The False Neutral

Bultakenstein is dead. The rebuilt Frontera motor has been sold and shipped to its new owner.

Back in February, I was struggling to justify the cost of a new exhaust system (at LEAST $700 or more to do correctly), which led to a lengthy discussion with my wife. She said, “you don’t seem to be having fun with it. If you don’t want to finish it, don’t feel as though you need to see it through out of obligation.” Wise woman.

The Bride—that was 100% fun. It was a silly lark that came together fairly quickly, and I enjoyed every minute of it. In contrast, the Bultaco has always been A Most Serious Thing. It was supposed to be my magnum opus, my moto-destiny. To be a success, it would have to be scintillating to ride, stunningly engineered, and as beautifully finished as a museum exhibit. But the quality of everything I did along the way always ended up a small measure below my fantasy expectations.

Screw that.

When I listed the engine on Ebay, I half expected to feel all—"Aah, so sad I never got to complete my bucket list item!" But you know what? I'm really not. I am kind of relieved to have it gone. The only reason to keep going was so that I could eventually say that I finally owned the badass Bultaco I'd dreamt of as a 29-year-old. At this stage of life, that long-gone version of myself doesn't get to dictate my choices. I no longer WANT a loud, raucous, open-class two-stroke street bike. Assuming that I built it and went through the hassles of titling, licensing, and tuning it, I wouldn't be able to enjoy riding it much due to my arthritic right wrist.

Leaving it behind at the FedEx counter felt sorta like a Viking funeral.

- Pete

I had promised to post a YouTube link to the latest False Neutral reunion, and I just realized I never did. So, here it is.

False Neutral Live Feed #4 🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://streamyard.com/pal/d/5738500035575808

Live Stream this afternoon, 7PM Eastern, 4PM Pacific! All three of us will be on to discuss our recent trip to The Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum.

Having just visited the museum he created, we are profoundly sorry to hear of Mr. Barber’s passing.

We are deeply saddened by the passing of George Barber. He built more than an organization—he built a community.

We are grateful for his vision and leadership, and we will share additional information in the days ahead.

It only took a decade, but all three of your hosts were in the same room together. And what a room it was! Eric, Garrett, and Pete met in Birmingham, Alabama to spend a few days together and visit the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. We were blown away! Barber is the world's largest motorcycle museum, and should be on every motorcycle enthusiast's bucket list. We spent two days there, and still had difficulty mentally processing the whole collection.

We'll be doing another live feed soon to discuss the trip and to celebrate the podcast's 10th birthday.

Bultakenstein is still a thing. I recently retired and have more time to work on it, so progress is…um…progressing. It now has a Yamaha SR250 swingarm, which corrects a bunch of the issues I ran up against with the DT175 swingarm, while simultaneously making the rear engine mount much lighter and simpler.

My approach at this point is to get the bike running and configured as a road racer. If I want to do lights and road equipment and make it street legal later on, I’ll treat that as a separate phase of the project.

— Pete