The "What's in the AF1 shop" Thread

[JAndrewG]

Here's a thread X81 started on the Microtec, the 1000 S is referenced starting in post #5. http://www.mvagusta.net/forum/showthread.php?t=45281

There is also a tool to write eproms for the stock ECU, and a UV eraser to clean them first is available. With the software merc07 wrote, you could simply dial it in that way.

With either option you avoid any add-on like a PCIII, and can adjust anything, not just fueling.

[Gabro]

i'm in contact with the microtec guys: http://www.microtec.cc/cms/index.php
they are presently working on a replacement ECU for RSV4

[The Foreigner]

I keep telling myself it doesn't have enough range, the seat is a plank, the front fairing is hideous, and they're not bringing the semi-attractive gray one to North America. I then tell myself that my 2003 is a great bike that does everything I need it to do, and the Rotax twin already has more power than I need.

Then I see a few more TV4 videos, read a few more reviews and threads, and tell myself to take Micah's advice and stay the hell away from the local dealers if I want to keep my rainy day fund intact.

Funny, that is exactly what I do except I just add that I've just "invested" about 1.5k eur more in my 2005 one and I don't need anything else..for now !

[redd486348]

how can i tell what i might have fried when i as a last resort jump started my rs 125 off a car? it still rides but the screen tach ligths etc dont work

[Micah / AF1 Racing]

Have you checked all fuses? Did the battery jumper cables get hooked up backwards by mistake? That would be the diode to the forward harness's sensitive parts like the dash? $1 at Radio Shack or equivalent electronics supply store, happens all the time to people, I have fixed more than one bike for customers who have done the reverse battery polarity thing, and one for myself. These are the easy ones.

Best test in next series is to borrow a similar bike and swap parts to find out what might have been damaged by too much car alternator current. Download the schematic for the electrical system and start looking for obvious things first after completely de-paneling the bike. Usually there is a visual tell-tell of a burn hot enough to take out a wire(s) in a harenes. Sepa dash first to make sure the fragile printed circuit sheet did not take the hit, if it did you either need to be a real expert in that type of circuit repair to even have a hope of pulling that repair off. If it is the dash I would probably just consider the part a write-off.

Do you know how to read a wiring schematic? If not year, make and model and I can make that file available on a link and perhaps someone here can help you out. I will look of I can find the time.

On my end I have been slacking on this thread again. My free time is a little less than zero right now. Been doing twice weekly flight lessons and even and, even though so much I have well studied over the last few years I have been dedicating a lot of time to that. Storm season is coming up, well upon us really and I would to get at least one chase trip in. Shop has been non stop work. Also quitting smoking, guess I can say that, it has only been three days since last smoke but from 30+ smokes a day to none has been severely fucking with me. Smoking and flying do not really mix well, and it is stupid to spend the money that sort of habbit costs now. Basically pays for two weeks of a month's flight school. While all this shit is going on I also have been balls deep in a major home repair. Cash raising starts in ernest very soon. I had planned on the plane but the house ate me alive. Little pressure, that's all. I will do an update soon.

[JAndrewG]

I wonder all the time how you do so many things at once. Glad to see you here again. It'll all work out, but sometimes it's tough to find that perspective.

[tz97]

What's the latest on the showerhead injected big bore monster Micah???

[Micah / AF1 Racing]

It will be in Ted's race RSVR soon enough. Up here finishing out a 1060cc today so not yet...parts are ready to be installed once motor is pulled from the chassis. Selling my heads and cylinders to Ted at my cost to pay for a few more lessons. I have come to the conclusion that the single plug head swap on older dual plugged V990's is the way to go if you are going for serious power. Back to work now...then dinner with visiting family...then sleep...then more work tomorrow if I want Monday to be totally free to fly...then sleep.

To quit smoking I have been doing the Panoz Patches again, man you have some weird fuckig dreams if you leave them on at night. I woke up this morning so confused as to how exactly I had been hanging out with Osama Bin Laden...as his personal photographer...in NYC...Nicotine is the most powerful drug ever to be released on our species. In another lifetime I walked away from 2 years of meth and 6 months of heroin in a whopping three days of cold turkey, sleep and a lot of ice cream? 4 days without smoking and on severely diminished nicotine and I am a disaster in my own head. Weird. If you happen to be young and reading this I cannot stress enough to never try anything with nicotine in it. Every last nerve in your mind and body, down to the cellular level wants to freak the fuck out when they are not getting their nicotine. Last year smoking cost me roughly $8k since I buy for me and the GF and the scavenger smokers that wonder through the shop. When you think about that it is equal to roughly $6k in extra taxes I paid to feed the most stupid addiction on the planet. I think more than anything I was getting tired of being mad at myself for my own weakness in fighting the addiction. Now I am in a different kind of fight and really want to kick that drug's ass!

There, a glimpse of what is in my head today...now imagine that going on non stop like some twisted satanic background music. So much is habit too, I quit once for four years. I will not make the same mistake again that I did last time. No cute Lucky Strike girl at the Schipol airport giving out free smokes as you deplane is gonna get me this time. That was 13 or 14 years ago too. That means I have spent an inflation adjusted (correct calculation not GAO type) $100k to damage my health since getting off that KLM flight in late 1998.

Funny the things that motivate an individual. Funny indeed.

[jrflanne]

I cannot stress how much chantix helped me with that bullshit. I was chewing copenhagen constantly for years. I mean years! It was the only thing that got me to quit. Fuck cold turkey and patches, that shit worked. Only took one round of it too. bin Laden's personal photographer eh?

[Micah / AF1 Racing]

You see I have a little problem getting Chantix right now. My insurance AND the local medical providers will not sell me a script, without fail all I have gotten out of them is "you have to see an addiction medical specialist". This is ssimply not something I have the option of doing due to how the FAA sees this. They check records occasionally and since I am a "student pilot" right now I have several reviews coming in the near future and trust me, they do not give a flying fuck whether you went to "an addiction specialist" for nicotine or crack cocaine. They are looking for reasons not to let you earn your lisence, not the innocent until proven guilty sort of attitude, more napoleonic than that they are.

The only way I can get Chantix right now is to drive my happy ass on down south of the border and literally smuggle it back which carries its own inherent risks to getting my PPL. I did it before with patches, I can do it again. 4 days today, once a week is past I will be mentally invested enough to make it. BTW, Chantix is one of the prescription drugs on the DO NOT FLY list with FAA for PPL. makes perfect sense right? I am doing better than I expected on the quitting. Once the habit is in remission things should smooth out.

[LUCKY DAVE]

You got it right on avoiding any drugs on the "don't" list. Once you're flagged, you're screwed.
Also, before you go to take a flight medical (piss test) avoid poppy seeds for a few days - like on a bagel or coffee cake for instance - as it will make you test positive for opiates.
The FAA isn't really trying to find reasons to bar you from flying, just the opposite. They have come to realize that without a large flying public they will be out of jobs, and the attitude is changing fast.
But it's all worth it. Flying sure is fun, isn't it?

[Hellgate]

I got some Cubans though this month, you're good to go.

Yeah nicotine is a bitch. Since I got back from Iraq in '07, I've been up and down with Schoal. I went as long as 20 months without it. Always seems to slip back. Helps with the PTSD I guess.

Good on you Micah.

[Micah / AF1 Racing]

So life is weird. I went to have dinner with my visiting family last night and my local living, aunt and uncle are asking what I've been up to. So I tell them about everything going on. My uncle Jay all the sudden says "oh flying huh, you've met my bike buddy Bob right...well his real job is planes, he OWNS XXXXX Aviation down at the main San Antonio airport and he is always looking for an excuse to take his planes up". So I say well I can't really log time with "just anybody" right now because I am not approved yet for flight without a CFI in the plane..."oh don't worry, he is a professional A&P and Instructor CFII for everything from little simple planes to JETS Bunche normally just flies his turbo poor Piper Twin around for fun"... I add that I might not even be able to feed that plane, after all we are talking like a hundred gallons an hour or soomething to cruise it at 300kts. "oh he doesn't care about any of that or money in general, I am sure he would trade you time for a bike tire change or something, money is not really an issue for him, he just likes to do trades"....oh this has do much potential to go down a really deep rabbit hole!

Yes, the flying thing is really fun. Like bikes some doors I never thought would open seem to be swinging wide open. This dude it turns out was a pilot for the Saudi Royals for like 14 years until his wife decided they would have a better life elsewhere. Oh and last time I went by his shop when I did not know it was his shop there was a P51D in there getting a motor out service. I so wanted to go in an talk to someone but though how unlikely anyone was going to be to want to talk to some random dude off the street who decided to intrude their shop space. Little did I know that had I walked in anyway I would have known THE OWNER of the shop and had free reign. Life is indeed weird.

[cantcode86]

It's kind of funny how some minds think a like. A good friend of mine was on Emgo, KWS and a Buel teams as a tech. He is very good engine and suspension guy. He got tired of one of his loves being work, so he decided to learn to fly helicopters. He is now up in Oregon working on his licensing. Hope it works out for you Micah. It's kind of funny your uncle just happened to know that guy.

[tz97]

Micah that's very cool. Seems to be a common thread in aviation & motorcycling, great people with a passion for their machines & sharing the excitement! My dad's been a private pilot ever since I can remember so I've always been involved in aviation. If you get a chance check out Californiacubs.com. A good friend & racing buddy owns the company & they sell the funnest airplanes ever built. Watch the videos & you'll see what I mean! The dealer in your area is Scott Warren at Warren aircraft. Scott's a good dude & you should be able to talk him into a demo flight. ENJOY!!!!!!!!!! P.S. Put the Reno Air Races on your bucket list!!!