new GS racer

[patrino]

bah! of course! Pushing the discs outwards would have been an easy thing to do / easy part to have machined: just the large central hole plus the five/six (I forget) for the disc mounting screws. NEXT TIME.

For now the caliper spacers seem to be working.

More photos, I promise.

[patrino]

I ended up wrapping the entire pipe. I'm generally not a big fan of chrome, I think that this looks better. A friend of mine suggested the idea.


Put some new tires on last night. I'm running a Bridgestone R10 front and a Bridgestone supermoto H-pattern rear. Our local Bridgestone rep is a great guy, he expected "loads of grip" from the rear. I'm hoping they last at least two weekends. The rules require treaded tires, but don't require that they're DOT-legal.



I finished the seat pan a while ago. Last night I welded on some tabs to hold the tailsection. Now I'm laying out the foam, need to head to the store on Monday to get some more, plus some vinyl to wrap it. I'll probably use industrial velcro to keep the seat on the pan.

[CivilRock]

Love the heat wrap. I just wrapped my headers this weekend too.

So is this bike going to be for the track only? Will we see it on some club rides?

You've inspired me on the suspension work you've done. I really need to give my bike some love in that department.

[patrino]

Track-only at this point. Don't have a title, no charging system (end of crank is cut off), etc. etc. etc. Anyhow I've got my RC51 if I want to go have fast fun on the street.

That said I ought to track down a title at some point, if I sourced a new motor (with charging system) I reckon it'd be a fun street bike.

[patrino]

Got the brakes fitted up last night. Rotors were turned down to ~294mm (from 298mm). I need to pick up a Grade 8 bolt to replace the hex-head on the top mount. The brake pads had a big step in them (from the previous mounting setup, which only positioned about 75% of the pad material on the rotor), so I ground them flat with sandpaper on a mirror.




Once that was wrapped up, I started work on the seat. It's pretty squishy so I'm going to hollow out most of the underside and fill it with denser foam I have at the shop.



Flipped the shift linkage around too, so we're GP shift, which I prefer on the track.

[bellucci]

p i c t u r e s....................please?

[CivilRock]

Flipped the shift linkage around too, so we're GP shift, which I prefer on the track.

Other than me, this is the first mention of GP shift (reverse shift) I could find on this site. Just like USD forks should be normal, I think GP shift should be the norm on every bike.

Yea, what's up with the lack of pictures. That thing is sick. Don't be scared to post the "in progress" or "bad angle" or "bad side" We want to see it all!!!

I need a test ride here in the next couple days. Can I come over and check out this thing in person?

My GP shift was a little more work that just flipping the linkage over.

[Rob S.]

Patrino, love the whole thread. Can't say I understand most of the wrenching posts, but I try. Can you tell me what this baby started life as?

And that rattle can job looks first class. MORE PICTURES!!!

CivilRock, you said you'd like bikes to be 1 up, 4 (or 5) down? Why? Is it a Southern Hemisphere thing?

I ride an 1100EZ with Vance & Hines, K&N, nothing more. Never did a 'track day', but I swear your posts got me thinking about it.

And one more thing: MORE PICS PLEASE!

[GregT]

So called GP shift pattern where up is down...you know what I mean...got that way due to low ground clearance situations where an up shift was needed but there was no room to put a boot under the pedal...

these days where ground clearance is designed in at an early stage it's not so important.

rider preference is the main point...I have several customers with large collections and in the main they have a rooted objection to any one bike being "different". In practise this usually means up for up as a standard arrangement. If you've got left and right hand shift bikes in the collection too, up for up on both at least means slowing down when you press down with both feet...

i must and will find a pic of our racebike arrangement as i think you may like it.

[GregT]

Pic as promised - couldn't edit it in to previous post.

minimalist.....

[gs58]

I did the same thing Greg. I made a nylon bush for the gear selector shaft to rotate on so it wouldn't bind.

[John Kat]

I did the same thing Greg. I made a nylon bush for the gear selector shaft to rotate on so it wouldn't bind.

Simple and elegant

[patrino]

Here we go, a couple "full monty" shots per request. More detailed shots soon. The seat and tailsection are still very much works in progress, and those seas of white that are my numberplates will look better once I get my number on them. But we're making progress. I got the steering damper mounted last night, too. Also, I ended up having Bridge City Cycles do the paint, they gave me a great deal (and I recommend them if anyone's in the Portland, OR, USA area!). The pinstripes were hand-done by Jeff Wolf. Love 'em.

[patrino]

P.S. I prefer because GP for two reasons:

1. it's easier for me to get positive gear engagement with a push down, than a pull up. At the track, when a bad upshift can cost you a race, that's important.
2. it's easier for me to upshift when you're heeled over in a corner (and can't get your foot underneath the shifter if you're not running GP). This doesn't happen often but when it does it's nice to be able to upshift at a large lean. (Like GregT noted, this is less an issue nowadays.)

But at the end of the day yes, it's personal preference, whatever you're comfortable with is the way to go. I still run standard shift on my street bikes.

[CivilRock]

CivilRock, you said you'd like bikes to be 1 up, 4 (or 5) down? Why? Is it a Southern Hemisphere thing?

Most of the time downshifting is done when the bike is straight up and down. Sometimes up-shifting is done with the bike leaned over. Also upshift timing and precision is more important than downshifting when the brakes are doing most of the work.

All the reasons stated here, plus a personal one. When I broke my ankle riding MX, I basically twisted my foot around backwards. When I was able to ride again my ankle mobility was severely reduced as was the strength to pull up on a shift lever. I had moved to GP shift in 2002, and this injury was in 2005, but it took a long time to recover. For a while there I had to use my heel to pull up on the lever.

Almost every MotoGP racer uses GP shift. Most top level road racers anywhere use GP shift. That alone doesn't make it the best method, but noteworthy. Mat Mladin uses the normal shift pattern and he's no slouch.

It took me all of about 1 hour to get used to GP shift. After that, it completely made sense. And for some reason I have no problems going back to a dirtbike or regular shifting.

I would think that anyone drag racing would greatly benefit from it.