autoteach

The problem that we have is we specialize in pre 90's, but pay the bills with engine rebuilds and post 90's maintenance. We have seen some early postwar BMW's, the boss has some great old honda's, and we have done major and minor work on 4 RC30's in the last 5 years. You have to pay the bills some how...

Little_Horse

Checked it out yesterday, no secret I love vintage stuff. Looks like a fun time too.

autoteach

We struggled to get a marketing person that would work with what we wanted. Sometimes it works the other way around some times.

autoteach

Well, the shirts are in. Anyone that hasn't ordered yet will have to do so through the site:
http://www.retrospeed.net
As for those who did, check your PM's.

captainchaos

Yeah that's what I figured...well it is a good looking site.

autoteach

some of the bikes that we have worked on. The side car is the coolest.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/retrospeed/

Hawkrider

Bill, in the gallery, if you load actual thumbnail pics instead of the real pic sized down then the pages will load MUCH faster. Just a recommendation to the webmaster from someone who built his own website.

autoteach

Thanks Greg,
I let "Megan the Webmaster" know. I am sure that she will appreciate the knowledge, I know that I always do. I also appreciate how the superhawk site functions in comparison to thumpertalk, as I cannot even show people this without it being considered advertising. Hope you are enjoying the new year,
Bill

RWhisen

Nice looking site. Looks like my old Interceptor made it to the picture page....

autoteach

not an interceptor. Those are rc30's. They are the real deal, not look alikes.

VTRsurfer

autoteach, Somehow I missed this thread the first time around.

Great website. Too bad you guys are so far away. I had an '83 R100RS for 15 years before buying my SuperHawk new in '05. Boy, are those easier to work on than a VTR. Valve adjustment in 20 minutes.

autoteach

For sure! I didn't like the pair system that they had on the RS's though, it clutters an already tiny airbox.

VTRsurfer

Yeah, and when it comes to power, handling and brakes, there's no comparison to a VTR. That's why I sold my RS less than a year after buying my SuperHawk.

And I got $800 more than I paid for it 15 years earlier in 1990.

autoteach

Awesome. My boss has the later model with the multi-blue on white with a corbin seat with blue piping. Did you have the red fade paint?

PUSHrod

From Florida it's a little bit of a reach to drop in, but I wish you success.

Do you reach out to the old machinery community in any way? While I was on a twenty year old Bimmer I found a shop's business card stuck to my bike soliciting my patronage. Their effort got my response.

I always felt the warm fuzzies when in a sole proprietor's place as opposed to a mega dealer where they are always pushing for a dollar count per visit.

nuhawk

As we move into a new decade just watch the dealers further remove themselves from the 90's machines. I had a shop tell me two years ago - "we don't work on anything normally aspirated anymore."

OK

Ethanol is going to be a challenge to these older machines but from what I can gather it's going to be more of a maintenance issue rather than a performance issue.

Either way, expertise from the early years is going to be hard to find and expensive when you do.

Beats the **** out of self-proclaimed gurus and hacks.

VTRsurfer

Mine was Pearl White with red and grey pinstriping. My favorite was the Charcoal Grey Fade though. I bought it from my former girlfriend in 1990. She had bought it new in '84 and was moving out of state.

Had to do the valves at 62,000. I couldn't believe how eroded they were. The margins (what margins) were like razor blades.

inderocker

Niiice set of RC30's! I would love to get my hands on one of those and an RC45. The GSXR is defined a nice bike... not sure in belongs in the vintage section though.... but of course, you guys knew that already.

autoteach

We are spreading by word of mouth, and at that have been having some difficulty keeping up with the work. Last month was our biggest month ever, this month is going to be bigger. Mind you that this is over three years in the making.

As for the GSXR, it is part of the entire collection. All of the bikes in those pics are owned by a father and son(has a family) that we do work for. The son does track days on the RC and GSXR and prefers the older bike. He has more than three, one is in build state, and he has enough parts to make another roller with extras.

Vtrsurfer-
He also has a r90s, which he keeps reminding me that it won daytona, while the shawk did not. He is a good amount of fun. We are heading to the ice tomorrow for radar runs with the 1980 yamaha 440srx. Happy motoring,
Bill

VTRsurfer

I always heard that the R90S had a better engine, since both the R90 and R100 were punched out R80's. And the R90S being much lighter would no doubt handle better, but I never have ridden one.

I did however enjoy being full faired for 15 years. I could ride home from work in the rain (35 miles) and the only parts that got wet were my feet and shoulders.

autoteach

He has the HUGE windshield on his 100, you can ride in any temp you want. As for the 90, it came with much larger delorto carbs, whereas the 100 had bings. The Delorto cards have accelerator pumps (bings are cv) and it uses quite a bit of gas if you are on and off the throttle. I keep trying to get him to do dual plug heads, bumped compression, lightened flywheel (it looks like it is off a jeep), braced swingarm (ala daytona) and just make it the fun bike. The problem is he likes to tour with both of them. The sidecar rig in the pics is a blast. We went for a spin and I am pretty sure that you could do touring in that no problem.

autoteach

Customer just finished 4th RC...