Big Power in a small package

Remember the joy on Christmas morning when you tore the paper wrappings off of those wonderful new battery operated toys.  That delight soon turned to frustration if they didn’t come with “batteries included.”  This Christmas how would you like to receive a lightweight performance motorsport battery from Antigravity Batteries for the toy you already own?
Riders know that weight reduction is a great way of enhancing a bike’s performance. One significant source of weight is your motorcycle’s stock battery, which is usually a lead acid unit that can weigh upwards of seven pounds. Conversely, a battery from Antigravity can weigh less than a pound, yet still produce enough output to power your track bike all weekend long. Performance-scrounging riders probably know that an eight pound reduction in weight is the equivalent of adding approximately one horsepower to an engine’s output.  Drastically cutting the weight of your battery is like getting a free pony!

Batting a Thousand!

Just buy a wreck, rebuild it on the spot and go ride.  Simple, right?  As the date neared for our trip to JenningGP, the enormity of what we’d planned began to sink in.  Would we be able to get the beast together?

The trip to Florida started late and seemed to take forever.  We rode down with Ken Hall of Superbike Suspension and would have his help for the rebuild.  Anxiety over the pending job was amplified with every new delay.  We arrived at the Valdosta branch of CrankyApe.com about three hours later than planned and got our first look at the new project bike.  Within thirty minutes, we had stripped off all the damaged bits.  Superbike Kenny went straight to work installing a set of Traxxion Dynamics AK-20 cartridges in the forks.  Meanwhile, we got busy with the installation of a Bazzaz Z-Fi TC fuel injection reprogrammer / traction control unit, a fresh MotoBatt battery and a MotoBrackets replacement subframe.  Ken reattached the finished forks at just about the time we installed the reconditioned Leo Vince dual exhaust that we’d purchased used.  Ken bolted the rather crunchy gauge cluster into the new MotoBrackets fairing stay as we poured fuel into the tank.  With a push of the starter button, the big Gixxer chugged to life, coughing and spitting as it burned its sparkplugs clean. We had a runner.  Now it was time to finish the job.

Learning history the hard way

I’d been an avid motorcyclist for years but had never paid much attention to racing.  That changed in 2001when my coworkers convinced me to attend an AMA race at Road America, in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.  During the six months prior to the event, my two friends brought me up to speed on the racing lingo, as well as teaching me the names of the current riders and their numbers. Feeling rather confident that I had accumulated enough racing knowledge to survive a trip to a Superbike weekend, I packed my 1996 Kawasaki Ninja ZX-6 D model and rode to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. From the moment I arrived that Friday morning, I was mesmerized by the sights and sounds but was most impressed by the smell of race fuel being burned as bikes roared around the four-mile track.  I even had the experience of watching racer Mike Smith trying so desperately to put out the flames shooting out of his VR1000.

“Crashing” the party

One of my favorite forums has an “At the Track” section.  I started a new “thread” entitled “Back to My Alma Mater”. In my post, I proudly explained how just over twenty five years ago, I’d earned my first competition license at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with the Sports Car Club of America. That was then.  These days, I get my speed fix by riding a motorcycle at track days.  Although I’d been away from the sport for almost a year, it was time to go back.  With the prospect of retirement from my job less than a month away, I was excited to attend the Mid-Ohio School for a “tune-up”.  With more free time available in the near future, I’d finally be able to ride the track on a regular basis once again.