Another Guy From Missouri

[DCMoney]

Noticed theres quite a few Missouri guys with kits. I'm in St Charles County, just outside St Louis.

Been lurking for a month or so. Went through a bunch of the build logs and found out it was TheNuker that brought the goblin kits to my attention inadvertently. My best friend sent me a link to his goblin on Facebook Market place, did some research and now I'm now a few questions away from ordering a kit. Thanks to a lead from ctuinstra I have a 06 ss/sc donor that I'm almost finished stripping.

Background on myself, club raced motorcycles for a about 5 years, years of street riding before that. Had a kid in 2015, broke my collar bone in a race in 2016 and stopped riding. Finally started to get the urge to start riding again, started looking for a new bike, when I found out about the goblin I stopped looking at bikes.

Bikes were everything for a good chunk of my life, made some of the best friends Ill ever have through bikes, owed way too many at one time, several you cant see in this picture.

Last race bike was a KTM RC390.

Im not a small guy but I pushed these 390s hard.

My beloved 1198s, along with a kneedragging selfie.

Lots of bikes over the years.

What ended it all.

I do have a question regarding the goblin kit and its the main reason why I haven't ordered on yet, I cant decide between the standard frame and the extended. I'm 6', 36" waste (working on reducing that). Planned on using sliders on my seats so my wife can drive the car more comfortably, (she's 5"7 and had issues in our RZR's harnessed in and making full revolutions of the steering wheels in the stock seat location, seat slider fixed this). I've read a lot of people say they wish they had gone with the extended frame. The extended frame is what I'm leaning toward but any insight/experience would be greatly appreciated.

Extremely grateful for all the information on the forum and the videos Adam and Lonnie have put together. Not sure I would have started this journey without it all.

 

[jennam]

Welcome! Those are some badass bikes!

I went with the extended and I'm super glad I did. I'm 6'2" and I like having a little more room. I have the standard width Corbeau seats from DF with the hard mounts. I have my seat in the middle hole on the mount. I don't feel cramped up with the steering wheel or pedals.

 

[ctuinstra]

Welcome to the Goblin world! Glad to see you are starting a build thread.

I absolutely LOVE the KTM (for probably obvious reasons). Only we (Kaleb) were more of the four wheeled variant.

Back to the question at hand. I'm 6' and have about a 38" waist, yeah I know, I'm getting old and fat, but I still like to have some fun now and then. I just liked the look personally of the longer wheelbase first off. Also, I was afraid of the I-wish-I-would-have syndrome. We do use the extra, albeit small, room in behind the seats for packing some things such as insulated bag of drinks, tools, camera, and other things you would like to carry. Keep in mind, the only other space for items on the floorboards or in the passenger seat if no one is in it. Do I need the extra room for being 6", not exactly, but it's nice to have it. With this next build we are planning on putting in reclining seats just to be able to lay them back a little if we want. You can't do that with standard frame. I have drove Lonny's car and his is a standard length and there was nothing wrong with it!

If the shorter wheelbase, tighter turning radius, and lower cost are important to you, that's the way to go. Otherwise I know you will never say "I wish I would have ordered the shorter wheelbase".

Looking forward to your build! And I am so happy to know that car was given a second chance on life to be reborn as a Goblin.

 

[DCMoney]

Appreciate both of your opinions and feedback.

Seats are another item I haven't finalized my decision on.

 

[Brian74]

I’ve always wondered about how much the extended wheelbase affects the handling. My sandrail, being a long 4-seater, has a horrible turning radius at low speed but it is surprisingly predictable and stable at high speeds. Of course having extra room is always convenient as well.

 

[DCMoney]

Thanks again for the input, city extended frame has been ordered.

 

[Davidljones88]

Are you still in St. Louis?

 

[Rttoys]

I didn’t realized we had about the same setup. I race a ninja 300 (CMRA) and have my pride and joy and Ducati 996s, among other bikes.

 

[DCMoney]

Wow it doesn't feel like I ordered my kit 4 years ago.

Are you still in St. Louis?

Yep, St Peters to be exact.

I didn’t realized we had about the same setup. I race a ninja 300 (CMRA) and have my pride and joy and Ducati 996s, among other bikes.
View attachment 35825View attachment 35826

I swore we talked about it after you joined the forum. Ninja 250s is what got me into small bike racing, but after our org let 300s in our race divison the 250s were dead. The 390 was an ok bike if you put a ton of money into it. Would love to buy an old 996 or 998 one day. A 996 was the first Ducati I ever rode.

 

[Rttoys]

We probably did, but I have slept and drank since then. Mostly didn’t realize we had almost the same bikes.

I got into racing when the 300s were phasing out the 250s too, but this was when the R3 and KTM 390 were also coming into the game. I can’t hang with a 390 on my 300. Lucky only a few were being used, though. Now, a lot of people have abandoned the 300s for the ninja 400. They can’t compete in our ultra lightweight decision, but can in the 500 twin, where they are very competitive. I run my 300 in the 500 twin class and get stomped.

The 916 platform has exploded in prices recently. I could sell mine for as much as I bought it for 14 years ago. I need to service the forks and fix a running problem (again) so I can run COTA at thanksgiving.

 

[Davidljones88]

If you want meet up in St Louis (area) let me know!
[email protected]