RG gearbox bits

So I removed the gearbox this evening to find the missing bits of the tabs holding the main bearing, and also to try and understand what had caused the problem. I eventually found the 2 bits, accompanied by some other debris in the sump of the primary drive shaft.

To be honest I can not see anything else untoward except the bearing is proud by about 3 mms, oh yes and the other thing I did notice was that the gear change cam thingy was lose on it's bolt, and wasn't engaging correctly. I don't know if any of these things would make a difference, I suppose the good thing is that there doesn't look to be any damage to the gearbox itself, although I will need to take the shaft off the plate in order to reposition the bearing, so will need to renew the various spring clips, but hardly a big expense to pay.

Sunday Ride Classic - le Castellet

Completely knackered after a good weekend in the South of France, while the rest of France was in the rain, we were (Libby & I) down South in the sun (except for some spots of rain Sunday morning!).

Got to the circuit around 13:00 Friday, and got straight in and a good place next to the pre-grid - very noisy but very conveniant. We had all of Friday afternoon to get setup and to go see our old friends from ProClassic, racing at the circuit. One of the guys had bought the 2014 Johan Zarco Moto2 bike, and there were already loads of other great bikes to look at :-

2014  Zarco Moto2

Scott Redding Moto2 bike

Wayne Rainey GP Bike

On Saturday morning, we started in the second session at 8:55, the RG had barely been run-in from Ledenon, so I took it really easy, although when you only get power between 9K-11K rpm, it's a bit difficult to "take it easy". Everything was working OK, but the clutch was a bit strange making gear shifting difficult.

The second sessions in the afternoon, was pretty good, building in confidence with the bike, getting the times down, way off competitive but 2mins 51 was not too bad. I was feeling pretty good. I checked out the clutch cable which looked like the adjuster was coming lose, and while I was there had a plug out which was a super colour.

Saturday evening, aperitif at ProClassic, followed by more drinking with the Arnold's at their gites. When we got back to the circuit the endurance was just finishing so we spent the last 30 mins of our evening watching that. 

We also met up with someone (thanks Bil) chucking out an FZR600 engine, so we picked that up - god knows how we would get that in the already packed van!

Sunday morning, a little hungover, back on the bike for 8:55! It went a little worse than Saturday, so put this down to the cold morning temperatures (note to self : this means I need to richen it up a little - needles!), the session ended and my clutch cable broke on the last lap... 

Still I had a couple of hours before the next session, so set about changing the cable, which in fact was not broken at all. When the cable joins the actuating arm on the clutch the screw was not holding the arm, and it had slipped around, once I had understodd what was wrong, the clutch was soon back in operation. I got ready for the 11:00 session, started the bike, with a whole load of noise coming from the clutch! We quickly stopped the bike, and stripped off the leathers to further investigate the problem.

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Look at the 2 screws holding tabs (not there) main shaft.

There was some evidence of metal in the oil, sparkling in the sunshine! And with the clutch removed Libby spotted what was wrong. On the primary shaft there are supposed to be 2 tabs holding the main bearing in place, held by 2 screws visible on the photo above. Well looks like the main bearing has made a move to the right under some pressure as it broke off the 2 holding tabs , and they consequently have been bashing around the clutch area. End of story for the RG500. I did meet loads of RG fans, around the paddock as I rode around on the bicycle to see if anyone had any of these tabs, but suppose I am glad that no-one did, coz without finding the missing bits it would have been impossible to start the bike, and that would have involved removing the gearbox. 

Anyway looking on the bright side, this would give me the opportunity to try out the FZR 600 on the famous Paul Ricard circuit! I had to get agreement from the organisation to swap bikes, but after I found a very nice guy (Philippe), he peeled off the stickers from the RG and placed them on the FZR, and we were ready to go for the last session at 18:40 - phew...

We had all afternoon left to wander around - some nice and unusual bikes :-

Fortunately with a lot of people leaving the circuit they decided to group together the last couple of sessions, so we got out early, at 18:20. The FZR was running OK, I don't think the last change I did to the needles was a success though, I think it was running better with them one clip position up. Anyway enough oomph to run it up to 11.5K rpm in 6th along the mistral straight, dunno what that equates to in speed, but it seemed pretty quick!

I mixed bag of a weekend, here's hoping that I will find the reason for the bearing moving and that the 2 missing bits of tabs are found whole!

Speak soon!

Troubleshooting the RG 500

Finished putting the FZR 600 back together, and started looking in ernest at the RG. Initially Nr. 1 was not sparking, and when I removed the plug from Nr. 2 they both started sparking and you could see that Nr. 1 was alot weaker than Nr. 2. I cleaned the coil connections, plugs and other electrical connections and put the plugs back in, and bingo - it started on all 4, I had the front exhausts off at the time, and boy does it make a noise! Oh forgot to mention that on Nr. 2 the carb. slide was abnormally high on tickover, I lowered it - that is very strange as I definately balanced the carbs before Ledenon, maybe it moved with vibration....??

Anyway the conclusion is that Nr. 2 was flooding, and Nr. 1 was not starting due to a bad connection of some type, either plug or .....

Anyway the thing is once again working, and I now just need to balance the carbs, and get the fairing back on. Looks like we will be going to Paul Ricard with both the FZR 600 and the RG 500.

Just a note to say the FZR just has plain water cooling it now, I may add a fin to protect the chain as this was an obligation for racing, but I can't find any technical specifications for the parade laps at the Sunday Ride Classic.

News - after Ledenon

Well, the weekend at Ledenon wasn't too successful, lost the rotor nut on the RG (to be found much later on in the bottom of the fairing), Pablo fell off the 350 and broke his collar bone, so he was out, and Pierre-Luc took him home, so that left Libby and myself to bring the carbs on the FZR into line.

First impressions on the FZR were very good, the handling was great - knee down no problems except the belly pan was rubbing the track... The sitting position is too cramped for me, and the carburation was way out.

On the forums they suggested going up a couple of sizes on mains and playing with the needle, which is what I did in two steps. Initially the bike was good off tickover, but then would only work in around 7K with not a lot of power before or after. Noticabley if you held the throttle wide open the bike performed reasonabley however of part throttle it stumbled about all over the place.

First change was to up the main jets to 112.5, this improved things but moving the needles up to the 2nd from bottom clip position improved things noticeably. Not perfect, so once home, I have moved the needles up to the bottom clip position - we'll see. I have since done some reading and people say with pod filters the only way to get it to run well is to use a dynojet kit, so invesitgating that some more.

The 350 have been straightened out, mainly just bending stuff back into position, although I did need to change the double banjo bolt on the front brake, and will need to replace a silencer spring.

The RG, with rotor nut installed is playing up on the front 2 cylinders - not firing, they are on different coils, and for the moment the reason for this is escaping me.... need to think more.

I have made some new footrests for the FZR which should lower the foot position (about 1cms) and also I have raised the seat about 2 cms, so should have a bit more space to play with plus I have raised the belly pan to avoid it touching.

Speak soon,