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So, attendees of Jet Blast, and probably The Sortie as well, have seen the results of how I've spent my winters for the past 10 years = building skis for our charity raffles at Jet Blast.
Many of those builds have been documented here.
But I retired from organizing Jet Blast after our 10th event, JB21. I'm still helping the new organizers as needed, but now the raffle ski builds are on them. So this is basically my first winter in a decade where I'm not building a ski for next year's Jet Blast raffle.
I guess I'm a glutton for this stuff
The story with this 08 SJ is interesting, at least to me, and I may need some help on this one - just letting everyone know in advance.
This 08 is owned by Dave C, one of the Minnesota guys, but also a regular Jet Blast attendee. Dave is older than me, and a badazz. How do I know this? Well, Dave is missing half of one of his legs. He rides with a prosthetic leg. I repeat, he rides a stand-up with a prosthetic leg. Even more interesting, Dave lost his leg in a motorcycle accident, something like 4 or 5 years ago, something like a month before the Sortie that August. He didn't even have his prosthetic leg for that Sortie, but he still showed up and freakin rode, on ONE leg, that whole weekend.
I told you Dave is a badazz.
But there is a "problem", lol, as this SJ is, well, how can I say it....a bit of a mess. I will document all the stuff I find along the way here, but the story here kind of goes like this:
1) I see Dave regularly at the Sortie and Jet Blast.
2) I see Dave spending WAY more time with his hood off and wrenching than I see him riding.
3) I try to lend some help, but me being me, all I see is a mess that needs to be completely taken apart, uncobbled, and put back together.
Keep in mind Dave lives 6 hours from me.
I want to see Dave enjoying riding more, and I know he needs some help with his ski.....and I know he isn't going to ask for the help. I get that. I'm the same way.
So I did some thinking and asking around. Nobody local to Dave was available to really tackle this project. And now that I'm "retired", I have free time galore, lol, right?
Time for some fun.
Dave, like me, shows up days early for the Sortie most years - the Wednesday crew . Gives time for us old guys to relax and catch up.
I approach Dave upon arrival at the Sortie (this past August), after a few beverages into the first night's campfire...
"Hey Dave, mind if I say some stuff to you that might offend you?"
"Of course not, Paul, go for it."
Short version = Your SJ is a cobbled mess, I'm sick of watching you struggle with it all the time, it makes me sad, so I'm going to take it this winter and go through it completely, fix all the issues, and it won't cost you anything.
So it's not really a raffle ski, but the concept here is similar = make a ski happy again and get it into the hands of a happy and worthy owner.
Dave happily accepted my offer.
He dropped off the ski by me this weekend.
So far all I did was check compression, winterize it, then pull the battery tray and tank - and take a bunch of "before" pictures.
It's a big bore motor, not 100% on the bore size yet, but Dave says 845cc. B-pipe, 195psi front, 190psi rear...and some other goodies. More on the details as I get to them.
Really won't dive fully into this one until I finish the 90 SN I'm already redoing.
Pictures coming.
As for help I may need, I'm assuming I may need some parts here or there. We will see. I'm not really planning to do anything cosmetic to the ski. I just want to make it mechanically correct and solid. But if you're local and want to help on this one, feel free to volunteer your time. I will hand you the tools
Many of those builds have been documented here.
But I retired from organizing Jet Blast after our 10th event, JB21. I'm still helping the new organizers as needed, but now the raffle ski builds are on them. So this is basically my first winter in a decade where I'm not building a ski for next year's Jet Blast raffle.
I guess I'm a glutton for this stuff
The story with this 08 SJ is interesting, at least to me, and I may need some help on this one - just letting everyone know in advance.
This 08 is owned by Dave C, one of the Minnesota guys, but also a regular Jet Blast attendee. Dave is older than me, and a badazz. How do I know this? Well, Dave is missing half of one of his legs. He rides with a prosthetic leg. I repeat, he rides a stand-up with a prosthetic leg. Even more interesting, Dave lost his leg in a motorcycle accident, something like 4 or 5 years ago, something like a month before the Sortie that August. He didn't even have his prosthetic leg for that Sortie, but he still showed up and freakin rode, on ONE leg, that whole weekend.
I told you Dave is a badazz.
But there is a "problem", lol, as this SJ is, well, how can I say it....a bit of a mess. I will document all the stuff I find along the way here, but the story here kind of goes like this:
1) I see Dave regularly at the Sortie and Jet Blast.
2) I see Dave spending WAY more time with his hood off and wrenching than I see him riding.
3) I try to lend some help, but me being me, all I see is a mess that needs to be completely taken apart, uncobbled, and put back together.
Keep in mind Dave lives 6 hours from me.
I want to see Dave enjoying riding more, and I know he needs some help with his ski.....and I know he isn't going to ask for the help. I get that. I'm the same way.
So I did some thinking and asking around. Nobody local to Dave was available to really tackle this project. And now that I'm "retired", I have free time galore, lol, right?
Time for some fun.
Dave, like me, shows up days early for the Sortie most years - the Wednesday crew
. Gives time for us old guys to relax and catch up.I approach Dave upon arrival at the Sortie (this past August), after a few beverages into the first night's campfire...
"Hey Dave, mind if I say some stuff to you that might offend you?"
"Of course not, Paul, go for it."
Short version = Your SJ is a cobbled mess, I'm sick of watching you struggle with it all the time, it makes me sad, so I'm going to take it this winter and go through it completely, fix all the issues, and it won't cost you anything.
So it's not really a raffle ski, but the concept here is similar = make a ski happy again and get it into the hands of a happy and worthy owner.
Dave happily accepted my offer.
He dropped off the ski by me this weekend.
So far all I did was check compression, winterize it, then pull the battery tray and tank - and take a bunch of "before" pictures.
It's a big bore motor, not 100% on the bore size yet, but Dave says 845cc. B-pipe, 195psi front, 190psi rear...and some other goodies. More on the details as I get to them.
Really won't dive fully into this one until I finish the 90 SN I'm already redoing.
Pictures coming.
As for help I may need, I'm assuming I may need some parts here or there. We will see. I'm not really planning to do anything cosmetic to the ski. I just want to make it mechanically correct and solid. But if you're local and want to help on this one, feel free to volunteer your time. I will hand you the tools
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