But of course the fun had to come to end as we got back into town. The bike started sputtering and losing power, and finally died all together. I waited about 10 minutes and the bike re-fired, but was noticeably down on power. I was able to get it back into the garage and started crawling through the AF1 Aprilia Forum for RS250's. Sounded like changing out the plugs was the right place to start.

I chose to upgrade to the NGK Iridium version of the stock plug recommended by forum members as a preferred street solution to help prevent fouling. The new plugs feature a different top connector than the standard plugs though and I ended up having to change out the plug wire ends.

This is where I give a shout out to Fred's Honda of Corvallis, who spent the time to look through the books to find the unusual plug wire ends that fit the fatter connector that is not usually found on wires for motorcycles. After searching the catalog, they found a snow mobile application that is basically exactly like the unit I needed, but with additional length on the rubber boots at either end for water proofing. I was impressed that they were happy to take the extra time help me get the right parts that were only going to cost $6 in the end. Good service is hard to find and I'll be back -- often!

Unfortunately the new plugs and wire ends did not solve the problem. Lots of smoke out of one pipe and no smoke on the other. So time to start going backwards from the wire...

dc

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When I first started getting into bikes in the early 90's, i did a lot of research. It's in my nature really and no wonder I love the internet so much! But before the internet, I went to the Corvallis Public Library and Linn-Benton Community College Library, which both had great collections of motorcycle magazines. I spent many afternoons reading them. After my thorough analysis (with no seat time) I really wanted a Yamaha FZR400 or an Aprilia RS250. They both had the performance and look I wanted, and I had rationalized that they'd be great first bikes. But to my dismay the 250 wasn't being imported and the 400's were very hard to locate as most of the public wanted the more powerful FZR600. But I figured at least they were available. Today the FZR400's are coveted for their aluminum frames, more pure sporting mission, and performance in amateur racing classes that made them nearly as fast as the 600's; all of which I knew then and was a large part of why I wanted one -- they were special!

I ended up with a ratty FZR600 as it's what I could afford at the time though. Here's my original blog post on that bike at an early age riding to Sonomafest with Paul from the Willamette Valley to Bay Area.

Sonomafest really opened our eyes to the amazing talent that road racers possessed. Being able to witness their skill at speed, up close and personal, was really inspiring. We started to follow the top road racing series around the world, and in particular would watch the 250GP class on rented VCR videos. The star of that series was Max Biaggi and he rode the Chesterfield sponsored bike from Aprilia.

Watching Biaggi's battles and victories only fueled the impossible lust that grew for the factory replica Aprilia RS250 that bears his race livery. But I never really thought I'd have an opportunity to have one considering they weren't being imported. Here's a picture of the race replica offered by Aprilia in 1995. I took this picture at the Barber Motorsport Museum:

Back to Sonomafest, it is one of my favorite road trip memories because we were essentially broke, had no proper gear, but made the trip anyway with great success as two wide-eyed enthusiasts joined up with what felt like thousands of our soon-to-be peers.

As we were staging up for the parade lap of Sears Point that was included with our Cycle World 'Sonomofest' ticket package, a guy pulled up next to me on an Aprilia Chesterfield replica -- and it even had plates, which certainly added to the excitement of seeing an example like this that was legal-ish to ride on the street! The guy probably thought I was nuts as I practically fell running over to him, motioning to him that I wanted to talk. I tried to ask him how you get an RS250 into the states and get it plated. You could tell he had been asked this a million times, but he wasn't giving up any secrets today and rode off.

Ever since I've been watching the ads. And sure enough, every now and again over the years, I would spot an RS250 that was for sale. Not often, but the more that surfaced, the more intent I became on watching the entire web to spot these rare opportunities.

After getting my job as a Web Services Manager in 2005, I started this personal blog that you are reading right now. And on occasion I started to blog car and bike classifieds I found from time to time that I found interesting and wanted to share. {sorry most of the images are broken on these ancient links!}

In some part, the RS250 and bikes like it, is what made me want to start Rare Sport Bikes For Sale and German Cars For Sale Blog.

Skip to 2008 and I actually blogged this exact bike when it came up for sale last time: http://raresportbikesforsale.com/1995-aprilia-rs250-chesterfied-replica/ Later I would find out that it was actually owned by an old childhood friend of mine, who is a part owner of SpeedyMoto. He invited me over to look at it and explained that he couldn't actually go through with the sale. It was his wife's bike and she got it from a family friend that went through considerable expense importing it into New York from Holland.

But on Tuesday last week he emailed that it was again available and asked if I could help list the bike on RSBFS. I said of course I can, but before we do that, I'M INTERESTED!

We quickly settled on a price and the bike is now in my garage with the Ducati 750SS. Now that I've been up close with the bike, it'll be a 7/10 cosmetically when it gets cleaned up. Long story short, it needs some serious time on the buffer. They used it as a backup track day bike and occasional Sunday rider. It's great mechanically, probably 9/10. Not to mention it came with crazy spares too. Like a full race body kit, a piston rebuild kit, and a factory decal kit that will allow me to restore the factory body work to new when I'm ready some day.

Luckily the day we went to get it in Portland, it was an amazing 60 degrees outside in January. That's unheard of but it made for an amazingly awesome test ride in the sun. It makes about 60hp at the rear wheel and weighs in at 308lbs dry. The gearing is very aggressive right now and as Paul said, first gear is silly. There is next to no power below 6k, but then it starts moving and showing some grunt as the revs climb. When you hit 8k the real magic happens and in an instant another 20-30hp kicks in. It screams to the 12k redline immediately as it tries to lift the front end up -- and I'm no lightweight myself! A very special experience was realized this day, and one not soon to be forgotten.

Since I read those magazine articles, it only took 16 years to get what I thought I'd never put my hands on. And this is going to sound corny but it probably wouldn't have happened if RSBFS wasn't created. The reach, connections, and friendships that the site enjoys has helped me to share what has completely exceeded my expectations and I feel very fortunate.

A quick shout out to SpeeyMoto and Christian Hanson. Thanks for the call!

dc

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That said, there was waaay to many cool happenings this year that normally would've been documented in these pages and I'm going to try and catch up with a few pictures and brief summaries. These are mostly amazing trips I was able to make happen, some updates on the family, and a few of the ones that got away this year.

Note: This post is grossly unfinished and I'll be updating it over the next 6-8 weeks, and hopefully adding some event coverage posts before the new season.

Stay tuned as 2011 is going to be action packed and I'm very excited to start getting back into a regular rhythm on this site. Sorry this is a post in progress, but have a Happy New Year!

dc

Family

We are very proud of our Goddaughter, especially when she invents new cute things to do like this! As Mom becomes more comfortable with seeing her angel on the web, we'll try to post more.

Me and Shana at the Corvallis Knights game sponsored by Calapooia Brewing this past August. It was a perfect evening for baseball, and even though the Knights lost this particular night, we had a really great time with Pooia brew crew -- as we always do!

An image of Shana and Sam on a trip to the beach on a stormy day. Sam loves the beach and we decided to take her by herself for a special trip.

A picture of the little stud, Winston, on a walk in the woods. He's a great addition to our family and is always amusing us with his latest alpha antics!

Another one of the cutest dog ever.

And our little black cat, Abbey. Not a fan of pictures, or so she pretends.

Miller WSBK

By far my best image of the year. This is Max Biaggi taking first place for the first time in a long time since his dominance in 250GP racing on Memorial Day. Pictured here about to enter the final corner at the U.S. leg of the World SuperBike Tour at Miller Motorsports Park with a tribute to the American soldiers in the background. Many thanks to Jay Bernard and Veloce Racing Aprilia Team for making our participation possible.

Sonoma Historics Birthday Trip

Shana took me to Sonoma for the Historics at Sears Point this year. Here's a picture of us outside Mario Andretti's winery. Surprisingly not a single car on display. Good wine though and a lovely tasting area.

My favorite image taken from this event: Rothmans Porsche 956

Working with Sports Car Shop

I got some brief seat time in this gorgeous Ferrari Testarossa that is available at Sports Car Shop in Eugene, Oregon. I am their webmaster and get to take pictures of their inventory. Yes, this is one of the best jobs (if you can call it that) that I've ever had!

Earlier in the year I had the pleasure of trotting out this stallion for some pictures. I have to say, this was a far better car than I could've expected. For $140k, Ford hit this one out of the park. I know that's a lot of cash, but compared to it's rivals, it's a true bargain.

The Ones That Got Away (or were considered)

This is a bike I should've just acted on immediately. A 748S, less than 13k miles, and $6000. It was gone in less than 5 days and I've been kicking myself ever since. And in a terrible twist of fate, it's for sale again but this time I'm not in a place to purchase it. Yes, I try to talk myself into it daily...

{I've got at least another dozen images and stories to add. I'll try to bump this post every time I do because there are lots more people to thank for an awesome year!}

dc

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Each event deserves, and will receive, it's own blog entry. But for now I thought I would at least share pictures that have been posted elsewhere with some captions. Stay tuned,

dc

World SuperBike Weekend at Miller Motorsports Park, Salt Lake City, Utah

Our Moto Forza Veloce Racing Aprilia 250 Gallery from Rare SportBikes For Sale:

A giant gallery of the Miller SuperBike 2010 event:

Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival

And here are a few shots from the recent "1st Annual" (20th Wine Country Classic) Historic Motorsports Festival. As you can tell, I've been fooling around with alot of Photoshop and wide-screen-like formatting:

More to come!

dc

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Paul and I are here to enjoy the races as RareSportBikesForSale.com is now an official supporter of the Moto Forza Veloce Racing Aprilia team! Keep an eye on the RSBFS Facebook page for some live blogging and pictures from the pits.

Here are some snapshots from our long day on the road:

Decals applied the night before (new logo coming soon!)

Freaking cold over the pass!

A stop for lunch in the middle of nowhere

Lunch done right on the road

We were treated to beautiful vistas like this all day long

Lame self portrait in progress

Arrival at the hotel! If I was a little dumber I would've waited for 9:16

A proper unwinding after a long drive: Pokerstars, Heineken, and deli plate

And ready for tomorrow's action

The Moto Forza Veloce Racing team heads out early for qualifying tomorrow morning at 8:30 and we're going to make a serious effort to be there -- and hopefully see them positioned in the top 10 in a field of 45 (17/45 today).

Good night all!

dc

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Nearly two weeks ago now, Shana and I made a day of the Portland Auto Show. We used to go every year to fantasize about new cars, but have missed the event in recent years. It's fun to check out everything up close and personal without the hassle of a salesman crawling down you neck.

We started our day by hitting up the S2ki Forum Hillsboro Honda meetup for S2000 owners. I only got a couple of quick pictures but it was fun to finally meet some forum members I had met online numerous times but never connected with in person. Great job getting 30 cars to come out in the middle of winter Ira! Check out all the pictures on S2ki.

We were fairly rushed at the meet because we had an appointment after that to check out a used Infinity QX4 for the missus. Looked promising in the pictures, but was a little too rough for us. We're actually having a pretty tough time finding a suitable car for Shana because we're so used to enthusiast vehicle shopping, which usually results in clean and documented cars to shop for. We were thinking of going with a more dependable Japanese variant, but they're just not cared for like the European rides we're used to looking at. Now we're thinking of going back to European shopping in the form of a Land Rover Discovery. We're back in Portland this weekend, so we'll probably stop and look a few then.

Then it was on to check into our downtown Portland hotel, Hotel Lucia. What a beautiful place and fantastic service! Not to mention it was in the center of everything we had planned and easy Max trip to the Convention Center for the show. Can't wait to stay there again!

After freshening up, it was on to the Portland Auto Show. Tickets were reasonably priced at $10 and at the ticket window we were reminded that many major manufacturers were not there due to cutbacks and slow sales. This was a bummer as BMW, Saab, Mercedes, and many others were definitely cars we were looking forward to jumping into.

{warning: really crappy images ahead. I've been too busy to post-process these but wanted to put up what I had.}

Ron Tonkin brought out a few new cars and a couple older ones from his collection. These were all front and center outside the main conference areas:

MotoCorsa was also in attendance with the latest Lotus and Ducati offerings. The black Sport 1000 was exactly like the demo bike I rode a couple years back.

Then it was on to the Audi and Porsche areas. I have to admit, I wanted to check out the Panamera because it looks so bad in pictures. It didn't disappoint, it's ugly and HUGE! First the blasphemy that is the Cayenne and now this abomination. So sad that a more true to spirit business model couldn't have been used to get them into the 21st century.

The local SCCA chapter also had a nice area set up. There were several car corral areas that usually aren't present, likely due to so many manufacturers pulling out this year.

And here are few more random snaps. You'll notice how crowded Saturday afternoon was. I think every Dad in town got babysitting duty as there were lots of kids running around. Reminds me that we prefer going on Thursday mid-day when it's super quiet!

After the show we met up with our good friends Danno, his wife Angie, and our close friend Julie who also happened to be in Portland that day. We had a fantastic dinner at Mother's Bistro just a few blocks from the hotel. What a meal! Plan on leftovers no matter how big your appetite is!

And by chance, another friend of ours was in town for a whirlwind 48 hour tour, my close friend Ed. He lives in Atlanta now, but amazingly we've managed to meet up several times in the past few years. We met for a nightcap at Pazzo and then stumbled upstairs to crash after a very long day.

We're heading back up to Portland for a wedding at Edgefield this weekend. That makes about 4 trips up there in 5 weeks. Maybe we should get a condo!

dc

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I put together some thoughts over at RareSportBikesForSale.com as well. Good night all,

dc

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Paul and I recently made the trip to Birmingham to see our close friend Ed for his birthday in Duluth. On the way out of the airport towards Atlanta, I remarked to Paul that we should find out where the Barber Motorsports Park was in Alabama and see if we could fit that into our trip on the way back. 10 minutes later, we saw the billboard for the 'next right, Barber Motorsports Park'. We looked at each other and noted that we would definitely make sure to hit the museum on the way back. Then we checked out the website. It boasts over 1000 motorcycles on display. I knew the collection was impressive, but I had no idea it was going to seriously rival the collection I saw at Hockenheim.

And as I eluded to, the collection didn't disappoint. The entire facility is gorgeous and the place is spotless. Every bike on display is of significance and was almost always in perfect condition. We stopped by on a Monday in late February and nearly had the entire 5 floors to ourselves. To say the least, it was a totally orgasmic sportbike experience.

Here are my standouts, shot with a simple point and shoot digicam. Had I planned a little better, I would've known the racetrack was just outside our airport and packed the DSLR. Something tells me we'll be back sooner than later though, and I'll have the chance to redeem myself. In the meantime, check out the collection in the Flickr Group Pool for Barber Motorsports Park, which features beautiful hi-res pics of the museum and recent races.

Here's a perfect example of the bike I rode in college: 1989 Yamaha FZR600, in this exact paint and graphics scheme. Mine was never in this condition, but it was super cool to spot it in the collection for sure. I can brag that a bike I used to own is on display!

An Aprilia RS250 Chesterfield replica. The bike I've always wanted and for some stupid reason didn't buy when it came up for sale last year.

Upon spotting this awesome Honda CB-X, Paul's first comment was, "I wonder how much those hard bags go for on eBay?!" I was dying with laughter!

And a little corner of the museum I'd like to refer to as my personal corner of sportbike porn heaven: A Ducati SS, an NC30, an RC30, an original Katana, AND a Yamaha FZR750RR OW01!

And here's the complete photo album of our visit to the Barber Vintage Museum:

$15 was never better spent, that's for sure! If you should find yourself anywhere near this part of the world, and have ever had curious itch or a serious addiction, to sporting motorcycles, this is a must do.

dc

Check out Paul's Garage Blog for more Barber Vintage Museum coverage!

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1990 Honda VFR750R RC30 For Sale in Rochester - The title and registration, combined with the the obvious care and thoughtful upgrades, make this bike a standout. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen one listed for sale in recent memory. What do you guys think of the $16k asking?

An RVF400 and VFR400 For Sale in the Bay Area - Naturally the VFR400 with original looking bodywork would be my pick. Too bad it doesn’t have registration. The RVF400 is probably the cooler bike mechanically, but restored plastics would be at the top of my list. But with a title and registration, and an asking of only $3k, it’d be a great rider while you tried to determine if it was going to be a track bike or light restoration for the street.

Honda NSR250 MC18 For Sale - With no title, this great little bike will be attractive to collectors and track day enthusiasts. As a track day bike, do you pick something like this or a new Aprilia RS125? I sat on the latter this past weekend at the Seattle International Motorcycle Show, it’s amazing how beautiful it is in person…

1988 BMW M3 w/ 38k Miles Back on eBay - in my previous post, I guessed that the winning bid would be around $25k. Considering brand new M cars are apparently immune to the sales slump, do you think this legendary M car will find a buyer this time?

2001 Ducati MH900e Mike Hailwood Evoluzione - The seller has it listed with a $13.9k buy-it-now shown. Having covered only a few thousand miles, this looks like a great buy considering brand new Sport Classics go for about this much!

1995 Aprilia RS250 Chesterfied Replica - Oh man… I’m very tempted to get myself the best xmas present ever and buy this before the auction ends in a few hours. It’s even titled and street legal. It’s only a couple hours away and I’ve taken all of next week off… But I probably won’t though, so I’m posting it here in case someone else can snag it.

1998 Bimota SB6R For Sale on eBay - For a buyer with some skills or connections to a good technician, this could be a steal. Current bid is around $7k. What do you think it’s worth once it’s running properly?

Stunning 1991 Porsche 928 GT For Sale with 5 Speed - I’m a big fan of the 928 anyway, but in this color, trim, and with the 5 speed, I think this looks like a great example. Current bid is just under $14k (no reserve auction) and 8 days to go. I’ll update after auction for the final sale price.

1993 Ducati Superbike 888 SPO: Just In Time For Christmas - The only other Ducati’s of this vintage and price range that I would consider would be a 748, or a Superlight. And even in that company, I think the 888 is the bike of choice.

1998 Suzuki RGV 250 SP Lucky Strike Replica in Washington - This bike looks incredible, but the only problem is the asking price. It’s $16k! It does have very low miles and a title, but this is an outrageous premium considering the market and other examples of the Lucky Strike replica’s that we’ve posted on this blog.

1988 BMW e28 M5: Possible Project Car? - Obviously this one has a lot more miles than most cars I post on here. And I don’t know what showroom they’ve been hanging out in, but this car clearly isn’t that condition. Despite the fact that this car could’ve really benefited from a detail before shooting pics, the car looks complete and pretty good shape. If the motor was sound, this could be a pretty cool project car considering the asking. Which way would you go: fix it up as a nice driver or maybe enjoy as a weekend track toy?

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My pick of the show is fantastic Aprilia RS125. At only 280lbs, it's light as a feather and makes my Ducati at 380lbs feel a bit chunky! Too bad the 125 isn't street legal though...

Here's a review of the RS125 on Motorcycle-USA.com

dc

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