DesmoDog
Been Around the Block
In the show - Ducstock 2011. Made it!
The 350 Sebring next to it gives a little sense of scale, this is a small bike.
Here's another shot that might give a better idea. That's a 796 Hypermotard behind it.
And a quick recap of the trip to Barber
Well, I just got back to Michigan a few hours ago. About 13 hours each way... it was worth it though. I'm pretty wiped out right now so this probably won't make much sense. I just wanted to add an update on how the weekend went and how the 160 ran.
It was my first time at Barber, the place is amazing. Spent much of one day in the museum and was overwhelmed by it all. While on the 4th floor taking a breather I heard something and discovered an air show going on just outside the window. Window as in floor to ceiling the entire length of the building.
The next day I was volunteering at the Ducstock event and the airshow took place right above my head. I've never had a plane diving straight at me before. It was pretty cool, just like in the movies. Except there were no guns blaring, which was fine by me.
Amazing event in general. Wonderful venue. The Ducstock part of it was pretty impressive two, I'm sure there were over a million bucks worth of bikes in the tents not to mention all the spectator bikes at the show. The 160 didn't win anything but I didn't expect it to - not stock so it wasn't a restoration and not custom looking enough to appeal to that crowd. I did get a lot of positive comments on it though and not once did anyone tell me they used to have one just like it, so all in all I'd say it went over pretty well.
It had about 15 miles on it when I loaded it in the trailer to head down there. The shifter issue turned out to be something else but was still an easy fix. When I put it on the trailer I knew of a couple issues but they were nothing that would keep it from making the trip.
The first morning there we fired up the bikes and headed out into real world traffic, promptly getting lost. Within ten minutes I was climbing a steep hill which I then had to come back down. The guy following me knew my brakes weren't great and was a bit worried I wasn't going to stop. It didn't help that I had forgotten to flip on the battery power for the brake light... but no need to worry, everything was working fine (and I remembered to flip the switch a few minutes later). Long story short it got thrown into the deep end the first day out and I must say it handled itself much better than I expected.
I was planning on riding it to the track that first day and probably just leaving it there the entire weekend. But, the road from the hotel to the track (once we found it) was perfect for that bike and I rode it to and from the track each day, grinning pretty much the whole way. I think the bike probably ended up with well over 100 miles on it (no speedo/odo yet) and a significant portion of that was at WFO. Break in period? We don't need no stinkin' break in period! (Actually I think it was a great way to break it in but that's a subject for a different post.) FWIW our group consisted of me on my 160, one buddy on a 796 Hypermotard, and another buddy on a Streetfighter. Yes, I was chasing a bike with ten times the HP of my bike each morning and afternoon. No, I did not keep him in sight! But I did better than you might think.
Using the Hypermotard's speedo as a reference it looks like the bike will hit maybe 65mph on level ground with me sitting up, add a few more mph with me tucked in. We didn't get a firm number due to the lack of a long level straight but these numbers are higher than I expected so I'm happy. I haven't checked the magazines to see what the reported top speed was for a stock Monza Jr. Maybe I should before I get too happy about this!
I can also report that there are three big twin Harleys and one large-ish 70's era looking bike of unknown, possibly British, make out there that have been reeled in, passed, and run away from by a 160cc Ducati. And let me tell you, it wasn't due to my superior acceleration.
Long story short before I fall asleep at the keyboard, the bike did itself proud. The main issue so far is a bunch of false neutrals, I have to spend more time adjusting the selector box. When taking it easy it shifts fine, but when trying to hurry things up, like when a light turns green and an SUV is coming up fast, it would miss gears and generally act up. There are numerous other things too.
Some good stuff - The seat is more comfy than I imagined it would be. I'm surprised at how easily the bike rolls around. And the engine is running like a champ. This will likely jinx it but I can't believe how well it runs with what are essentially my first stabs at carb settings and timing.
*********************************************************
And that's it, my 160 project. Sorry for the banzai posting to get it all here in a day but it was easier to copy posts than to recreate them.

The 350 Sebring next to it gives a little sense of scale, this is a small bike.
Here's another shot that might give a better idea. That's a 796 Hypermotard behind it.

And a quick recap of the trip to Barber
Well, I just got back to Michigan a few hours ago. About 13 hours each way... it was worth it though. I'm pretty wiped out right now so this probably won't make much sense. I just wanted to add an update on how the weekend went and how the 160 ran.
It was my first time at Barber, the place is amazing. Spent much of one day in the museum and was overwhelmed by it all. While on the 4th floor taking a breather I heard something and discovered an air show going on just outside the window. Window as in floor to ceiling the entire length of the building.
The next day I was volunteering at the Ducstock event and the airshow took place right above my head. I've never had a plane diving straight at me before. It was pretty cool, just like in the movies. Except there were no guns blaring, which was fine by me.
Amazing event in general. Wonderful venue. The Ducstock part of it was pretty impressive two, I'm sure there were over a million bucks worth of bikes in the tents not to mention all the spectator bikes at the show. The 160 didn't win anything but I didn't expect it to - not stock so it wasn't a restoration and not custom looking enough to appeal to that crowd. I did get a lot of positive comments on it though and not once did anyone tell me they used to have one just like it, so all in all I'd say it went over pretty well.
It had about 15 miles on it when I loaded it in the trailer to head down there. The shifter issue turned out to be something else but was still an easy fix. When I put it on the trailer I knew of a couple issues but they were nothing that would keep it from making the trip.
The first morning there we fired up the bikes and headed out into real world traffic, promptly getting lost. Within ten minutes I was climbing a steep hill which I then had to come back down. The guy following me knew my brakes weren't great and was a bit worried I wasn't going to stop. It didn't help that I had forgotten to flip on the battery power for the brake light... but no need to worry, everything was working fine (and I remembered to flip the switch a few minutes later). Long story short it got thrown into the deep end the first day out and I must say it handled itself much better than I expected.
I was planning on riding it to the track that first day and probably just leaving it there the entire weekend. But, the road from the hotel to the track (once we found it) was perfect for that bike and I rode it to and from the track each day, grinning pretty much the whole way. I think the bike probably ended up with well over 100 miles on it (no speedo/odo yet) and a significant portion of that was at WFO. Break in period? We don't need no stinkin' break in period! (Actually I think it was a great way to break it in but that's a subject for a different post.) FWIW our group consisted of me on my 160, one buddy on a 796 Hypermotard, and another buddy on a Streetfighter. Yes, I was chasing a bike with ten times the HP of my bike each morning and afternoon. No, I did not keep him in sight! But I did better than you might think.
Using the Hypermotard's speedo as a reference it looks like the bike will hit maybe 65mph on level ground with me sitting up, add a few more mph with me tucked in. We didn't get a firm number due to the lack of a long level straight but these numbers are higher than I expected so I'm happy. I haven't checked the magazines to see what the reported top speed was for a stock Monza Jr. Maybe I should before I get too happy about this!
I can also report that there are three big twin Harleys and one large-ish 70's era looking bike of unknown, possibly British, make out there that have been reeled in, passed, and run away from by a 160cc Ducati. And let me tell you, it wasn't due to my superior acceleration.
Long story short before I fall asleep at the keyboard, the bike did itself proud. The main issue so far is a bunch of false neutrals, I have to spend more time adjusting the selector box. When taking it easy it shifts fine, but when trying to hurry things up, like when a light turns green and an SUV is coming up fast, it would miss gears and generally act up. There are numerous other things too.
Some good stuff - The seat is more comfy than I imagined it would be. I'm surprised at how easily the bike rolls around. And the engine is running like a champ. This will likely jinx it but I can't believe how well it runs with what are essentially my first stabs at carb settings and timing.
*********************************************************
And that's it, my 160 project. Sorry for the banzai posting to get it all here in a day but it was easier to copy posts than to recreate them.