New footrest holder

As the title says, got the CNC machine out and knocked up a new footrest hanger to go with the new gear lever. it's just so cool to have a CNC machine in your garage (ha ha ha...)

Clutch update and gear lever

It's great to have some time during the Xmas holidays to work on the bike. There is not even much snow, so I am not tempted to go skiing much.

Todays job was to install the new (thicker and stepped) thrust washer in the clutch. This was made by a guy on the RGV250 Forum in the UK, and he made up a batch, it is supposed to give increased lift to the clutch plate thereby allowing the plates to free up, it is also stepped so that it doesn't get worn on the bearing surface.

Anyway here is the clutch, all the plates and disks were measured and are easily still within service limits. They measured on average 2.85mms thick and the clutch plate claws were 13.96 mms wide.

I also made up a new gear lever, calculated to give more gear shaft movement for less boot movement, I am trying to fit it so that there is not as much play as in the old system.

Next job is to make new radiator mounting plates, and fit the new rad.

Decisions, decisions....

So, after measurement by my tuner, it would appear that my pistons and cylinders are at the limit of needing a rebore - at least one cylinder will require reboring. So for my peace of mind I am going for the rebore, however the stock Suzuki pistons are really expensive, and the tuner has a couple of options :-

Either I go for a full 570cc upgrade, this means boring out extensively the stock cylinders and fitting 60mm diameter pistons. This gives an extensive increase in mid range, and a little bit at the top end. The other option is to go for a rebore using CR125 pistons. This has the advantage of only "using" one rebore size, but also these pistons only have single rings, and therefore will have less friction. The biggest advantage is that I will still have loads of cylinder left for additional rebores later on.

OK decision made - I am going for a rebore with the CR125 pistons - I hope it still runs OK with Honda parts in the engine!! (in fact the pistons are made by ProX, but still made for a Honda dirt bike).

Technical Update

Well, my engine parts have safely arrived in the UK, only took 2 days, which this close to Christmas was surprising! I have fitted the racing rear brake fluid reservoir on the bike - which will probably win me at least a couple of seconds per lap.... :-)

2010 Calender on-line

First looks at the 2010 calender are impressive, with 3 big name circuits on the timetable. Time to book your holidays.....

- 27 and 28 March - Le Mans
- 8 and 9 May -  Croix en Ternois
- 5 and 6 June Nogaro
- 26 and 27 June - Magny-Cours
- 10 and 11 July - Pau-Arnos
- 11 and 12 September - Croix en Ternois (with the 2nd endurance "Grand Prix Classic")
- 16 and 17 October - Ledenon

Top End strip!

Well, I got down to stripping down the top end of the RG this weekend. No particular difficulties, it's interesting to see the different technical solutions Suzuki have compared to some of the Yam stuff. For example the power valves on the Yam invariably leak slightly, and yet Suzuki's don't and its a very simple design, and very easy to dismantle. 

Anyway the pistons and cylinders are in reasonable condition, no scrapes, no detonation, so I will need to make a decision on whether or not I get them rebored anyway. I have been in contact with M. Dent who is another reknowned tuner of RG's and he can do a 570cc conversion, or fit RG125 pistons which have single piston rings (decreased friction) which could be a good compromise, anyway I will pack it all up tomorrow, and send it off, and hopefully he will be able to advise on the best course of action to gain the maximum power whilst remaining reliable.

Technical Update

I received my DC1-11 from Borut (zeeltronic), and installed it today, and it works fine, it basically replaces the charging coils on the stator with some electronics taking power directly from the battery. I tried the bike up the road, and it was a little rich, so I went back down to 350 mains, which seemed to sound a lot crisper. The Yam will now go under the covers, and the RG500 is now in position to get worked on!

Next job will be removing the heads, barrels and valves from the bike to send them off for a tune!

More technical stuff

Well I rewound the low rpm coil (3000 turns) of 0.14 diameter wire. The guys at the local winding shop lent me the complete reel of wire as they couldn't be bothered to run of 200 metres for me.

In the meantime I removed the head, and replaced the head gasket with a more recent one, but nothing untoward under the head - all OK.

Finally I replace the old stator with my rewound race stator (see pic) and low and behold it works fine. so I had troubleshot to the right component after all. All that bugggering about with the carbs and head etc... and it was the good old stator the whole time!

Anyway, my good friend Borut from Zeeltronic, has another technical trick up his sleeve. He produces a box that will convert the battery current to a sufficient level to feed the Capacitors, giving a flat steady current to the CDI, which he convinced me would be better than changing stators every other race, so I let myself be convinced, and I have one on order - I am really excited about this, because although it means I have to keep the battery it means I can use a significantly lightened flywheel and race stator (even without the CDI charging coils), and I will have great sparks!

http://www.zeeltronic.com/page/dci-11.php
Fantastic.

Technical Update

So after testing, the bike is still not reving and it could be worse, so back to my old stator, which of course means I still have a problem.

After reading a couple of threads on a RD 350 forum, I was convinced that my problem must be coming from a broken reed valve, so I pulled the carbs and the Vforce reeds, but to no avale. Everything was Ok, and the pistons looked good from the carb side, so I am less and less convinced about a broken ring, or something. 

next troubleshooting steps are to pull the head and see if I have a leaky head gasket, and find a decent stator (there are two on ebay this week). I have also unwound the "low rpm" coil, on the race stator, and I will re-wind that with new wire. For information there are 3211 windings on the coil, and the wire used is smaller than the other coil I rewound, so I will need to find a supplier! The average diameter of a winding is approx. 6.5 cms, so that gives a length of approx 201 metres!

Technical Update

Well, I got my high temperature tape, and fibre glass insulation from a Grenoble shop ISOVAC, enabling me to finish the stator, which I put on today. The bike started OK, but runs rough at low rpm aswell as high rpm, so I put back the original stator, and the bike started fine. I really can't tell just starting it in the garage if cleaning out the carbs (I did find some dirt in the power jets) which could correspond to a high rpm misfire, anyway the weather is so rough (pissing it down all week), I couldn't take it up the road so, I will have to see if something has miraculously fixed my problem....

I am going to replace the rear master cylinder on the RG500 with just a tube, basically just to make it a bit more racey, and because it will save some weight.

Update you later....

Stuff to do....

Over the winter break, I will be trying to fit the following in :-

Yam :-
Fix it!

So far I have removed the carbs again, cleaned out the power jets, etc... removed Christian's Stator which is definately faulty (CDI coils out of spec.). I have also removed the petrol tap, and filler cap, and dismantled and cleaned everything. I am in the process of rewinding my old "race" stator by hand - having some difficulties here as I am not sure of the number of turns to do. When I removed the old winding I counted about 450, but some were damaged so I have gone for around 470 initially, the resistance is a wee bit high, and I am not sure of the consequences of this.... If my old physics lessons serve me well, then the Power = Resistance X current (squared), which means as I increase the resistance then for the same number of magnetic flux crossings I should produce more power! Now whether this is what cooked my stator in the past is the big question. Maybe I should take off some windings and create less power=heat. 

Anyway the real blocking point at the moment is finding the "insulating tape" to cover the windings with - no-one seems to know where to get it (see photo). I think it is probably a glass fibre based tape (I found some on the 3m web site here :-

http://solutions.3m.com/wps/portal/3M/en_US/3MElectrical/Home/ProductsServices/Products/SolutionsCatalog/?PC_7_RJH9U5230GE3E02LECIE20OUP7_nid=ZJKCDRW8S7be880QKQHTR5gl

But I can't find a local stockists, so I might need to pay a visit back to the place that sold me the wire....

I need to head for the dealine of November 21/22 where Olly and I can go to Ledenon for some of the last training sessions of the year.

Suzuki RG500

So here's the list :-

Modify gearlever so it is more precise - I have too much lever to lift to engage gears.
Dismantle clutch and see if I can do anything about the drag.
Remove heads/Barrels/Pistons/Disk valves and send them to Bob Farnham in the UK for a tune.
Fit ZXR750 radiator.

Thats about it,

progress should be fast!

Race 2 at Nogaro

Last race at Nogaro

Back after the weekend in the South of France at the Nogaro circuit, which was one of the most famous courses in France some years ago, but recently it has seen less of the limelight.

We arrived after a night of deluge near Montpellier, which had apparently been the same at the circuit. We setup the gear in the huge Nogaro pit car park, in a zone specifically for the classic machines which is great as we are all together, and the atmosphere is better.

I hadn't touched the bike since the last race, as I had been on a business trip for 10 days, so I took out the plugs just to see what they ended up looking like after the last race. The rear plugs were slightly lighter than the fronts, but still fairly dark, so along with the consensus in the pits (hmmmm....) I decided to drop another size on my main jets - back down to 190's. The first practise was Friday evening at 17:00 - the bike ran great, I pumped the choke at the end of the long straight just to ensure the pistons were getting some cooling fuel, when the throttle is completely closed (heavy on the brakes).

The track was drying during the practise, but lap times were slow, due to relearning the circuit plus the various damp patches. I was fairly impressed with the Power One's no slipping at all.

I checked the plugs, and they were OK after the practise, however I am not sure how much this can be trusted as the track exit is about 500 metres of low idle speeds to get back to my trailer, anyway certainly no signs of detonation, and the bike was running well.

Saturday morning timed practise, was damp for the first couple of laps and then downpour for the rest. I stayed until the end, as I have little experience in the wet, and I really needed the track time. This was good because I slowly improved my lap times, which enabled me to get a 4th row start position for the race. My qualification time was 2:14, which is pretty slow, but as most had only done a couple of laps it was good enough!

Race 1,  I was a bit stressed because I had some really torquey four strokes behind me, and the last thing I wanted was to have some big 4 strokes up my chuff, as my starts are crap, half due to me, and half I am sure, due to the binding clutch on the Suzuki. Anyway, I got a reasonable start for once, and with the bike running well, I was in a good position mid field. I overtook a couple of bikes, and I was catching a normally faster group, which I managed to attach myself to. I got past a Kawa ZXR750, and then was third in the group. On the last lap the guy in second, go past to go to the front (of the group), and then he really braked for a bend which brought us all close togther for the last bend of the circuit. I made a last second dive to overtake a VFR750, which suceeded but unfortunately didn't have the power to keep in front down towards the chequered flag! I finished around 11th in my category, well happy with my best time of 1:51:735.

Race 2, again from the 4th row, and a worse start this time around, but I managed to fend of the guys int eh first bend and maintained pretty much my position. A pretty lonely race this one, I was on my own from start to finish unable to better my position, although I did manage to improve (just) my lap times, and I am sure I was more consistently quick throughout the race. I managed a 1:51:691, which again I was happy with. 

Still more effort required to get up with the front runners, but hey, everything takes time.... 

More Video from C-en-T

More video from the Endurance and Races at C-en-T

MotoGP and Superbike

I am in the USA for a week, and watched both the MotoGP (Portugal) and the French round of the SuperBike in this bar..... It was the only place that had the right cable TV - The rest of the people in the bar were glued to Denver playing American Football, no-one watched the bikes with me.....



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzlFth_63jg



It's bad quality because it was on my mobile phone. Next weekend Nogaro - the last race of the year!

Post Unlimited Race1

Croix-en-ternois (2)

So, more details and a few photos/videos of the weekend. We got to Croix, Thursday evening, and for once we were one of the first to arrive at the circuit. The free practise sessions started just before lunch, and I tried out the 350, which ran well, and the RG which was running better.

My second session on the 350, went well until the bike starting missing at high rpm, anything over 7K resulted in some spluttering. Back to the pits, and pulling the plugs they looked pretty hot, so I decided to jet up (360's), at the same time I noticed that the nipple on one spark plug had come loose and was actually stuck in the plug cap - I assumed this was going to fix my problem, so I screwed it back on tight and went out again. One lap later same problem, pulled in and started some more serious troubleshooting - I took the seat off, and the YPVS control box was flapping around lose and had become damaged and hasd also pulled a wire out - again I put this all back in - tested the powervalve (zeeltronic control box), and went back out - One lap later, same problem (are you seeing a pattern) , so I pulled in, and removed entirely the power valve controller and fixed the powervalve open, went out again, and still had the same problem!

I swapped the whole of the ignition system, coil, cleaned the carbs and (back at home) removed the fuel tap and cleaned the fuel filter, but to no avail. Two hours before the endurance race was due to start, we had to take a decision, and that was that I would try and change the stator, and if this didn't fix it we would need to go for a single bike strategy. By 13:00 I had changed the stator, and the bike didn't even fire up (I assume the second stator (that I borrowed was duff)), so the decision was quickly made to run Christian's bike only. We got agreement from the race direction, and I still had time to stuff some lunch before setting off on our 3 hour adventure.

The Endurance race was really stressful, in fact the least stressful was being on the bike, but in the pits it was work, work, work - we had to have a personal fire man, with extinguisher and all the gear, and had to use a proper fuel filler, with loads of rules and regulations around what you could and couldn't do.

We had decided to go for simple 45 minute relays amounting to 90 minutes for each pilot, Christian did the start and I would do the finish. There were two classes, the "classic" class and a "Superbike" class. We were in the classic class.

We started from the 3rd line, and Christian made a great start, and was soon lapping at around 1:05's constantly and sometimes dipping into the 1:03's and 4's. He was going great! 45 minutes was quickly passed and we had decided to dump 8.5 litres of fuel each time around. Christian came into the pits and drove straight in to the pits, shouting through his helmet that the seat had become lose! Panic - find some screws and fix it quickly.... we probably lost 5 minutes before I was out on the track on a bike I had never ridden before, with different tyres to mine, in fact a whole different experience!!

Christian's bike is setup with some brembo P8's which out brake my bike significantly, and he runs low pressure in his front tyre, and you can really feel it wiggle as you get the weight on the front wheel, this was really disconcerting for me.... I managed to get around in 1:10's and worse.... I found it really difficult. By the end of my session, I had bettered my times but I was still really slow, and I had lost some of the significant effort Christian had put in.

In the third relay Christian even put in a 1:02 which was a personal best for him! This time around he had no problems with the bike, and it was soon time for me to go out for the 4th and last relay. To be honest I was dreading it, but determined to try and get quicker!

We were in third at that point, and we (Christian) was quicker that the 2nd place guys, so we were hopeful of a second place. I did my best, and in fact got significantly better - I think I got down to a 1:05, which was OK, and the 2nd place team, had to pit stop due to an oil leak, so we ended up 2nd place in the Classic category. 

We were both really happy to say the least, and I was really impressed both by Christian's ability to ride as quick, and also that his bike lasted the race - impressive 3 hours on a two stroke!

My thanks to Libby for actively helping out in the pits, with the timing, and holding out our one pit signal (62 STOP), and also to Marc (I think) for being an impromptu fire man!

The Post Unlimited races on the RG500 were quite satisfying although I didn't get any decent results - the class is extremely competitive (my excuse and I'm sticking to it!).

I am really getting used to lying the bike down, and the handling is great, especially after  having ridden the flappy handling 350's, the 500 is controlled and stable. I must admit that I did worse lap times this time around than with the RG back in May when we were at the same circuit! Which all goes to prove that Libby is right when she tells me to leave the damn thing alone if it's working.

The engine ran very smoothly, and although my starts were still crap, I got away faster than before, we know have an RC30, plus a couple of VFR's in the pack, and unfortunately I still don't have the means to go get 'em. We'll see next year.

I managed to get a few points out of the weekend, which was good but I will be looking for more next year. While in the UK, I visited Bob Farnham's in Kent, and I will be sending my barrels, heads etc.. to him for tuning during the winter !!

One race left at Nogaro, where I should be able to get more of an advantage from the RG500, but I need to remember the last disastrous trip to Nogaro at which I seized the 350 on the 2nd lap of the weekend after a 9 hour drive....

Technical Update

Well, I stripped the RG down to the bare rotary valves, and low & behold someone had installed it as if it was on the right hand side, and not on the left - I flipped it over and rebuilt the bike, and of course it starts and idles much more smoothly - this means that I have run both at Pau and Magny-Cours with the rotary disk valve in this position! I can't wait to see what horses I have released!

I also received my gearbox sprockets so a small one of them will go on for Croix (I hope it wheelies after all this). Laurent had also sent through my damper rods, so I have just spent the rest of the evening putting the forks back together and on the bike. The springs are massively stiff so good for my weight, however I am not so sure about the gold valves - we'll have to wait and see.

The 350 just needs the exhaust and tank fitting and it'll be ready, if nothing leaks (cylinder head gasket, must be on it's 5/6th cycle....) I will have to start it tomorrow. 

Anyway the RG is now back in the trailer as we are off on Thursday evening.

Preparation for CenT

Busy weekend in preparation for the weekend at Croix-en-Ternois in September, I will be participating in my first endurance (3 hours) with the Yam 350, and also in the normal races on the RG500. I started on the RG500, on which I did the following :-

- Drained and replaced the gearbox oil, replaced with Motul Transoil and Mecacyl HY which is a gearbox additive which is supposed to improve the binding clutch situation.

- Drained the coolant, and ran through some radiator cleaning fluid, and checked out the water pump impeller which was in perfect condition.

- Installed smaller main jets - now down to 200's 

On the 350 I did the following :-

- Changed the piston rings, I discovered that the expander rings that I had debated putting in had actually become very brittle and when I removed them they both broke into pieces, I did  not replace them!

- Charged the battery

- On the 350 I am waiting for my damper rods to come back from brazing up the holes - I just hope they arrive today (Monday), which will enable me to get the forks back on, as time is ticking on.

I started up the 500 to check things were OK, and noticed that the cylinder No. 3 was not running as hot as the others, i.e. the exhaust pipe was only warm after about 5 minutes running, and even removing the spark plug cap, did not seem to make difference. To cut a long story short, I still haven't found the issue, but suspect that the rotary disk that I replaced long ago, must have been installed wrong! When I look through the carbs at the rotary disks (throttle open), the disk is not synchronised with cylinder No. 2 and it should be! Nos. 1 & 4 are at the same angle, but 2 & 3 are out!!! I am going to have to pull this off tonight to see if I could have made a mistake when I installed it. This would explain why this cylinder is blowing back a lot of fuel through the carb - more updates tomorrow.

We will be traveling up to the UK at the end of the week, and will be leaving the trailer with a friend in Lille, this will avoid having to drive all the way down through France, and then back up for the race near Calais the next weekend, so everything has to be packed up and ready to roll Thursday evening!

Carole Race 2

Carole - race report

We arrived at Carole (north Paris) Friday around 14:00, unloaded the Suzuki (I didn't take the Yam), and setup the barnham and stuff for the weekend. The weather forecast was good and somewhat cooler (around 23 degrees C), so I was hopeful that my 240 main jets would be OK.

On Fridays Carole is open to the public and anyone can come and use the circuit for FREE - yes, all you need is a current license and the right riding gear and you can race round the circuit to your hearts delight - this was done in an effort by the French government to reduce racing on the roads, and I think this is really forward thinking!

Anyway, I had a couple of sessions on Friday afternoon in between, changing jets! Yes I was still way to rich. On Friday I worked down to 220, and again on Saturday I reduced to 210's which was the smallest I had with me! I think I am getting close, and I will probably end up around the 190 mark.

We had one qualifying session on Saturday morning, and I was dissapointed by my best time at 1:16, they last time at Carole on the RD 350 I was running at the same time, and even a bit better, so not good, and effectively I found myself on the grid behind the faster 350's, and behind the other RG500 who was running at 1:14.

Race 1

My starts are improving, but the clutch on the RG is difficult, it binds and is difficult to get a clean start, anyway the first couple of corners were OK, and I was soon getting past most of the traffic, especially in the windy bits of the circuit, I got past Tom (BSA Rocket3) on the inside at the parabolic, and it was either the same lap or the next one, where he took a fall trying to get past me on the same bend (on the outside). Anyway to cut a long story short, I was just coming up to overtake Hughes Arnold on his massive Kawasaki Martin 1000 on the inside at the parabolic, pushed on the right hand bar to get some angle, and the clipon slipped forward about 45 degrees, which brought me upright, and almost taking out Hughes (I don't think he saw how close it was!). I pulled the clipon back into position, and continued back to the pits to tighten stuff up!

Race 2 

Between the two races I had time to get a new rear Power One Michelin fitted to the rear, the guys at the Dunlop lorry were doing an excellent job - I was chatting to the guy, and he was English, and had just been on the MotoGP trip and was on his way back to the UK, and was asked to help out at Carole (MotoGP service from Dunlop!!).

I found myself at the back of the grid (DNF in the first race), and got a "better" start, not many places to lose! Again I was soon past the slower riders, and spent most of the race fighting it out with Guillaume on his RG, we was quicker down the straights, and I was quicker through some bends, so we exchanged positions a couple of times until I managed to pull away as his bike lost some power, I was just catching a Ducati 906, when I took the chequered flag, in 18th position (no points this weekend).

I was a little happier, as my best time had come down to a more reasonable 1:13:851 - still 6 seconds off the podium guys, but improving. Once I get my carburation sorted, it will probably be the end of the season, but hey, I am having fun! 

Some things I need to sort before the next race at Croix-en-Ternois are obviously the carbs, but also I am suffering from overheating, the biek was running around 93-94 degrees C, and this is robbing me of power, but also not doing any good to the engine. The other RG, was running at a confortable 65 degrees. I will be investigating the water pump over the next few days......

Next race on the 19/20th September near Calais!

(Photos and video to follow)

RD350 YPVS Fork modifications

I have decided to leave the 350 at home this weekend, because I need to modify the forks and change the piston rings. I started out by removing the forks, and starting the modifications to the damping rods in order to install the Gold valves. See the attached photo half way through. It was pretty difficult to remove the inside tube, as it is a push fit, and I had to use a drift through the bottom end of the damping rod. Also the holes do not exactly match up with what is in the Gold valve documents, hmmm... maybe my forks have already been through some modification.

Technical Update

Ok back from holidays now, and the bike needs some work! 

I have received new piston rings for the RD 350, and some stiffer fork springs and gold valves, this in preparation for the endurance in September at Croix-en-Ternois, so these all need to be fitted.

For the RG500, after my experiences with no filters, I have decided to leave it without the filter foam, but the big question is still which jets? I ended up with 240's in the last race at Pau and I think I was still too rich, which means I could have probably done better with 230's. The temperature at Pau was around 30 degrees C, and the weather forecast for Carole at the end of the month is currently around 20 degrees C, which means we will lose 10 degrees, which is roughly equivalent to richening by one size, so the game plan is to start with 240's at Carole - and see.

I bought a ZXR 750 radiator off evil bay during the summer, and wanted to fit it, however it is really dirty and difficult to clean (despite 3 hot cycles in the dishwasher!), so this will probably wait until I have more time. I found some nice flexible silicon water hoses (SAMCO) which will enable me to fit it, if I can find the space in the fairing! In the mean time I removed the RG radiator and spent a few sunny afternoons straightening all the fins on the rad to ensure it works as well as designed, about 25% of the fins were bent over, which must have an impact on it's cooling capacity. Again, first test is Carole on the 29th August.

I will need to bleed the brakes again this weekend, and finish off bits and bobs before racing in 2 weeks.

Two strokes forever!

Take a look at the full article here :-

Two Strokes strike back! 

But one quote from Harold Bartol (famous Dutch 2 stroke tuner and KTM Race manager) :-

That’s no wonder, says Harald Bartol, two-stroke engineering luminary and technical director of KTM’s grand prix activities: “When I look at two strokes I see only advantages – the power, the weight, the cost and complexity. And the riding dynamics of two-stroke 250s are very close to the 800cc MotoGP bikes. If I were making a sportsbike for the road I would choose a 500cc V4 two-stroke. I have absolutely no doubt it would be superior to the current superbikes, and be possible with existing legislation.”

Le Vigeant cancelled

Just a quick note before I leave on holiday. Unfortunately Le Vigeant has been cancelled, apparently a miscommunication between the organiser and our club, means we have not been planned for the weekend!

Anyway that means the next race will be at Carole at the end of August - see you there!

Technical Update

Just a quick note to remind myself what I have done to the bike recently. After Pau (too rich) I removed the difficult screw in the carb on cylinder 3, and installed 4th ball valve, I installed a 240 main jet and checked the needle setting (2 slots = standard). I also adjusted the float height to 19mm with no gasket in place as recommended by LanceGamma.

I also took of all other carbs and redid the float heights. All carbs are now at 240 mains, needle height 2, and float height 19mms.

I also checked the plugs and they were all pretty rich, which means I can probably go down to 230's for Le Vigeant.

I have received a second hand radiator from a Kawasaki ZXR 750, which although in good condition is really dirty, so I will need to clean it up, and investigate if it will actually fit (physically) inside the fairing - this should end any cooling issues I may have, the temperature is still going to around 85-90 degrees C, which is robbing me of horsepower...

We now have 5 weeks until Le Vigeant, so time for a holiday from the bike! Speak soon..... Dave

Race2 at Pau

Race 1 at Pau

Photos from Magny Cours

I got a couple of photos from Magny-Cours which I can share.

Pau

Monday evening last week, I started looking at the bike after Magny-Cours, the throttle wasn't returning properly, and after investigation it turned out that the cable had frayed, so I needed to get a new one, fortunately tuesday morning and the local dealer was optimistic about a new one arriving on Thursday morning - it would be tight but doable as we were planning on leaving for Pau on Thursday evening, and stopping half way (it's about 9 hours for me).

Thursday lunch time cable in hand, I head for home, and low and behold my new Lancegamma filter pods have arrived, so a good time to fit everything before leaving for Pau at 19:00.

The cable went on no problems, the LanceGamma pods come with ball valves which replace the standard needle valve and seats (which invariabley leak on the Gamma), and we didn't really know how to fit them, and got it wrong, after some exchange of email with the manufacturer, however it was too late so we packed up the trailer and off we went at 18:50.

After a night in a small hotel, we arrived at the circuit at around midday on Friday. Practise sessions were planned all afternoon, but as we had to remove the carbs again and refit the floats, I didn't buy any sessions until 15:00, by which time I had the chance to go out and learn the track. Pau-Arnos is a super track, quite narrow in places but combines some really technical hairpins and chicanes with some very fast downhill bends, a very exciting track, and one which produced some good racing, you will see from the video when it gets posted.

Anyway back to the bike! It's not running well, far to rich, after the first practise we back of the mains by 10 points to 250's, and then again to 240's, but still it's not happy, as we have no smaller jets, time for some drastic thinking! The guys in the paddock (and my brother) are convinced it can't breath properly, the filters are getting crushed by the fairing, so we decide in the second race to run it without any filters at all - big risk, as this could have been a very unhappy ending to the weekend, except it did the trick, and the bike ran great, gasping in huge quantities of air to go with the big jets! I think I can still go down again if the weather remains hot!

Anyway, the first race was with an over rich bike, that wouldn't pull the skin of a rice pudding, plus I got a typical start i.e. I was almost last going into the first bend! I managed to get back up with the RD350's after a bit of dicing with a couple of 750/4 Hondas who were going well, and difficult to pass, the 350's went but they seemed to get motivated seeing me pass, so we then proceeded to have a great battle between us, Christian Degardin did not want me to beat him, but I finally pipped him at the chequered flag, although he did a much better job of racing than I did!

The second race was Sunday morning, and as we had decided to leave the filters off, I spent a restless night contemplating seized engines at every turn. However that was not to be! I got a reasonable start (I wasn't quite last), and the bike was running great, with real punch at 8K through to about 11K - GREAT, I blasted past the 350's and starting coming back on the straggling GSXR 750, they normally run in packs for safety, but I managed to pick off a couple of stragglers, and come in at a respectable position, and had a thoroughly enjoyable race! Of course learning these new tracks is great, but frustrating, as you know at the end of the weekend how much faster you COULD HAVE gone!

Lap times came down all weekend which is good, starting of with a 1:44.775 in practise, Race 1 I clocked a 1:38.868, and Race 2 I got down to 1:36.782. The cumlative results should get me a couple of points this time around!

Overall a great weekend with great weather neither too hot but just right! Next time is in 5 weeks time at Le Vigeant a track I am familiar with, so should be good. Photos and videos soon.

Fans invade Magny Cours

Race 2

Magny Cours Race 1

Race 1 video - you will have to excuse the poor quality, but it's really difficult for one camera to get a good idea of the race at magny cours as the circuit is so spread out.

Magny-Cours

We got back a few hours a ago, from a super weekend at Magny-Cours - circuit very familiar to those that follow F1 or Superbike, although the motoGP hasn't been held there for a number of years. Anyway, a big name circuit, and certainly one of the best in France.

The ProClassic series was integrated into a weekend with the French Endurance Championship and the VMA (the other old bike club).

We arrived at the circuit Friday morning after a night in the local "Premier Class" hotel, found the rest of the guys, and installed the gear to be ready for the first untimed practise at 10:50. Being my first time at Magny-Cours for me it was important to put in as many laps as possible, to learn the circuit, which initially seemed like a few straights, which someone had decided were too quick and had put in chicanes all over the place to slow people down! For me there are only about 6 real bends linked by long starights, with the dreaded chicanes, and I think this is where the races are won and lost - in the chicanes. What appears to be slow at the start of the weekend rapidly becomes very fast!

The circuit, starts off with a nice curve to the left followed by "Estoril" which is a VERY long right hander where big B#$%s are required to keep the gas turned up, then onto the longest straight and down to Adelaide (a slow hairpin bend), up through Nurburgring (chicane) and down to "180" a long left hander, up to "Chateau d'eau" past Imola (chicane 2), and then down to "Complex du Lycee" and onto the start finish straight via the third chicane. Finally coming back to Estoril via a very fast left hander.

Because of all the straights, I had replaced the rear chain sprocket with a smaller item in an effort to pull a faster speed down the straight, but I seemed to be in the wrong gear the whole time, so I went back to a 38 at the rear after the first practise. Honestly I was still not redlining in 6th on the longest straight so it was more important for me to find a gear that would pull me through some of the slow bends where you can lose loads of time, waiting for the power band to come in.

The bike ran well on Friday practise, and although we slept under a 5 zillion watt light, Libby and I spent a reasonable night in the car, and woke up to a sunny Saturday morning. I had got down to a lowly 2:11 in untimed practise, and I was looking forward to improve things for qualifying. That was not to be as I qualified with a 2:12, and really I should have taken note and changed the carburation to better suit the very hot weather.

Race one I got the most pitiful start after having qualified on the 5th line, I was last into turn one, and although I was back to my "place" after a couple of bends I had really lost touch with the guys I should have been fighting it out with. I spent most of the race on my own, trying to catch up, and not really managing. The bike was not responding well, and I really should have dropped some smaller jets to cope with the very hot weather (less oxygen = smaller jets).

The second race however was at 18:30, so I was hopeful that the temperature would have reduced, and effectively the bike was much more lively in the second race, plus I was cheered on by the crowd from Pommiers (my village) watching from Adelaide, which was a bonus! They had travelled up (taking more than 7 hours by the pretty route) to watch, so I had to put on a show!

I managed to get a reasonable start (only lost a couple of places) and again I found myself alone, but trying hard to catch Jacques Danzer, and our new female racer on a GSXR - Paticia Houille Audebert. I never managed to catch them, but I did get my best lap time of the weekend, and I was not lapped by the leaders! In the second race I managed a 2:10.

I didn't manage any points from the weekend, and I think this shows how difficult the Post Unlimited category is going to be this year.

Because all the racing was over (for us) on Saturday evening we did manage a small celebration, and a few glasses of English beer followed up with some red wine, whisky, and Pineau des Charentes, so Sunday morning we were happy to stay in bed.

Thanks to all the "fans" that travelled up from Pommiers, and I will try to do better next time at Pau in two weeks!

Video and photos will be posted during the week.

Rear Wheel Photos

For someone on the French RG500 Forum

Article in the press from Croix-en-Ternois

Hi all,
Thanks to Tom, for sending me an article published in the press in the North of France which is quoting me....whoopee first press coverage - the sponsors will be so happy!!

A couple of photos

Hi All,
Steph our photographer took these at the weekend in Croix. Can't wait for Magny Cours!
On the RG, I have removed the carbs, rotary disk covers to complete making the engine reliable - apparently the bakerlite rotary valve covers are lined with bakerlite which becomes fragile and can break off and enter the engine. Well luck I did them when I did, because they seriously needed it (see photo!). If that piece of bakerlite had entered the engine, I would be lookin at a rebore or worse! I will also have to change a disk which is slightly warped (bit like a pingle!), so the bike is awaiting a few parts, but you can admire the shiny new rotary valve covers aswell. I have put on the smallest rear sprocket I have in anticipation of Magny Cours' long straights and fast bends!

On the Yam, I have removed the fairing to discover my home made bracket had got cruched so I am making up another one with solid bar instead of tube - should work if I can weld the two bits together! I have also ordered some heavier gauge fork springs and gold valves to improve the front end on the Yam.

I am out of the country this week, but I will certainly have an update after next weekend.

Classic & Unlimited Race 2

Post Unlimited Race 1

Race 1 with the RG500 No. 62

Race 2 with the RG500 No. 62

Photos of the weekend at Croix

My first trophy



Fan club from England (Andy & Bev)

Me with my Dad and Uncle Phil!

Classic & Unlimited Race 1

Weekend highlights....

Well, back to work after a hectic weekend - I will post some video and photos over the next few days, but for those that just can't wait here are the highlights :-

I ran the "unlimited" series on the RD 350, this race was run with the Classic category. 

Saturday, I came in 5th in Race 1

Sunday, I came in 4th in Race 2

Due to some faster "classic" machines being ahead of me my overall position in Unlimited was 2nd - I got on the Podium (and a cup!) - I was the first RD over the line, and I improved my lap times all weekend - GREAT.

I ran the "post-unlimited" series on the RG 500.

Saturday, I came in around 12th in Race 1

Sunday, I came in around 13th - or 14th in Race 2 after doing some gardening in the grass at the side of the circuit on one bend!

Globally - I had a great weekend! My Dad, and second cousin (I think) came down on their "bikes". Plus we had a visit from Andy & Bev, over from England - so the fan club was at full strength - and the bikes did not dissappoint. 

The 350 ran great all weekend - I didn't even take a plug out all weekend, just filled with premix, the only small problem I had was a progressive loosening of the fairing bracket, which made things move a bit, but nothing terminal. I think (hope) I have finally got to a good base line with the 350. this was running the standard stator, with the Zeeltronic ignition, and nice big 350 main jets. I bought a new tyre because my front was badly split around the side walls, but after consultation with the AVON consultant (Philippe), I decided to run it anyway, so I now have a tyre to spare. I was warned by the marshals that my front fork was diving badly on the brakes, so I need to do some stiffening up there somehow.

The RG500 also ran really well, 1 practise session, 1 timed practise & 2 races, although I will need to improve something to start getting anywhere near the front in the Post unlimiteds. Still for a stock engine - and a first race I am happy! I improved my lap times with the 500 but only by about 1 second (I'll post the exact times later)  over the 350. In the second race, I started having some "moments" with the rear sliding under reacceleration, and this eventually caused me to lose it and go into the grass at one point - it did freak me out for a couple of bends, but I was soon back into the rythm. The brakes are still fantastic, I must be making 30 KPH more down the straight, and I am braking at the same point as with the Yam (handy!). But I am not as efficient with the RG as with the Yam around the bends.

Anyway a full report with some video and photos later today if I get the time. I have already taken the fairing off the Yam to fix the bracket, and the forks are already drained, so plenty to do while waiting for Magny Cours on the 14/14th June.

My times for the weekend were :-

RD 350 Timed practise 1.06.172secs.

RD350 Race 1 = 1.05.892secs

RD350 Race 2 = 1.05.468

RG 500 Time Practise 1.05.436

RG500 Race 1 = 1.04.153secs

RG500 Race 2 = 1.03.959secs

4 days and counting

First race next weekend - phewwww finally. I did some last minute lock wiring this weekend, fitted some 350 main jets to the Yam (just in case), and cranked both machines up - GREAT SOUNDS two stroke smoke everywhere!

The weather forecast is not good for race day, so I may be able to tell you after the weekend how the Michelin Power 1 tyres are in the wet.... I know the AVONs on the Yam are good wet race tyres, but I hope I can warm up the michelins so they hold on to the track.

We will travel up Thursday evening, stopping of at Troyes, and then finish the journey on Friday.

A quick photo of the bike outside after polishing the wheels!

Update after the weekend.

Why two strokes

Many of you (?) may be asking yourselves why I choose to race two stroke bikes when a good torquey four stroke would be more appropriate for someone of my size (and weight). Well if your bored, have a read of this guys thoughts on 2 strokes - interesting to say the least.

http://www.dirt-bike-tips-and-pics.com/future-of-two-strokes.html

Last modifications finished

Well, not much news really. My list of things to do is finished except putting on my numbers. I have put stops for the steering which prevent the levers touching the fairing - so it should get through scrutineering, plus the catch bottles are done - I ended up putting the radiator bottle in the fairing, and a couple of smaller bottles picking up the residue that comes out of the carbs. (hmmmmm...) All the lock wiring has been done - mental note to make a tool to avoid breaking the 1.5 mm drill bits I have been using! I have made a curved gear lever which will prevent any interference with the gear rod, and finally I changed the handlebar grips, which was a cock up, as the throttle has small plastic ridges on it to prevent the grip slipping off and the ones I bought did not fit....Anyway it got nice carbon look alike bungs in the ends of the clipons....

Just waiting for the first race which will now be at Crois-en-Ternois the weekend of the 10/11th May.

Ledenon - Track day

Hi All,
Back from the training day at Ledenon. Had a fantastic day, and the bike behaved great!
On Saturday I had to move the fixing brackets in the trailer as although built for three bikes, I could not fit the RD and RG side by side, but this was easily done, I now need to plug a few holes in the panel floor. The RG actually slid over in the trailer after descending my mountain road, so we had to change the attachment points and after that we didn't have any problems. Ended up getting to the circuit at around 9:00 am Sunday.

While Oliver mixed up some fuel (I am using A747 Castrol and 98 octane Super), I went to buy some sessions. The track is in the South of France near Nimes, and on Sunday they were running alternate bike and car sessions. I bought 3 morning sessions, after queuing for about 30 minutes (they are just so disorganised!).

The first session I was really just getting used to the bike, the tyres and brakes are fantastic very confidence inspiring, the front fork a little hard, the rear end great, and the engine seems to pull very cleanly once getting to about 7K, it does seem to struggle a bit to get up to 7, and some very loud induction whine at about 6-7 as it gathers revs. At about 7k the whole thing takes off, very nicely pulling to about 11K, I say about 11K because the Alfano, is somewhat approximate in measuring and as it is displayed as a number it was difficult to read. Anyway my homemade footrests and rearsets were loosening off after 20 or so minutes so I stopped just before the end to tighten up all the bits!

Had the same kind of issues in the second session, I had lock tightened the bolts and stuff, but I think a redesign is necessary. The third session went well, although the bike started to misfire, lose a little power intermitently.

During the lunch break, we decided to change the plugs, I have no spares for the bike, so if that didn't cure the misfire, I would have to complete the day on the RD 350. What a job, good thing Oliver has smaller hands than I do, we tried to get at the plugs from the top under the tank, it is easy to remove the tank, so I thought this would be relatively easy compared with taking the fairing off. Well I think it took a concerted 30 minutes of messing about to change the plugs - phew! I must find a better way to do this.

I bought 2 sessions in the PM, and although the bike started with a slight intermitent problem it soon cleared, and I was back to full power again. The last 2 sessions I was really getting used to it, and having some fun with some 600's and a guy on a TZ. Great fun.

The fairing touches down on the right hand side, but at least it is protecting the exhaust (they are more expensive to replace!) - I must learn to hang off more. Although saying that I was having to lift my knee considerably on one right hand bend off camber bend I was over so far! Anyway the bike went great to the end, so really quite a successful day.

The trip home was against the wind the whole way, so slow, and expensive!

List of things to do before first race :-
Fix bolting down the petrol tank bracket (the thread is knackered)
Look at modifiying the rearsets, footrests.
Fix brackets (that broke - the pop rivets didn't hold I need to bolt them on).
Fix carb. overflow bottles.
Try and change control positions (my wrists ache!)

finished... (for the moment)

Well after having made sure all the bolts are tight it's ready for it's first outing on Sunday. It looks OK, although the lower fiaring panels don't line up correctly with the top which is a bit of a shame. Anyway should have a story to tell Sunday night!

Got my tyres - huh!

Hi All, So exciting ! my tyres came through at last.... hmmmm nice shiny and black as you would expect really! Also got around to taking some photos of the weekends work :-

7 days and counting

Hi All, a quick update as I haven't taken any pictures as yet. I finished bleeding the brakes, made a bracket to hold the master cylinder reservoir, and another bracket to hold the rear brake master cylinder and the mudguard steady. After much struggling I managed to get 7/8 screws attached on the fairing - it is really a tight fit. I was obliged to remove the lower fairing brackets which means the fairing really wraps around the engine and pipes, which is fine, if it doesn't crack with the vibration of the engine! We will see!

I fitted the expansion chambers with high temperature sealant, and put back in my air filter (yes I will initially run filtered air!), and put back the snorkel tubes.

I plan to run 33:1 petrol/oil mixture, and I made up a couple of litres and filled the tank, which promptly leaked from the petrol tap. I turned over the rubber gasket, and that seemed to fix the leak, so on went the tank.

I had previously charged the battery, and all that was left was to start her up! It took 5 kicks which I was pleased with, the engine sounded nice. The clutch needed some adjustment, but that's normal. The gear lever definately needs playing with, my rearsets are a bit wobbley, and it doesn't give a very precise feel to gearchanges, although it works!

The riding position is much more racey which is good. The Alfano works, temperature, RPM etc.. although the display for the RPM is hardly readable - just figures changing the whole time.... never mind it will do to start with.

Next Sunday I will down at Ledenon for a day, and Libby just told me my Michelin's have just turned up - so I now have some race rubber!

Next Saturday I near to clear out the trailer and see if I can fit both bikes in - I won't leave the RD behind!

Speak soon,

Dave

Continued....

Well this weekend, I managed to get the rear plastic on, although I had to cut it down to incorporate space for the rearsets, and the fact that I'd moved the rear brake master cylinder - but honestly I think it looks more modern, I also finished (yes somethings get done!), the rear brake lever and the gear lever, and they work. Just for info, I was worried that I might have to learn an upside down gear linkage, but it turns out that it remains standard.

Final piece of work this weekend was trying out the RG500 front brake master cylinder, which does indeed give me much more room to play with as opposed to the GSXR master cylinder. I will of course have to ensure that it operates the brakes as efficiently, but as yet, I have not yet bled the system.

Starting to look like a bike again!!

Change in dates.....

Hi All,
Fantastic skiing in Carroz! Whilst I was gone, they changed some dates :-
- 11 et 12 avril à Carole
- 2 et 3 mai au Vigeant
- 9 et 10 mai à Croix en Ternois
- 13 et 14 juin sur un circuit encore à confirmer
- 8 et 9 août au Vigeant
- 29 et 30 août à Carole
- 19 et 20 septembre à Croix en Ternois avec une épreuve d'endurance
- 10 et 11 octobre à Nogaro

Got the fairing lined up

I was dreading putting the top of the fairing on the bike, because I really thought the extra width of the forks would make life a misery when fitting the fairing. Well good news is that it lines up pretty well, and the clipons don't hit the fairing on either lock. I still need to sort out a way of putting stop locks on the bottom yoke to stop the forks and avoid any damage if it falls over.

I also received some overflow bottles from one of the guys on the French RG500 forum - nice guy lives in Valence, and sent me loads for free!

The brakes have been bled but I had to move the master cylinder banjos around so I need to blead them again.

I ordered a left hand thread rose joint to complete my gear lever rearset, and they sent me a RH threaded one...doh! They will send another one for free!

My Michelin Tyres have not been sent yet apparently Michelin haven't yet made the medium fronts, so I have gone for a soft front and medium rear and hopefully these will arrive during my holiday next week.

That's it for now.

Le Mans cancelled

Well the title says it all really.... The first race of the year will be replaced by a weekend at Le Vigeant (near Poitier), on the 8/9th August. The downside is that I was really looking forward to going back to Le Mans to race on the Bugatti circuit. The upside is that I will have a few more weeks to prepare the bike!!

I've pretty much finished the rearsets, this weekend I need to fit the fairing.

Rearsets and more..

Hi All,
Well the weather has been bad and as the weekends go by, I get guilty at not working on the bike. SO this weekend, I wanted to fit my goodridge brake hoses, make my gear and brake levers and finish fitting the alfano (dashboard).

I was pretty pissed off whan I found they had sent through the wrong hoses, as I had bought them in the UK before Xmas and Ann had to send them over for me (my sister) at additional expense, still the pound is really weak against the Euro, so the money wasn't really important, but the shag and hassle of sending them back was a daunting program, however after a couple of calls through to K300 (where I bought them), it appeared that goodridge were putting up a fight! They insisted that for my bike (GSXR 750K) these were the right model..... Getting well wound up, I had another look, and sure enough they were right! I just hadn't taken off the right bit - seems stupid but hey they could have put some instructions in the box. Anyway I am now happy that I don't have to send them back!

After keeping the rear wheel bearings in the freezer and warming the wheel up in the kitchen, the new bearings slid in nicely although difficult to line up the spacer and I didn't get it spot on, although the wheel turns fine.

Now getting to the levers, Christophe one of Oliver's mates is working as a welder on a site where they are putting up aluminium stairways, he picked me up a bit of scrap 8 mm thick plate, and I got to work with my CNC programming interface (Jigsaw!), and cut out the right shapes.

Take a look at the photos but I will probably need to cut down the gear lever as it looks too long - I am not sure if this will give me an upside down change patterm or not - I really need to think about that. I am having someone on ebay make up a gear rod with right thread one end and a LH thread the other - he's making it in Titanium (ooooh....), and I have sourced a LH thread rose joint from mcgillmotorsports also of ebay - they have a great catalogue of bits!!

Anyway I was quite pleased with the look, pretty basic but hey - home made! Libby made the comment that I should make two sets - I can't think why!

This coming weekend I really need to fit the fairing and start finishing stuff, I need to fix the rear mudguard, fit the front exhausts etc...

Provisional Dates 2009

Hi All, we had our annual general meeting this past weekend, and so here are the PROVISIONAL DATES for Proclassic 2009 :-
28/29 March at LE MANS
12/13 April at CAROLE
9/10 May at Croix en Ternois
13/14 June at Magny-Cours
27/28 June at Ales OR Le Vigeant
29/30 August at Carole
19/20 Sept. at Croix en Ternois (PROCLASSIC ORGANISED)
10/11 Oct. at Nogaro

Some comments:- The 27/28 June weekend is not fixed - it could be either Ales or Le Vigeant. The 19/20 September will be organised by Pro Classic at Croix-en-Ternois, and there will be a 3-4 hours endurance plus normal racing.

Getting there.....

Over Xmas not a lot has happened. Although I have made a list!! Oliver helped me put the stickers on the fairing which created some issues.... as the paint job on the RG fairing isn't exactly the same shape as the Sheene racebike, plus the paintjob as you can see is not 100% the same! Still it looks pretty good! (I think), although it wouldn't look good parked next to the real thing.

I have also been messing with the GSXR rear wheel to see what it needs to make it fit. The bearing sizes are different as are the axels the GSXR is 20 mms and the RG 17 mms. After much investigation I can get new bearings that have an internal 17mm (RG Axel) and the 47mm external diameter to fit the GSXR wheel. The spacer between the two wheel bearings may have to be made up, as it needs to precisely butt up to the inside parts of the bearings to allow the wheel to be tightened correctly, if I am lucky the one in the RG wheel may fit (?). In order to get the correct chain alignment I am using the RG sprocket carrier which seems to fit, and on the left hand side I am using the spacer from the RG, but on the right hand side I am using the caliper carrier from the GSXR, along with the spacer from the GSXR, this makes a perfect fit, although I will be mounting the brake caliper at the bottom of the disk rather than the top (as originally placed) mainly because the torque bar will only connect to the caliper at the bottom.

I'll take some photos of this when it's finished. I put both the wheels in the shop to remove the wheel bearings. I have sourced the bearings and I will pick them up tomorrow.

I have also bought an Alfano Pro Version 2, which you can look at here
this will replace my dash board, and give me rpm, temperature gauge, and automatic lap timing via a magnetic impulse sent via a trackside unit - these are common on all French tracks. The advantage of this is a) Space (with the GSXR fork I can't leave the original), and b) I don't need someone with a stopwatch at the side of the track.

Also, I have ordered new goodritch brake hoses for the front brakes, and finally I found some really nice footrests which integrate a bearing surface to suit my home made gear and brake levers... phew.... Oh and I managed to find a black seat on ebay, plus I bought some fairing screws and nylon washers whilst in the UK for Xmas.

The club AGM is on the 17th of January, so I will know the dates of the races in a couple of weeks - I can't wait!