Bats Library

I have been asked about the documentation I keep for my vehicles, my motos in particular, so here goes! The library consists of binders for receipts, owners manuals, and other documentation regarding each individual vehicle. The "library" represents more than 10 years accumulation of information for each of the vehicles I own and continues to grow all the time. There are more ideas in the pipe line for adding to the library going forward to ensure that the BATS can always have reference for our rare machines and keep the two strokes in the US on the road long into the future.

There are shop manuals for most of my bikes to help with keeping them on the road with regular maintenance and repairs. As you can see in the picture below I have a full range of workshop manuals including factory original with binding, printed copy in binder, laminated factory original (to keep the pages from being damaged during greasy hand engine work!), and even a haynes manual which is probably the best version I have seen so far. Why can't I get a Haynes manual for each of my bikes?! As you can see by the oil stains and creased pages, these all get their share of use.

The detailed "Exploded" AM6 diagram page has seen the most use over the years, with over a dozen AM6 motors split and rebuilt by the BATS! The lamination really comes in handy for this one since we often refer back to this "mid motor" as we put the AM6 humpty dumpties back together again.

The rarest publication in the library is my factory original "mito ev Racing '99" manual. This was included with the SP race kits that were available through special order from dealers in limited quantities for making the Mito 125 track capable. Rossi rode an SP kit equipped lucky strike Cagiva Mito to a 125 championship in Europe in the mid nineties! My Mito came with the SP kit and the original manual which required a lot of careful restoration to save from mold and water damage. I did scan a digital copy after restoration and you can see remnants of the mold damage on the cover sheet pictured below along with the mint condition Mito owners manual.

My Aprilia RS50 documentation is obviously the most well developed and complete portion of the library due largely to the fact that I have owned one or more of them since 2000 when I purchased one brand new from Scuderia West. Below you can see some of what is in my Aprilia RS50 documentation binder. A lot of receipts, all the manuals, warranty card (expired 1 year after purchase in 2000, but still cool to have), license plate, and documentation for aftermarket race parts installed on the bike.

So why the library you may be asking? Well if you ever tried to get info or find parts for these bikes in the US you would know how difficult it is to find. Theres also something to be said for having actual documentation in hand rather than just a digital copy. One day I may get around to scanning all the important stuff into digital, but since demand for this info has been low,  for now it will stay in the BATS library.

DRD Shining

I frequent numerous vehicular forums and notice that car forums tend to have detailing sections to discuss how to make your car look its best, but rarely do motorcycle forums address the detailing portions of ownership. Is it because bikers are tough and dirt adds "street cred" to our lifestyle of riding dirty? Maybe it's due to motorcyclists thinking a wipe down with the "magic" clean and shine sprays from cycle gear equals the best you can expect to ever clean a bike. This was my progression through 20 years or motorcycle ownership, but after spending a lot of time researching to maintain a proper shine on my Scion FR-S, its time to take the next step with the bikes!

Since investing some money earlier this year in a Griots dual action polisher to clean up the windshield on my 188k mile E320 I have done extensive research on polishing techniques and decided to try out polishing the Derbi DRD SM50 body panels.

As a sample of how amazing the polishing process made the Derbi shine here is a close up of the tail panel before cleaning, polishing, and waxing.

Not too bad, but there are numerous tiny scratches and the finish just looks dull even though its really clean and it has been regularly treated with the "Magic" clean and shine, yea I was talking about myself earlier :) So after assessing the current condition of the finish I got started with an all purpose cleaner by einizett to remove all dirt and any other protective products. I then went with a clay bar to remove embedding contaminants and started the polishing process. First up  was a cutting pad with mezerna jewelers polish, followed up by Klasse all in one. With polishing complete it was time for wax and a final buff with a super plush micro fiber and this is what it looked like!

The results speak for themselves! It looks better than new now with a mirror like shine and is also more protected from dirt and scratches now with the protective layer of wax. I went ahead and gave the same treatment to all the other panels on the bike and plan to do the frame in the near future!

Needless to say all of my bikes will be undergoing this process going forward and I will be sure to keep you updated with pics of all the shiny results!

Bats Race Aprilia RS50 Revitalization

The list is long, but so was the race!

Well, it's been a little over a year since the BATS took part in the 8 hours race at Grange and I wanted to get the Aprilia race bike either back on the track in into the hands of someone who will get it back on the track. Although the bike ran great for the entire 8 hours last year, it has been over a year and it needs a little TLC to be back in track condition so I created a list, which you can see at the right, that's rather long and was only able to cross a few out today. Keep in mind this doesn't include tires, oil change, spark plug, and possible clutch replacement which are all basic maintenance for a race bike.

Aprilia 8hr RS50 Spares Box

Before turning a wrench I had to take inventory of what was in the spares box for the bike (yes I create a spares box for each of my 8.5 bikes!) and also check documentation (yes I also create a binder of documentation for each of my 8.5 bikes!) It was amazing the amount of spares that were put aside just for the 8 hour race Aprilia! I will need to pilfer some bits from my Aprilia RS50 inventory (Yes, I also keep an inventory of parts for classifications of bikes on top of the individual bike spares boxes!) to help check off a few items on the list.

Instructions for Race Parts

Spare Controls Box

Will I be able to get this bike back on the track or will I sell it to an aspiring racer? Stay tuned for more as I get this piece of Bats history ready for the track!

Aim Dash with Lap Timer

Stock Pistons, Cylinder, and Head

Brand New Racing Chains, 420 and 415!

Gaskets, O-rings, Reed Cages, ETC

Brand new 47-49 Sprocket Specialists