Budget Race Build

[tecknojoe]

If your talking about the safety wire, yea that's going to my coolant drain bolt

I'll get a pic of the mount next to the shifter in a few mins

I read a while back that the oil filter bolts were soft as hell and that the torque spec was like finger tight. I went to ace and matched them up to some Allen head style, non shitty soft metal, bolts

 

[tecknojoe]

Here's the Z shaped brace on the shifter side.

I reaaaaaaally wish that guy didn't leave my bike out in the rain, this is killing me

 

[Seth]

Here's the Z shaped brace on the shifter side.

I reaaaaaaally wish that guy didn't leave my bike out in the rain, this is killing me

View attachment 2465

Mother F$%&#$..

 

[unicorn_violence]

started the surgical procedure of removing that pesky bolt last night.
i was a little worried something might go wrong, as i have never had any luck removing a broken bolt on my jeep. but i gave it a go anyways.
started with a 1/16 hole right in the middle of the bolt. i was going to drill a larger hole before using the extractor, but i noticed it gain traction on the bolt right away. i didn't even have to use some pliers to twist the thing out.........SUCCESS!!!!!

 

[unicorn_violence]

then i promptly replaced those "grade 8" bolts with some new ones from Ace. safety drilled, then completed my first ever safety wire

its not the prettiest, but it will do!
i also successfully drilled and wired the oil drain bolt, and the oil screen bolt. however i also broke 4 bits total. time to go back to home depot

 

[unicorn_violence]

so finished all the safety drilling this weekend. i also finished pre-fitting all the fiberglass including the bellypan (thanks for all the installed pics to help me out!). then took it all off, as well as the wheels. now it's playing the waiting game until mid week when i get my Perelli SC's and some vinyl wrap for the bike!

 

[unicorn_violence]

while waiting i decide to upgrade the toolbox i'll be taking with me to the track. went and bought a orange and black Harley Davidson toolbox. then i promptly removed all the logos, slapped a KTM sticker on and BLAM!! now i have a KTM tool box

 

[unicorn_violence]

time for some updates! got my supercorsa's installed and put the wheels back on the bike. then i went ahead and finished the last bit of safety wiring on the brakes.

then i attempted to vinyl wrap the bike. worst purchase decision i have ever made! i do not have the patience or skills to do vinyl. i got as far as wrapping the whole seat, and it looked horrible! creases and air bubbles galore. i removed the vinyl in anger and accepted the fact i will have bare fiberglass for the race season. i did not take any pictures of the wrapped seat to prevent myself from re living that horrible moment

anywhoooo... i decided to sticker bomb it, then put all the fairings back on. she looks pretty!

 

[unicorn_violence]

 

[big_sur]

Nice work, you got that thing together quick! For the vinyl, a hair dryer helps but it's still just a painful thing to do; Hammer does wraps if you ever want to try again. Also, need to silicone that banjo bolt

 

[unicorn_violence]

Nice work, you got that thing together quick! For the vinyl, a hair dryer helps but it's still just a painful thing to do; Hammer does wraps if you ever want to try again. Also, need to silicone that banjo bolt

haha i'm surprised i got it put all together that quick too! took a lot of man hours though lol. the sad thing is i was even using a adjustable temp heat gun and still couldn't get it figured out. i think i'll have hammer wrap the whole thing once the season is over.

are you talking about the bolt holding the rear caliper? the pic above is a old one but i ended up safety wiring the back end. here is a pic showing it:

 

[big_sur]

Actually I was just looking at the rule book and it's only "...recommended that brake line banjo bolts be either secured with safety wire, silicone, or 3M weather strip adhesive" so you're good.

 

[tecknojoe]

That clump of dirt on your swingarm is going to give me a mental breakdown

 

[unicorn_violence]

Actually I was just looking at the rule book and it's only "...recommended that brake line banjo bolts be either secured with safety wire, silicone, or 3M weather strip adhesive" so you're good.

ahh ok sounds good. i had been emailing Brett from tech and he told me i had to wire that rear bolt so i went ahead and did it. he made it sound like it was required, but maybe that was because i kept pestering him with questions lol

 

[unicorn_violence]

That clump of dirt on your swingarm is going to give me a mental breakdown

whoops! sorry that clump is from when i took the bike for some laps at Thunder Valley. wanted to take the RC back to its dirt roots.........JK

i cleaned it when i put the rear tire back on....... or did i?

 

[unicorn_violence]

next step was to get some test laps on my newly updated bike, as well as test my trailer with a full load. so i loaded everything up and headed to the go kart track. the trailer worked flawlessly during the trip

the setup seemed to work pretty well. it was nice having my "KTM Toolbox" with all the tools i need right on hand. also, the canopy i bought second hand actually worked, but had some holes pre cut in the canopy which i'm assuming was to prevent the thing from flying away at one of the really windy tracks here in Colorado. oh well, it was only 20 buck for the thing lol

the tire warmers i got from SV racing parts worked great and were actually 3 temp which was a surprise as i thought they were single temp.
the bike felt amazing on the track compared to before. i actually lowered my lap time from 1:16 to 1:08 which is a huge improvement! i'm not sure if it was because of the new tires or just mental confidence, but it felt great. i did not feel any slip in the tires during any of the sessions. the weather was only 65 degrees too so i can imagine on a hot day they will stick like glue.

here is a vid of the session:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMsA6hrPu0M

 

[unicorn_violence]

figured i should finally update this.first race weekend was a blast! i had a practice session Friday to try and get use to the track. toward the end of the day i had an issue with the bike that almost prevented me from racing during the weekend. i drove 2 hours back home, and worked on the bike until midnight to get it working again. passed tech inspection that Saturday morning with flying colors so i was ready to go!the races went well for me. i wasn't planning on getting near the top with my very limited experience on a motorcycle, let alone racing, but wanted to try and make sure i didn't get last place lol. i ended up 9th out of 13th on the Saturday and Sunday races. i will say that i was surprised i got 9th on Sunday, as i felt considerably slower. i was very worn out by the start of the the race, so my riding wasn't as aggressive as it had been previously. nevertheless, i am happy with the results. hopefully by the end of this season though i'll be closer towards the top five, but we will see.here are some pics:

Here is a vid from the Sunday race, you can see in the vid i start making some mistakes and slowing down as the race progresses. looks like i need to find myself a workout routine to get in shape![video=youtube;vYOdnjk0LYo]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYOdnjk0LYo[/video]

 

[Superpacman13]

Change your shift light RPM! Smallest of knackers I know, but that shit would drive me crazy. Good riding big track!

 

[unicorn_violence]

so it's been awhile since have made any updates. i'm about halfway through the season, and i have made some progress. i keep sitting around 9th place during the production 400 races. this puts me between the main pack and the slow riders. so i'm not the slowest, but i'm not on race pace either. its funny because the slow riders are so far behind me that i keep thinking im in last place at the end of each race . part of this is due to my braking. im braking quite early before corners, and i think part of this is due to lack of confidence in the brakes themselves. everything is stock, so i have planned on doing my "second wave" of upgrades before the next race weekend in early august to give my brakes more feel, and more bite. the parts are in route this week so i will post once i install them.
here are some pics from the other races this summer:

 

[unicorn_violence]

here is a vid as well. this is my bast lap time of 1:33 during last weekend, which actually wasn't a bad time at all. i think the fastest production 400 riders were all around 1:25 and 1:26

[video=youtube;JOtsnUzRI_s]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOtsnUzRI_s[/video]


second vid is me stuck behind a ducati monster. i was faster than him through the corners, but he always beat me in the straights


[video=youtube;jlpaQp-5nCA]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlpaQp-5nCA[/video]