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And so it begins....


RHill

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I feel ya. Still have some shit to wrap up on my bike and Jinu's bike, get everything loaded and ready to go tonight. I don't have to unfold my trailer, but a bigger trailer usually just means more shit to get packed up. And for some reason Blue03doesntridehis636 wants me to bring his generator back to him. Not sure why cause he's not warming his tires?

But we will all scurry around and get it done I'm sure! See you all Saturday!

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Well, first track day and race school with new bike went great. Nothing really unexpected; power felt good, no noticeable leaks(going to have to pull off the body and give it a good once over before washing it down....got made fun of in inspection for a dirty bike :mad:) , clutch wasn't grabby, and suspension felt good. Thanks to Cox and Jeff for helping with measuring sag and suspension help

I ran the tires(q2's) that came on the bike friday and saturday; the hot tears left by the previous owner healed up and the surface looks good. I was running 32/32 hot off the track. The siping on the rear has a little buildup(can't remember if it is front or trailing), so I think I need to mess around with the rear rebound to clean that up.

Only real issue other than my riding was the front brakes felt like shit. We re-bled the system after the first session friday It picked up slightly but felt like a ton of pull before building any pressure. Lever was adjusted all the way out as well.

After wasting about 45 minutes today rebleeding the brakes I realized there was 1 big difference between my street(which was also just bled from a dry system and feels great) and track bike....the levers. The track bike has the fleabay chinese CRG knock offs. Placed a stock lever on and BAM felt great. I can fix the knock offs pretty easy, need to make a small replacement insert and drill a slightly shallower hole for the actuator to sit in. Oh well, I guess you cant always expect cheap shit to work out perfect, should be an easy fix.

Need to throw on some take-off slicks thanks to Desmo-Brian, an R6 throttle tube(poor mans quicker turn throttle), finish safety wiring, and get these levers fixed and I should be ready to go for the next track day.....and maybe some last place racing ;) Think I've already scheduled for Friday 31st

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEU53W8o9T4

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Was that you with the orange wheels next to Copeland? If so man, yeah, wash that thing, I actually almost said something to you about the wheels and being brown instead of orange ;)

Sorry to read about your uncle in the other posts, safe travels.

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Yep, brownish orange wheels. I think being next to Jeff's bike made it worse in the pits, but at least I don't have to look at it while going around the track :)

I will be giving it some TLC when I get back on Sunday. My street bike is almost as bad, so it will be getting some love after the trip as well.

Thank you for your condolences.

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lol if we tried to clean it at the track, the owners would probably be bitching for contaminating the ground water with the filth that was on the bike.

I really dont want to unfold the trailer to load it up to take it to the car wash that is4 blocks away, but I don't want to even think about getting pulled over on it either. Maybe I'll pester someone with a truck at work.

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lol if we tried to clean it at the track, the owners would probably be bitching for contaminating the ground water with the filth that was on the bike.

I really dont want to unfold the trailer to load it up to take it to the car wash that is4 blocks away, but I don't want to even think about getting pulled over on it either. Maybe I'll pester someone with a truck at work.

I can assure you you wouldn't contaminate anything on that track !

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Thing is track bikes need to be kept clean and healthy. Parts wear out faster when dirty and can become dangerous. It's worth folding teh trailer out and rolling down a few miles to clean it real fast. Or grab a hose, even if you're in an apartment they make adapters to go onto the faucet. Used to wash my truck in the back yard at my apartment in Columbus, drove through the grass and didn't give it 2 thoughts.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Had a buddy paint the fairings....we were running short on time so we used single stage paint and the fastest hardener he had.  It was darker, but we had to mix in a little white to make it cover better.  Photo makes it almost look purple, more of a medium blue.

 

Vinyl sucks, never again....such a pain.

 

Figured I'd give electrical tape a try for the numbers since I haven't heard back from Todd if 92 is taken.

 

 

IMG_20130528_205938.jpg

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, after 5 track/race days the "minty" fairings have a few customization thanks to PIRC asphalt  :crazy:  going to need a new windscreen as well.

 

Unfortunately I didn't have the cameras rolling because I was being a bit lazy.  I said right before the session started that I should put them on "just in case".

 

I was slowly picking up pace with rains in the semi-wet when the rear completely let loose accelerating toward the second apex of the carousel. The only explanation I can come up with is too much throttle and the tires not having enough traction...though I was 3 or 4 laps into the session and the tires should have been at their best.  It felt exactly like my lowside from last year at PIRC on the entrance ramp where I lost the rear; except going a lot faster.

 

Bike is fine and I'm doing well.  Took a pretty good tumble rolling twice and smashing my right wrist sometime in the action.  It's bruised, swelled and difficult to move or doing anything with.  I was being stupid trying to protect my helmet from hitting; if I would have just flattened out I would have slid and not have been hurt at all.

 

For the remaining sessions with the rains I was extremely conservative, then after lunch it dried up and I switched the rear to a slick and left the rain on the front.  What a difference.  I should have changed both, but I was in a rush and did't want to change it again to put a new slick on.....unfortunately that decision led to a nearly smoked front.  It actually handled half sessions fine, but after 2 warm up laps and 6-7 at my comfort level I could feel the front go away as it overheated.  

 

All in all, I'll chock it up as a good day, learned a lot with the new gearing and definitely turned some faster laps than what I was doing last year.  Looking forward to the 29th and 30th to get back out there with MotoSeries.

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Thanks Jeff.  All said and done, I still had fun and it was a positive day; just really regret not having the cameras rolling to catch the accident and all the areas I could have improved.

 

Screwed around syncing some video of my front and rear cameras at Mid-Ohio from earlier this month, turned out pretty well.  I'll probably run those two views for the upcoming days at PIRC; maybe flipping the rear around to critique my body positioning for a session as well. 

 

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  • 4 months later...

let the preparing for next season(or winter trackday trip) commence!  

 

Nathan hooked it up on some GP Pro gloves.  I was really happy with the last pair that I had, but they were just a little tight so I picked up a set of XXL....much more comfortable than the worn out XL's.  Found a killer deal on some NIB A* smx plus boots....old style squeekers, once again, same as I had before.  Lightened rear rotor to make me super fast, front pads to slow down and zip ties to hold it all together.  

 

More to come as it arrives. 

 

IMG_20131021_192303.jpg

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I heard the minimum gain from a lightened rotor was a solid 5hp.

 

I should just leave that whole fancy rear brake thing off the bike.....only time I ever use it is entering hot pit.  It would make switching the rear rim out that much easier!

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hmmmm

 

find a deal on another 04/05 600(hopefully with a couple goodies)

or buy a spare engine and a couple goodies

or shop around this winter for deals on an exhaust, pc, quick shifter, slipper clutch and rely as my street bike as a sacraficail backup

or save money to put toward more track days/racing and maybe a different/newer track bike

 

This started because I'm paranoid about getting stuck with no motor during the season.  I like my bike, I'm comfortable on it and I don't think it is limiting me.  At the same time, I'd like to try something else, so investing more into this make/model doesn't really make sense.  

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