My Race Bike Build Part 2
Part 2:
Now that the bike is stripped down to almost nothing it’s time to do some basic checks on it then start putting it together. The first thing I want to do is a valve check. Many brands suggest checking the valves right after break in (500-650 miles) then again at every 15000 miles. For some reason Yamaha thinks the first valve check should be at 24000 miles. Since this is a race bike I’d like to make sure it is in tolerances at least once a year.
First I have to get this heat shield out of the way:
From here we can see what needs to be removed next, the coils, the cylinder identification sensor, and the smog system:
With the plugs, coils, and sensor removed I can now pull the valve cover. I left the smog system on because it looked like it would be easier to remove once the valve cover was away from the motor.:
Next we remove the pickup rotor cover:
Now it’s time to pull the valve cover:
It’s hard to see in the pic but the next step is to align the cylinder to top dead center. There is a mark on the pickup rotor and another one on the case.
Now you check the valves starting at cylinder number one. You need to make sure the cam lobes are facing away from each other then push different size feeler gauges in until you find the correct size. The feeler gauge should be a tight fit. After you check once cylinder you turn the pickup rotor 180 degrees and check the next one. You check the cylinders in the order 1,2,4,3
Here is me checking cylinder number 1:
Since I am removing the entire smog system it is time to prep the valve cover. The smog valves get removed and replaced with block off plates:
Valve cover ready to go on:
Valve cover being installed:
Valve cover back on with plugs, coils, and sensor reinstalled:
The last part of the smog system is to make sure to block off or tie together the air hoses on the throttle bodies:
Next it’s time to do the next Yamaha specific thing: the clutch mod. R6’s come with a slipper clutch but they aren’t great at “slipping” it takes a lot of backforce to cause them to slip. The solution to this is to modify one of the retention springs to make them “slip” a little bit better.
You start by removing the clutch cover, clutch springs, and pressure plate:
Now we can see the slipper springs which are being held by the clutch boss nut:
All three springs:
The modification is to cut the three prongs off of one of the springs. I’ve been told by some people that you can just remove one completely but I’ve also been told that you need the washer in there. I do know that graves makes a smooth washer to install in place of the spring so I opted to cut the legs off and reinstall the modified “washer”. Here it is ready to go back in:
Now I’m finished with everything that I am going to do inside the motor.
NinjaTwins January Update!!
2011 Season Bike Prep
January was a busy month for the NinjaTwins, we had a bit of work to do on the 250’s to get them ready for the new season. First being repaint those white “expert” number plates. We also changed the oil, changed out the brake fluid, and gave both bikes a monthly inspection. At high speeds there are a lot of moving and non moving parts on a bike that need attention. Every month the body work comes off, the bikes get a bath, and I check every bolt I can think of, basically my own form of tech inspection. Its my butt on the line if something goes wrong, so I take this part of monthly maintenance very seriously.
Painting the Ninjas!
Rich Oliver Mystery School….learning from a champion.
I believe much of the success you have in racing comes from what you do the rest of the month. So we spend a lot of time at the gym keeping in shape for our sport. While running and biking can help prepare you for long days at the track, nothing can get you as physically ready for riding as well….riding. Most of us cant afford to track our bikes every weekend, so many riders will cross train on a dirt bike. Niether one of us had been on a dirt bike, so we made the trek up to Rich Oliver’s Mystery School in Auberry CA. It was well worth every penny! We did a private version of a two day fun camp, where you go through dirt bike riding familiarization during the first half of day one, wait rear brake…what is that!?! The second half of day one and all of day two are spent of the track learning to back it into the corners. Andrew tore up the track! He learned a lot about traction management and how to cope with a rear wheel slide. . While I highsided, yes you can highside a TTR 125, and couldn’t finish the whole camp, I spent the remainder of my time asking Rich every question imaginable about mental and physical preperation for racing. Let me tell you…it paid off in my season opener.
Andrew backing it in at Rich’s TT track!
WSMC First Ever Expert Race!
2010 was a very up and down season for us. At the end of the year we had lost focus and confidence due to a few “get offs” So I hit the track with a new mental attitude, partly due to my time with AMA Champ Rich Oliver. I woke myself up each morning with a round of yoga and made written goals for each session. I am a huge believer in note taking, if you don’t write down what you learned each lap you WILL lose it. While my note taking is still a bit rudimentary, I am getting there, and its super helpful to look back on past notes and remind myself of things I worked on before. Though note taking I noticed my mental voice on the track was very negative. I would say “don’t brake early” or “don’t roll off” and would immediately tense up and do what I just told myself not to! So I decided to make my mental voice positive, I would tell myself where to roll off or where to brake, and I picked two spots on the track where I would force myself to relax. This helped tremendously! One of my favorite parts of club racing is the comraderie between racers. Fellow competitors Josh Fogle and Richard Barnett offered their time and tires to help me learn their lines and find places where they are faster than me, how cool is that! When I came off the track after my first ever expert race I knew exactly where I went faster to pick up time. How much time did I pick up from November’s race? Six seconds! Hells Yeah!
Niccole rounding the omega during Expert Ninja Cup!
Learning a New Track…Chuckwalla!
Chuckwalla is putting on a new racing series called CVMA. We plan to attend the rounds that do not conflict with willow so I went to the track to do some preliminary research. I drove to the track alone, but I wasn’t there for two minutes before I ran into fellow racers. The comraderie at the club racing level is my very close second favorite thing about racing, what’s my favorite? Well trophies of course! My friend Al Garcia took some time to show me around the track my first day, while the Cyclemall crew were always there to help me on to a rear stand and debrief. I took it extrememley slow all weekend. I have always been told you cannot learn anything riding at 80-100%. You have to slow down to 60% to turn your brain into a camcorder and be able to remember and analyze what you are doing. I took copious notes and asked as many of the “fast guys” as I could about their tactics through certain trickier corners. During the middle of the second day I kept hearing a noise from the rear of my bike that was driving me batty, so I asked a friend of mine, mechanic and fast lightweight rider Andy Palmer to jump on my bike and see what I was hearing. He jumped on the bike and absolutely schooled me, looked way more comfortable than I had all weekend. When he handed my bike back I knew I learned two things that weekend, having friends at the track rocks, and wear earplugs so I cant hear the chain noise!
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Photo courtesy of Caliphotography.
Andy Palmer testing Niccole’s Ninja 250
775 Jamie Riddle
New to the Cyclesector Racing Team!
Jamie Riddle races in the the WERA West series on his 2006 Ducati Sport 1000. He competes in both the Heavy Weight Twins Superstock class and the Light Weight Twins Superbike class.
He has dominated the HWSS class with two first places finishes at both Auto Club Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway thus far this season. In the LWSB class he finished second at ACS and fifth at LVMS. His finish in Las Vegas was not what Jamie had aspired to achieve but hopes to redeem himself in the next round.
April is still a few weeks away, but number 775 is readying his bike, body, and mind for the next step in the season. We hope to see you out at LVMS!
My Race Bike Build
This year I am going to be racing a 2009 Yamaha R6. I purchased the bike with 540 miles on it and it was bone stock. I have been documenting everything I have been doing to the bike and have been taking pictures while doing the build. I’ll detail what’s needed to make it race ready, what I’m doing for performance, what I’m doing to make it comfortable for me and why, and what I’m doing to it because it’s a Yamaha.
I started with a stock platform:
I was out of town when I purchased this bike and to help my girlfriend and a friend started by removing the fairings for me:
Then I started taking the rest of the bike apart. I started with the tank and then the battery.
For some reason Yamaha thought it would be a good idea to make it so the tank bracket had to be removed to pull out the battery.
Next comes the ECU to get sent out to be re-flashed.
This is the first Yamaha specific thing that I am doing to the bike. Yamaha limits the power of their bikes through the ECU. Getting it re-flashed allows the bike to run at full power.
After that I removed the wheels, forks, clipons, throttle cables, clutch cables, front and rear brakes, rearsets, radiator, and exhaust.
Everything under the tank:
Inside the airbox:
The charcoal canister and everything attached will be removed:
Kickstand, rearset, chain and sprocket all need to be removed:
Bike is torn apart and waiting for another day:
Wera Round 2
I started out the beginging of last week stoked more than you could know ! I was finally gonna get to race ! Vegas round two with WERA Packed up the suv n the dogs and I headed out with full of eagerness and some built up speed I couldnt wait to unleash !
My first time towing a trailer and MAN having to drive 55 in the slow to Vegas …um lets just say it took while ….like 6 hours ! On my way I stop for gas and notice a leak in my tire nothing is open for a patch so i keep going and deal with it when i get to the track . Filled it up with more air and headed off …..30 miles from Vegas ooooh baby I can see the lights n I’m almost there !!!!! ………..my tire blew up :(. Two hundred dollar tow to the track and a new tire later ….my entry fees are gone . Leeson learned as much as I hate AAA its time to renew so that this bad luck never strikes again .
On a postive note I got to see the comptetition and I am headed out to big willow this week end to tweek on some more bike set up issues and rip on some more rubber . The next round is coming up and you can be damn sure I’ll be ready ….WERA, WSMC,CVR…….I want to attack them all !!
Diego Romo
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