Jens’ RD350LC

One look at those black painted spannies and you can almost smell the two-stroke. The RD350LC was legendary back in the day. A powerband to make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck and anyone who owned one was clearly a man’s man. And now they’re back, as apparently some of us never grew up.

This lovingly re-crafted tracker/brat-style RD belongs to two-smoker Jens from Germany. The donor hails from 1981 when the UK charts were ruled by Human League, Adam & the Ants and Madness (who were obviously named after the Yamaha’s power delivery). Over in Germany it was Visage and Soft Cell, but Jens’ inspiration didn’t come from electronic music played by guys with bad hair, unsurprisingly his inspiration came from the Wrenchmonkees, Cafer Racer Dreams, Spirit of the Seventies and Dues (…who are all in our top ten of 2013).

The donor bike was Jens’ track-bike – a 1981 RD which didn’t see any road miles for two years, while it tore up the asphalt on track days.

After an accident at Assen race track (he didn’t elaborate, but it clearly left a mark) he decided to begin the build. Apparently the rear of the frame was bent anyway. Logical solution: Brat-style.

The rear tubes did need some straightening as well as matching up to a rear loop to accommodate the flat seat, which then had to be made from scratch from an aluminium pan which was then upholstered.

The wheels are 17″ rims laced to a rear hub from a Honda Dominator while a KTM donated the front hub. The forks and front brakes are from a Yamaha FZS mated to yokes from Bandit 400. The Rear brake is from a Blade SC44. Jens rewired the whole bike himself, tucking all the fugly bits under the tank.

There are a few purists we know who might be alarmed at this build, but we love it – and we’d like to see more unusual donors for trackers and brats. Thanks for sharing, Jens.

Fancy sending us the story of your shed build? Follow this advice and then get emailing.

via The Bike Shed

Jorge Lorenzo happy with front row start, Rossi has more woes at Indianapolis

Considering that the Indianapolis circuit traditionally does not favour the Yamahas, Jorge Lorenzo is more than happy with his front row start and even with his race pace.

Lorenzo may still lack something in pace compared to the Repsol Honda wonderkid, but the reigning world champion, despite his recovering collarbone believes he can give the Honda riders a real chase and even fight for the victory.

“I’m happy with the pace, it’s not bad. We still don’t know how well our rivals are prepared for the race but I think I have a constant pace to finish the race with a good speed. The bike has improved by some small details every session so I’m happy with that also. I’m happy to be back on the first row and confident we can fight for the podium. You can see that Marc, Dani and Stefan are really strong, normally we are with them but it’s clear that this track is not so suitable for our bike, but it’s much better than it was in 2011. I am confident that we can fight to be not far from first position or maybe to fight for first,” said Lorenzo.

If Lorenzo is happy, team mate Valentino Rossi is suffering once again with front end issues under braking, something that he expected had gone away after the Aragon test, which allowed him to win at Assen and podium at Sachsenring and Laguna Seca.

Rossi’s race pace at Indianapolis is nothing to write home about and it will be very difficult for him to even see the podium, considering that Lorenzo and Cal Crutchlow are much faster than he is and are able to ride around their eventual issues.

“I’m disappointed because in the practice we weren’t fantastic but better than we were this afternoon. Unfortunately in the fifteen minutes of the qualifying practice the other guys were able to improve more. Especially they are able to improve in braking and corner entry. Jorge did a fantastic job! I tried but when I put on the soft tyre I have more problems with the front and I cannot push a lot. I just managed to improve my time a bit from the used tyre when we had done already fifteen laps. Anyway, we have to look forward and try to improve tomorrow. My pace is nothing fantastic but it’s better than 9th position so I have to try to recover some positions and make a good race.”

Talking about his issues, Rossi also said, “I have very much problem especially brake and entry. I can arrive to one level but after when I try more I have too much movement on the front and did some mistake, I have two moments with the front so I lose a lot of feeling and at the end the position and also the distance to the top guy is very high Here is a little bit more like the beginning of the season. This track I think for me is the worst. I am always struggling a lot. During the fourth practice we tried everything but at the end was not enough. Is a bad result today and tomorrow will be a hard and tough race. For me tomorrow in the race, about the pace, we are not very far. There are a lot of people that are fast and also constant so we have to try to improve. It depends also on which setting we decide to use and which tyre.”

from TWOWHEELSBLOG

Never built: Los Angeles

Imagine:  Angeles is lavish with greenery, easy to navigate and connected by a huge rail network. Because that’s what it could have been like, if architects and urban planners had had their way. A new exhibition in L.A. is showing these fascinating ideas that haven’t (yet) been realised…

There’s no real urban core, just a sprawling concrete jungle, growing out of control

Even the Los Angeles faithful admit that the vast metropolis, basking under the Californian sun, leaves a lot to be desired. There’s no real urban core, just a sprawling concrete jungle, growing out of control and lacking in architectural innovation. To add insult to injury, it’s polluted by a recognised abundance of cars making even the shortest commute to work a long and stressful experience.

Now, a new exhibition at the Architecture and Design Museum in L.A. asks 'what if?' The ‘Never Built: Los Angeles’ expo showcases what the city could have been, with many great architects’ meticulous plans, models and sketches, none of which came to fruition. 

Parkland, playgrounds and beaches

In 1930, the offices of Olmsted and Bartholomew, for example, called for several thousand acres of open parkland, and a shoreline protected from the rapid urban development. The legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright (the man behind the Guggenheim Museum in New York City) wanted to build unusual houses and apartments to revive the once fancy L.A. suburbs. In 1952, Pereira and Luckman envisioned the city’s airport as an impressive glass structure under which all major airlines would convene, thus eradicating the need for multiple terminals. All these ideas, novel as they are, were abandoned due to high costs and potential interference with the city’s business interests. What a shame.

Time and again, planners intended to create more affordable and attractively designed housing to bring a little order to the urban chaos of ‘film city’. Would its reputation as a car town have changed if the unrealised 100km metro project had been implemented? It would certainly have provided stressed commuters with a quicker and more reliable route to work. But never say never. ‘Never Built: Los Angeles’ is still an exhibition of the maybe. 

 

The exhibition ‘Never Built: Los Angeles’ is at the A+D Architecture and Design Museum in Los Angeles until October 13, 2013. For more information, see www.aplusd.org.

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