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Shugtech Weekend Quading Trip At Loch Eck

Marty — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:59:22 +0000

Loaded up with the Apache RLX 250 ax Road Legal, Des with his road Legal 250 & Marty with his Yamaha Blaster on the trailer,

We headed off to Gourock to catch our ferry across to Hunters Key in Dunoon, were we started our hunt for a good camp site for the night, without this there was no place to dump our trailer and get the BBQ on the go…

We headed North along the coast of Loch Eck trying to take in the amazing scenery all around us while trying to keep our attention on the road,

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It wasnt long before we took our turn off for Ardentinny then not long after that we started to venture off road, onto the vast amount of dirt tracks roads across the top of the hills,

We setup our base camp, Des decided to made a few tweaks to his twist throttle & Change it to a thumb attachment, after a bit of messing about it wasnt to be so back on went the twist throttle,
once everyhthing was fine we left our basecamp and headed off to venture around the array of tracks, The scenery around this area of Scotland is some of the best you’ll get!

The First days ride seen us accend to around 776ft above see level, which i though was amazing, then the ride back to base camp was even more fun only because you knew were the tracks were heading and there wasnt much need to drop of the throttle around those little sticky corners, were the other side is a drop to certain death! Our camp fire that night was the best anyone could have asked for while camping, the slice rolls and coffee was on our tents and sleeping gear was all sorted, ready to move in the morning with little ease…

The morning after shug went to the shop which was only a 30 mile round trip, but the milk and fresh rolls were a god send, while the breakfast was cooking i took the blaster a little run through a field to get it warmed up a little for the day ahead, BUT 3/4 of a mile away were the hill dropped off to a water crossing my engine decided to make a rattling noise just as i reached the top of the crossing it cut out..Much pushing later and crawling along the track I got the blaster back to the base camp were i explained to Shug and Des the sound it made, but a quick fire up and it was obvious that my piston was fried! Gutted!

We packed up and decided to move camp to another location were we could get a better look inside the head, the car and trailer was loaded up and the guys set off with me at the back, when i reached the end of the dirt track, shug was standing there with his hands in his head with a look of disapointment on it, thats when i rolled up and he told me that his clutch was gone… the sound it made as the clutch tried to engage was all we needed to hear and we knew our weekend trip was over.

In the End Shug had to be tow’d at the back of the trailer all the way to the boat and home were the engine was stripped down and fixed in about 55minutes… job done, Shug and Des was rolling again, The engine in the blaster was taken out and the head pulled off in seconds to reveal what we all knew, a large section of the piston had broken off into lots of little pieces this ment a whole engine strip down to get rid of any metal shards which could be still loose inside the engine block! a short trip on ebay got me a wisco piston for about 70bux, In the meantime this is a good situation to get things fixed and ready to go for the next ShugTech adventure………

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Quad Day Out – Loch Thom & Greenock Donnies

ShugTech — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 21:16:32 +0000

ShugTech Visits Loch Thom on the outskirts of Greenock, to test out the new Apache RLX250, This road Legal quad, with its 250cc automatic engine will take you were you want to go about town or on the hill..

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We travelled up over the hills of Greenock to the Gryffe reservoir then on to Loch Thom tackling some rough and hilly terrain along the way…
Travelling along on with me, was Des on the Suzuki LT250r Quad-racer, which has just been fully restored back to its former glory, also along for the ride was Marty G on the Yamaha Blaster 200cc quad,

After much dust track riding we heading back along the hills, and made our way to the Inverclyde MX Club located up in Greenock Donnies, were paddy with his Minolta Dimage7 SLR camera we decided to get some good shots happening,,,

Check out some of the pictures from our days adventure…

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Another Honda CR 80 Re-build Part 1

Marty — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:53:28 +0000

Well Shug got his hands on another Honda CR 80 bike, the frame is already away to get powder coated,

Included with the bike was a few boxes containing no less than 2 engines, which were all completely stripped down to nothing,this gave shug a chance to start his magic, working on each side casing for the bike, he started off by de-greasing all the parts using a small toothbrush to get into the nooks and crannies,

box of bits

After a few hours, lots of de-greaser, some spray paint, the engine started to take shape,

Nice Spray Job

after the paint had dried a little it was time to swap out those standard looking bolts, and replace them with the nice new purple anodized bolts

nice new Bolts

close up of the small dent in the side casing…

new bolts

Shugtech go to Clydebank with the Quads

Marty — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:47:07 +0000

We had a trailer, in fact we ended up with 2 trailers.. We had our ride, a few minor adjustments to each quad, make sure all was well; especially with my 150 import, Shug re-done the valves, carb strip down, new exhaust port drilled and fixed, it was the test day for me, this day would either make me burn it or keep it..

Sunday 23rd February 2009

We loaded up the trailer with Paddys KLF 300 in front with the rest of the quads and Shug’s pit bike on at the end and well secured using a massive pulley clamp we were sorted.

We headed up to World of Golf in Clydebank, this is were we would meet Dougall riding one of Shugs
resent projects the Ram 100 quad in the car park at the rear of the driving range(just next to the five-a-side)

Once we had the bike/quads of the trailer we got kitted up and ready to roll, the paths around the back of the driving range offer the chance to get the quad opened up but not much, with hundreds of twists and turns along various paths through tree runs down gravel paths and up steep hills, once you get to the top of the hills just by the large radio tower thingy theres a small gravel football pitch, this is great if you want to race the corners or try some various wheelie action,

if you follow the paths away down to the bottom keeping to the driving range fence line you’ll come to a small burn crossing, well paddy thought it was small charging the KLF 300 through the muddy pit, but”!” the 300 dosnt have 4×4 so it ended up with us getting the toe rope out and dragging the beast from the muddy depths..

Once across & continue up and over the small incline keeping to the fence still, this is were you can get the quads head kicked in, booting it up this very long grassy/muddy path gets the dirt flying and tests out the suspension, I know cause i was thrown about like a used scud-mag, right up to the point were the main road is in view and you start to slow down for the tight muddy right turn at the bottom taking you right up onto another track, follow this all the way up and you’ll find a small 1/2 shape hut or (drinking den) that looks back down over the small valley and what a view it was on Sunday, with the sun just above the horizon making it a brilliant day for quadding…

My only wish was to get more pictures, but everyone was having such a magic time we just couldn’t be arsed.

oh and also for young Marty W to get something that lasts and dosnt brake with excessive force or use!

Martys Custom Ram

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Quad Day out Blaney 50 Ram 100 KLF 300 QuadZilla 100

Marty — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 16:08:30 +0000

After 2 weeks of planning and preparation the day was upon us,

“The Quad Day Out“

We had four quads with us on the day, these are listed below,

The plan was simple head up the hills & follow the old Greenock line of Roman wells and see if we could make it to a old cart trail which carries over the Greenock hills to a set of little old farmhouse’s just next to the Gryffe Reservoir, which is were my bro Marty, myself along with and a few friends would spend the autumn, winter months playing hooky from school.

On this day we would see how far these little babies could take us, We knew from the start that it was going to be a challenge just to get to the first Roman well.

The Quads

Shug: Ram 100 – (first from left) Marty G: Blaney 50

Marty W: QuadZilla 100 Paddy: KLF 300

The Route – 3d Video walk through below

Paddy meets Marty W: bike track from Port Glasgow to Greenock.

Paddy & Marty W meet Shug & Marty G old field at Greenock East.

#1 Off Road – Make our way to the start point of our Trip.

#2 Get across the burn @ Whinhill Golf Club.

#3 Smoke Time at the Gravel pit.

#4 First Gate: get the gate open (which we though was locked ).

#5 View point: looking over Greenock “Time to fix paddy’s Carb”.

#6 Get total off-road no tracks, time to push it…

#7 First Roman Well, just an Amazing view over the river Clyde.

#8 Try make it over the Gap, head up the hill to the 2nd Gate.

#9 Second Gate – The old dirt track to the farmhouse.

#10 Big Cow: The biggest Highland Toffee Cow ive ever seen.

#11 The Third Roman Well – Again just a massive metal lid on top.

#12 The First Old Farm house – Good memories there.

#13 Fourth Roman Well – Covered over now!

#14 We Get to the Second old Farm house and the end of the journey

#15 Check out the video – heading back to the first Old Farm house.

Beginning the Journey

The start of the day, Marty W had been busy preparing him self getting ready for that day, not by getting boots, water proofs or anything ready, Nope, he was in the kitchen cooking up a batch of his favorite Scottish stovies for later, only because every thing’s been ready for week’s, just waiting with excitement!
after which he headed to the garage get the quadZilla 100 ready to go, muchines & juice in his toolbox , secured on the back of the quad on his new rack he was ready, (little did he know that 1/4 way into the trip on some heavy terrain, the weight of the gear would inevitably bend his rack and in turn snap his frame)

Paddy on the other Hand was in the process of getting himself & the KLF 300 monster quad kitted out just about ready to go, with some fuel issues he decided to head off, taking the trip from the top of Port Glasgow along the bike track to meet up with an over excited Marty buzzing about waiting with anticipation,

Around 11am that morning Paddy & Marty W meet up with Shug and Marty G in Greenock at the end of the bike trail, across in the big field, from there everyone, (all had a smile from ear to ear) headed to our First check point on our Quad day out, have a look at our video with a full run down below of the each stage of Trip along with a full Gallery of all the pictures we took that day (minus the ones from Shugs camera which he lost, did i mention that before? !!!MARTY FOUND IT – 4 days later)

Trip Run Through

#1 Off Road – Make our way to the start point of our Trip

The Starting Point of the trip was to get all the Quads to the point were its off-road, without the use of any trailers and having to cross a few roads to get there, Our route was to make it to the top of Strone farm, there is a cut off which will lead up the hill to the Whinhill Golf club, and what is known as the (beez-dam) beathdam.

#2 Get across the burn @ Whinhill Golf Club

This crossing wouldn’t be so bad if the water, that hardly ever runs down it, just so happens to be doing so that day, and 50cc quad that im on just didn’t have the height so I got wet, apart from that im sure most will find it easy enough, and for any others if you continue up the right side of the water there is a small bridge also a ramp down for 4×4′s etc, but if the waters running hard then don’t expect to cross there.

#3 Smoke Time at the Gravel pit

After making it across the burn, theres a few mounds of gravel etc this makes for a nice stop along the way to test out the quads aerodynamics & sturdiness, after a smoke and some juice it was on to the first gate.

#4 First Gate: get the gate open (which we though was locked )

Driving around the dam is just amazing view looking down over the river Clyde, once you get to the first gate (which we though would have been locked) through the gate “REMEMBERING TO CLOSE IT” onwards towards the Waterhouse.

#5 View point: looking over Greenock “Time to fix paddy’s Carb”

At this stage paddy’s KLF started to die on him again as a result of a fuel problem, so the toolbox was whipped off and they set about taking off the carb, giving it a clean out and having a look around the hoses to make sure they wer’t bent or anything, after getting it sorted (which the fuel cap wasn’t letting in any air)

#6 Get total off-road no tracks, time to push it

At this point we knew it was going to be tough, with lots of rough we knew it was going to be a uphill struggle, (boom boom) once you find your line, basically try keep the power on lean back, ride the rough and you’ll get there, (well thats what I kept telling myself)

#7 First Roman Well, just an Amazing view over the river Clyde

Once you get to the first Roman well you cant imagine the view your get, just amazing, even though the well was covered over with large metal plates,

we just couldn’t resist trying to pop a stone under the cover, just to test the depth of this thing, it was when we were growing up we would visit this well, which at that time was a large round wall, about 7 or 8 feet height, scalable for a 13 year old in seconds, we would do the same drop a stone see how long it would take, and it take a long time!!

#8 Try make it over the Gap, head up the hill to the 2nd Gate

Again this Gap isn’t that much different from the first one at the Dam, although this time there is rough track to get down to it, and a shallow stream to cross its the getting up the other side thats more of a problem, best thing to do was get your line and hammer it down#9 Second Gate – The old dirt track to the farmhouse

just before we got to the gap, Marty W decided to brake his throttle cable, and got stuck in a ditch, after paddy tried to tow him out (Marty just got a Face full of crap from paddy’s wheels) we eventually got it on level ground (kind of) he started to rip of his throttle, then had a brain wave to use his 2 stroke cable as a throttle, but only one problem the cable was too small, solution: take off the throttle from the right side of the quad and turn it upside down and stick it back on the left, leaving no brakes, and a nightmare of a journey for Marty, but turned out not to be that bad a ride, once he got used to it…

Once we got to this gate, that was us at the easy part, this old track has been here for decades, leading over the hill from the old farm houses over looking the Gryfe, im prity sure its an old horse track, that would be used to get to the main town of Greenock, if anyone has other ideas let me know!!! on the track the quad felt at home, hammering down the icy dirt track full rev was just amazing,

#10 Big Cow: The biggest Highland Toffee Cow ive ever seen

I just had to include this, not just to have a pin on the map, but on the way back we came across the biggest Highland toffee cow ive ever seen, if Shug didn’t lose the camera there would be a great picture of it here.

#11 The Third Roman Well – Again just a massive metal lid on top

The 3rd Roman well was a welcome sight as you’re hammering it around the corner after a nice shicain through a massive patch of icy water, you would have seen it coming round but not anymore, like the others its been turned into a large metal sheet.

#12 The First Old Farm house – Good memories there

Riding down the old farm horse trail I got a flash from my child hood climbing the tress and playing in the clapped out banger, which is currently crushed under one of the outer walls of what would have been one of the farmers sheds,
The main grounds are still there, you can make out the various rooms which would have once stood in its place,

the old sheds were we would build our gang huts with cozy fireplaces, which would keep us warm on those crazy, metal snow filled days trekking over the hills, all because we didn’t want to go to school.

#13 Fourth Roman Well – Covered over now!

Connecting the old horse trail to the next farm house is a small ride round, passing through what was the muddiest part of the trip, the next roman well can be seen down to the left of the track, but again this has been covered over, so on through the next gate to the second old farm house.

#14 We Get to the Second old Farm house and the end of the journey

The second old farm house is much the same pile of rubble as the first, but still prity noticeable on the landscape, lots of old farming equipment is spew’d all around this small area of land which is poised right on the bridge of the hill over looking south down to the Gryfe reservoir.

From here we headed back up to the first farm house, and proceeding to head back the way we came up, trying to get the lines down hill which was used when going up… this became a hard thing to do, with so many bumps on the way down it was a rough ride.

#15 Check out the video – heading back to the first Old Farm house

This video clip is right at the end of our main video above, Video Created with:

Maps: Visual Earth

Edit: Windows movie maker

Music: Comfortably Numb: “Pink Floyd”

This day out was one of the best on record so far… fell free to leave your comments and thoughts, I hope to be doing this again real soon, big thanks to all the guys, Shug for given me a shot of the Blaney, Marty for making me laugh so much, paddy for riding large and not running me over when he pass’s…

Frankenstein 8hp Honda GX240 Homemade Gokart Test Run

Marty — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:23:42 +0000

Well after a few weeks, lots and lots of work done, the Off-road buggy/go-kart, is ready for the test run’s to begin, after waiting a while for the brake line to come, to get the back brakes working, to at least a stage were i though it would be ok

How does it look now

video after the break…

First day Test run Video…

Feel free to leave your Comments

Stage 1

Stage 2

Frankenstein 8hp honda gx240 homemade gokart part 2

ShugTech — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 12:16:07 +0000

Well after a few weeks of building, fixing, welding, i thought I would post some more pictures of how the build is coming along…

Once i get a few more pictures of this stage ill get them posted…

there is a few to show the engine being de-restricted by removing the Governor from the engine, and the side casing totaly removed with all the guts hanging out…

after a good clean, some silicone round the gasket, and a top up of some fresh oil, it was ready to go again..

marty on the Ram100 Quad

ShugTech — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:49:33 +0000

I just wanted to post this Picture that paddy took of Marty on his ram 100 quad, this quads got a big bore carb, and a new set of renthals, the picture was taken from quite a distance away and zoomed in, looks magic, Marty tearing up the drive as usual!

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Honda GX240 8hp homemade offroad gokart

ShugTech — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 22:26:39 +0000

Well heres the start of it, rescued from the local scrap-heap, this rolling chassis was laying there and i felt bad about just walking past it, I knew the first time i seen it it could be something, but after pondering for a while I drove off thinking what a waste, it wasn’t until later that afternoon when the guys showed up, we talked about it and decided f**k it, and drove all the way back and shoehorned it into the back of the car….

After the thing was unloaded back at the shed, young Marty showed up and mentioned he had an old (when i say old i mean, laying in the back garden under a pile of shite for 3 years old i mean old) Honda GX240 generator that had the engine but was battered about a bit, we thought its worth a look, but we were just dying to see how it would look with some kind of engine on the back, after close inspection of this piece of watery crap, we says again, f**k it and took it back to the shed, I wish that we took photos or a video when I ripped the engine apart to see what kind of mess it was in, the spark plug was missing so this as you could imagine after being left out in the elements for years was just a gaping hole for the water to get in, and by f**k it got in… the barrel and the outlet ports were full of rusty muck, we managed to strip it down and get it all working, the internals were fine once it was all cleaned up…

After the re-build, we fired some fresh petrol into the carb, and believe it or not it started on the first pull, and pured away nicely! superb, I now had a fully working 8hp beast of an engine to graft onto old Frankenstein. That got me onto thinking about stopping the beast, so I fitted a brake disk from the rear wheel of a Kawasaki Zephyr 550 onto the rear axle! worked a treat, just need to mount the caliper, run a brake hose and fit the master cylinder onto the front of old Frankie.

A few weeks and it should be tearing up the grass!

The images below is basically step in the process of how this crazy pile of metal will be transformed from a pile of metal and a few wheels to a lean mean drifting machine…

Ill keep you updated with a few piccys as I proceed.

Quad Flip – Inverclyde MX Club

Marty — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:03:58 +0000

Sunday afternoon standing at our fantastic location on the quad track, we were watching big martin rip it up on the wee mans big quad, just as he began his run round the top corner the quad wanted to go another way from his body and caused it to flip..

video after the break.

after inspection it was noticed that the throttle had been snapped clean off, so with no way to throttle away the quad just sat there until the ideal solution was put in place, the use of a bungie cord and some tie wraps.

The Inverclyde mx club is a Scottish based Moto X, MotoCross club based at the top of Greenock with lots of various paths, tracks and courses to attempt, the guys at the club are always on hand to give some support if needed…

Shug: Ram 100 – (first from left)	Marty G: Blaney 50
Marty W: QuadZilla 100	Paddy: KLF 300

Shug Tech » News

Shugtech Weekend Quading Trip At Loch Eck

Something Else to Read?

Quad Day Out – Loch Thom & Greenock Donnies

Something Else to Read?

Another Honda CR 80 Re-build Part 1

Related Posts

Shugtech go to Clydebank with the Quads

Martys Custom Ram

Related Posts

Quad Day out Blaney 50 Ram 100 KLF 300 QuadZilla 100

The Quads

The Route – 3d Video walk through below

Beginning the Journey

Trip Run Through

#1 Off Road – Make our way to the start point of our Trip

#2 Get across the burn @ Whinhill Golf Club

#3 Smoke Time at the Gravel pit

#4 First Gate: get the gate open (which we though was locked )

#5 View point: looking over Greenock “Time to fix paddy’s Carb”

#6 Get total off-road no tracks, time to push it

#7 First Roman Well, just an Amazing view over the river Clyde

#8 Try make it over the Gap, head up the hill to the 2nd Gate

#10 Big Cow: The biggest Highland Toffee Cow ive ever seen

#11 The Third Roman Well – Again just a massive metal lid on top

#12 The First Old Farm house – Good memories there

#13 Fourth Roman Well – Covered over now!

#14 We Get to the Second old Farm house and the end of the journey

#15 Check out the video – heading back to the first Old Farm house

Related Posts

Frankenstein 8hp Honda GX240 Homemade Gokart Test Run

Stage 1

Stage 2

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Frankenstein 8hp honda gx240 homemade gokart part 2

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marty on the Ram100 Quad

Something Else to Read?

Honda GX240 8hp homemade offroad gokart

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Quad Flip – Inverclyde MX Club

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