Sho'nuff, it ain't fancy, but it has saved me a whole lot of dough!

 

Not a very exciting update, but I finally got the red reflective rim stripe on the new F3 rim - having the stripe on the front, and the all black rim in the rear was buggin' me.



One thing I had never mentioned before, is that when I first got this bike, one of the first things I did was set it up for a reverse GP shift - well, after I got the aftermarket fairings, I had to flip my world upside down (or put it back right-side up!) by reverting to the standard 1-down/5-up setup...the reason I had to do this, was because there wasn't enough clearance in that area, with the left-side lower fairings. I finally went ahead and cut the fairings to allow for me to get back to the GP shift.



You might note in the picture, that I had to replace the flange bolts that hold the kick-stand on, with some straight hex head cap screws, and then still grind down the heads a little more, in order to have clearance for the shift rod.
At this time, I also removed the kick-stand switch, shortened the wiring to it, back to about where it leaves the harness, and bypassed the switch, so I can make a quick removal of the kick-stand, while at the track.

 

Time to catch up on the last week of activity...

Thanks to one awesome bro from Cali, I received a package with a lot of needed, useful items, and some extras, for an incredible price.
In his shipment, I got a Two Brothers race header, Fox Twin-Clicker shock, quick-turn throttle, an old set of Cheetah race bodywork, extra cush drive, sprocket carrier, and 520 rear sprocket (46 tooth), and some extra rear wheel spacers.
First I installed the header - it was coupled with an RS-3 slip-on before, which is what I had installed, but mine is a newer oval can, and I think the RS-3 that was connected to this header was an older, round RS-3 can, so I had to chop roughly 1/2 inch from the outlet of the header, and about the same from the tail-end of the mid-pipe, in order for my muffler to mount properly... no sweat, the only thing I have to do now is re-locate the spring hooks on the mid-pipe from left/right to top/bottom, so it matches the Yosh pipe and the springs aren't stretched around funny- I'll get to that later - no hurry.



After installing the header, I put just enough items back on the bike to be legal for a test run, which was some time after 11pm or so, and flogged it on the highway for a short bit - I noticed the increase in mid-range and top-end IMMEDIATELY!! Once again, I had to adjust my riding in order to keep the front wheel down!! This is the kind of problem I thoroughly enjoy dealing with!! I made some minor fueling adjustments to compensate for the header, and will probably tinker some more in the future, preferrably in conjunction with some dyno time, but for now, it's good... she screams like a banshee, and the exhaust note at idle and low RPMs has a more "throaty" growl, as well...it's nice to have some bonus "form" along with "function"!
I cleaned and re-oiled the K&N filter at this time as well.

I mounted the Twin-Clicker with Fox's recommended base settings for compression and rebound damping, and left the preload & ride height adjustment as they had been previously set, which raised the rear roughly 3/4" to 1" - not being used to it, I didn't like it at first, but after 7 sessions on the track, I no longer even noticed. It is worthy of note, that I did not require ANY adjustment to the suspension during my time on track - it's pretty much perfectly setup, for now anyway.



Also, before my one brief test run on the local highways, I installed the quick-turn throttle tube, which changed my rotation from 1/2 turn to about 1/5 turn...me likey very much thank you! My wrists were not taxed at all throughout my time on track.

I went with the Michelin Power Cup 120/70 VB front, and the Power One B2 rear, which turned out to be a perfect choice for the 105 F scorcher, which was my day on track - any softer, and the tires would have gone off quite a bit, I'm sure... as it stands now, I could probably get another track day out of this set. Oh, and I forgot to mention that these tires are incredible!! I stuck like glue all day, like I was running on rails, it was fantastic!

 

Just a little "data" update, with regards to the bike's current diet regimen - there's some lightening up that occurred, in street form, and of course, a little more with the track-only setup.
One thing I did, while I was removing all the un-needed bits at the rear (bulbs & harnesses, license plate, signal stalks, etc.), was trimmed an additional bit of stainless steel from the Fender Eliminator kit - it was only 45 grams, but hey, now it's 45 grams lighter!





I bypassed the sidestand safety switch, after shortening it's harness back over a foot in length, and removed the switch from the sidestand assembly - this cut about 2 1/2 oz.
The Two Brothers header and mid-pipe, after the trimming I needed to do, to make it work with my can, cut things down by roughly 3 1/4 lb.
A few more small losses, came with the new, ground-down kickstand mounting bolts, which were needed to clear the shift rod, when reverting back to GP shift, the further trimming of the front fender, for better clearance of the taller race tire, and the little bit of trimmed fairing needed for clearance with the GP shift setup...All this, minus a weight gain of just under 3/4 lb, due to the new Fox shock, brings my current "street form" weight loss to:

- 25 lb. 14.63 oz

I'll take it!

**Edit**
Since I am pretty much running full-time without the passenger peg brackets & footpegs, and just use that new aluminum exhaust hanger for street riding also, I forgot to take that into account with the above weight figure - the actual current "street form" weight loss stands at:

- 27 lb. 9.4 oz

 

As mentioned in the previous post, there was additional shedding of weight for use on track.
Removing the mirrors, and replacing them with the block-off plates yielded just under 3/4 lb., and removing the horn and front turn signal bulbs/harnesses cut a little over 1 lb.
Pulling the kickstand and mounting hardware, saved a touch more than 2 lb.
At the rear, I lost another 3/4 lb or so, with the deleting of the license plate & light, the tail/stop light bulbs and harness, and the signal stalks.
All this together is an additional 6 lb. 6.43 oz, for a total weight loss, in track-only form, of:

- 32 lb. 5.06 oz

I could most definitely feel the difference at the track.

 

Here's a pic at the track, down in the pit area - I don't know if this was taken during one of the extremely rare times we had momentary cloud cover, or if it's just the way it turned out, but it looks look a cool, drury day...let me assure you, it was NOT!!! It was in the 100's very early in the day, and stayed at 105 F until past the time we were finished, packed up, and leaving the track!



The HPT track is very balanced - the "scuffing" on the tires was nice and even, all over the tire profile, for front and back. These are pics of the tires after I had "smoothed" out the scuffed sections a little bit, with a day of commuting to and from work, while the race tires were still mounted.





In the pics of the front, you might notice that I trimmed the front fender back even further, to try to minimize damage to the fender, with the taller race tire in the front...to my amazement, even with so little clearance, the tires did NOT rub the front fender at all!





I know I've already mentioned it, but let me just say again, that these tires are absolutely amazing!! I definitely won't need to buy another set before the school with Jason Pridmore in August.

 

A day after I returned home from the track, I worked at getting the signals and other legal bits back on the bike...the next morning I get on and head to work, not realizing until a mile or two from my house, that I had neglected to put the mirrors back on! (lack-of-sleep induced haze)
I got them on later that night, but I was really diggin' the aggressive look of the bike, with the increased rear ride height, and lack of mirrors, so I hit a downtown parking lot and snapped a few pics before I reinstalled them.

 

Your bike looks fantastic. I bet it looks e_en better in motion with you knee on the ground ripping around the track.

 

Thanks, Frank!

Well, it sure felt like it should be looking real sweet, while tearing up the tarmac!! I still haven't seen any good pictures from my time on track - there were two different outfits taking pics, one, has nothing but straight line shots and a few in slower corners, in the first session, when we weren't totally "on it" yet, and the second photographer hasn't added his shots from that track day to his website yet...hopefully I can get some good ones from him to post up.

 

That's awesome that you found the twin clicker and headers! Sometimes I feel guilty I'm using a set of Hindle headers and a twinclicker on my street only bike when track guys are so hard up to find them but man no way I'm giving up that throaty exhaust sound and higher ride height. I love it compared to a stock F2. I just got lucky with mine and found a kid who had no idea what he had. He'd bought this guys old track bike and make it street legal again but couldn't get it to run right so I saw all the goodies on it but it was pissing out gas. I looked and noticed he had the carb vent tubes plugged up with bolts.
Told him how the bike needed work to fix the idle and leaking gas and took it for a grand. Pulled out this bolts, a little carb work and the bike runs freaking amazing and only has 10k now. Had 8 when I got it last fall.

Also thanks for the tip on the fork seals. I unfortunatlely just had one go on me and got the new ones in the other day. I've read a ton of ways to press in the new one but all required making some sort of tool or looked like they risked damage to the new seal. Your method looks awesome and easy so I intend to use it. One question thought, did you find that big washer at the hardware store?