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Over the last few years, I've always been one to humbly brag about how reliable the car has been and how I have had no issues with driving it across the country to MATG, or to HPDE events, or to AutoX events, or even to work for commutes. All of that still holds true and it hasn't given me notable issues. However, there's always a little devil on my shoulder whispering in my ear "...but what if something happened?" during an event weekend. I'm not naïve and know driver mistakes by myself or others can happen and parts can fail. It has never been super confidence inspiring (or very comfortable) to count on your completely molested dual duty track vehicle being your only way home, many times while hours away from home. I also would like the opportunity to take the family out to events with the car, and not all of us can fit in a single two-seater.
So starting for reasons noted above that anyone with a track driven car can understand, I wanted a trailer...
...and I didn't have space to put one anywhere on my small property
I also had quickly ran out of garage space while working on side gig projects and also letting the wife keep her parking stall...
...and I didn't have space to expand the garage on my small property
And most recently, the twins quickly filled the bedrooms and closets and the living room and the kitchen
...and I didn't have space to expand the house on my small property
So it quickly became apparent that the small property was the main reason for a lot of my first world problems and that it wasn't going to work for forever without becoming a lifestyle restriction. The wife and I started by laying out a game plan for how to address it. The hot housing market, high[er] (but historically average) interest rates, and general inflationary economy sure as hell didn't make any of this easier, but thanks to a lot sacrifice towards what Dave Ramsey would label as a "incredibly financially stupid" automotive hobby that we all enjoy (aka, this build thread) and with some solid career progressions, the day has finally come. We said goodbye to our starter home and hello to the new-to-us Left Lane Designs HQ.
We still don't have a trailer, but now I have space for one in the future on the 40'x40' driveway pad or along the house...
We went from a 22'x22' 2-stall finished attached garage on a measly 20a breaker to a 46'x24' 4-stall finished attached garage with 220v installed for EV charging and future welder uses...
We went from 0.2 acres with city restrictions to 2.5 acres of non-HOA bliss that would allow for a future detached shop space...
We went from struggling to justify owning an ATV, UTV, or pit bike in the city to already talking about getting one because all the roads around us and going into town are all UTV/ATV legal...
We went from living in what seemed like a retirement community on a busy city street to a quiet cul-du-sac with other similar-in-age growing families where in the matter of a week our 10yo has already made neighborhood friends...
...and we managed to find all this before the school year started for the 10yo, find a new childcare solution for the twins, and find a location with only a minor commute increase to our existing jobs. Some would say... JACKPOT!
To say we are stoked across the board is the understatement of the decade, but god damn am I exhausted after this 2 month fiasco of prepping for a sale, selling, shopping, buying, packing, moving, and unpacking. This move eliminates essentially all the lifestyle restrictions the old home had. Long term, it opens so many doors that were previously locked shut (including the stupid trailer that started this whole thing...)
With big yard comes big responsibilities that I didn't have before though, so I have began my "lawn dad" phase of life by picking up a lightly used Gravely ZT HD52 mower. Have been pretty happy with being able to mow the entire yard in just over an hour (only ~20mins more than it took me to push mow my 0.2 acres before).
...and just because no post to MT can go without something gasoline related AND irresponsible. My wife and I made a lighthearted bet before trying for kids that "for every kid we have, I get to own a toy". Neither of us were expecting twins to arrive, so I joked that I was at a 2 toy deficit at the moment of births. We picked up the snowmobile that I mentioned here in early 2024, which brought the deficit to 1, and without much convincing at all my wife told me to eliminate the deficit alltogether and add a second toy deal into the "house closing costs" as a small way to celebrate.
So say hi to my new-to-me 2003 Kawasaki ZX-6R (636) with a well loved 28,000 miles.
One of my best local friends (a long time miata nutcase and MT member) was looking to get rid of it after owning it for the last 15+ years. If you had a sharp eye, you could see glimpses of it in photos shared in this thread as I was storing it and helping prep it for sale the last couple of months. When I mentioned it was time for it to go because of my incoming housing situation, he gave me a bottom dollar price that I simply couldn't sell it to a stranger for. Instead, I now get to be THAT Harley-Davidson employee that cruises to work on a Japanese sport bike; a badge that I'll wear with zero shame.
Like you could expect for a bike previously owned by a miata guy. It's got some nice bits on it already related to handling and power delivery improvements
2003 ZX-6RR forks
2009 ZX-6R rear shock and dog bone
2009 ZX-6R radial master cylinder
2009 ZX-14 calipers
+3F/0R sprockets
Stainless brake lines
Two Brothers slip on with a quite rare carbon kevlar twill.
Power Commander III with custom map
The tires are old and it still needs a little body panel love from an unfortunate tip-over event during transport, but slowly modifying it to an OEM+ appearance while enjoying it as a work commuter will be the goal. It will be nice to get back on 2 wheels again with something I can make my own as I haven't owned a bike since 2017. Thanks to the new garage, I have the space to justify keeping it.
So there you have it... not much for miata updates in today's post, but you'll see a much bigger garage in future build posts and now know why. Until then, I have more unpacking to do.... FML....
We're going into our 2nd year in our 'dream' setup, and it's fantastic to be living your own dream. Enjoy it. Maintaining acreage is no joke, though. I spent two hours this morning pulling a sprayer trailer around behind our yard tractor/mower...
On another note, an '03 636 was my first dedicated track bike waaaay back in the day. It may not be the latest/greatest, but it's a very capable platform.
Be careful... tracking bikes is about as addicting as tracking cars. And far less expensive for the speed (terror!) you can achieve.
It does, however, take a higher level of committment to go fast, and has a higher potential to hurt a lot more. I never had a big crash, but I had enough little ones to realize the older I got, the more it hurt, and the longer it took to heal. Which I why I'm perfectly happy in a caged car. I would like to take my Interceptor on track one of these days, but I will be touring around in one of the lower groups just having fun.
No plans to track the 636 (or any bike for that matter). I have the much more risk averse kmiata for the track purposes that I'm eagerly awaiting to drive more often once life calms down a bit.
For how common the 03-04 636's were (and still are) in the stunting community, it's honestly quite rare to find one of them in good shape that isn't completely molested, blown up, or being parted out. It's kind of like finding a stock-ish NA/NB miata. If you have a stock one, it's more valuable to keep it that way. I'm considering this bike more of a simple investment that I can enjoy commuting on during fair weather days. I take the Kmiata on questionable days where rain may be in forecast. After doing some basic cleanup, repairs, and maintenance, I could easily see the 636 being worth over twice what I paid for it during prime summer riding season if I ever got to that point (which was part of why picking this bike over something else). If I had my choice of any bike and more funds available to burn on the hobby, I'd probably be picking a 3rd gen Yamaha FZ/MT10 to keep the lightweight and playful street bike feel with a torquier midrange, host of ride mode / safety functions, and more upright ergonomics for comfort... Maybe one day, but for now I've got some miles to enjoy on the new-to-me 636
Looks amazing. I'm just starting to look at getting a place of my own. The idea of having my own garage, organized the way I want is enough to make me drool.
Need real tractor. Garages? Kids stuff - real men have sheds ... with hoists.
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Looks great, look forward to hearing about the improvements.
Mowing is the easy bit, as Roda said spraying is a pain in the ****, especially spot spraying, and fencing (especially if the neighbors have stock), but after having lived on acreage for the last 40+ years I can say with some envy and confidence that 2.5 acres would be much easier than 20 (or 40 as it was at the start).
I grew up in a pretty rural area of Wisconsin working on dairy farms, so I received the whole stereotypical "farm kid" upbringing.... One of my many jobs as a kid was doing the landscaping/lawncare side of things, so this 2.5 acres reminds me of some of that but on a very toned down level. In my current location nearer to the "big city" where I now work, land is becoming an increasingly hot commodity for developers (residential and commercial). We considered building a home, but purchasing JUST the undeveloped land gets to be a pretty hard financial pill to swallow if you want more than a 1 acre lot without HOA's to deal with... so in short, we are happy we found what we did.
No need for fencing here as the 2 dogs we have (who are obsessed over the extra space) are well trained on e-collars and already have figured out property lines quite well. Assuming you are referring to weeds, there really isn't much need for spraying either as the previous owners of the home did a good job at making probably 98% of the property easy to cut with the zero turn mower. A few key areas will need occasional line trimming, but I'm not complaining.
As far as shop goes, I'm not thinking too far into that one yet, but it's great knowing we have the room for a sizable one. Over doubling the attached garage space has been a nice enough upgrade for me for now! It'll be a ways down the road before we can consider building a shop as we need to get through the expensive child care phase of life first. Staying optimistic, that just gives me plenty of time to plan it out!
09-06-2024, 11:34 AM
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