Busy weekend

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!

A couple of photos with new seat etc.

No racing but the bike is fixed!

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....

Stay tuned, and I promise some photos soon.

Arghhhhh

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.

Ready to go....

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)