(click on any picture to get a larger one - 36 Kb / 10 sec. on a 28.800 modem)
Honda DAX70, my first motorcycle.
My father gave it to me when I was 10 years old. I still have it. It's a great bike, 72 cc, 4 stroke engine and has 3 clutchless gears.
Yamaha DT50LC
Bought this bike when I was 15. 49 cc - 7.2 HP, 2 stroke engine, 6 shift gearbox.
Aprilia Futura AF1
Bought this bike when I was 17. 49 cc - 10.1 HP, 2 stroke engine, 6 shift gearbox. I did a lot of engine and exhaust mods to this bike. When I crashed it (against a car, his fault), it was a 79 cc and it was able to reach 140 Km/h (88 mph).
Honda CBR600F (1992 model)
You won't believe the things that happened to this bike ...
I owned it for 3 years and made over 28.000 Km (17.500 miles) on it. Never made any mods to it except installing an Ohlins Steering Damper.
I had several insignificant crashes with this bike as I went straight from a 50 cc bike to a 600 cc. Anyway, I learned to ride seriously in this baby ! I was able to reach 260 Km/h (162 mph) on the clock (very optimistic clock by the way ...) and toured a lot with it.
The left picture was taken in Sevilla (Spain) and as you can see, the bike was pretty loaded! The right picture was taken near Faro, when me and some friends (Eugénio & Paulo, from left to right on the picture) were going to the Faro International Biker's Meeting.
This bike was once stolen from me. The day I returned from Jerez de La Frontera (May '95), I left the bike parked at my garage with the disc lock on it but the thieves managed to take it inside a van ! They had the bike for 5 days, made 450 Km (281 miles) and completely wrecked it. I had a brand new Pirelli Dragon Corsa on it and they burned it out in 450 Km ! :-( I spent over $700 to repair it.
Talking about bad luck ... In August '95 (3 months after the bike was stolen / $700 repair), I went to a biker meeting in the South of Spain (500 Km / 312 miles) when ... well, imagine this : You are on a biker meeting, over 600 bikers, everybody was on the beach and had their bikes parked under the trees (lots of them ! By the photo you can see the size of those trees ! They were over 50 feet tall), when a huge branch fell over my bike. I am the one on the left side (with my foot on the branch). This happened in August '95 in Isla Cristina (South of Spain). I assumed this bike had some kind of curse on it and just sold it.
Here you can see the size of the branch ...
Yamaha YZF1000R ThunderAce
I bought my Ace in March 1997. However, it was a '96 model as I didn't like the '97 color scheme. I sold it in February '99 (17.500 Km / 11.000 miles) to buy the R1.
I was able to reach an indicated 280 Kph (175 mph) at 11.500 rpm.
I replaced the stock canister (which was horrible and heavy) by a Vance&Hines SS2R Carbon Fiber slip-on (Straight through / Race baffle). I had a K&N air filter and performed the "raising the tank" mod. I used NGK platinum spark plugs.
I have also replaced the stock rubber brake & clutch lines with braided stainless steel one's with Ergal terminals.
The best mod I've ever done was dropping one tooth in the front sprocket. It was cheap and the bike accelerated faster, was able to reach redline in 5th gear (10 kph higher top speed than stock) and power wheelies where even easier to do.
The ThunderAce's handling was compromised with it's lack of available ground distance. The pegs, muffler, gearshift lever, slip-on and even the fairing touched the tarmac when riding fast.
I had an Ohlins Steering Damper. I bought it because my bike felt very unstable at high speed... only after spending $420.00 I realized that when I bought new tires (Bridgestone Battlax BT-56), the wheels weren't neither aligned or calibrated ... and the chain adjuster had the "FWD" side facing backwards ! Nevertheless, it was a good investment, "cuz if you're gonna ride fast, you'll need one."
I had 3 minor accidents with this bike, didn't get hurt in none of them and the bike only "touched" the tarmac once. I can give you free advice, though : Never refuel your bike with Diesel ...
Suspension Settings
Rear shock - I have hardened both compression and rebound 2 clicks (I also increased the preload 1 notch when riding with a pillion).
Front forks - I have hardened compression 2 clicks and rebound 3 clicks. This combination probably wasn't the best for my height (1,72 m / 5' 7'') or weight (75 Kg / 165 lbs) but I managed to ride the bike pretty fast with it...
I removed the turn signals and the whole "tail" in which the license plate was attached to. Then I bought this inner line fender, painted accordingly to the bike's color scheme and put a smaller license plate (illegal by the way ...). I also removed the mirrors (although the bike still had them on in these pics...).
Yamaha YZF-R1
Since I totaled my 3 month old blue '99 R1, I will post its pictures in this section as soon as I get a new one...
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[ '99 Jerez de La Frontera Report ]
Suzuki DR 350 S
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