In reply to RichardNZ :
I think I am going to be ok without any baffle or muffler. The modern 450 four strokes with the open race cans are hellishly loud (and damn percussive) in comparison.
I have a short can that is maybe 4" long that could easily be modified to fit. I probably should plan on something in the long term, but I am going to be the shiny happy person with the open stinger for just a few weeks.
We'll see how it plays out. If I am noticably louder than the other 250 vintage guys, I will make the change.
Got the second exhaust mount figured out last night. I looked around quite a bit for inspiration, but didn't really find anything I like enough to copy. I ended up wandering around the hardware store for a while and came up with these little rubber bumpers.
This cute little guy has a pretty soft durometer and features a 10-24 stud for mounting. I played around with a few different options and ended up with this.
This will still give me adjustment in and out to match the slot I put in the other mount. I scribed it's location, removed the pipe, scrubbed away the paint from the general area and scabbed it all on with the little 110 MIG.
Then I cut out a quick little 12ga pull-tab replica to slip over the brake lever pivot.
Then a couple of holes because we can't be arsed to measure and a stiff little spring to pull everything up tight.
It makes a surprisingly large difference in rigidity. The pipe seems way more stable now, but can still move around. I'm hoping it's a good middle ground between mount-breaking-stiff and exhaust-jettisoningly-loose.
Currently waiting impatiently for carb jetting stuff to show up. I think tuning is the last thing on the list before I'm race ready. I'm hoping to use Friday night practice as a test and tune for the bike and myself. Can't wait!
"Jettisoningly" is my new favorite word.
Really been enjoying watching you dip your toes into flat track racing. The bike is starting to look like a proper racer! You're going to love having the 19 on the rear with a proper, matched tires.
I'm hoping to make the drive up for the February 9 race. Salem has been on my "to do list" for a while.
Michael M. #55c
In reply to motoidiot :
You should absolutely come up for The 1 Race in February. We have a pretty good pack of vintage riders in Salem and we're always recruiting. Plus, they're doing the "Running of the Bul's" this year at Tge 1 Race, so all the fast old guys on Astros are in their own class. 
Really enjoyed reading through the whole thread. Hopefully you'll be able to tame your hotted up bike and continue improving now that it's not so benign.
I haven't decided yet if the faster bike is going to mask my inexperience or showcase it. At any rate, I'm about 3 hours away from rolling south for an evening of testing and tuning. The workday is absolutely trickling by.
Bike is all ready to go!
Great thread! Your description and pitchers really bring out the feel of the events. "Chunking like a freshman at a frat rush...", indeed. And the bike really looks the part now.
A friend in high school raced an OSSA (it's actually an acronym for Orpheo Sincronic Sociedad Anónima) Stilletto TT flat tracker at the Santa Clara County fairgrounds in the early 70's. Before going to see him race, I harbored an idea that I could do this 'cuz he was just a regular guy. I was quickly disabused of that notion and his regular guy status got elevated.
Like Seth, I've done a number of different motorsports including motocross and road racing. Flat track, even after taking Danny Walker's American Supercamp is not something I'm interested in that level of scaring the E36 M3 out of myself.
Looking forward to this weekend's race report.
Practice went pretty well tonight. Track was awful at first. They tore it down for arenacross for the last 5 weeks and it was a lumpy and greasy mess at first and I was SUPER slow. It was pretty typical by the end of the night, but we never got much of the blue groove going. It was super tacky and grabby. The hotshoe was of zero use tonight. Every time my foot touched the ground it stuck and ended up behind me.
Anyway, my buddy Landon came up to hang out and we spent most of the evening playing around with jetting. Bike is running great now and really pulls well out of the turns and is nice and crisp all over, really. I think I am going to go up one more main jet size tomorrow before practice, just to keep things on the safe side. The good news is that I only hold it wide open for 3-4 seconds at a time, so it's not really enough to melt it down even if it's a little lean.
The new shocks and the 19" rear were totally worth the investment. Bike is feeling great in the corners now and doesn't have that wallowy-bucking thing that it did with the blown Mexican Betor copies.
We're racing both Saturday and Sunday this weekend, and we have already seen one mechanical failure. It just might be a war of attrition. Hopefully my junk holds together and I can bring you all a nice race report with a pair of trophies Sunday evening.
Ethnic Food-Wrap Aficionado said: Hopefully my junk holds together and I can bring you all a nice race report with a pair of trophies Sunday evening.
I'm not sure we're interested in your junk but we are interested in the race report... 
Bike is still running great and I am finding speed all over the track. Full breakdown after tomorrow, until then please enjoy more love from my pals at Sideburn. 
Spanish Bombs
So, EF-WA, you've got a us all invested in your racing exploits and many of us have some experience in this arena (well, not the exact arena but we've raced E36 M3) and know that periodically things go pear-shaped at these events. Your silence has a number of us concerned. How 'bout a quick recap or something. We're getting skeered and we don't like that...
In reply to rdcyclist :
I can confirm our favorite burrito enthusiast is intact and I believe had a good weekend, but I haven't had a chance to catch up with the details yet.
Yep, all good here. Been busy since I got home Sunday, trying to catch up on all the stuff I have been ignoring for the last few weeks while I put the bike back together. I was hoping to wait to update until I had a chance to edit all the videos and get them put up on YouTube, but that might not be for a few days, so I'll give you guys the quick version for now.
Track was over-watered (in my worthless opinion) when we got there on Saturday, and practice was a gooey mess. I couldn't get the track to work for me and felt way off pace from Friday night. I took it pretty easy mostly out of self-preservation. I didn't see any reason to push my luck in practice. I lowered my tire pressures again, down to 14 psi in the front, 13 psi in the rear. 12 entries into the class this week; all the usual suspects and a guy on a modern KTM 125 that didn't have any other class to race in. That turns out to be a surprisingly even match. He's faster in the turns but slower on the straights. I was in the first heat with Chris (34), who I have been battling with most weeks. The rest of the fast guys were in the second group along with the KTM.
I got last pick on on the line, but for whatever reason, they all left a spot right in the middle of the pack so I was able to line up just to the outside of Chris, exactly where I would have picked if I had gotten my choice. I wound the bike up and pulled it off the line and had a good drag race into turn one, arriving just inside and a bit behind of the Rickman Montesa (I think, its been a few days). I was able to slip by on the inside of T1 and T2 and led from there out to the checker. Resident fast guy Korry (18) won his heat, surprising no one.
I got second pick in the main and settled in just to the inside of Korry with Chris one spot down from me. I had a good haul off the line and was pretty much side by side with the other Cory on his green Yamaha (161Q). I was able to squeeze him out from the inside, but missed the shift from second gear into third and found a false neutral. It took a few tries, but I managed to get it stuck into third gear without losing a spot and pulled away out of T2. They had nothing for me after that. I assume they were all battling for 2nd and 3rd and were slowing each otherdown, because I just walked away from the rest of the pack. I led the entire main without issue and finished with almost a full two turn lead, which is sizable in our class. I did a triumphant 2nd gear victory wheel down the back straight to assert my dominance among any roving alpha predators.
Sunday's update will have to wait.
Cool! Thanks for the update...
BTW, you're kinda a big boy on that little bike... 
There's a reason why we call it the "Circus Bear" class. I'm 6'2" of American Man-Meat. The Phantom is about the biggest bike in the class, too. I'll get a picture of my buddy Joel, who is a full 6'6" on his little Suzuki. It's downright comical.
I'm shopping for a nice set of vintage leathers and they're all fit for 5'5" hobbits with 27" waists. Not gonna happen.
Ethnic Food-Wrap Aficionado said:
I'm shopping for a nice set of vintage leathers and they're all fit for 5'5" hobbits with 27" waists. Not gonna happen.
Considering I resemble that remark, I guess my options for vintage leathers are looking good!
Cotton
PowerDork
1/15/19 5:37 p.m.
Ethnic Food-Wrap Aficionado said:
There's a reason why we call it the "Circus Bear" class. I'm 6'2" of American Man-Meat. The Phantom is about the biggest bike in the class, too. I'll get a picture of my buddy Joel, who is a full 6'6" on his little Suzuki. It's downright comical.
I'm shopping for a nice set of vintage leathers and they're all fit for 5'5" hobbits with 27" waists. Not gonna happen.
I’m 6’2” also and pretty much gave up on finding a set of decent vintage leathers. If you end up finding a couple of sets, one of which you may not want, let me know!
Got a chance to trim down the footage from Saturday and get it up on the YouTubes.
Heat:
https://youtu.be/3OrFkJ3bMxg
Main:
https://youtu.be/xTz7U2rkAH8
I'll get the rest of the footage cut down and uploaded here in a bit. Probably won't have time to type out a post for that until tomorrow.
I’m still really enjoying this thread! I hope to get down to Salem sometime this year to check out the indoor racing. I planned to go with some moto-minded friends last year and was sidelined last minute with a nasty cold. Thanks for sharing the video footage!
I also sympathize with the used-leathers hassle...6’2” and 210 here. I am pleased to see that I’m not the only big guy who likes the fun bikes! I get tired of the monkey-with-a-football type comments. I don’t care if you think I look ridiculous; stating that I “really would look better on a 1200” isn’t the incentive most people think it is to ditch my little singles.
bluej
UberDork
1/16/19 5:27 p.m.
Hey there Portable Latin Lunch Enthusiast, I've got a long-time-listener-first-time-caller type question: no front brake?! Waaa?
Sincerely,
Flat Track Curious in DC
In reply to bluej :
Yep. No front brake. Scary, ja? There are full brakeless classes, too.
There's really not a whole lot of braking to be done on track. You really only use the rear brake to get the bike rotated and turned in, not so much slow you down*. The track is slick enough to make the front brake a liability; all it is really going to do is make the front end wash out and let you taste the dirt.
I can tell you that the number of times that I have reached for the front brake on track is zero. I can also tell you that the number of times I have reached for the front brake when coming back into the pits is approximately all of them. It really makes sense when on the track.
* I am still a fledgling. When I am not on track I stand at the entrance to T3 and watch the modern bikes to try and figure out just how the Berk they get the bikes going from full chat down the straight to leaned far enough to scrape peg and full opposite-lock sideways in about 10 feet. It's unreal. If you have a local short track, I highly recommend going to spectate. I have some slow motion footage of the 450 Expert class at Salem. I'll toss a short clip on YouTube and link it here in a bit.
This thread is just so good.
Vintage bikes, niche Motorsport action, fab skills, two stokes...it’s all things to the people that live inside my head.
Your comment about watching the “pro’s” run is so relevant. I had a chance to attend a hydroplane regatta this summer with a former pro racer. When you see someone who has truly mastered a really specific form of sport and can appreciate the skill and dedication required to get there all I can do is admire them.
In reply to bluej :
Alright, these aren't great and I had no intention of sharing them, so they are unlisted on YT. I apologise for the Vertical Video Syndrome. I think these are both from Heat races. The 450 Expert mains are super intense. Typically anywhere from 15-20 bikes on track fighting for the same plastic trophy we get in the Vintage 250s.
https://youtu.be/GLdgzcd_zo8
https://youtu.be/bvHVGBOVuOs
