Wednesday, August 25, 2010

July 2010 Newsletter




117 ROELAND STREET, CAPE TOWN

PH: 021 461 0991/021 461 1015
FAX: 021 461 0996
Jackie@eurobike.
co.za

July 2010




Hi All

I hope by the time that you receive your newsletter the weather has improved drastically and if you are a fair-weather rider, you will be dusting off your bike and getting ready for Spring to arrive. It has been a cold winter and I hope that you have had your bike on its Optimate charger through winter. If not, we do stock most batteries!

We carried out a test with one of the bike covers we sell and we kept one of our bikes under it. The bike was kept outside, bearing in mind that we live in Newlands, we are pleased to report that the bike was kept dry, did not wash away and did not deteriorate at all. Not once did the cover blow off and I can assure you that the north-wester pumps in Newlands. Can definitely recommend one of these covers for a bike that lives outside.

As we all battle through the depression, not that you would have thought there was one whilst the World Cup was on, bike sales have been slow but our workshop has been busy – thank you to all of those who have supported us.

During the World Cup we met some really interesting people who popped into the shop. One of the Couples was from Seattle and they owned Aprilias and wanted to compare Aprilia Cape Town with Aprilia Seattle. They loved our shop and loved all the photo’s on the wall. They took lots of photo’s to show their dealership. The other couple were from Spain – they were originally from South Africa but now lived in Spain. It was so nice to talk to other Aprilia owners and find out about their shops. They will receive this newsletter and forward it to their Aprilia community. We have gone International!!

MOTARD RACING:

Our Son, Killian, has been doing so well in the Motard Racing and is lying 3rd in the Championship at present. He is doing a sub 50 per lap on the (shortened) half main and is flying. He participated in the drag racing at Killarney and posted the 2nd quickest time in the ¼ mile. At the race meeting on 21 August in his final race he was on the front row of the grid and led the race from beginning to end! What a fantastic combination of rider, bike and mechanic. Stretch is having fun being father, mentor, teacher and mechanic for him. Stretch has a wealth of racing knowledge and Killian is a fast learner. An awesome team and I think they will go far. To those of you who have been going to support them – thank you.


Killian on SXV550 and David Jacobs on KTM

As many of you know, Cecil had a bike accident on the 20th May and is healing very slowly. His trusty CD200 has already been repaired by the Workshop but his body is taking a bit longer to repair – we wish him well.

I, in the meantime, have been taking a crash course in all things Japanese and I thank Theo and Dicky at Honda Cape Town and Fuzzy at Yamaha for helping me when I need it. If you phone and it takes a while for the phone to be answered, please do not hang up, I'm on my own and will get around to answering the phone. It is easier, if you want to enquire as to stock or prices, to email me at jackie@eurobike.co.za , I check my emails regularly.

We have a few Alpine Stars jackets, gloves and boots if you would like to take a look. We have all the catalogues and can order anything from them for you. Please pop in and come take a look.

MAX BIAGGI REPLICA - RSV4:

For those of you who would like to purchase a very special and limited production bike, Aprilia is making a limited amount of Max Biaggi replicas. The bike will not be homologated for riding on the street but ONLY for track use. On placement of order it will take approximately 4 months for the bike to arrive (in time for Xmas). Retail price is R665955.00 incl vat and should you wish to order one you will need to pay 60% on order. It pushes out 20hp more than the production bike and the Maximum torque at the crank is 10 Nm more than the production bike. I do have all the specs for those interested in purchasing one.

BIKES FOR SALE:

These are bikes that belong to Aprilia owners and they are bikes that our Workshop have serviced and in most cases have full service histories.

MV Agusta 750, 2000 Model, 20913kms on clock, FSH – R85000.00
(Can be seen at Eurobike)

Aprilia RSV Mille, 2005 Model, 15189kms on clock, Akrapovic slip-ons, FSH, Immaculate – R70000.00
(Can be seen at Eurobike)

Aprilia RS250, 1996 Model, 35062kms on clock, FSH – R25000.00
(Can be seen at Eurobike)

Aprilia Pegaso, 2001 Model, First registered in 2004, 27000kms on clock, service history since new owner acquired bike – R40000.00neg. Contact Willem on 0834481651

Aprilia RSV Mille Factory, 2009 Model, 2000kms on clock. Contact Chris on
0829687203

Aprilia Tuono, 2007 Model, Immaculate, FSH. (Old shape) Contact Deon on 0725936530

Moto Guzzi Cruiser – R40000.00 (Can be seen at Eurobike)

Yamaha RZ500 – R50 000.00 (Can be seen at Eurobike)


DRAG RACING - A BRIEF ENCOUNTER
By Stretch Henrick

In the mid ‘80’s a couple of us decided to try drag racing. We went to Killarney and signed up. In those days the dragstrip ran from turn 1 towards turn 5 – opposite to how it runs today. In the end, it was myself (Stretch) on my 1980 Jota (many consider this to be the best bike ever made) against Geoff Waldron on Dave Abraham’s 1981 Jota (just as fine a bike).

I had an old Michelin M48 tyre on the back which had worn a little square from all the commuting so I was not too worried about wasting rubber as I had a new ME99 replacement waiting at home. The event was run elimination style which gave us plenty of time to improve. Times started in the 13’s and in spite of the tall first gear we managed to get down into the 12’s by the end of the day.

Fast forward about 25 years…..

We decided that Killian’s starts could do with a little improvement so perhaps it was time to visit the dragstrip again. We duly pitched up good and early on Sunday 25th July 2010 and signed up. First run ever on the strip for Killian on the SXV 550 produced a 12.561 sec run with the bike banging off the rev limiter with 150 metres still to go.

Second attempt was marred somewhat by a missed shift produced a 12.65 sec time. Obviously room for improvement as we still have all afternoon to drop those times, right?

Wrong! Turns out the event (for the motards, anyway – not sure about the rest) was run as a “bracket’ race which means ones quickest time in practice is ones “bracket’ time and the object was for the rest of the day to get as close to this time as possible i.e. consistency. Going appreciably faster would eliminate one. Racings version of a golf handicap, I suppose, but without any incentive to improve.

So there we were, first elimination run and Killian gets off the line better than last time and promptly gets eliminated for bettering his “bracket” time. So, in spite of posting the day’s second fastest time for the Motards (12.524 sec) we were finished for the day.

In short, he did in 3 runs what we took a whole afternoon to do on bikes with nearly twice the engine size.

I think I now know the origin of the saying “the older I get, the faster I was”


IMOC NEWS:

The Italian Motorcycle Owners club have a movie night on the and its held at the 3rd Thursday of the monthCrankhandle Club in Wynberg. All movies are motorcycle related. For further information on what's happening with IMOC go to www.imoc.co.za

FACEBOOK:

We are on facebook and if you have not joined us then please do, we have 2 pages and you need to join them both. Once on facebook if you type in EUROBIKE CAPE TOWN (all in capitals) you will see the front of the shop go and join there, the other page comes up as Eurobike Cape Town and its in lower case – go and join there too. We put information on our facebook site on a weekly basis and its one way of staying in touch.

DATES TO DIARISE:

Motard Racing – 25th September – come and support Killian.

The All Bike race Day on the 16th December – time to dust off your leathers, your bike and go participate in a days racing or come watch a day of bike racing.


That’s all for this newsletter, if you would like to add an article to our newsletter then please email me the contents and we will forward onto Tarryn who maintains the blog for us. Any ideas – forward those to us too.

Safe riding,

Stretch and Jackie


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