nf4 and as a side project. It will start taking shape soon I reckon.  It features lots of special and tricky parts like WP front and rear suspension, Marchessini wheels, FCC dry clutch, Brembo front brake caliper, Pax carburetor etc. 

I've just repaired and modified a YPVS controller for Pete(UK) and realized that I haven't posted a lot of 125cc YPVS curves. So, here's the stock settings from the RD125LC bike (1GU model). Cheers.

Ετοιμάστε τις διχρονίλες, τη Κυριακή 22/06 μαζευόμαστε για βολτούλα στο Κάλαμο, στους Αγ. Αποστόλους. Η πρόβλεψη καιρού για εκείνη τη μέρα αναφέρει αυξημένο νέφος και χαβαλέ στα ΒοτιοΑνατολικά της Αττικής. Λεπτομέρειες για τη βόλτα, υπάρχουν  ...εδώ.

I've started working on the second NF4 bike, that I bought quite a while back. Most parts are clean and ready to be assembled. It looks like an easy project for now with only a few parts missing or in need of modification/ repair. In opposite to my previous Rs125 bike, this one features a lot of special and tricky parts. I can't wait for the first track day with it.

I came across a malfunctioning YPVS unit the other day, that had some bizarre settings for the exhaust valves curve. I asked the owner Ian (OZ) for some info on the bike and it seems to be a pre production prototype bike with frame-engine numbered #5. There is some very interesting history behind this bike and I have included some words from Ian himself, at the bottom of this post. Here are the YPVS settings for any RZ/RD500 owners that want to give it a try. It seem to be a little bit aggressive curve for road use with the power valves closing really early. Click on thumbnail for a larger image. A few words from Ian(OZ) about this bike : Hi Nick the bike is a pre production prototype eng no . 5 and frame no 5. It was flown into australia in march 1984 i raced along side it in the firstever time a rz 500 was raced. I think it was raced in australia as a pre cursor to the castrol 6 hour race won that year by mike dowson he beet the world champion wayne gardner who wa...

I have finished the rebuild on a used lathe that I bought about a month back. It is a well used and in bad shape Valex BV20 model . Quite a few issues were repaired and it now has a new paint theme. It was a very fruitful rebuild that taught me a lot of useful stuff and somewhat expanded my knowledge on several aspects. Here are a few random pics from the rebuild. Bolting parts together again ...while taking some measurements in the process.  And the first chips! The end result now looks like this. 

New housing for a badly damaged PGM cdi unit.

Hydrochloric acid aka muriatic acid, is very useful for removing rust and I bet most of you people trying to restore bikes, engines etc. have come across this issue at some point. There are several chemicals out there doing similar jobs with rust but muriatic acid is my most common choise as it needs to be in the lab for other issues as well e.g check the post for   ...removing piston deposits from Nikasil Cylinders Here is an example of some gears from a lathe that I bought a few days back. Normally it takes about half an hour up to 2 hours to have the rust completely removed but this depends on how strong the acid is and rust scale. Do not omit to clean the parts thoroughly after removing them from the bath of acid. In a different pan, use plenty of water and baking soda. Soda neutralizes the acid and the process stops. Clean them out and oil the parts as soon as possible. And voila...!

Arduino is an open-source electronics prototyping platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software. It's intended for artists, designers, hobbyists and anyone interested in creating interactive objects or environments.  It actually is a single-board microcontroller designed around an Atmega328 with an USB interface, 6 analog inputs, as well as 14 digital I/O pins which allow to attach various extension boards or applications. The integrated development environment (IDE) is open source and allows to write programs for Arduino using Processing language. Of course, right from the first experiments, blending Arduino with two stroke motorcycles was inevitable. Lots of people have constructed a lot of useful staff, from shift lights and data loggers up to complete CDI units...!