Hawt Motorcycle Talk
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I don't know a thing about motorcycles but just spent 20 minutes skimming this thread.
Learned a lot! It's cool to see people with skills make cool stuff and be passionate about their hobbies. nice. -
I really enjoyed this thread and decided to buy a Harley. Mrs Nacho got video of me rollin’
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Did the Ducati Revs event at Ridge Motorsports Park last week and thoroughly enjoyed it. Took my Panigale V2. I hadn't been on the track for 3 years. Had a lot of fun and was faster around the track than before. I also know I have a lot of work to do on my body position.
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Wish I could go. It's been a year on the dot since I last fired mine up.
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I've been putting a lot of work on this bike lately - often 3-4 hours at a time. Two days ago, I installed the new chain. Put it in gear and did circles in my driveway. Yesterday morning I did a preliminary assembly of the fairings. I still have a few tweaks left to do on the bike itself, as well as the fairings. It's coming along. Can't wait to take it out and actually push it a bit. I'll be doing a lot of parking lot tests with it before I ever take it on the track.
2020 Kawasaki Ninja 400
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I'd ride the shit out of something like that if I had one. List of mods? I can see the Spiegler brake lines, Domino throttle, GB Racing case covers, Woodcraft rearsets, but what's going on inside that fork?
Had my neck surgery, so I'll be able to get back to the track this summer. Thinking I'll leave it until August or so to give more time for the vertebrae to fuse.
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I'll post a list of mods soon.
I haven't done anything with the forks. They are stock as stock can get.
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@1to392831weretaken here's the work I've done on the bike:
- Removed old handlebar
- Installed Woodcraft clip-ons & risers
- Norton quick-turn throttle kit
- Norton soft-pull throttle return spring
- Keyless gas cap
- Key eliminator kit
- Woodcraft bar-ends and lever guards
- Norton folding levers
- Driven D-Axis grips
- New clutch springs
- New clutch cover gasket
- New clutch cable
- GB Racing clutch, water pump, and alternator covers
- Woodcraft frame sliders
- Woodcraft axle sliders
- Woodcraft rearsets
- Yoshimura aluminum muffler bracket
- ABS deleted & flashtune chip added
- New brake lines
- New air filter
- New oil filter with the safety wire hole in
- New oil drain plug with safety wire hole as well
- Replaced the triple tree (steering stop was wonky with the original triple - crashed bike)
- Motion Pro low profile radiator overflow reservoir
- New gas tank (took the pump/sensor plate off the old one and installed on this one)
- Techspec tank grips (took my time with these & they look nice and symmetrical)
- Antigravity lithium ion battery
- K-Tech steering damper (this was a bit of a project)
- New sprockets
- New chain
- Newer wheels that already had newer tires on them (just had to swap the rotors over)
- Lacomoto fairings (based on your recommendation)
It's been a lot of work and mostly fun. There have definitely been frustrating moments where I either discovered or created new problems. I took the frame sliders off because they interfere with the fairings. I really don't want to try to cut neat circles in the fairings. Also, a former racer told me that frame sliders can actually be detrimental during a crash. I really don't want to total up the amount of money I've spent on all the replacement parts and new tools, but that is not the point of this after all. I could have gone out and found a ready-to-go track bike, but I wouldn't have learned anything by doing that. It has been a form of meditation, learning, and building on my skillset.
Swapping out the triple tree was holding me back. I don't have a hoist, so I was trying to figure out how I was going to basically hang this bike from something, so that I could make the switch. I used a Little Giant ladder. I set it up in a tall a-frame and parked the bike underneath. Put it on the front paddock stand and then used tie-down straps to hang the frame from the ladder. Removed the stand and the bike was hanging nicely. Accomplished this in late September and the floodgates opened after that. I just went full-speed with finishing up all the remaining work, because I could finally see the finish line.
Bleeding the old brake lines and then installing a new brake system was a bit of a daunting task. I'd never done anything like that before and that's definitely not something you want to fuck up. I'm pretty happy with the work I did. No air bubbles.
Maybe I'll post pictures of my McGyvered "hoist" system.
The list above doesn't include all the work I had to do to pull the remaining fairings, lights, mirrors, and passenger footpegs off the original bike. I took as much of the wiring out as I could, but still left quite a bit of it in there. I'm not one to mess with the electrical system, because I'd probably fuck it up and end up removing important stuff. I'm not Brian Van and am not trying to shave every ounce of weight off of a race bike. This is supposed to be a "budget" track bike.
One of the more exciting tools I bought was an impact wrench. I basically gave up on using a breaker bar on the front sprocket nut. The impact took it right off. I had a Tim the Toolman Taylor moment after that. Had to let out a simian grunt.
Anyway, bike runs well - no leaks or fires. lulz
I'll probably do some work on it today, but I accomplished my own deadline of getting this thing functional by the end of the year. It'll definitely be ready for track season.
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Been there, done that!
This was in my brother's garage, when I was swapping a GSXR front end onto his FZ07.
Similar deal with the rear end of my bike when I had to replace the broken shock linkage:
