Mid Ohio Vintage Days, the biggest vintage bike event in the USA is coming up soon, July 19,20,21, less than two weeks away!
Planning to ride the 998 down one of the days.
Anyone among you coming to the event and would like to meet up, do shoot me a message!
And now, a quick update on all progress so far.
First and foremost, I have an appointment.
Wednesday. July 17th. 6:00 am.
At the foundry.
The very first production batch will be poured.
Shooting for around 7 complete sets to be cast that same day if possible. That's 21 separate castings, three per set. It's going to be a long hot day, hence the early start.
And then the machining begins.
Quite honestly, this is very stressful but in a good way.
Fingers crossed!
The 998 has been running GREAT!
Have been riding it to work every morning, taking freeway rides after work, getting close to a 1500 miles, feels well broken in, idles, revs and goes willingly.
And, the best part? After being parked at work all day, *not a drop of oil* under the motor! I know! Something must be wrong!
*Purely for entertainment*, at some point of time soon, I'm going to try and get some rough 0-60 numbers with the phone's GPS speedo. These things are known for being pretty accurate.
The acceleration numbers might not be too bad, in spite of the modest state of tune and output of the stock 500 because it's quite a light machine.
It weighs in at 428lbs.
This is with the stock cast iron cylinders.
Alloy ones will probably shave around 10-15 lbs, rough guess, don't have weight for an alloy jug.
2x1 pipes with a single muffler will further cut about 5-10lbs.
And then, we're really close to a sub-400 lb 1000cc twin!
This is the same weight range as a 70s Triumph Bonny 750.
About 160 lbs lighter than a Sportster.
And that's why this thing feels nippy in spite of the modest, low compression, stock state of tune of the std. Bullet 500.
I shudder at the thought of a DOUBLE FIREBALL set up with this weight range.
Rest assured that this MAD bike will be equipped with disk brakes, a *very robust clutch* and perhaps even a different front end.
Thanks very much!
Aniket