Thursday, December 30, 2010

Product Review: Naarden F4i Saggy Ass Link

I finally have a bike that runs for more than a session so I had a chance to throw on Naarden.biz' new SL200 Saggy ass Fix Suspension Link. It is supposed to change the whole compression ratio/angle of the ass end. F4i's are known for having a sloppy rear. So hopefully this will do the trick.

I will go step by step here to show you exactly how to install it:

First I threw a jack under the header pipe to pull the weight off of the rear tire. Next I loosened up the bolts on the stock suspension link(Ratchet+17mm socket and a 14mm box-end wrench)
Then it was on to loosening the bolts holding the stock arm.
 If you look here I inserted a 8mm allen wrench in and let it jam up against the bike then on the opposite side loosened it with the 17mm socket(This is great doing this swap solo)
With all these bolts loose you will notice that you can't really pull them out in place. So with a wiggle of the swingarm up and down you are able to get the bolts out and it will start taking more pressure off the others. And shizam the stock links are off.

Now was kind of the tricky part. In most cases, the stock arm will pull right out. And of course, that was NOT the case for me. So I had to loosen the two brackets that the arm mounts to. Here is another trick of how I loosened these myself by wedging the 14mm socket against different parts of the bike.

Waahhlahh. Its out. And its off to the presses! Well, actually I decided to do it in a standard vise that most of you have in your shop. This will make this alot more useful(for all you ballers, you know how to handle this in your 50ton press. DOWORK).



So the setup I used is pretty basic. I found roughly a 3/4-1" piece of pipe and used it on one side of the arm(this will allow the bearing to be pushed out of this side). On the opposite side I used that same 17mm socket we had before, only now I took a 3" extention and put it in the wrong side of the socket(where you would usually have a bolt). This will allow us to push the bearing all the way through th e arm with as much surface area as possible. We do not want to damage the bearings.

FIRST - Be sure to pop out the bushings inside. Also, take a very small flat head screw driver and pop off the seals. Set these aside for later.

Chuck these up in the vise and start applying pressure. And Repeat until both bearings are out.

Now its time to press them into the new arm. I popped in one oil seal flush with the side, then laid a rag over the vise jaw that would contact my fresh shiny Naarden link. Pressed them in with the same setup until it became flush with my oil seal. Then pop in the other and repeat! Boom. Now just reverse the removal instruction and you end up with this!

(I noticed that the letters A L S are engraved. I assumed this was for Arm, Link, Shock - or something like that so I assembled it as such). Tighten all bolts and go ride!


Part of loosing the bet to get this link! A few more riddled on
the bike as well.

Ok, so I went out and rode with this thing on and here is what I think so far.
Well temp was about 30deg F outside. Tire was fairly cold, and did not get so much as a spin or slip doing a sitdown. Effortlessly comes up. Feels alot more crisp on throttle/brake inputs. Also, dipping in on circles and making body adjustments were more smooth because I didn't have the delay of the rear squatting and then rebounding. After a couple hours riding I decided to huck up a few stoppies, and they came up very smoothly. This bike has a 600rr front end on it, but I have rode a stock linked 600rr front f4i and it would still occasionally push the front end. The couple times the tire washed out the rear tire was already off the ground. Drifting - As far as drifting goes this link REALLY changed it for me. Not for the best because I didn't spend much time on it but I can tell the bike reacts waaaay different on gassing out(could also be the tire I just put on). Played it safe. And I will check back with another update after more seat time! LATER HATER!
If you want to get this must have part follow the links on over to Naarden.biz!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Redemption Week Day 2

Whats up people! Put in some work today. Found another legit spot at a church. So I unloaded and started to get to it!

Day started off pretty bland. Got one or two Foot in seat circles, and thought I was ready for round two of the tailgate stalling. So I turned on the video camera and froze. I almost took out the side of my truck and it wasn't even in the field of view!

I started trying to do some stoppies, and well it wasn't that bad. Nowhere near where I used to be, but for such a short approach in a sandy lot with no stabilizer. I'll say it was a winning day!

Also, tried stepping down to Ralph Louie with little success. I've done it a couple on single piston handbrakes, but pretty much sucked today. So here it is people. Not alot of good footage riding alone, but as promised. Vid or pics every day!


And a really the only reason you check back -->

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Redemption Week Day 1.

On sunday I rode a little bit you know..to make sure this bike wasn't going to blow right off the bat. Everything went good, breaking in a new tire at a no burnout/drift spot made it interesting to begin with.

So on to Day 1 of Redemption week. I get to the lot and bike is ready to go. I let it warm up for about 5 minutes on stock idle, throw on some gear, crank the idle and let errr rip tater chip!

After a little while of dialing in, it starts to click. Seat standers circles start coming back, Foot In Seat circles, couple straight line combos. I couldn't knock out more than 2 or 3 circles in a row so about half way through the day I thought "You know what would help me get my control back? Learning Tailgate Foot stalls!"

I Know. Probably not the smartest thing to do, but hey I really don't pay much attention to that anyway. So I started trying to come in from the right, dip in to the left and work my way back to the truck. Could never get close enough to throw the foot out. Then I started coming in from the left and dippnig in towards the truck. And instantly it felt better. Within two or three tries I was sticking my toes on the tailgate. I managed to do a couple of nice stalls then stopped. Grabbed the camera and set it up in the bed of the truck. Didn't get any of the good stalls then, but I got some sweet mess ups. So here is the video! Hope you like it, due to computer/internet problems I couldn't get it edited down and uploaded right.



Note to self(Last stall attempt on video) - CHECK GAS BEFORE CIRCLING INTO INANIMATE OBJECTS!  Went and filled up with gas. When I got back, the city police officer was there waiting on me. Something about I can't ride until they get a new certificate of insurance for next year? Ok. Well they didn't have one for this year? ugh. Spot hunting tommorrow!


Thursday, December 23, 2010

The scrap heap to Front Street!

The old saying is:  "YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR"

I usually don't agree with this. I'm a firm believer in getting a deal, being cheap, or pinching that last penny. And where has it got me you ask? It has got me a garage full of broken motors, useless parts for bikes I don't own, a mountain of aggravation, and almost a whole year of little to no riding. Something has got to give!

I pondered this nonstop for a day..forgetting to do alot of things..spacing out when talking to people..forgetting to eat. I was consumed by this. It was time for one last shot and to do it right. I needed something reliable, solid, and pretty much a guarentee i could beat on it. I heard thru the grapevine that a known stunter with a known such bike was getting out the game. With a quick call to Ryan aka "50 Slut". It was done, I was leaving for St. Louis!!!

Mark it down: 5:00pm, 50Degrees, still undecided on how I feel about this but too late now I'm already on the Interstate.

Knocking out a quick champion as
I roast tires out of the first gas station!

Loaded up the stunter's
minifridge with go juice



All and all the ride up was pretty uneventful, other than the temperature dropping drastically. I arrived in the "show me state" at 5am. 17 Degrees. What the hell is wrong with people?!?!?! This is just unnatural!!
Mr. Slut was tied up hunting geese or killing baby alpacas or hell I don't know at this point. Stopped at a rest stop to catch a little shut eye. Two hours later I get the green light and I wake up to this:

Fuuuuhhhh! I'm not made for this! So I kick around his house - examining the bike, helping round up the spares, and just overall shooting the shit. I have to say Ryan was one of the easiest guys to buy a bike from and really chill(no pun intended) dude. He had a good laugh at me shivering like a virgin in a brothel, but we knocked out a deal and I loaded up!


Now time for the epic journey home. Drove thru IL, TN, KY. Nothing to really say except..well there aint anything there to talk about!!











After almost plowing down Arnold SchwartzaBambi, I decided to may a quick pitstop.



I felt mighty refreshed after my "pit" stop. I will say the smoked salmon spread was quite decadent! Another miserable 6 hours in the truck and I was home!

REDEMPTION WEEK IS BACK ON!!! TIME TO RIDE SUCKAHHH!



Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Another one bites the dust!

If you have been following along, you have seen the DO WHEELIES Budget F4i build. Well now its time to see what this baby will do!

The bike has sat for about a week or two in between the transport from my buddy's house in Florida and getting time to ride. A couple guys I'm helping get into stunting come up and we are heading to the lot. DO WORK!

Unload at the spot. Crank this puppy up. And my luck starts to strike again..the bike is not running as crisp as it was before. It has fresh plugs I think to myself, maybe its carbon build up in the cylinders? It just needs to be run is all.. Braaaaaaappp Braaaaapppppp I warm up the bike as I do with all my bikes---sitdown power wheelies to the limiter out the box!(probably another reason why nothing I ride ever lasts) Bike is feeling crisp again. Whew! That was close. Lets start dialing it in BAABY!


Hop up to the seat, YUT UGHHHH GHH grrr.. At this point about 1/4 turn into a circle the bike starts running like a Harley. I set down the wheelie- quick powerslide-braaap another fast sitdown wheelie.. it's getting worse. I know its all down hill from here so I do a fast rolling burnout back to the truck and shut it down.

After a few minutes of cussing and walking around the bike glaring at it like it owed me child support, I tried the start button. Motor is seized up.


Well, another motor castrated, my hopes down the toilet, and about a month of nothing but the inside of my garage it looks like its back to the drawing board! PLEASE BANG HEAD TO WALL!

Only positive thing that came out of this day was a small clip of my putting the beats down on some rubber. So I will leave you with that and a few "roads" you would love to lay some rubber down on!


Budget F4i Take 2

WELCOME BACK to the Monster Garage:Star of David edition. Aka Project Budget F4i.

When we left last time, I had just completed the sealing up the motor and installing it into the frame. Now it was time to procure some other parts for the build. And try to do so with as little to no cash as possible. I had alot of spare parts off my 636 laying around so I hit the classifieds like a crackpipe!
Traded a front end for this-

Hohey Big Rotor Kit with all brackets and rotor, 80" handbrake line, rear wheel, and a 55t sprocket.
Turned around and traded the sprocket for some random sensors to get bike going.
Traded some brake lines for this-

HSP Tailsaver
Traded a 16x18 Brembo for this-

GPR Stabilizer w/mounting
Traded a broken gauge cluster for this-



Mint set of Renthal Medium Grips

Ok, so the trades started running dry so had to lay down some coin:

Sick Innovations Rearsets on a sale buy in $125
Freestyle Ingenuity 0 Degree Clamps $25
Vortex Gas Cap $25
ART Exhaust $35

It was a slow process but I got all the parts in and installed. Used quite a bit of scrap stuff from other bikes(but also did end up with most of this I could of ran the handbrake with a 929 non radial i got for free, 4piston caliper from a bent fork) like my 13mm magura handbrake master + 80" line + caliper w/fresh oem pads. Tires off my 636.

I did not have the ground strap for the battery so I took two from 636 spliced them together to get electricity. Used hoses from my kleen air mod. All the bolts on this bike came from parting out two kawis.

Once everything was all bolted it up in place, it was time for the final test. Will it crank??


BRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPP!!!!!
Its alive! Wait...wait..tooo alive! This MFer was idling at 6,000RPM! AHHH. Shit. What did I do wrong..this thing is bout to rap apart, I know it! So, after many hours in the garage and no running bike to look off of. I shipped the bike down to florida to have a buddy of mine check it out.

It turned out to be a a vacuum port that wasn't rigged up to anything(see section:not having a running reference).

Total into a complete setup with gas, fluids, and some pretty sweet parts is about $850

List of aftermarket parts/mods:
FI 0 Deg Clip Ons
Naarden Solid Clip On Bars
GPR Stabilizer
HHD Big Rotor Kit w/Star Rotor
APE Cam Chain Tensioner
Naarden Saggy Ass SL200 Link
Vortex gas cap
Stainless Steel 80" Handbrake Line
13mm Magura Clutchside Master Cylinder
MSR Easy Pull
HSP Tailsaver
ESD Rear Pegs
-1 66T PMP 520pitch Sprockets
Sick Innovations Billet Rearsets
Andrew Griffy's Radial Crash Cage
ART Exhaust - Chopped for Header Mount
Fast Idle screw
Kleen Air Mod
Rental Medium Grips

The Goal now is to push as hard as I can until the first of the year! I have missed pretty much all year of riding, its time to get my game back!
Stay tuned for "REDEMPTION WEEK" a full week of riding from DEC 26th til the first of the year! The Do Wheelies blog will be updated everyday with progress pics and/or vids!

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

I is squid

Naarden is known for making sweet bike parts, but little known fact is he is also a photoshop ninja!! One of the recent gems-



Inside XDL DVD!

I'm sure you all have heard and/or watched the show Inside XDL on SpeedTV. Well if you are like me you already pre-ordered your Season 1 DVD.

THEY SHIP TOMORROW!!

If your a slack ass and haven't. Click Here to Order Inside XDL Season 1 DVD NOW!!!




and since we talking about XDL. Check out 2010 XDL Champs other ride!

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Love it when a plan falls in place..

If you have been checking back regularly you have seen that in the short time this 'blog' has been around it has somewhat started to get a little 'focus' and definition. From what it looks like is alot of people are digging the content and approach that has just naturally happened here. So I'm going to keep rolling with it.

A new feature has been added to each "Pageview"(click the header of the post to go to pageview). You can Facebook "LIKE" any post you wish now to share with all your buddies. Tweet button coming soon as well. Don't forget you can also share from any of the buttons on the footer of the post. Or "FOLLOW" the blog by clicking the widget on the right of your screen.(You can follow it with many different accounts so don't think you have to sign up for anything new!).

Also, You may have noticed a name change as well. I stumbled upon a gem and I am going to put it to use. You can now access the blog via:
www.dowheelies.com    &&   www.idowheelies.com

Thanks everyone for coming by. I have some real in depth reviews for some really badass products coming in the next few weeks as well as Part 2 of Budget Bike F4i!
Parts Reviews Coming soon:
Naarden SL200 Saggy ass Link - http://www.naarden.biz/proddetail.asp?prod=SL200
Shinko Podium 180 Rear tire - Shinko gets alot of bad press, but they are pushing in our sport. We will see how their product performs!
Radius-style Crash Cage - NEW INNOVATIVE approach to bike protection provided by Andrew Griffy - http://www.twitter.com/andrewgriffy
Motion Pro Carb/Throttle Body Sync Tool - An F4i Owners must have tool. And proper way to sync your bike.

Monday, December 6, 2010

Yunk it up!!!

Its windy and cold outside...What you want to do today bro? "HOLLA BLOX!".

Thats all it took and I rolled out to my buddy's house. We will call him "Mike". Seeing how my f4i is still not done..(that and the fact that -1 66t may not be the street "friendliest") I hopped on his minty streeter RC51. He jumped on his f4i and you know what happened next!

Pretty uneventful for most of the ride. "Mike" was blasting some nice highway wheelies and i was bombing some V twin staggereds. I started noticing a small amount of smoke comin off his f4i. Wheelie after wheelie the smoke turned from puff into billowing. We pull off at the local hooters to find this.


Damn thing was soaked in oil from headers to handbrake calipers, pants, shoes, socks. This thing was dumpin more oil than the Deep Horizon/BP spill!! After a little powwow with some beatdown hooters chicks and a thing called central heating, we checked the oil level and boogied down.

About ten minutes into the second leg of the ride "Mike" was bombing a staggered through town when...........

I SMELLED BACON!!!

But it was too late.
Florida wheelie ticket - $1000
Alabama wheelie/reckless ticket - $200
10 mile difference & Alabama lawmakers not being balls deep down the esophagus - Priceless!!!!


BLOX!







Wednesday, December 1, 2010

My love for this car...

I owned a 300zx Twin Turbo..but i believe this is where my love of this car originated...