First time drag racing report: FUN!!!

[CivilRock]

Sorry about digging out an old post, but I finally went back to the track this weekend. It was long over due.

Changes I made Winter 13-14:
Sold 1100 stock motor, bought 1150 stock motor.
1996 GSX600 oil cooler.
RS38 carbs + K&N pod filters.
Dyna 2000 ignition system.
ZX12 rearsets
GSXR1k bar controls
Solid State Power Box (power distribution box)
Polaris R/R (series R/R)
Bandit 400 clocks
TEC shocks with HD Springs (made for Triumph bikes)

After debating about all the modifications needed to be done to the 1100 motor to make it strong enough to start adding power, it made sense to me just to sell the 1100 and bolt in the 1150. Sold the 1100 for $600 and bought the 1150 for $700. I needed new carbs, so I found used RS38 with pods so I'd have enough carb to keep the motor happy down the road when I do add power. Needed an ignition system, so just went with the Dyna 2000. I stripped about 5 lbs of wire off the bike and added Jim's SSPB that is friggen brilliant. I hope he's still making and selling them. I wish he made one for every bike/car/boat that I ever owned.

There was hardly anyone at the track Saturday night. We've had some serious forest fires and the smoke was all over Portland, and most people stayed in their house. Perfect, because I made 21 passes from 6:30 to 9:45 when they made the last call.

Best time was 11.164 seconds at 119.30 MPH.

My second pass was a 11.5 something, then several at 11.3, wheelied a few at 11.4, then 11.2.... I thought if I worked hard enough I'd get into the 10s, but it never happened.
My best time was the 9th pass, and I never did any better than a 11.2 after that.

-Kevin

May 2014.jpg

[CivilRock]

Problems I had:
1. My Bandit 400 tach is not accurate and my $14 ebay shift light has too much delay to be effective. I was bouncing off the rev limiter all night and had to basically go by ear.
2. Throttle twist to WFO is too far. Somewhere around 2-3 gear, I had to re-grip the throttle to get to WFO. This also affected my letting off to shift; trying to wick the throttle like that.
3. Butt stop. Once I launched and was going for 2nd, I would slide back in the seat which was not the optimal position, and made me feel a little loose on the bike.
4. mis-shifts. Trying to anti-blip the throttle to shift was wasting a lot of time. The old guy that was out there had a simple radio shack red kill button on the left bar that he used to quick shift. I've used a "quick shift" setup on some road racing bikes and loved it. Not sure if I can find one suitable for the GS, but it sure would come in handy. I already ride the bike GP shift, so it shouldn't be too hard to find one.

-Kevin

[posplayr]

Sounds like you are having some fun. Thanks for the props on the SSPB. I finished a second batch, but will call it quits till I can do a redesign.

Not sure how you missed this, greatest thing since sliced bread.

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showthread.php?135697-1-Quick-Turn-Throttle-Mod&highlight=%241+throttle+mod

Remember that stock 1150 is still just a puppy

[dorkburger]

I always enjoy reading updates on members' project bikes and seeing them being enjoyed.
Cool that you were able to get in so many passes.

The $1 throttle mod is wonderful simplicity and works great.

Sounds like a 10 second pass may be a possibility.

[kingofvenus]

Air shifters are worth their weight in gold. You'll pick-up 2 to 3 tenths with one.

[trippivot]

I like your bike .

lowering helps a lot

[CivilRock]

Posplayr: I did see that throttle mod years ago, and it was in my head somewhere. Thanks for the link. I didn't know I actually needed it until now. BTW, the SSPB is so good that I don't even think about it.
Dorkburger: I'll post up how the $1 throttle mod goes.
King of V: This bike is 99% street commuter, bike rally, passion build, and 1% drag. Air shifter is a little too much for this, but I'm working on something.
Trippivot: I thought about this a lot while I was at the track. I'm going to do something about it too.

When I was heavy into supermoto, I was struggling with starts. I would be 4-5 into T1 every time, then I'd have to fight the whole race to podium. The KTM I rode was geared for Euro tracks (90-100mph) and our small tracks never saw more than 60-65. I would be dragging 1st gear all the way to T1 and never use 5th or 6th gear during the race. I added a "hole shot" device and regeared, and all of a sudden I was 1-2 on the starts. (There's another point to this story). One of the tracks we would race backwards sometimes, and it made for a lengthy straightaway start. Guys were getting up to full speed (65mph?) into T1 and several people had nasty headshake tank-slapper crashes off the end of the track. I wasn't the only one using a hole-shot device and it turned out that the holeshot device was holding the front down so much that it changed the geometry of the bike and the trail was almost zero. These come from the MX world where it's much bumpier, and release pretty easy. If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch a MX start and you can see the mechanic helping set them.



The TEC shocks I bought have a 1.125" spacer in right now that made my bike turn in so much better, but I can take those out for the track. (thank you Posplyr again for the help on geometry analysis) I've also seen straps used to keep the front down. Something I could take off and put in my backpack for the street ride home.

[CivilRock]

I thought that my $ Dyna 2000 should have capabilities to power a shift light or a ignition kill switch, and it seems like there's an Orange wire that can be used for an immobility device, or a shifter interrupt switch.
The manual doesn't say much about it other than there are plenty of outside vendors that offer shifter linkage inline switches. Does anyone know about a generic switch that can be used in my linkage as a "quick-shift"?

All the switches I found online are for modern bikes that cut fuel via EFI. I'm guessing that it would be crude and not millisecond adjustable, but it might be an easy first step.

-Kevin

[dorkburger]

Kevin, I did the $1 mod last year. It works great. 0 to full throttle is approximately 1/4 turn now. Highway throttle roll ons much more exciting now!

[posplayr]

Posplayr: I did see that throttle mod years ago, and it was in my head somewhere. Thanks for the link. I didn't know I actually needed it until now. BTW, the SSPB is so good that I don't even think about it.

I did a lot of wrist twisting on my GS750E, and it was the first beneficiary of the $1 mod. I was a bit hesitant of putting it on my GS1100ED, but after I did I was pleased to find that the throttle control was improved in all ways. It was not to sensitive, just right and no need to drop an elbow (or heaven forbid re grip) to get to WOT.

[dorkburger]

Ill, definitely agree.... it made mine feel more resposive and punchier, but not in a scary fashion at all.

[CivilRock]

To do:
A. 1/4 turn $1 mod.
B. lowering strap front, delete shock extenders back.
C. Dyna DSL-1 shift light straight into D2000.

I got an email straight back from Dynatech about a shift linkage switch used to kill the ignition. It will work, but from what I gathered (and he didn't want to insult me) is that my foot would kill the ignition for far too long.
Looks like it needs 0.05 to 0.10 seconds (50-100 milliseconds) of kill, and I'm guessing my foot would provide more like 0.3 to 0.5 (300-500 ms) of kill time. I do have reverse shift, so it's a tap down to shift.

I know that the 60' times are directly related to my 1/4 mile times. 1/10th faster in the 60' seems like it's worth 3/10ths in the 1/4 mile.
Lowering the bike should help with my launches. As I'm thinking about it, that might be the most important mod to make.

-Kevin

[blowerbike]

1/4 turn with mechanical carbs are interesting at times depending on different things...

[CivilRock]

If you don't know about quickshifter systems, this is a good article explaining them.

https://rideapart.com/articles/how-do-motorcycle-quick-shifters-work

I know I can put a shift switch in the linkage, and I know I can wire it to the orange wire on the Dyna 2000. The problem is that the engine will be killed the whole time I'm pressing on the shifter. I need more like 50 milliseconds.

-Kevin

[CivilRock]

A. 1/4 turn. I went out to the bike tonight and marked off my throttle with a paint pen and I'm already at 1/4 turn. Maybe I need to move my front brake lever down so I can hold the brake and crank my wrist up enough on the start to give me enough "pre-grip" so I can get to WOT. Is it normal to hold the front brake on the line? I've just always done this road racing, is there a better way?
B. I ordered a tie down strap for the front.
C. Shift light?
D. I'm going to try a horn button kill/interrupt quickshift arrangement. I don't have horns anyway, but should be an easy (and free) experiment to try.

It seems I have two options if I want to stick with Dynatek for a shift light.
1. DSMS-4 "Shift Minder" package. brain box and light. Works independently of Dyna 2000. $125 ebay.
2. DSL-1 just the shift light $58, but I'd need DIPK-5 $90 programing kit, which is a serial cable and a CD to set the DYNA 2000 on/off values.

I'm not sure I even have a computer with a serial port anymore.

Does anyone have a better solution to setting up a shift light that works?