Hobbsy

My Feedback: (102)

Yes sir Jim, it is huge and 7.7 oz heavier, the camera is a small HP and under that particular shop light it shows yellow for some reason. Not because it's scared though.

Pete, the last flat track I attended was in Pittsburgh, Pa. in 1960. There were a few Matchless G-50's in that race.

Rudolph Hart

As you know an original matchy g50 is a rare and valued thing now,even with those electrics cough.

There's a big business opportunity here for someone who can make spray on femfresh deodarent smell like methanol and castrol r...

Hobbsy

My Feedback: (102)

I wonder if this had castor in the wet sump tank?

Rudolph Hart

Hi dave i'm not big on american flat track i thought it was dominated by harley xr750's through regulation? your right,a lot of the early bikes had what looked like two fuel caps on either side of the fuel tank top.One for oil the other for the low octane fuel of the day.As a kid in the fifties and sixties my dad took me to speedway at western springs in auckland/nz.Hanging on to the outside fence watching the closest racing you ever saw while getting sprayed with dirt,and getting half knocked over by the big bits.

ps i used to drool over bikes like the g50 in your pic but i was to busy putting out carby fires on my beesa 350 single that kicked like a mule.Anybody with a saito question or comment?

Hobbsy

My Feedback: (102)

George Roeder, (Iowa farm boy) rode a mixture of brands as did Dick Mann, Roeder died in 2003 and I don't know about Dick Mann.

I have new FA .40a in the test stand with a 10x5 three blade mounted on it. I have the flu so probably won't get to it today. My head hurts so bad I'd like to have new one.

blw

My Feedback: (3)

There's a name I haven't heard in a long time- Dick Mann. My childhood hero was Fireball Roberts and Joe Chitwood, or was it Joey? I saw his performance once when I was about 7 or 8 y/o.

Has anyone bought a new FA-30 from overseas recently? I have a NIB GK but am interested in a plain one too.

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

OF, can you give us a Saito song ?? like maybe a parody from the old song "Macho Man" ??

Jim

acdii

Oh please no, those crazy Ozzies get to singing and we are all screaming to poke out our ear drums.

Rudolph Hart

Don't stick your finger tips in both ears bruce they might meet in the middle i bet you never get a headache tho which is a plus eh?

Jim a song about saito's? did your mum ever say to you as a boy 'be careful what you wish for' but i'll bet jim carrey could do a good job on that.Do you remember the movie 'mask' and 'somebody stop me'!! still cracks me up.

I was at the pukekohe race circuit which is just next door to where i used to live in kiwi when cal rayborn came over to race,think it was 73.He was a brilliant guy saw him in the pits.Very approachable and a laid back attitude with supreme talent.

Hobbsy

My Feedback: (102)

Cal got killed testing another guy's bike as a favor.

There was a song about Glenn Fireball Roberts called, Fireball Rolled a 7.

Barry, I saw the Joey Chitwood show at a no longer existing dirt race track in western Pa. called the Greater Pittsburgh Raceway, I also saw Buck Owens and the Buckaroo's when Buck was still nobody. They performed on the bed of an 18 wheeler parked in front of the stands

Barry, you probably saw these guys above, they are plain Jane's that Bill Robison painted the cylinder on one and I the other one. After Bill died I didn't have the heart to remove the paint so I painted the newer one also. If you've not owned a .30 or run one, you'll love it. The simple non metered carb on the .30 is flawless.

FlyerInOKC

My Feedback: (6)

A little paint never hurt a Saito. I remember Buck Owens he was very entertaining. He has been gone about 11 years now.

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

I saw Joey Chitwood in Rutland Vt, must have been in the late 70s or early 80s, I do remember he had a Suzuki RL 250 Trials bike he was doing wheelies on, I sure knew what that Suzuki was, my friends and I had Trials bikes back then, and my brother did have a RL,

my first Trials bike was the 4St Honda TL 250, my 2nd one was a brand-new 1979 Bultaco Sherpa T 350 (325cc), when talking about class, that Bultaco was soaked with it, she cost me $1,665,, I named her Joanna, after my Shop Math teacher

Jim

Rudolph Hart

Ah true love,why does it last longer for most blokes when it's a favourite motorcycle...maybe it's an aussie thing.Barry i agree with dave when it comes to the saito thirty,dave helped me get used to the different carby and it's tuning requirements.After i got that sorted it all looked easy in hindsight and they power bigger aeroplanes than they should.

Hobbsy

My Feedback: (102)

The Saito .30 is the little engine that could, and does.

I rode a Suzuki 250 trials bike once, it was very awkward feeling.

Buck Owens was a shrewd business man as well as a successful musician. He did not live crazy or die broke.

Rudolph Hart

Dave maybe the suzuki trials bike just felt awkward because it's so slow compared to the harley.

Rudolph Hart

Pssssst guys..dave is about to saddle up and skedaddle for a week so if you want to run riot now would as good as any,BUT i won't be doing that

blw

My Feedback: (3)

Dave- I saw Joey Chitwood at the old Lakewood Fairgrounds in Atlanta. I was probably 7 or 8 at the time but he was awesome. Any kind of racing got my dads attention. I remember going with him to a drive in to watch 3 racing movies on a Friday night when I was 4 or 5. He raced at Road Atlanta when it first opened. Bill Robison and I used to talk about my dad's Lotus as Bill knew quite lot about the Coventry Climax engine and my dad taught me about it. I certainly remember when Bill sent you engine back with the black paint. Didn't you say a few bad words about that?

Now that I'm on the mend I need to get out and run that FA-30. I've got a lot of antenna work to do in the attic too.

blw

My Feedback: (3)

Pete, it looks like we will be keeping our guns for a long time thanks to Mr. Trump and his picks for the court systems. So, while Dave's gone there won't be any warning shots. It's shoot to kill at first offenses this time.

the Wasp

My Feedback: (1)

well,, I'm disappointed with Horizon 's sale, I need another Saito engine and a set of retracts, I "would" have ordered them if they were on sale

Jim

Rudolph Hart

Dang! i was just gettin used to being here.. i've spent the weekend dusting off the old body armour.The label says it will take a direct hit from a .50cal handgun round but i don't see any comments about how the wearer will feel.

Did'nt know you've been a bit crook lately (feeling poorly in aussie terms) and wish you a speedy recovery.I imagine you'd need to be fairly fit to climb on a roof and do some aerial adjustments.This may sound strange but over here years ago,if people thought you were a bit 'off the grid' they would say 'he's tuning in to radio luxembergh',however that's spelt.Thanks for the bill robison sticky above this thread i've read it many times complete.As experience in running saito engines increase,so does your understanding of what he wrote.Apart from that he was a real character from what i read and rode some real neat motorcycles.Could you post a couple of those pics here?

SrTelemaster150

Wouldn't an external oil tank make it "dry sump"?

blw

My Feedback: (3)

Pete- a high end gun shop here had the Barret .50 sniper rifle with the matching computer system. Price was over 8K. That is a heavy gun but they let me hold it and check it out. The size of the magazines is unbelievable. I was an Infantryman when I first enlisted and I know what it's like carrying a M60 machine gun while marching, but that's nothing compared to the .50. Of course knowing you can get a first round kill a mile out probably makes the Barret feel a bit lighter.

I've been going downhill for about 4 years now. My heart has improved & is just slightly below the normal range, but I developed a bad case of neuropathy. Then gout developed to confuse things and double the pain. I've been a lab rat all this time trying different meds and different docs. Some are simply quacks imo. Some of the meds had side effects that knocked me out like 23 hours a day, The biggest improvement was a sleep study that showed I was stopping breathing about 50 times an hour. That little CPAP device has made me feel like a new man and I've found a very good pain management doc. I'm on a time release opioid that knocks out almost all of the neuropathy and has no side effects. I'm actually able to get up and do things like normal people now and it keeps getting better every day. Thanks for the kind words and interesting phrase for being looney or a few bricks shy of a full load. There's still limitations on my mobility and I have to be careful to know when I am having good days and when I need to be a couch potato and let things get better. My wife has been a champ thru this and she senses things before I do when it's a bad day or not.

Bill was a very interesting person. Imo he was very honest and didn't mind admitting when he was wrong. Others may have differing opinions, but I liked Bill. He could drive people crazy. Times were different back then. He really did all those tests he talks about. He checked cam lobes and kept track of wear and the kind of fuel used. He was notorious for using a handheld lens in front of his camera to get close up shots of engine parts. I'm glad we were able to piece together all of the Notes to make the sticky. I wish there was a way to patch Bill's name into the box that has mine as the poster but I was told the staff won't do that. W8YE spent a lot of time cleaning up the formatting we have now. He made it look much better with sections, etc.

acdii

Sure wish I could get something for my mid back pain. Its in the section of spine that they don't touch. Today it feels like burning radiating from the center of my back out to my shoulders. Getting old sucks, just when you obtain the wealth of knowledge to do things, your body says, uuh uh uh.

blw

My Feedback: (3)

I wrote that glowing report of being on the mend and I got hit hard today with pain everywhere. It's like none of the pain meds worked. Sorry to hear about your back. I had a bout of unbelievable back pain when I was in the service.

Pete- I'm lucky enough to not have to get on the roof for my antennas. My roof is slate so I can't get on it. But, my attic has a floor and a high pitch so I have a whole lot of room up there. I have 4 antennas at the moment but plan on a palm sized one for getting a/c data that is sent from satellite to aircraft with all the reports, etc. I will get line of sight traffic for a few hundred miles data sent by a/c. I have decoders for all that stuff.

Rudolph Hart

Bruce i never treat other peoples pain lightly,we all suffer it to one degree or another,in many different forms throughout our life spans.BUT why don't you buy a saito 125 then? it won't do anything for your back pain but it'll make one of your arms much stronger when you finish beating the 125 half to death after every time you fly it...c'mon you know i'm kidding you.