This Saturday at 3pm is our track day prep pizza tech event. Participants will learn some of what we do to minimize distractions or setbacks at track days and maximize the fun! Also, participants are welcome to a Repsol oil special: buy a gallon (or 4 liters) of Repsol oil and get a K&N oil filter AND Repsol Nicky Hayden tee shirt! Also, 15% off for ohlins shocks!

Friday news: We're headed to LA to pick up the first of our MH900e fuel cells! A few more arrive Tuesday for prototyping and once we've installed them on a few bikes, we'll fire up the first big batch.

Ca Cycleworks technical partner Guy Martin and his company MBPDucati.ca had a great race meeting at the Parts Canada Road Race Nationals first round. With a talented rider piloting the way, Martin's well prepped Paul Smart 1000DS broke the lap record by over 4 seconds and won by 7 seconds.

See the bike on Ducati North America's website.

This weekend’s trade show went well and will help Cycleworks bring some new parts to the market soon! Sorry for those with “stale” e-mails: I’ll try to get on those today. We’re winding up for the Monster Challenge at this weekend’s Cycle World show. We were asked to bring the Project S2R up. It isn’t “bling’d out”, but they wanted something other than the typical carbon bikes…

The Cycleworks' project S2R so excited me about riding and Ducatis that I couldn't wait to get it on the track. I looked on the Net and found Dustin Coyner's Track Daz track day fit my schedule. I was a little unsure of which group to go in and Dustin said “RACE dude”. OK. I was a little nervous taking the relatively anemic S2R out in the race session. After all, I'd be riding with WSMC regulars on their GSXRs with 2 to 3 times my little 800's horsepower!

Sunday was a mad scramble to get ready. I didn't end up adjusting the valves on the S2R, but I did at least change the oil. Note the pimp-style chrome oil filter. Ducatis and Harleys use the same cartridge! For track prep, I removed the “beer tray” and fender and used a spare headlight bucket. The lens was broken out, so I removed the reflector and the wiring and am using the bucket backwards as a place holder. I got the Michelin Pilot Power (street) tires fitted up ok to the Marvic Penta wheels. The rear wheel is VERY close to the swingarm on the S2R. It's a good thing that this rear wheel is a 5.75″ and not 6.0″ wide! I searched the net for tire pressure to run and settled on 34f / 35r. I ended up running 34/34 as the rear felt a little slippery a few times.

Yesterday (Monday) was a fun and intense track day. Today was all about getting caught up with the business: returning phone calls; answering e-mails; and selling parts. Write up about track day coming!

We took Saturday off. Today is Sunday, time to finish track day prep on the S2R. Adjust valves, retension the belts, change the oil, and mount up the new rear wheel. If there's time, I'll be installing an Afam SBK quick change carrier (now in BLACK!!!) and a 42T rear sprocket. And also the obligatory DiD VM520 gold chain. To quote my favorite shop owner, Rick Fairless: “GET BACK TO WORK!”

Tonight, I finished the Project S2R front brake + wheel upgrade!

The first task was getting in the parts. I ordered up Brake Tech stainless steel AXIS rotors with their “Cobra” pattern outer perimeter. Next, I bought some used Brembo 2 pin Goldline calipers. I've got a set of Ferodo CP911* racing pads. Since I still have a Marvic rear wheel laying on the shelf from when I was going to race the MH900e, I decided to “bling” up the shop bike and go down the path of making it a catalog bike. So I ordered the matching front wheel. For the brake lines, I ran a single hose from the master cylinder to the right caliper then another line looped over the fender. The standard Monster fender was ditched for one from a 916. The 916 fender leaves more room for brake lines and also protects the fork tubes.