haha, Iām down to guinea pig
Friends donāt let friends get on I-70
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Hey all, Iām Lucas Wilson. About 6 years ago I was working as the head mechanic at House of Motorrad in Boulder, then moved to Philly for a few years to work as an automotive engineer. I moved back to the Boulder area about 8 months ago and now work as a robotics engineer in Erie.
Iāve always been into weird bikes and have definitely spent more time wrenching than riding, which Iām hoping to change this year. In the past Iāve built and owned a turbocharged Ninja 500 and a KTM 450 with a GSXR600 motor swap. Right now Iām deep into a 2012 Ducati Monster 696 that Iām converting into a dirtbike / adventure bike. Itās got YZ450 forks, seat, tank, plastics, and wheels, a KTM 690 swingarm, and a ton of custom parts. Hoping to have it wrapped up before riding season.
Outside of motorcycles Iām always working on random engineering projects, which I post on my self-hosted site wilsonfabrication.com. I also host a few other sites for former mechanics and friends and I bet some of you have visited them without knowing.
Other than the project bike, I ride a KTM 350 EXC-F, and my girlfriend has a KTM 250 XCF. She started riding last season, so weāve mostly stuck to local trails like Switzerland and West Mag, but we did an awesome trip to Salida last summer.
Looking forward to meeting some of you and getting out on the trails!
Pic is of the dirtcati before I started swapping the yz plastics, tank and seat over
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Welcome, man. That Dirtcati is pretty awesome. There are a few other Erie-based members up in here, myself included. Reach out if youāre ever feeling like a local hang, pump track outing, or IMI visit.
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Iād love to, Iāve never actually been on a motocross track before haha. Mostly just trail rides but I would love to try it out some day. Iām also a huge fan of garage hangās
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You got me thinkingā¦ I have a bunch of project builds in various states of completion currently but seeing your Dirtcati makes me want to build an off road Hawk GT 650. I have two, one that has been sitting in my trailer for years. Looking forward to meeting you!
I was waiting for you to find this postā¦
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Damn - these projects are wicked! Welcome aboard!
Dear lord I need to know how that Monstdirt handles.
I love the hawk 650, I actually considered that bike for this build but couldnāt find one cheap enough. The redbull sponsored 650 build by Aaron Colton is one of the cleanest bikes Iāve ever seen
Its got the turning radius of a small yacht, and the massive ducati gas tank plus dipped seat make it really hard to shift your weight around so honestly its a challenge to ride offroad. Iām still working on swapping the yz450 seat and tank over, and once thats done I think itāll be way more manageable
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Youāve come this far, just whip up a new frame, subframe, and tank. Come on.
From a cultural perspective, I love the idea of hybrid-ing uses and seeing what the Frankenstein youāve just made, even if functionally everything is compromised.
I saw your inline 4 crammed into the KTM frame at Motoraad a few years ago. It is Iām sure less than performant from the POV of the intended use of itās individual donor parts, but AWESOME as a fabrication flex and an indulgence of the āwhat ifā and āfuck it why notā impulses, which is something that I think we need more of. Pure fun. I have a picture of it on my phone to this day.
Also, the BCADV people-connecting machine is working well, even across events that are years apart. Pretty cool.
Honestly fabricating a new subframe and tank is the right way to do it, but so much more intimidating. Iāve done an aluminum tank in the past and its a ton of work and I donāt have the tools or maybe experience and patience to do it properly.
The ktm 600 was cool but really poor execution. I was time limited since it was my engineering degree final project at CU. Iāve always wanted to do it again but better and after finding this crashed monster 696 for $1200 I decided to give it another shot. Below are pictures of the 3d scans seeing how the gsxr600 motor fits in the 450 frame, and the horribly ugly final build
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The CB tank is the cherry on top
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Lucas! Glad to see you here!
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HI Iām Nicole and sometimes known in the cycling circles as Nikki D. Iāve been riding moto since I was 7 and it serves as a background for everything Iāve been able to accomplish athletically. I had a successful career as a professional World Cup downhill mtbār and cyclocross racer for 20 years. Since retirement I have just been having fun on my KTM 300 in the desert and around here on tech singletrack. Recently, since Iām getttin older 
I decided to start exploring ADV. I ride a KTM 690 because I still like to get roudy and sometimes can get very bored on dirtroads. I also help guide with a group here in Colorado called Reddermoto.com and am doing my best to mentor as many women as I can in this sport. After all it has given me so much. Iām also a single mother of 2 awesome older kids and a real estate agent. Iām excited to be a part of this crew and meet as many new fellow moto nerds as possible. Hit me up on the socials @Nicoledukenow IG.
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Welcome, Nicole! Look forward to catching up after the upcoming Mexico trip, and getting out on some rides this year.
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Iām gonna re-introduce myself my nameās Dana. For those that are/were on AdvRider aka Sugardust. Iām interested in riding what folks would consider B/C routes and doing more on road/dirt/road touring - not that I havenāt ridden mucho dirt/single track over the years, just things hurt a lot more now 
(66yo lady). Iāve got a 890 Adv (Std version) and a Honda 300 Rally now but have owned everything from a 89 Yamaha IT200 to 05 Honda CRF250X to '13 KTM 250 XCW to BMW F650GS and 1250 GS. Health issues have kept me away from riding but Iāve bought the Butler best dirt roads in Colorado and Wyoming and plan to ride as many as I can this summer and kind of looking for other like minded folks. I live in the Firestone if anyone is interested in riding around here. Thanks all!
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Thank you and canāt wait to hear tales of your trip!
Hi Dana. Im not too far from you in Lafayette. Letās try n get out for a day ride in the next few weeks!
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