Hi All,
Well I have been relatively busy. The Yamaha is now wintered up - a new power valve motor solved my problem, and both the Yamaha controller and Zeeltronics works fine. The bike revs and opens the valve - so although I haven't road tested (too much snow!) it should be OK.
I got back my bodywork for the Suzuki, and here are some pictures. Considering the guys are a simple car body shop they did a pretty good job, the stripes are a little wider than I would have liked, but once it is stickered up it should look mint!
I have also fitted the GSXR forks, and although I will need to create an ingenious way of setting the steering lock, they fit straight on, although the RG500 standard instruments will have to go! I now need to concentrate on finishing the gear and brake levers, plus trying to find the "right solution" for the rotary disk valves.
I put the standard amount of oil in the GSXR Forks that is :-
(without spring and inner tube compress fully): 416 ml or 141 mm oil level: K model SAE 10
Have a great Xmas nad a happy new year, this will be my last post this year!
Well, I spent the day working on the bikes, the race stator seems to be the cause of the popping and backfiring, and the power valve controller seems to be dead as well, although I think I can say that the ignition boxes (both sets) work OK.
With my Yamaha Stator the bike starts and runs fine, although would not rev through the mid-range. I have not had time to look at why as yet, but it could be that the carbs are not setup properly, and the fact that the power valve is not connected doesn't help.
I wanted to get going again on the RG 500, and the next steps are to fit the GSXR 750 forks and make the new rear wheel (4.5") fit the RG swinging arm. The GSXR Wheel uses a 20 mm axel, and the RG standard is only 17 mm therefore I will need to enlarge the holes in the swinging arm to take the bigger axle. Some guys were proposing re-enforced swinging arms on the French RG forum, with the modification already done, and I was hoping to buy one in as modifying the original item is no return! The problem is that they don't reply to email!!
I concentrated on cleaning up the front end. The forks were OK, but heavily oxidised/damaged by stones etc... so I spent a couple of hours with the dremel and metal wool, rubbing them down and they turned out as the photo, so quite pleased. I need to find out what oil to put in them, and then I can fit them.
I have also found a local supplier of aluminium, so I bought a lump that I intend to use to cut out my rearsets from. Should be interesting! I will post photos as they come along!
Hi, I am a little late in posting this as we went down to Ales (near Nimes) on the 2nd November. The one day testing at Ales seemed a good idea at the time, as I wanted to test my new (old) carbs with the PowerJets and also retest Borut's ignition as I still have 2 sets. In preparation for the weekend, I had changed the carbs and upped the main jets to 320's just to be safe - the power jets come on line at high revs, and add fuel when the revs are high, therefore allowing smaller main jets to fuel better at low/mid rpm - Just what I needed! I also put my old ignition boxes back on. Just to add to the fun, I had also removed the baffle plate in the airbox (normally this is just to make the induction noise less).
We travelled down to Ales on Saturday afternoon, and Sunday morning we arrived at the circuit at 8:00am. The circuit is hideen away in the hills but they still have a maximum noise limit on weekends of 95db. Each bike is tested, the 4 strokes get tested at 4k rpm, but they tested me (the only 2 stroke) at 7K, and of course I failed with a reading of 100db. However the guy didn't send me home, and I was aloowed to run with the condition that if he thought I was making too much noise, we would pull me off the circuit! When I heard some of the other bikes I knew I would be safe for the day! I think some of the guys put a removable baffle in for the test and then remove it to run - needles to say I was not the most noisy bike.
The bike was not pulling too well in the first seance, but as I was (kinda) running in a new piston I wasn't too bothered. But we did reduce main jets for the second run. I had reserved "racers" category (they have beginners, confirmed and racers) which was great because there was not many guys, and they were all experienced enough to not cause any problems.
The circuit was nice, but the surface was a bit lumpy especially around some of the bends, the first run was with a wet track, and the second run was with a drying track, and the bike still not really pulling well.
At lunch time we reduced the jet size again, and I was looking to reprogram my ignition and power valve, when we noticed that the powervalve was not opening properly, and it was not working well, when we plugged in the controller to test the powervalve, it came up with an error..... Perhaps this was why the bike was not pulling if the valve wasn't opening the performance would be really off.
Then followed some panic troubleshooting, as the bike would no longer start and the spark was not happening - hmmm I seem to remember this from somewhere....
My chief mechanic (Libby) was convinced that we should look at the carbs as this was the only thing we had touched, and duly instructed I just swapped the carbs out to my old ones as they were in a working configuration (from Carole).
I was convinced that this problem was exactly the same as I had had at Carole! (2 races back), because the powervalve was not working we disconnected it, and we could get a spark, however although the bike would start, it was popping and backfiring at low revs.
During lunch the weather had turned much worse and the wind and rain started to head in, I did however manage to go out for a couple of laps with the bike popping and farting, but with the powervalve fully open. I came in as I was going nowhere quickly the bike wasn't pulling at all!
The heavens opened and the rain fell! More and more people were calling it a day, and after a last ditch attempt at changing the stator (yes again!), we no longer could get a spark, and we decided it was time to go ourselves.
Olly and I put our wet weather gear on while Libby stood in the trailer, I have not seen such torrential rain as that in a long time. By the time we were packed up, nearly everybody was in the process of leaving, and by 16:00 we were on the road. As we passed over many river crossings we could see the water up really high, and flooding had started in some places. On the motorway everyone was driving at 90kph, and luckily we had no incidents going home.
The bike will need troubleshooting at home, but I am getting really pissed off with these electrics issues!!
After getting the correct bit, a PH3 (for those that are interested), usng the impact driver I removed the various bits to allow me to get at the gearbox. The advantage of the RG 500 is that it has a "cassette gearbox" which means you can remove it from the side without having to disturb the crankcases. You still have to remove the clutch and it's basket, which went relatively well for me. I was kind of dreading getting the gearbox on the kitchen table - you know all those cogs and bits that need keeping in the same order etc..
With the gearbox on the kitchen table, I set about the task of understanding which bits I needed to remove in order to install the Nova gearbox. Basically Nova supply the input and output shafts with all the gears, they do however require you to keep two bushes on the input shaft and alter the position of a washer on the output shaft. The instructions were quite clear, and I proceeded without any issues. Once the new shafts and gears were in place, time to try and understand how a gearbox works! In fact it's still a mystery - the guys that design these for a living are obviously more clever than I!
I was able to verify by hand that I have most gears! and neutral, so hopefully I will find them all when everything is back together.
I am not going to use the two stroke oil pump (will use premix), so as I was not going to replace it I needed to make up a blanking plate for the hole it leaves in the gearbox, this was duely knocked up out of a bit of aluminium plate, and the gearbox was then returned to it's home - I really hope that I don't have to remove it again!
So... here we go! The fairing, tank, mudguards, indicators, headlamps, oil tank are now in nice cardboard boxes in the loft (If I ever want to sell this thing as anything other than a race bike). The bike actually looks (in my opinion) a lot nicer without the plastic than with, and once the frame was cleaned up - it shines - isn't aluminium lurvely...
I fitted the new Hagon shock which went in surprisingly easily! The expansion chambers are really a work of art (Jolly Moto), and although the previous owner has painted them with some horrible silver paint, they cleaned up OK.
I started work on the engine, draining gearbox oil, plus removing the clutch cover. There are some nasty looking cross head screws under the gearbox sprocket, which have initially not yielded to my electric screwdriver! I need to buy the right sized bit for my impact driver this weekend.
Some questions are coming up :- the choke is handlebar mounted and integrated into the left hand control, which is a shame, because I don't want all the stuff on the clip-on, but I really wanted to keep the choke mounted up there - always handy at the end of the straight when you are missing fuel....
I need to make rearsets, and also if I don't cut down the rear mudguard I will need to fabicate a new one in aluminium sheet.
Plus there are loads of wires hanging around which I don't need but I don't want to ruin the wiring harness....
Anyway that's it for now - next installment after the weekend.
Hi All, So the season has ended early and hopefully this will give me more time to prepare the RG500 for next year. I am still working on the RD for the coming weeks, as I still have to send an ignition set back to Borut (Zeeltronic) and I wanted to get back to full power. Hence last weekend I installed a new piston and rings in the right hand (seized 2 races back) cylinder. At the same time I have installed some new (ebay) powerjet carbs. The principal of powerjet carbs is to have an additional jet that come into use high in the rev range, allowing you more adjustment in the mid range with the standard main jet, but still giving enough cooling fuel at the top end - I am hoping this will make my bike more reliable especially at the top end. In principal, the power jets are 60 on the left and 65 on the right, so I am starting with 300 main jets both sides (at the top end this should make it Very rich 60 + 300 is 360, and I was running 340's at the last race.
I also spent a rainy weekend simplifying my wiring - I ripped out all the light related stuff and have just left the ignition and generator wiring along with the temp. gauge, neutral switch and the ignition switch. Saved 300 grams in weight :-) I tried my old zeeltronic boxes and couldn't get them to fail, so I expect I will send the others back, although something funny going on there! My West Country Windings stator has gone back to them for fixing with a suitable letter - I will wait for their reply before slagging them off publicly!
Next thing on the program will be start the RG500 project I want it to look similar to Pascal Mayer's bike as shown above! We will see how it progresses. Speak to you soon.
The weekend started Friday morning early, traveling up from Grenoble to Paris (6 hours), this time with Chris (visiting), Carly and Libby in the car - loads of support! We arrived at Carole arount 12:45 after an easy trip, and then we spent 15 minutes looking for a place to park, as the Promosport crews had all been there since Wednesday, and all car parks were full! We ended up parking next to the model car track, with no loos, water or electricity nearby - the girls were pissed off!
Chris and I rigged up a plastic sheet over the trailer and car to give us some shade as the weather forecast was good for the Saturday.
The GOOD news, I managed the 2 open training sessions with ZERO break downs, Chris helped me do a plug chop after a couple of laps, and although the plugs were certainly not a uniform colour, they were not showing any signs of over heating, so I continued to complete the two sessions. I was running my race stator, plus new ignition boxes from Zeeltronic - everything OK.
The bike was using surprisingly little fuel - we calculated around 3.75 litres for 20 minutes, so we filled her up ready for the early 9:00 qualifying practise on Saturday morning. Again qulifying went without a hitch, the bike is not pulling as strongly as previously, however this could be because I am running richer, or because of low compression due to my "rapid" fix after last times seize. (I put in an old piston with old rings!).
I managed a respectable time of 1 minute 17, which put me at 18th on the grid of 32, and second RD 350. Christian Degardin, my strongest rival had got down to 1 minute 15 seconds! Some work for me to do!
Race 1. The first race was Sunday morning at 9:00, and I got a reasonable start, and followed a TZ350 through a wide first bend scrabble which allowed me to get a few places forward. After a couple of laps I got into a battle with Philippe Freon (Proclassic president), with his Kawasaki 1000, I was quicker through the twisties especially at the parabolic, I even managed a couple of outside overtakes (not to be advised for the feint hearted), and I also got him on the brakes at the end of the back straight, but the speed and torque of his 1000cc's was making things difficult for me. A couple of laps from the end, the bike started to miss a beat..... another bend... oh dear it's not running.... hand up... stop... shit....
Back in the pits, the bike starts again, and then no more sparks!!!!! again.....
To cut a long story short, Chris and I manage to get it going again around 15:00 in the PM, a couple of hours before race 2.
Race 2 I am thinking to myself that the bike will only last a couple of laps, as we have not really found any specific problem, I am running a different stator, new plugs and plug caps now, and my slight flat spot is back (linked with the stator). I am on the back row of the grid because I didn't finish race 1, but in the company of some strong contenders, Ramyond Faboulet and Dominique Denis-Lutard (normally at the front) are next to me! The green light comes on and I get an OK start - Raymond stutters and doesn't get away clean as does Pierre Eline, some lines ahead - well that's 2 of my category behind!
I make good progress, moving past the Arnold brothers (Hugues and Franck), and then getting past Philippe Freon and the last Arnold (Pierre). I ended up having a small scrap with a Ducati 906 (Daniel Duhamel), which I enventually won! I finished in 15th position scratch and 3rd position in my category.
I had brought my lap time down to 1 minutes 16 secs a personal best and on lap 13!
The next race is on October 4th & 5th once again at Carole (yawn...). I will try and post some photos or video clips!
After Carole last time my ignition was deemed faulty, and although the manufacturer (Borut - zeeltonic) could not find any fault with it, he very kindly replaced both the boxes. As he couldn't find a problem he sent me back both sets, and I need to try them both out and give him a set back - great service!!
My bike has been running on the standard Yam ignition so I know it works. I replaced the yam ignition and powervalve controller with the zeeltronic ignition and power valve controller. I had to charge the battery as it had gone flat during my vacation, but the bike started second kick, and I ran the bike up and down the road for 10 minutes. It went to the red line OK, and seemed to produce reasonable power.
Second test, was to replace the standard Yam stator with the race stator (less windings, less electrical friction). This went on fine, and although it is wired up wrongly (the red and green wires are inverted and so are the pickup wires red/white, and green/white), it worked fine, and I think I even perceived a difference in the bike's ability to pickup revs. quickly. I have been noticing that the bike is difficult to start off the line, a slight hole in carburation at low revs, however with this setup, this certainly seemed diminished. I ran the bike up the road a few times and it worked well. This is the configuration I will start with for the race this coming weekend.
I will need to test my "old" zeeltronic ignition, as I promised Borut that I would send back one of the sets.
I have ordered some XR77 Castrol 2 stroke racing oil from a web site, however - typical France - they accepted the order but are on holiday until September 1st - so I now have the urgent problem of finding some decnt oil. I have found a supplier in Lyon, which I will check out tomorrow (Tuesday). The XR77 is supposed to be 2 stroke oil specifically suited to unleaded fuel, so I am hoping it will be OK, if I can't get Castrol, I will use Ipone Samourai, as it has a good reputation on the forums. I just can't find a good supplier of Motul 800 (roadrace) or I would probably stay with that!
Well I haven't been that busy on the bike with holidays etc.. however I have now received a new rear shock, and my race gearbox for the Suzuki, plus Borut (zeeltronic) has sent me a replacement ignition, which I need to test this weekend. Chris will be coming over next week, and we should be travelling to Paris for the next weekends racing on the 30/31st August. This will be a promosport weekend, so lots of bikes/people at Carole. If you want to come and see us, we will be hidden away a long way from the main pits (in my opinion)!
Travelled to Carole this last weekend on my own as Libby was otherwise indisposed... Arrived on Friday afternoon, and setup up in the pits. There were two planned free practices. The weather was unsure and there were some big black clouds coming from the North, so I just bought the first session. The bike started well, and as we waited on the pregrid for the off, the skies opened up. My first track experience in the pissing rain! It really chucked it down, but after a few laps you get more and more confidence, and the bike only slipped ever so slightly a couple of times so I had a good run for 20 minutes... I overtook most people on the track, and I was quite glad when the chequered flag came down as I am sure another few laps could have lead to disaster.
I missed the second practice as it was full, which was a shame as the sun had come out and dried the track.
The official timed practice was on the Saturday morning with the first race Saturday afternoon. After the wet practice the plugs seemed to be running a little hot, so I decided on going up another 10 points on the jets, also I had run a 15 gearbox sprocket which was OK going down the straight, but was awful in most of the bends, so I also decided to go up to a 16 tooth sprocket.
Saturday morning I took the bike out for a warmup lap on the exterior of the circuit, and although it seemed to be accepting the bigger jets it didn't seem to run smoothly. This worsened as I took it out onto the track - halve a lap and it conked out! This was slightly serious as this was qualifiying and we are supposed to do a minimum of three laps to qualify. Anyway I got back to the pits and started troubleshooting. Jerome Lefevre helped as his TZ always runs perfectly, and soon we had identified an ignition problem, preventing the bike from starting, plus an airbox problem (in fact I discovered that my airbox contained a couple of K&N filters that I didn't even know were there!). I swapped in the original Yam CDI box, and cleaned out the airbox, and the bike started fine. The dilema now was should I up the jets or not!!
For the first race I left as was, i.e. with 290 mains (this was already 10 points higher that Le Vigeant). After a few laps the temperature was going up alarmingly fast, and so I was obliged to pull off. For me this was an indication that I hadn't jetted up enough.
For the second race I went up to mains of 300 - the biggest I had! THe bike was running well, and no signs of overheating, so I started to really open her up - on the third lap I had overtaken a few guys and was finally getting into it, when at the end of the (quite short) back straight I seized! F*%K!
After having stripped the top end down, the right hand piston had siezed, and starting to disintegrate, although the cylinder itself is relatively undamaged. I have already put in an old replacement piston (I have quite a collection of sizes now). It seems to giive quite good compression, and I hope it will last the next 2 weekends racing.
The only 2 things I am looking at that could have caused the seize are :- Still too weak - I have ordered bigger jets, and will try an extreme (like 340s and work backwards) The ignition (remember I seized with this ignition at Nogaro!).
I need to retest the zeeltronic again to make sure it doesn't work..... Borut (the friendly manufacturer will not be pleased) I have received a replacement for the powervalve controller which will also go back on.
Voila un weekend de merde!
The only saving grace was I picked up a winter project on the way back from Paris - I am now a proud owner of an Suzuki RG500, possibly the most powerful, fastest road going two stroke ever......photos coming soon.
My weekend started on Wednesday evening when I took the bike out to do some run-in miles. I got 2 miles up the road, and it stopped! I pushed it back to race HQ, and started troubleshooting a spark problem.... After 30 minutes or so, the Power valve started acting up - it didn't initialise on startup... hmmm. Thursday evening should have been spent packing the car and trailer, although I still have to find the problem, which turned out to be the Zeeltronic Power valve controller, it seemed that the controller was pulling the ignition to ground and preventing the spark getting to the ignition coil. So racing this weekend would be without the power valve! Fortunately the ignition system works without. Finished the evening packing up, and watched Germany/Portugal on the TV!
We drove to the Vigeant and arrived around 15:00 at the circuit, the circuit was shared with the Endurance, Protwin and VMA series, so not that packed in the paddock.
Timed practice was on Saturday morning with the first race in the afternoon and then the second race on Sunday morning. I ran the bike in the paddock for sometime just to help run in a little more, and then went out on the timed practice. The circuit is quite complicated, but having been here last year really helped - it came back fairly quickly, they had changed the surface apparently although I didn't notice any difference, and the last bend was changed to avoid running out into a wall! The bike was going really well, although my practice came to an end when a loud bang going up the back straight brought me to a stop! I had lost a spark plug! Dummy - I must have left the right hand plug lose! A trip back to the pits in the track lorry.
The plug went back in and the bike started OK, so no damage!
The first race - I started off from the sixth line, and got a crap start, the bike without power valves is not that torquey, and so difficult to get off the line. I was last going into the first bend although I soon got past the slower part of the pack, and started making progress on the middle group. The bike was working really well, pulling past the red line, and very powerful above 8K rpm. I pulled in all the other RD's after getting past some of the big 4 strokes, a couple of slower GSXR's and Daniel on his 1000 Martin Kawasaki (he was having problems!). Towards the end I was making great headway on Raymond on his TZ350 and we were having a 3 way fight with a Ducati TT. Unfortunately my race ended 3 bends from the chequered flag! When the bike conked out - shit! This turned out to be a fuel problem (not enough of it!).
The temperature around the circuit was about 35 degrees centigrade, and it was a really hot Saturday afternoon, so I suppose we should have expected the storms during the night, unfortunately we didn't! At 3:45 in the morning we woke up with the marquee tent flying over our heads, taking a nice chunk of paintwork out of the car on the way past! Everyone was up running around in pants and pyjamas, trying to pickup things before they got blown away! Our marquee, and the Proclassic tent were completely wrecked (another few hundred Euros in the bin!)
Race 2 - again I got a crap start - I will post it on Youtube just for fun! The bike was running less well but still great, I should maybe have jetted up as the temperature was a lot cooler on Sunday morning, and the ground was wet. The racing line was dry as we started racing around 10:00 am and 2 other races had gone through.
Again I had all the hard work getting past the slower guys, and on the way had some good fights with David Boisnard (750 Honda), and Christian on the RD350 YPVS, and then I was back fighting for the 3rd place in my category with Raymond Faboulet on the TZ350. My strategy was going to be to get him on the last bend as I was quicker than him through there and the start/finish line was only 50 yards up the straight - too little time for him to get me back, unhappily for me, I was too far behind him to overtake on the last bend, and therefore I finished behind Raymond!
The lap time for the weekend came down from 2:16 in practise to 2:11 in the first race to 2:10:558 in the second race which was quicker than last year, so I am happy with my progression. For comparison the first GSXR did 1:54:562 best lap time!!
Overall a mixed bag of a weekend! I will post some photos later and a couple of video clips.
Nogaro is a small village in the South west of France, and for those of you that know Circuit Paul Ricard - well this one is Circuit Paul Armagnac another famous spirit - those guys obviously wanted to market their alcoholic beverage with the circuit scene in the sixties & seventies. Well the Circuit of Nogaro was once used for the French Grand Prix, and they have recently completed a renovation, increasing the pit area and renewing the pit boxes. So although not quite as pro. as Le Mans, it is a circuit that is well organised (good loos and showers), and with plenty of space. We were sharing the weekend with the Promosport boys, so there were stacks of people, and a good number of spectators over the weekend, which was free (for the spectators at least!).
It's about 8 hours drive for us from Grenoble, so we left Thursday evening, stayed overnight in Nimes and then arrived at the circuit at around 13:00. If you remember I had squashed my left hand expansion chamber, and one of the guys (Raymond Fabulet) was going to get it repaired, and luckily he turned up just after we had installed out stuff, so before lunch, on went the expansion chambers, this would give the gasket paste enough time to dry before practice at 17:45.
Practice came and the bike wouldn't start, we eventually got it going with a rolling road, and then it seemed to be running OK, however after the second or third lap, I seized at the end of the long straight (over a kilometer), unfortunately I didn't stop immediately as the bike restarted after I let the clutch out. I went around another 2 laps with the bike slowly getting worse, and finally I pulled into the pits after 4 laps.
The result was a slight seize on the left cylinder (again!!!!) and the piston was vaporizing as a large chunk was missing all the way down to the rings (exhaust side).
I spent the rest of the evening stripping it down, and then got really pissed off with a screw that was not loosening so we went to eat with the Arnold group, who were staying at a local gite - Cassoulet is the typical fare of the region, and we had a great meal with them, along with a proposition to use their spare bike - also a Yam.
Saturday, I finished stripping the barrels of my bike, and gave them to our only professional mechanic who prepares a GSXR for one of the guys. Laurent Badie, persuaded me that he could have my barrels ready and post them back to me in the wink of an eye so that I can be ready for Le Vigeant in 2 weeks! Lots of advice on why the bike seized, however another RD350 had exactly the same problem so we consoled each other. His machine had seized on the right side.
The "mulet" or spare bike, is a recent RD350 YPVS, however it really needs some tender loving care, however it starts first kick, and runs and doesn't seize! I used it for the timed practise and the 2 races, and although there was a horrible vibration coming from the forks, it worked fine.
I even tried putting my front wheel on it to help the vibration but it didn't really help, dropping my tyre pressure down to 1.7 bar in the second race did help slightly.
My lap times improved all weekend ending up with a 2:04.8 fastest lap, whilst the GSXR's were going round in 1:44.1 - fastest time. The first timed practise (where I seized) I managed a 2:09! I could have gone much quicker with my bike, but I was really happy to have learnt the circuit (a very fast circuit with a super fast straight), and also to have participated.
The cherry on the cake was an unexpected 4th place in my category only bettered by the 3 TZ 350's - EXCELLENT points. The other RD 350's were pissed off, as they were so clearly faster than me when running but hardly anyone was capable of finishing the 2 races - hence the 4th place! Excellent! One of my direct competitors seized twice after having found some spare barrels and pistons (300 Euros) in a local breakers yard! He was extremely unhappy to say the least!
My cylinders should be ready in 5 days with 2 days for the post, so I should be ready next week.... Some 8 days to find the reason for the seize. Speak to you soon!
Well, since the last time, I received some Vforce 3 reeds, and I got back my race stator, which again has proved to give problems, and may have even caused my zeeltronic ignition to play up. Basically "no sparks" when I fit the race ignition. This comes down to either no pickup signal or no CDI charge. After checking everything, even the zeeltronic ignition would not function with the standard Yam stator.... I have a few more clues to follow up before sending the stator back (again!).
The Vforce reed cages apparently allow for a large reed surface area, which is supposed to increase flow, and hence increase power. Fitting them does involve removing the petals from the inlet rubbers, to allow the Vforce to sit flat - this is a bit delicate, and I will be interested to see if I can get a good seal.
The bike, has been running, but very rich due to having the original pipes installed. But I will change this at Nogaro directly as I hope to be able to put the Gibsons back on if the left hand one has been repaired.
Well the bike is back together. The result as initially guessed was basically cosmetic, and although I haven't had the bike on the road again it should be OK. To replace the left foot rest and gear change I have put back the originals parts, but with some drilling and machining I have made them into acceptable rearsets. I am just missing a footrest, a simple aluminium tube, with a thread on the inside and some decoration on the outside - the sort of thing you could knock up on a lathe in ten minutes, well I have to wait for the Yam dealer to receive one from the Bihr catalogue.
I will be interested to have the original pipes back on to make a comparison with the expansion chambers - see if it revs more easily. My rewound stator should be back from being "fixed" this weekend so hopefully I will be able to fit it.
I have also sourced a second hand engine cover as it was damaged in the crash. I am interested to see if I can make a carbon crash protector with the old one. There is a guy that sells carbon ribbon in Grenoble, and so I might give this a try, as soon as I get the replacement. Anyway, I made a mess of repainting the scrape on the fairing, but it is back on and straight, so nothing much to do until my bits arrive.
Hi to all, I am back after a busy weekend. Libby and I packed up the trailer and car on Wednesday evening, and left for Croix-en-Ternois on Thursday which was the May day holiday in France. We travelled up France without a hitch and stayed in a hotel in Arras Thursday night - mainly because Libby didn't want to spend 4 nights in the car on the circuit.... Understandable with her knee in its current state.
We arrived at the circuit around 9:30am and setup the tent, trailer and bike. The weekend racing was with the VMA, so basically an "old bikes" weekend, so the paddock was very roomy -even the showers were hot!
I managed 3 practice sessions on Friday, the bike was running well, and the new brakes and forks were working very well - better than expected. Libby was timing me, and my laps times were improving on those from last year, so I was pretty happy.
Saturday morning we had the timed qualifications for the 2 categories I was running in. I had opted to run in both sets of races just for the fun! That means in my category (250/350 two strokes) and the faster Post Unlimited category.
In my category I qualified on the 3rd line of the grid with a 1.07 fastest time (one second faster than last year). And in the Post Unlimited category I qualified on around the 4th row, but my time had improved to 1:06 and I was in front of some GSXR's and other faster bikes.
Saturday afternoon, and the first race (my category) - I got a crap start barely missing a guy in front who stalled on the line (perhaps this was an omen (bad)), but managed to pull back a few places in the first hairpin. After a couple of laps I was fighting it out with 2 other RD350s, and we stayed together all of the race. A new guy on a blue 350, was outbraking me at the end of the long straight, whilst I would get him back on the twisties. We swapped positions, and I lost out on the last lap coming in third of this group, and (I think) 5th in my category. My best lap time had come down to 1:05 which was getting pretty good, although I must improve my braking. Just for info, the GSXRs are getting for the fastest in the 59 seconds, and for the slower in the 1:05, which is easily understandable with the long straight!!
Second race, and I got a better start, although as soon as we got to any straight, I was blasted into the weeds by all the bigger bikes, after a couple of laps I was overtaken by a couple of Martin Kawasaki's and although I was faster in the curves, I could not make enough headway to stay in front down the straight, and hence I ended up behind them to the end, and my best lap time was "only" 1:07.
Sunday morning racing started with my category at 10:40, and we went out for our setup lap, and then 2 warm up laps (as the circuit is small). The lights changed and off we went, I think my start was going to be good, however once again the guy on pole had had mechanical problems and stopped about 5 metres down the track. Herve with a 750 Honda, had come past me like a rocket off the start, and smashed straight into the back of the Ducati on pole (Christian Vite). His engine struck Christian's rear suspension and hit his leg, Herve's bike went down straight in front of me, and I basically ran over Herve's leg (we think!), my bike pushed Herve down the track a few yards before taking off, and throwing me over the top. I landed on my shoulder and head (no problem!), and rolled down the track a few more metres, my bike sliding after me - I have an image in my head at one point seeing the bottom of my bike sliding down on me! I jumped up scared about being hit by someone else, but most people had either got passed or stopped - luckily no one else was involved.
The result of the accident was a broken leg for Christian, a sprained knee and ankle for Herve, and pretty much nothing for me - just lucky I guess.
The race restarted, but without us. The damage to the bike was surprisingly little, however enough to stop me restarting. The left foot rest, gear assembley was destroyed and the left expansion chamber was flattened. The fairing had only a small scrape, so after removing the broken bits you would hardly notice.
We stayed to watch the second race, which was one by the fast no. 16 - GSXR.
Anyway, the weekend was positive overall with my lap times coming down and a general confidence level moving up, but of course now I have to get the bike ready for Nogaro in 4 weeks time. A small challenge!
Last weekend before Croix-en-ternois and it was busy. I had received some goodies from Norbo (RDLCCrazy.co.uk), stronger clutch springs to stop the clutch slipping, new exhaust gaskets, and new racing pads for my new F2 calipers.
I also received my new Stator from Westcountry Windings in the UK. I sent them my faulty one, and they have rewound it with a new pickup, plus a reduced number of charging coils to reduce the electrical load on the engine, this should allow a quicker pickup of the engine (in my head!!). Unfortunately it arrived broken, first ever damage I have experienced through the post. Anyhow to cut a long story short, I have sent it back and they will fix it!
I had bought last year some forks, calipers from an F2 machine. These have the advantage of having opposed pistons instead of just one piston per caliper. So I had changed the forks, calipers, and mudguard this weekend. I had to hang the bike from one of the outside beams of the garage as I don't have a means of lifting the bike up (at the front). It went quite smoothly, however bleeding the brakes was a long process, as the new calipers were completely empty (or should I say full of air), anyway after a night to settle I rebled on Sunday and theings got better. I fitted new racing pads after all the hydraulic fluid was out of the way, and after a test drive I am getting some good results! I am using the top of the range Motul BRF600 Brake fluid which is the best DOT 4 compatible fluid that money can buy - has a really high boiling point, ideal for late braking!
The only real problem I had (a part from the stator) was in fitting the front wheel which barely fits in the new shape mudguard, but after a little adjustment the tyre turns without rubbing.
Just hope I didn't forget to do something up..... tight!
Well the postman didn't arrive with my parcel until Saturday morning, so too late for Pau - bummer really as the Bol D'Or Classic is this weekend so lots of the guys weren't going to Pau - could've been in with a chance of a podium!
Never mind the weather is pretty crap.
Well my diagnostic was pretty accurate. The new stator has fixed the problem. I think I will send the broken one off to get rewound, so I have a spare, as they are getting pretty hard to come by on evil bay....
Well, the testing at Ledenon, went OK the first time out and I was getting down to the same lap times as I had had in my race last year. I booked 5 sessions for the Saturday, and we used them up testing the different ignition programs and power valve settings. I noticed a distinct lacking in Power after test 2 and soon after session 3 I noticed the power valve pulley was lose, after retightening I was still donw on power, even going back to our original program of the day.
Sunday I bought 6 sessions, however after the first session the bike stopped coming back into the pits. As the revs lowered the bike cut out! Some elementary troubleshooting did not reveal the cause, although the symptoms point to the low rpm charging circuit. Unfortunately this is on the stator which is the only bit that I don't have as a spare.
Further investigation has not revealed anything else, so I am now waiting for my part to arrive in the hope that I can get everything back in order to leave in time for PAU this weekend.
Lesson learnt is to do testing at least a couple of weeks before the first race........ Speak to you after the weekend! Hopefully with some race results.
Well, the trailer is getting loaded up, the bike is 99% ready, and nearly run-in - I must have run her at least 100 times up the small road behind the house. I am still not happy with the seat padding... but it will do for this weekend's testing.
The goal of the weekend is to finish running-in and test out which programs perform the best (for the ignition and pwervalve) there are 5 standard ignition curves and 5 power valve programs to try out. Plus I need to get my jetting dialed in. I think my needles may need lowering as it seems to run rich at mid revs, although the plugs are looking dryer at higher revs, so the main jets are probably quite good.
This will be the first time I use my new car with the trailer this weekend, and as I have already broken down 3 times (only done 2000kms) it may be quite an adventure this weekend.
Hopefully I will have some photos from the weekends testing, and cross your fingers for no engine problems so close to the start of the season at PAU next weekend! (12 and 13 April)
Just a quick update without pictures. The seat is now painted and fitted, the foam for the seat was difficult to cut cleanly, but it's done now, although not yet stuck on. The ignition is on and working although only tested with the battery, and not without, I need to test this before Ledenon (5/6th April). The exhausts have been leaking a little so they've been taken off and resealed. I am obviously running very rich as there is unburnt petrol in the pipes, I am not too worried about this as I am running in, but I will probably need to drop my needle jet one notch (after having lifted it - because of the tune). The main jets have not been tested as yet because I am staying below 6000 rpm. I have received my new race tyres, and I will need to fit them this weekend, just to make sure they don't rub anywhwere - they are wide!
Went for a very frisky morning ride (on the Daytona) to get my freshly made seat from Poly26. Patrick Pierre came with me and we froze on the way there (too early), but the guy who owns Poly26 was really friendly, and made us coffee and brioche to warm us up when we got there - a really interesting guy, whose son runs in Promosport 1000 (on an R1 I think). He was going to enter Proclassic this year but was put off by the large amounts of traveling around France - he has an RC30 in his showroom!
Anyway made it home with the seat in the ruck sack, and after a weeks skiing and various other disturbances, I managed to get it on the bike. I had to saw parts of the frame off to get it too fit, so this is REALLY good bye to a road bike and hello exclusive racing bike. The ignition is getting setup, although I am changing one connector at a time to ensure that I can always go back to the original setup, that way I have a spare!
Hi All, Well we've reached a milestone - the bike now starts again. Believe it or not, the rotor (flywheel) I had fitted after the rebuild was the wrong one - although physically the same it was a different part number and not compatible with the stator fitted to my bike! (Beware all 31K owners - the VCD88 flywheel will NOT function on your bike).
I have ordered my seat from Poly26 (get it tomorrow), and I have received my programmable ingition kit which will need some work to connect up, as all the wires need connectors crimping and soldering on! Still it may add a few HP!!
Well, not much has progressed on the bike, but I have been trying to ensure my new purchase is in fact valid to use for racing. The French motorcycle federation have some (obviously) fairly strict rules about safety, although no-where do they seem to be completely explained.... If you look at their web site and dig around you do come up with phrases like "suitable crash helmet, full face, less than 5 years old, etc.. however no-where does it mention the ECE standard, for this they delegate responsibility to the FIM, and if you dig around in the Grand Prix rules, you come up with the fact that Crash helmets must be ECE 22-05. So what does that mean?
Well, in my new helmet you can find the following information on the throat strap:- A big E3 followed by 052346/P and then 008558, from what I can gather, (and I now have the ECE standard downloaded onto my PC), the E3 - the 3 means the helmet was approved in Italy (there is a different number for each of the member countries), the 05 (first 2 numbers) relate to the amendment of the current standard i.e. this is amendment number 5 (this is the 05 bit of 22-05), the following 4 figures represent the approval number, now I am not sure if this is dependant on the manufacturer plus the specific approval number or if this relates somehow to something else - still a mystery! the /P means that the helmet was tested with chin protection (i.e. full face). The following series of numbers are the manufacturers fabrication series, which should allow them to track any problems etc...
So I think I can now prove that my helmet IS eligible to be used in French competition, although I am still not sure of the date of manufacture of my helmet (Suomy don't reply to email...)
Hi All, and a happy new year! I spent some of the Xmas holidays working on the bike. It is now completely back together again and ready to be run-in at the start of the new season. Only problem is that it won't start! I have been troubleshooting the problem, and I think the problem has now become solid i.e. There is now NO spark at all. I am pretty sure this is linked to the CDI, so have ordered a programmable one for a late Christmas present. I also stripped the carbs again just to make sure they went back together again right... and I did find some crap in the pilot jets and also in the float needle chamber, maybe coming from the tank which I need to check. For now it is waiting for the ignition!
The calendar for 2008 has been published at proclassic.free.fr
I have buying some goodies as you can see above - a Toseland rep, hopefully I will go much faster!
I am having real issues choosing tyres this year, as I would like to get something a bit wider than last year (to cope with all the additional power the engine should be making - ho ho), anyway it's decision time soon....
