Filed under: race
i’ve said it a couple times in here i think, i’ve retired ciaociao from racing. ciaociao wasn’t ever supposed to be a track bike, just a fast, fun street/rally bike, so that’s what it’s going to be from now on!
and ok, MAYBE a back up bike for the track if something goes wrong with the race bike..
anyway, i’ve started a build blog, much like this one, for my 2010 polini cup bike. well, hopefully it’ll be so rad that it won’t just be my 2010 bike, but the bike i race from now on.
i’m not going to go into it here, but i am going to leave you with a link to the blog. while it’s no vespa ciao blog, it’s something else moped related for you to read, and you can see why this thing never gets updated with new stuff, all my time and money is being spent over there!
theVX4.wordpress.com
finally! here are a couple photos of the damage done at the last polini cup.
as you can see, a huge chunk of the rear cheek broke off! i think i mentioned in one of my last posts that i saw something just fly up into the air and keep going until it disappeared.. it was that chunk!
it started making noise, but i kept going through the twisty part of the track and as i rounded the last corner i the noise got real bad and suddenly the motor just froze. at first i though i killed the motor, but nope! the belt riding up high on what was left of the rear cheek as it started to variated caused the cheek to bend inward and lock into the frame! it’s really jammed in there, too!
this is why i don’t use malossi variator parts any more, other than weights and springs for the rear pulley. i don’t know what it is, but the malossi parts are weaker. i round out the notched holes on both the rear cheek and the face plate, the center shaft that slides over the crank has fell apart on me, and now this! polini for life! until i eventually get around to putting a french bike variator on there, that is..
anyway, that’s it for now. treats carries the rear polini cheek separate now (which is crazy, every polini dealer i asked said i would have to order a whole new variator just to get a cheek!), and it’s only like $15. i don’t have the extra cash, but once i do ciaociao will ride again!
well i’m going to post some photos from the last race, though i figure most of you who read this have probably already seen them.
the ciao did pretty good considering my rear malossi spring was broken and i had to try and compensate with lighter weights. i’ll explain more about that later when i dig out my camera and get some photos of the damage.
and now some pictures
jimmy’s one of my favorite people to ride with and i love when i can keep up with him on the track. his motomatic bike is just too much for me to hang with once we get out of the corners, that dual variated 103 has too much top end for ciaociao!
this is alan, he’s one of my best friends in sacramento and is on the motomatic race team. he kills it out there on his polini e50. his bike may not be all that competitive in the open class up against superderbs and megahobbits but it cleans up in the polini 65 class!
i think this was taken right after i heard a loud CRACK come from my motor somewhere and all the crazy noise and vibrations started happening. i say that because i’m looking down at my bike and not at the track in front of me.
this is half a track away from the last picture, right after my broken front pulley cheek (that was the CRACK) jammed itself into the frame and stopped my motor. everyone thought i seized but that kit will never seize! i coasted down to little less than walking speed then bailed off the back and let the poor ciao topple over. i wasn’t mad or frustrated though, under my helmet i was all smiles, that was the funnest race all season!
there was this really rad photo from one of the practices of i think tommy and jimmy going at it and way in the back ground you can see me doing a cart wheel after i crashed, but i can’t seem to find it! i know it’s on flickr somewhere, but i have no idea who took it.
anyway, i tried to keep these photos on topic and post mostly a bunch of me and ciaociao, but there are some amazing photos of my friends that i’m super stoked on so if you get bored you should go to flickr and type in “polini cup” and be ready to spend hours looking at moped kids going crazy on a gocart track!
well, there’s your photo update from the last race. sorry it took me so long! i am most of the way unpacked, so i’m thinking my camera should surface soon (man i hope so..). once it does, i’ll get some pictures of the damage from my variator mishap and maybe finally pull the top end off to show you the port work i did.
i have some crazy builds underway for the next season of polini cup, so i’m not giving ciaociao a whole lot of attention right now, but there is still a lot in store for her! paint, a new pipe, a larger carb, lights of some sort, and more! so check back every once in a while!
later taters
almost a month since you’ve heard from me! well, the racing and rally season is over, for me at least, and so you should be seeing more out of me here pretty soon.
i had an awesome time at the last polini cup race. i’ll tell you about it and show you some pictures soon!
i’ve got some rad stories about my spectacular fail 2 laps from the finish in the last race, winning some money, crashing for pretty much the first time all season (three times!).. it was an awesome weekend.
more soon!
mike rafter of motomatic mopeds recorded the races and is putting them on vimeo.
here is the video from the first race!
i placed 5th in this one, there’s no way i could keep up with those guys in the straights.. not to mention i still need to work on my riding ability off the straights.
i’ll post up the second race too, once it’s online. that one should be entertaining, though i’m not going to tell you why and spoil the fun!
everyone’s hounding me to update this thing! haha.
i’ve been putting it off because i STILL can’t find my stupid camera.. and i don’t know about you, but i really hate moped blogs that are super wordy with no pictures.
i’m going to dig around in my boxes and suitcases today until i find it, i’ll make it my mission since i think i’m stuck in my room all day anyway. everyone got sick this last weekend and i guess it’s my turn. summerbummer.
hopefully real update soon! in the mean time, here are a few pictures i stole of me and ciaociao at the races. i got 5th in the first race and 4th in the second. poor ciaociao’s just not fast enough to keep up with motomatic and jeff’s derbi in the straights. not yet anyway!
i totally forget who i stole the photos from, but i’m pretty sure you read this blog sometimes. email me or leave a comment and i’ll give you proper credit! they good photo, mister.
ciaociao 