55

Today I turned 55, so I rode my 5 motorcycles at least 5 miles each today. (If my wife did not have other plans for me, I would have rather rode each one at least 55 miles to commemorate my birthday)

It is hard to imagine myself being 55. Where did time go? I have surely been blessed with a great wife, 2 great sons, with great families of their own now, with 6 grand kids. I have had 2 nice careers and am enjoying my newest one as an MSF RiderCoach.

I will continue to live life to the fullest and be thankful for each and every day God allows me to wake up and breath!

Mike Kincaid of Rampant Racing

I bought an engine stand from Mike a about 3 or 4 years ago when my friends and I were really getting into the Ninja 250′s. It was very high quality and adjustable for many small (under 500cc) engines.

He later sent me a tire rack he designed, which is what my small garage really needed. I also use it to hang my jackets and leathers:

Mike has kept in touch with me and recently shared some pictures of his Yamaha XS650 Flat Tracker. This is his story on this beautiful motorcycle:

“

The bike has a real trick engine which is hard to find among the Yamahas anymore.  The crank was cut and rotated to get an 87 degree firing order.  Obviously the cam had to be modified accordingly and the ignition fires every quarter rev whether there’s a piston on compression or not.  It has 81mm Venolia Pistons which makes the actual displacement 762cc.  The cam is a Shell #1 and the ignition is a Hitachi CDI.  The carbs are Mikuni 36mm which are mounted way back to produce more torque.  Lots of porting.  An extra clutch plate was added to get the power out.  I redirected the oil lines in the right side cover to run a cooler if I wanted.  Without a cooler I still have to route it back in. I’ve seen some folks make the mistake of using the line going up to the rockers for a cooler.  It’s really a bad motorcycle and as a rank amateur, I have no business riding it.  I have pro plates on it because I’ve had experts ride it on occasion.

There’s not much of the stock motorcycle left on it.  The only thing Yamaha is the engine and a lot of that has been changed.  I am using an original XS650 front hub on the rear, sort of.  I cut it in half and welded in a piece to spread the flanges out to 3 1/2 inches.  I did have to get the spokes custom made however.  But it works great and the hole pattern is the same on both sides. “

If you would like to email Mike about his Yamaha, his engine stands, or tire racks, you may do so at rampantracing@sbcglobal.net . He is one of the nicest motorcycle enthusiasts  I know, and is probably more of a motorcyclenut than I am!

My Drag Bike in Edinburg, TX (Circa 1978)

Here is another scan of a Polaroid of my Honda  drag bike. Originally 1080cc, after having a broken chain slice through the cases, I built a new engine with 836cc displacement. Using RC Engineering components, this engine revved higher and I was using all 5 gears going down the track instead of only the 1st 3 on the 1080cc engine. The ET was in the mid 10′s and the MPH was in the mid 120′s. It sounded a lot different too! Sure wished I would of had the ability to make and save sound clips back in the 70′s!