You have to get the right shoes to match the ocassion!

Welcome back friends. I typed this up at work taking to take a bit of a break from my normal income generating activities and get a head start on this week's post. Many things went on in another busy week at the My Motorbike Obsessions Garage. I won't bore you with a witty introduction or an attempt at dramatic suspense on this one. Let's get to it!

And there she goes. After having posted that the Ninja was on the chopping block, she was finally  sent on her way to a new home. Between using Craigslist to sell the Ninja, some extra tools and a few race bike parts that I listed on the Ninjette forum I was growing tired of being an amateur bike and accessories dealer. I finally had a weekend with three potential buyers lined up to see the bike. In true CL style, one potential no showed, one low balled and one bought a different bike since I told them that I'd be respecting the first guy's appointment. I can't blame that person, they wanted a bike and at least they communicated. Potential buyer number two called back the next day and came over. We haggled a bit more and a deal was struck. Not without incident and I'll leave it to you keen eyed readers to guess what happened from the picture above. I freed up some garage space and put the cash away in my sock drawer hoping the misses would forget about it. You can imagine how that went. Oh well, there is always more bad ideas to be had on CL.

I did get a few items I ordered this past week. The first is my very own Flat Track hot shoe. A hot shoe is a steel cover that goes over your boot sole and is used as an outrigger during the left turns. It slides on the dirt and is shaped to keep your foot from getting caught up in rocks and ruts. It has a hardened coating on the bottom that allows it to slide without getting too hot or wearing through. I got mine from a company called Lightshoe. Lightshoe makes steel shoes for many AMA American Flat Track pro racers and even MotoGP racer and champion, Marc Marquez. In the pic on the right you can see a boot/hot shoe combo I borrowed from my dirt mentor who was gracious enough to let me borrow it to get some practice in. The Lightshoe cups the boot a bit more and has a bit more shape to the bottom along with some extra hardening in the high friction areas. I sent them my left TCX boot I got on Black Friday and had the whole combo back in a week's time. It wasn't cheap, but it is a real deal piece of Flat Track gear and it will last me a lifetime.

The Lightshoe comes with a light coat of primer. I made a makeshift drying rack and gave it a few more coats of primer and then a couple of coats of black brake caliper paint leftover from my TX750 brake work I did last year. The will keep the shoe from getting rusty thanks to the water on the track used to keep the track dust free. I had left over caliper paint and since it is made for dirty, high temperature wheel environments, I figure it will do just fine dragging on the dirt at moderate speeds. I may bake it in my old toaster oven that I keep around for projects that need a bit of heating. That way I can harden the paint prior to my next practice session coming soon.

Another item on my shopping list was this pre-filter cover for my K&N Procharger Air Filter. Every time I take the bike to the practice track, I wash it within the next couple of days. Dust, dirt and mud from the track as well as my own radiator overflow, cakes the bike in mess. The K&N filter is an expensive piece of kit and the filter cover keeps me from having to clean and oil it every practice. I got this cover from eBay and went with this company because the K&N equivalent was almost $30 while this one was half the price. It may be a minor modification, but it is all part of making my race investment last as long as I can. I have a few other small jobs to do on the bike to keep it in top shape for this season of practice and racing. 

I got out last Sunday to practice. Except for the day I bought the bike, I have only been going to the track on weekdays. This was the scene that greeted me on Sunday morning as I made the turn into the track's driveway. We had a bit of rain the night before and everyone was thinking the same as I was. Rain means the tracks will be perfect for riding. The weather didn't hurt either, as it promised to be 65 degrees and sunny, perfect practice climate. All manner of truck, trailer and bike are represented here. Thanks goodness most of them were MX bikes. I wouldn't have to compete for track time at the Flat Track. When I finally made it to the track, the pits were the busiest I'd ever seen and they got even busier after an hour or so of riding. There are a couple of races, both Flat Track and Speedway, this weekend at separate venues so lots of riders wanted to get some test and practice time in. There were 4 or 5 Flat Track bikes and about 12 Speedway bikes. It made for a few sessions of wild practice out on the track. It was good to practice with other riders making laps as it helps me to learn the right way to maintain my position and hold my line in a race like situation. It was also cool to see the Speedway bikes rip it up around the track. Those things are just so cool to watch. Go and Masumi Takamine from Brat Style were there as well which was a welcome surprise. Go brought out a late 70's Yamaha TT500 that he was thinking of using at an upcoming vintage TT race. He got it for a steal because it needed some carb cleaning labor. He said it ran great on the Vet MX track. It was a great day to be on a bike for sure.

This weekend is going to be busy, but I won't be on a bike much. Family time is on the menu for this weekend. Both my wife and youngest daughter have birthdays. I will putter about in the garage and watch some videos on YouTube to get My Motorbike fix. Ride safe friends!

Blue