Some days you win. Some days you don't. Some days, you probably should have
just stayed home.
Let me start by saying that crashing sucks. It breaks your body, it
breaks your bike, it could break your bank account and worst of all, it could prevent you from
racing. Proper race bike preparation is the one thing that you can do to
help prevent a crash from happening. Your motorcycle should be properly
prepared, well maintained and ready to race BEFORE you bring it to the race
track. I've seen all kinds of stupid things happen while at the
track. Many of them due to a mechanical failure that could have been
prevented.
Picture this: You've just come out of a turn and you're hot on the gas.
Shifting through the gears, you're getting up in speed: 80, 90, 100, 110
MPH. You're coming up to your brake marker, knowing that you're going to
try to push it in a little deeper this time around. The brake marker comes and
you count to two then grab the front brake lever -- but it doesn't work.
Problem is, the pin that your brake lever pivots on is somewhere back in the
previous turn and you've got no front brakes. Sound like fun? This
actually happened last year to a rider going hot into turn 3 at Loudon. He managed to use the rear brake and lay the bike down. The
bike went hard into the tires and actually caught on fire due to a ruptured gas
tank. The rider was
more fortunate than the bike. Could he have prevented this from
happening? Maybe. The point is that you should closely scrutinize your
bike before and after each race weekend.
Safety Wiring
You should make it a habit to go up and down each side of the bike with a set
of wrenches and just make sure everything is snug. Inspect all the
critical parts of the bike to make sure there is nothing wrong. Controls,
levers, chain, wheel axles and bolts,
brake caliper bolts, oil drain plug, exhaust bolts and anything else that you
wouldn't want to come loose or fail while going into turn one at 130 MPH.
Racing organizations require specific parts to be safety wired. Check your race organization's
rule book to find out exactly which ones. The general rule is: Safety wire
anything you wouldn't want to come loose at speed. Pictured to the right is a front brake
caliper (you can click on it to enlarge). The bolts have been drilled to
allow a piece of wire to be passed through them. Special pliers pictured
below are used
which will grip the wire and twist it as shown. This will prevent the
bolts from backing out even if they do come loose. Notice that the wire
going through the bolt is pulling in the direction that will tend to tighten the
bolt. This is common practice. You should also make it a habit to bend the
end of the wire such as shown to help prevent accidental cuts. Also, you should never
assume that a bolt is tight even though it is safety wired. When going over your
bike, make it a habit to check them periodically.
This is the procedure I use to safety wire a bike. Let's use the above
caliper as an example. Generally, I use 1/16" drill bits and
0.032" safety wire. First I will loosen the bolts and then tighten them
back down to the proper specification with a torque wrench. Then I will take a marker and put a little
dot exactly where I want to drill the bolts. I will remove the bolts,
drill them and then reinstall them  in
the same location that I removed them from, torque them down and safety wire
them. In the process of drilling a bolt, there are a few pieces of advice
that I can offer. First and foremost, use a drill press. If you
don't have one,
find someone who does. It will make life much more pleasant. To get
started, use a cobalt center drill (pictured to the right) to drill a dimple in the bolt. Since the bolts are case hardened steel, they are
very difficult to drill. Once you have a dimple started, use a cobalt
drill bit to finish the hole. Cobalt alloy drill bits work best on hardened steel. When
the drill bit is about to break through the other side, it tends to grab the
edge of the hole it is creating. This will frequently break the drill bit.
When the drill bit is about to come through, you should apply very little
pressure and allow the bit to slowly cut it's way through the exit
hole. A V-Block, pictured at the left, is very useful to hold bolts
while drilling. A machinist's vise is an invaluable tool for holding nuts that
you want to drill. There are a few
'advanced techniques' when it comes to safety wiring. When drilling nuts,
I prefer to drill through two adjacent flats (see picture below).
Obviously if you simply drill through the nut from one end to the other, the
wire can't pass through the bolt that the nut is going on. This method works nicely, but be careful that you drill close to the outside edge so that
you don't hit the inner threads. When safety wiring socket head cap
screws, I like to drill a hole through one side only and position the bolt so
the drill bit comes
through a flat section on the inside of the bolt (also pictured below).
 
It takes a long time to drill and safety wire a bike completely. Be patient and
do a good job. The guys in tech inspection notice these things and will
tend to take it into consideration when they are looking over your bike.
If it looks like a hack job, you can bet that they'll look closely at every
little detail. If it appears to be a professional job, you'll cruise right
through. Below are a few more examples of good safety wiring. Note
that in a couple of the pictures, there is a hose clamp on an oil filter. The
bolt on the hose clamp has been drilled and it's been attached with safety wire
to another part of the bike. This is good practice and is required with many racing organizations. If your oil filter ever came off, it would make
for a pretty slippery ride. The same goes for your oil drain bolt which is also
shown wired.
   
Suspension
It's magic to some. Art and science to others. The main thing to note
when it comes to suspension is that most new motorcycles you get from a dealer
have their suspension set too soft. They are usually not setup for
aggressive riding, but more for a comfy street ride. There is quite a bit
of information already on the internet about suspension settings. I'm not
going to reproduce that here, but instead I'll point you to a couple of useful
links. Probably the most widely used aftermarket fork spring manufacturer, Race
Tech offers springs, valving and other go-fast goodies. For a more
"hands-off" approach, you can give your bike to the guys at G.M.D.
Computrack and they'll take care of everything for you. Kevin
Cameron's "Sportbike
Performance Handbook" offers extensive information in this and many
other areas.
Drive Chain
In a word or three, keep it clean. Modern 'O-Ring' and 'X-Ring' chains
do not require the lubrication that non o-ring chains
do. They only require a light coating of some sort of rust
inhibitor. O-Ring chains are lubricated internally and the o-ring acts as
a grease seal to retain the lubrication. There is absolutely no need to go
nuts and lube your drive chain with a grease that eventually turns into a sticky
black nasty ooze. This chain has about 4000 miles on it and you can actually
touch it without getting your hands filthy. I expect to get at least
another 8000 miles out of it.
Fuel and Octane misconceptions
Will high octane give you more power? This is one of the
most common misconceptions that I've ever come across. Technically, the
answer is no. High octane fuel alone will not give an engine more power.
Octane is a measure of resistance to detonation, or how easily a fuel will
burn. Higher octane fuels do not combust as easily as lower octane
fuels. They are actually more difficult to burn. High octane fuels
were formulated for use in engines with high compression. An engine with a
high compression ratio produces significantly more heat during the compression
stroke. This heat will tend to prematurely ignite lower octane fuels and
cause a condition known as pre-detonation. The fuel actually ignites
before the spark plug 'sparks'. The piston is not in the optimal location
to produce power when the fuel ignites. Higher octane fuels actually
resist combustion and can produce less power in an engine that is not designed
for them. High compression motors derive their power from the fact that
they compress the air/fuel mixture more than an normal engine and get a 'bigger
blast' as a result. Since the compression is greater, there is a tendency
for the fuel to detonate prematurely, so a higher octane fuel is required.
When I have more time, I'll try to explain how some race fuels
will actually give a slight increase in power, but for now, forget about
the race fuels unless you're running a souped-up race motor.
Odds 'n Ends 'n Inane Babble
 When
you get into racing, you're eventually going to crash. Hopefully it will
be like 90% of all the other crashes and walk away from it with just a bump,
bruise, scratch or nothing at all. Unfortunately, your motorcycle usually
doesn't fare so well. The most common thing to break is your
handlebar. You should get a set of good aftermarket clip-on type that have
replaceable bars. Vortex and Woodcraft
are probably the two most popular choices. The one to the left is made by
Vortex. Frame sliders are also very popular to help keep your bodywork and
tank off the asphalt. Mine are made by AxlJak. There are several
other manufacturers. One item that you'll definitely need is a swing
arm stand. Since you must take your side stand off to race, there are only
a couple of ways to hold the bike up when you're not on it. You can lean
it up against something, you can put the side stand back on (not very convenient
during a day of racing), or you can get a swing arm stand. My personal
favorite is made by Pit Bull. They make seriously heavy duty stuff and
they work great. As you get faster and more competitive, you'll eventually
want to get a set of tire warmers. These are essentially little electric
blankets for your tires. You put them on about 1/2 hour before you race
and take them off just before you go out to pre-grid. Since tires need to
warm up before they really stick well, these will, if nothing more, give you a
sense of security  on
your first lap of the race that you can go as fast as you can without having to
worry about cold tires. To use them, you'll also need a front stand since
you have to get your front tire off the ground. Here, I think Woodcraft
makes a superior product. Their front stand is very simple to use.
You'll need a front and rear stand anyway since you'll be going through tires a
lot faster than you are used to. Speaking of tires, I run Dunlop race
compound. Dunlop recently came out
with a 208 series race tire and all I can say is they are fantastic. They
stick really well and they wear significantly longer than the 207 series
tires. As you get faster and faster, you may find that the stock foot pegs
that came with your bike are not
located high enough and you wind up dragging them around the race track.
Aftermarket rearsets locate the peg higher and further toward the rear of the
bike. Mine are also manufactured by Vortex. As you can see, even
though my pegs have been relocated one inch higher, I am still dragging
them. Liberal use of a hacksaw and a file will help to fix the
problem. Last on the list of 'go-fast-goodies' is a trick tachometer and a
lap timer. If you race a standard street bike, the stock instrument
cluster will probably be fine. An aftermarket tachometer can offer some
options that you may not have. The tach that I use is manufactured by SPA
Technology and it includes a water temperature gauge as well as a three stage
shift light. I find the water temp gauge useful, but the shift light
doesn't do much for me. Other people rely on them. The lap  timer,
made by MyChron, is very helpful especially during practices. It utilizes
an infrared beacon that is placed somewhere on the side of the race track to
time your laps around the track. As soon as you have passed by the beacon,
the lap timer will report your last lap and give you instant feedback.
It's good information. The red and green lights are my oil pressure
indicator and neutral indicator.
That's all for now. If you have specific questions, or ideas of how to
add to this page, please send me an email.
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