Brad The Bike Boy in Oakleigh, Victoria | Automotive, aircraft & boat

Brad The Bike Boy

Locality: Oakleigh, Victoria

Phone: +61 408 095 595

Address: 2B King St 3166 Oakleigh, VIC, Australia

Website: http://bikeboy.org/

Likes: 1435

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• Automotive, aircraft & boat
• Motorcycle repair centre

25.01.2022 Richard Holdener has been putting together a heap of Youtube videos collating his years of (car engine) dyno results. I like this one - it takes in intake length (a favourite) and the inevitable compromise.

25.01.2022 FREE TO ANY HOME The original BMW Moditec trolley I think. After the Moditec went away we modified it to take the gas analyser. Cabinet is 590w x 500d x 750h.

25.01.2022 Anyone have any intelligent ideas about this?

24.01.2022 Valve clearance adjustment video for Testastretta and Testastretta Evo.

24.01.2022 FREE TO ANY HOME Aprilia RSV Mille decals, from early 00 - 02 models I think. Leftovers from crash repair jobs I expect, Im really not sure why I have them.

24.01.2022 FREE TO ANY HOME. Tool box trolley. A Thoza original from the Special Vehicles Engineering days. I swapped him a 16.7:1 steering box for it. Has been stacked on top of the dyno fan for 11 and a half years so I dont really feel the need to hang on to it. Takes the generic multi drawer tool box on top - 665w x 485d x 890h.

23.01.2022 With regard to bookings made and Covid-19 lockdown in Melbourne. I remain open for non contact parts sales. That side of it is as usual. For workshop bookings - Everyone who was expecting next Monday, September 14, to be go day will now have any bookings made put back from whenever the new go day is. No idea when that will be. So if your booking was September 28, it will now be 14 days after the new opening day. Well work around any issues that brings up as required.... Please dont reply with the essential work bullshit either. If you have another vehicle that is roadworthy, its not an essential repair.

22.01.2022 FREE TO ANY HOME. 900SSie 98 - 01 rear hugger, same as 91> 900SS with the warranty replacement swingarm or 95 model ish onwards. Had a 200 rear tyre fitted inside it by mistake and the grey bit you can see is the resulting hole.

21.01.2022 Club permitted and Megacycled. Somewhat coincidently, neither the low fuel light nor the trip meter work. Im wondering if its having a go at me. Doesnt ride to badly. It does seem to have a coarseness about it with the std muffler that I dont recall this engine having when it was in Minnie Monster. Havent ridden it with the Megacycle yet.... The jetting is also different in as much as the 400SS had much lighter slide springs and a different needle. Those needles are NLA, and Im running it with a currently available needle (same as M400/M600/M750 I think) and original springs. The plugs are very light, so Im thinking it probably should have the heavier springs that everything else has. With the lighter spring the slide will sit higher for any given airflow, which will have the needle further out and more flow area to make it richer. But also less vacuum over the top of the needle jet to draw the fuel out, making it leaner. Id like to see how that relationship works in reality, but I cant think of a way to test it easily. Anyway, first time its been road-able during the 8 years of my ownership.

21.01.2022 Interesting video by Dave Moss on tyre pressure. Not sure I have the time to run the test - Im sure none of my bikes have done that much road time total in the last 15 years. But thats what you do to find out. Customers sometimes ask me what tyre pressures I put in their tyres, and for anything with modern radials I run 34/38 psi. But the reality is by the next time I see the bike Id say half of them have pressures between 20 and 28 psi. So its kind of irrelevant. As one customer used to say "putting air in your tyres is free, why not do it". It amazes me how bad some bikes feel, even pushing them from the street to the workbench you can feel it. Pay attention to your tyres, people.

19.01.2022 0 to 113 mph in 4 seconds on water is just nuts.

18.01.2022 I had a play with a fuel sender unit that I had previously fitted and didnt work. Turned out to be a fairly simple manufacturing fault. http://bradthebikeboy.blogspot.com//playing-with-ducati-fu

18.01.2022 Was perusing the Gutsibits website looking for stuff, came across this gasket. Had to share.

18.01.2022 A video on ST3 valve clearance checking and adjusting and hands blocking the view. The usual.

18.01.2022 A video fitting timing belts to an 1198 engine on the bench.

16.01.2022 If anyone is interested in this dyno I have, some more photos of the roller and frame. Location is Oakleigh (Melbourne), Victoria, Australia.

16.01.2022 Any Victorian Police officers read this and care to comment? I had a customer ask if they were still allowed to bring their bikes in for bookings. Clearly, if no one comes I cant work, and Scomo said if you can work you should. But, Victoria Police phone line says they wont answer any questions about COVID19, and direct you to Business Victoria. Business Victoria will answer questions, the answer being that any person stopped while riding or trailering their bike to me for service will need to convince the Police that having the work done is essential. Im sure its not essential to most customers, but its kind of essential to me. Its a "grey area".

16.01.2022 holy shit balls that was close.

16.01.2022 I had a 750 Paso in recently and ended up doing a valve clearance adjustment on it, which once Id got into it made me think Id never done a 750 Paso before. What prompted that thought was how annoyingly hard it was compared to what Im used to with what I would call the "Paso head" changes, specifically in terms of the ability to slide the opening rocker across. Then I recalled a post from somewhere in the recent past about how the head design changed with the shape of the... casting "above" the cam, and how the Paso has a channel as such, and later ones have a smooth curve. And then it occurred to me what the implication of that difference was, and maybe I indeed hadnt ever done a 750 Paso before. They always were pretty rare - I recall maybe 2 at Moto One over the 14 years. The photo below shows the horizontal head looking down over the inlet opening rocker, and you can see the channel in the head cover piece at the left. Turns out, when you slide the opening rocker across to allow the opening shim to be removed, you can only rotate the cam so far before the closing lobe pushes the opening rocker up into the head casting above the cam and the cam stops. sort of a halfway step between the "pull the opening rocker pins out" of the Pantah and the completely easy "everything later than 750 Paso" it seems. Im sure Ive done one of every colour of 750 Sport, and never noticed it on any of them. Falloons book mentions the rocker change being introduced in March 88 along with the gold rocker covers that I do quite fancy, which would mean the early Paso had no clips. But this engine had silver rocker covers, so maybe this was modification 1 and the gold covers was part of modification 2 with the ability to slide both opening rockers across and spin the cams full circle. Dunno. Any 750 Paso-ists have a light to shine? This one was a USA import, in the late light metallic blue with red, white and green stripes. Quite a pretty bike.

13.01.2022 A new video! Ducati clutch fluid flush and bleed and lever freeplay discussion for radial master cylinders. Subject is an 848.

13.01.2022 Something different.

13.01.2022 Ducati sales brochures.

13.01.2022 I spent some of the afternoon finishing a report I started some time ago. Rambling about an MTS1000 that wouldnt idle from cold.

12.01.2022 In case youve often wondered, as I have. Speed it up - even at 1.5 speed, its still pretty slow.

12.01.2022 Lots of Ducati development stories here.

11.01.2022 Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddddd The 851/888 forum is back up! Its now http://www.ducati851and888.net/... I know youve been missing it.

10.01.2022 I recently had to replace some Bosch pick ups in a 750F1. I'd rather do this again than deal with the reco'd pick ups I've done a couple of times previously.

10.01.2022 If youre trying to email me, dont bother. Its not working.

10.01.2022 I did a dyno run on the 400SS last week to compare the different exhausts this engine has worn in the SS and Monster. Rambling on my blog.

10.01.2022 I thought Id have a bit of a play with some Mikuni needles. Ive never really paid a lot of attention to the OEM needles, but with playing with the 400 a bit and trying to make sense of all the different needles and needle jet combinations they used I thought Id have a look. I cut down a needle jet and used a heap of washers (kept in order) to measure the needle diameters at various points. Possibly somewhat interesting. Like how the 900SS euro needle (5C19) on the 3rd notch is about identical to the 900SS USA 5C22 needle, which has only 1 notch. More rambling to come. I found a heap of Mikuni specs for the needles too, which lead to the quite involved spreadsheet (love the spreadsheet) and more confusion. their specs dont correlate with my measurements it seems.

07.01.2022 DYNO FOR SALE. 11 and a bit years ago, I bought a dyno from Duane at Fuel Injected Motorcycles. When Moto One went under and I set up Brad The Bike Boy, Duane shut down his business at the same time. I also bought a heap of special double layer plaster for the walls and sound proofing material and some control hardware and software from DYNOmite in the USA. 11 and a bit years later, its still a big pile of stuff in my factory and Im resigned to the fact that Im not going... to be in a position to use it in any sort of time frame that makes it worth hanging on to. What I have is a steel frame with a roller fitted to it - Duane had the roller made by Ozydyn, so its a professional part - with a front wheel stay like a Dynojet, an electric retarder, a large fan (about 1m diameter from memory) with a DC motor for variable speed use, Soundblock Barrierboard plaster and sound proofing bats for a 2m x 4m room and the DYNOmite gear. No photos as its all in a big pile. Thinking $20,000 for the lot

07.01.2022 I have instigated a hand sanitiser and masks policy inside my factory. You will see the trolley below when you open the door. If you dont want to sanitise and mask up, go back outside and wait for me to come out. If either of those options offends you or will provoke a screaming pissy fit, just dont come.

06.01.2022 Want Ducati and rare? Get this >

06.01.2022 Replacing the wet clutch in the 400SS. Including inevitable rambling, both relevant and not.

06.01.2022 Looks like Throttle Out on Motortrend is gone and Zac and Ari are on Revzilla. Watch a V4S get spanked by a K5.

05.01.2022 Tracy coolness.

05.01.2022 A video checking the cam timing on an 1198 engine on the bench.

03.01.2022 With regard to the stage 4 lockdown, the info below says that I can remain open. However, the issue becomes owners getting bikes in and out. Not sure how thats going to go down in reality, but I expect having them transported will end up as the only option. Ill look into that. Businesses that will be allowed to continue to have on-site workers include: Vehicle repair, servicing and maintenance... Towing services See more

03.01.2022 I gave in today and put some 140 mains in the 400SS. I kept telling myself I only had one dyno run I wanted to do on this bike. Oh well.

03.01.2022 FREE TO ANY HOME guidelines. 1/ I have a low tolerance for stupid. 2/ If you want it, either:... a/ come and get it b/ send someone to get it c/ email me to say you want me to send it to you 3/ Ill happily deliver anything to the footpath at the front of the factory. 4/ First to get it owns it. 5/ What you see is what you get. No other bits available. Dont bother asking. See 1/.

02.01.2022 I had a question about 851 idle set up this morning, so I answered it over breaky and then though it might make a good post. As below: I have a 1992 851 Ducati, with low mileage circa 3,000 miles. The bike runs great and has recently had many service items replaced before putting it back on the road. The idle has always been low on the bike 800 rpm approx, and when cold cuts out until the engine has thoroughly warmed up. Is there a relatively straightforward way of increasin...Continue reading

02.01.2022 This is pretty cool.

02.01.2022 FREE TO ANY HOME. Decals in the 91 - 97 Supersport style custom made by Cutgrafix. Black outline, gold centre that I had made for my 400SS, had a mix up over full vs half fairing. These are full fairing side and front and not sure. Cutgrafix could complete the set for you, needs tank and maybe a couple of other. I think I had some more somewhere, couldnt find them today though.

01.01.2022 After people's thoughts on Youtube etiquette. If I see a video for replacing Ducati timing belts, and it makes my skin crawl in horror, should I point out why I think what the person is preaching is a bad idea, or just move on?