Short and Long-term Projects

The off-season... the time to maintain or improve fitness, do work on the bike, and for the privateer, scour the internet for deals on consumables.  Its time to stockpile and hoard what you will need in the future.  To illustrate both the packrat mentality and the patience of my long-suffering wife Kate, here is a pic of our exercise room (don't be too impressed -- we have a modest 4-bedroom house with no kids).  Spare engine in boxes to the right of the "Le grand tour de Michelin".

In the short term, I'm sending my forks off to my sponsor, Racetech, for a rebuild, installation of a G2-R Fork Cartridge Kit, and springs to suit my weight.

A long-term project is the rebuilt engine.  After considerable research, I am shipping the cylinder head across the pond to Rick at RLR Motorsport in the UK.  A hassle, perhaps, but the Brits know a lot about tuning EX650s for their supertwin classes, and the price of the headwork and cams is much cheaper, even with exchange, than what I can get done in North America.
Here is a pic of the stock intake tract... room for improvement, even by my untrained eye!

The cylinder head, including the stock cams which are to be exchanged for Kent cams, in a spec to work with my stock-ish (by UK standards) engine.

I think it is important to note that gains to this engine will be made without "cheating" -- I'm using stock pistons, stock rods, a stock bore, and simply building the engine to a higher degree of tolerance.

Boxed, with build instructions for Rick inside.

Ready for a trip to Canada Post.  It won't be cheap, but it needs to be done.

New Helmet and Refinished Rad

The helmet from my Nexx sponsorship arrived the other day.  As advertised, it fits well, appears to be pretty quiet, and is incredibly light.  Looks pretty sharp as well!  I was able to get 2 other shields, a clear and a light smoke one as well.

ECE 22-05 and Dot approved.

Side profile.

Tri-composite shell -- a mix of fibreglass, kevlar, and carbon fibre.

Stopped by CycleBoyz to pick up the R6 rad.  Looks good.  Did a pressure check in the tub (yes I cleaned it afterwards) and no leaks, based on as much pressure I could load the rad with after plugging the spigots.

Mig-welded, I think.  This spigot is the lower on on the RHS as you sit on the bike.  A bit more filler rod was required, as a 3/4" outlet was going into a whole where a 1" used to be.

Once mounted, this will make sense -- I had to "hook" the coolant flow around one of the frame tubes.  You can see where the old spigot used to live.  Once it dries out, I will get it painted with some radiator paint I had left over from the supermono project.

In engine news, Scotty from Transcanada had the correct flywheel puller I needed to finish disassembling the engine.  He lent it to me for the weekend, and the engine is now apart, in a few boxes.  Time to start saving my pennies for the soup-up work!

Engine Work

Awhile back I got a deal on a second ex650 engine.  I plan to balance and blueprint it, as well as do some other mods to increase power.

A couple of hours on Saturday and Sunday had it to this stage.  Just waiting to borrow (hopefully) an alternator puller prior to splitting the cases.

The pistons were pretty loaded with carbon -- I've already begun to clean them at this stage.

Apparently soaking them in simple green works wonders.  The piston skirts are in very good shape, so I will definitely be reusing these.

Vortex Kit and a Racetech Press Release

Here is the new Vortex V3 lever for the zx6rr... a nice, adjustable, and shorter option for sportbike riders.  Feels quite comfortable, and due to the lever length, less likely to get broken in a crash.  I also got two new 520 chains through my sponsorship agreement.
I have also dropped off the R6 rad and fittings for Cycleboyz to sort out for me.  Pics as soon as it is returned.





The following is a press release from Racetech:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SIX12/Race Tech at Mini O's

If you are an amateur motocrosser with aspiring goals to reach the next level, Thanksgiving to you means a lot more than just turkey and pumpkin pie; it signifies the annual stop to Gatorback Cycle Park in Gainsville, FL for the Mini O's. Race Tech is excited to be a part of this event for 2012 and to support our rapidly growing grass roots support team of amateur riders.

Providing support, setting up your bike, and doing repair and installation all week long will be Florida Race Tech Center SIX12 Suspension. Ronnie Monk from SIX12 is very familiar with the Florida terrain and will have the Race Tech booth setup helping riders transition their setups from Supercross early in the week to the Motocross portion at the end of the week.

Race Tech Center, SIX12 Suspension, will have technicians on-site offering free bike setups to all competitors. SIX12 will also be selling and installing Gold Valves, rebuilds, oil changes, seals, and more to keep your bike dialed at the event.

"The Mini O's is an extremely prestigious event. It's the one race during the year that tests riders on both Supercross and Motocross tracks, and along with different challenges for the riders; bike setup is also different for each condition. We are excited to have Ronnie at SIX12 with his vast knowledge of the Southeast terrain and racing scene on hand to help support all the Race Tech riders and scout new talent for the 2013 season. If you are at the event and have a question, stop by the Race Tech booth and let Ronnie help point you in the right direction. It is our goal to help you reach your goals!" said Race Tech's Director of Marketing Chris Riesenberg.

To set up an appointment ahead of time for the SIX12/Race Tech staff to dial in your suspension, please contact Ronnie Monk.

Ronnie Monk

Another New Sponsor

Things have been a bit quiet on the bike building front (at least with the ex650 -- check out my xs650 school project here:  http://www.tcskidscafe.blogspot.ca/).  The ram air intake from KMR Kawasaki appears to be a bust for my application.  However, I can now properly fit the radiator -- just looking for an excuse to stop by cycleboyz to 'splain what I want done.  I am sure they can modify the R6 rad the way I need it; I've already test-fitted the radiator and am sure it will work.  I did however hear from Nexx Helmets... and they sent me a sponsorship contract that certainly looks good at my end.  Nexx helmets are still relatively new to the North American market, but they have gained a decent foothold in Europe.  They came highly rated by British Bike Magazine MCN:

MCN reviewed the Nexx XR1R Carbon in July 2011, with writer Dan Aspel concluding that it was ‘The Best Road Helmet I’ve Worn’. In addition to being one of the lightest motorcycle helmets available, weighing just 1200g, Dan commented that the XR1R Carbon has one of the widest viewing ports he’s seen on any helmet, has fantastic venting and has low noise levels. 

Their USA website can be found here:  http://www.nexx-usa.com/  As always, my sponsor links will include them on the RHS of this page.  I plan on getting the "Cafe Racer" XR1R, in red.

The other supertwin news is that I am developing my own full-length bellypan that mimic the more aerodynamic shape seen on moto3 machines.  It will be a long process, starting out with a cardboard form, but it is coming along.  Hopefully it turns out OK, but I forsee a lot of sanding in my future!

Radiator Work

While I have been waiting for the ram air scoop to get here, I've done some work on the R6 radiator.  I really want to be sure and do it right, so the stock inlet and outlets have been removed, as they are too large to use with the stock or samco rad hoses.  Once I get things into position, I can figure out the angles each of these spigot needs to go.

I also mounted the cafe front number plate.  Simple and clean, and a lot easier to set up than some aftermarket bodywork from another bike.

Not bothering putting on the front fender, as I will just have to remove it when the forks get shipped off to Racetech.

Proper Kit

Some fortunate internet surfing has turned up some rare parts I have been looking for, for some time.

This is a z1000 gauge.  Similar to the 636 that is sometimes used, except this has the 11,000 redline that the 650 engine is spec'd at.  All the idiot lights work as well, but apparently the speedo is inaccurate... shouldn't be looking at the speed anyway!
I fabricated a custom mount which also includes a provision for the lap timer.

Not the clearest photo, but this is a proper thumb brake from gptech.  Bought it off a shop in Ontario, which used to prepare the Yamaha Superbikes for the Canadian National team from a few years ago.  Who knows, maybe Pascal Picotte used this at one time.  This one mounts to the clip on, not the fork tube, and works a heck of a lot better than the old one!

The ram air intake should be here shortly, so I will get to work figuring the radiator mounting system...