First official day of winter and projekt X kicks off...Blue Burst !

it's late into the year for the official announcement that the five days of 0 degrees means we can officially kick off winter.

Cut a long story short, a while back i picked up an amazing modern C Warmoth pro series neck. Birdseye maple with a rosewood slab, and a brass nut fitted (Fender Malmsteen part number) and yet this neck had never really had a body that really fitted the neck.

Not sure why, but it suddenly dawned on me that maybe the best move would be to find a warmth body. And so the looking began on the bay. Didn't take long before I found exactly what I thought would do the trick....with the reasoning being the fact that this body was under 3 Lbs swamp ash and  looked different enough to start actually building a project that would be different to the rest of my others.

Liking the look of this blue burst and especially the weight, with a rear and sides that are black.

so, time to take apart another guitar that I wasn't 100% happy with which sources pretty much everything required: Warmoth pro series neck, hardware...and pretty much everything except pickups.

so then it would be down to the usual questions...pickguard...which one...

I have a 77 original black pick guard if required...but I went for a white solid three ply custom pick guard which i found on the bay. Single ply but same thickness as a three ply pick guard.

so as usual we shall see how that pans out as both black and white do the job on a blue burst...

so, we shall see once everything is setup on the work bench. However, this photograph that I found out there seems to be the way I will go...

next week should see the start of parts dropping through the door, although knowing the post at xmas it's probably gonna go together in 2017...

liking the set up between black, burst and ash piping..this isn't the same body as mine due to pickup cavities, but same burst and setup..

I'll update once she comes together...

MV front stand

One of those JV August '82 SQUIER Strats

This came up a week ago on the bay. export model with Japanese pick guard and pickups. Clean export model with a neck date from august 82. Did some research and apparently the dubious models came out in october, and later. Anything pre-october is meant to be high build. Apparently the first run and second run are the same guitar but with different decals on the neck, which of course means the collectors pay more for the first run.

meanwhile...the ZXR750R bits n bobs project suddenly got ignited...

when I saw this creation.
I have a stack of parts currently on the kitchen floor. All parts from a ZXR750R/K project that I started after my own original R/K was stolen for the second time.....so I started buying parts...

It's about time I started bolting things together...this looks awesome...

Even more changes required.

So.....the never ending story for the MV.
Once you drive it day to day, you'll notice just how hot the engines get quickly.
Apparently this is down to a poor design of the original technical specs of the water pumps. Apparently the housing units and the impellers had too large a gap, which meant at low revs the pressure wouldn't be great enough to get the juice flowing at the required flow.

So, MV did an upgrade impeller. Depending on what you read, some say it works, other say it doesn't.
So, you either spend on that or replace it with a DC water pump that will increase flow by 46%.

No brainer..

Next Up...Rear Hub...

No genuine surprise that the hub on the MV requires changing.
Apparently they collapse. Not good. My own has had a bearing change, but after 35,000km MV state you have to change the hub the lifecycle is over at that point.

So , looking around it'll probably be one of these. dear, yes. But whats the value of a life?

MV Factory windup front stand p/n 800095807

So, the MV. Currently she's looking at hitting the 35,000km on the tach and even though I got a whole bunch of receipts to show how much has gone into the bike, there are a few things that require work. 

To start with I've purchased new break pads, new front bearings. I looked at the front stand I had for the Ducati and realised it wouldn't do the job for the MV.

Suddenly the front stand pictured came up on the local selling site. a shop was selling out new MV parts as they would stop being a distributor. so 50% on all genuine MV parts. Should make everything easier.

At the same time I found another discounted item, a genuine MV Brutale bike cover. Also a discount item and by all accounts the bikes gonna look awesome once she goes under wraps for the winter.

MV Agusta f4 Brutale 750

So...the Ducati 748 stolen and recovered...except this time it never came back to me as the insurance company kept her as she had so much broken plastic...sorry t see her go...as always

So I was in the market for another bike and for a while I was looking at a KTM. Then this MV came up. never even knew this bike existed...the more I looked, the more I got interested...just looking at the spec sheet was just silly...
so, off I went on a train with a bike helmet, up north for 6 hours to buy the beast and drive back...as usual, not really thinking...another Italian...wet weather? usual issues with electrics...who cares, just looking at the design and spec sheet..I mean to say, even the initial engine design was by Ferrari and based on 4 cylinders of their worst F1 car of 92....but whatever, it's what I wanted and knew i would need to get the hands dirty...and I wasn't wrong.

usual issues ...join a forum, find out the list of what goes wrong....after a few rain storms the relay electrical box fries...it kills the battery which is already long past it's sale date...so:
new battery- check
new electrical box - check

oh, but wait, this unit I bought does everything except the front headlight...It's then I read that "two" boxes were built and to ensure one orders the correct box for the 750.....ffs...
I find the correct box at an exceptional price and order. I get a message from the company based in germany that they are now on holiday and return in two weeks... I also get a message that MV are going through reconstruction with AMG and that parts are taking longer to get..ffs...4 weeks without a bike in the summer months...

So I drive with the box and no headlight. hashtag limitations...

Currently on the kitchen table are a set of koyo front wheel bearings as there seems to be a noise coming from the front wheel that sounds a bit strange...a fuel filter and o-ring and soon I'll expect some issues with the rear hub as apparently they also get a bit iffy after the mileage the bike has.

so, was it worth it? Oh yes. this ranks as one of the most enjoyable bikes I've ever owned. It's power band is more akin to a two stroke than a four stroke and it just feels right. Once the CAT was dumped and a mid-pipe fitted, it seemed to breath better and with the noise induction sounding like a 60's formula one car, you just want to keep riding the beast!

¨the next step up is the 910s, but I'd sacrifice the torque for the free revving 750 smaller engine.

The Contador bust on the way