big_sur's Race Build

[big_sur]

Just making a little thread to detail out the prep for racing next season. Started yesterday with my pickup of this beaut with a whopping 298 miles on it! I'm going to finish up the break-in period on the street and then we'll start the tear down. I went a little crazy with the ordering last night so I'm about to get real close with the UPS guy. Until then, here she is in all her factory glory...

 

[SoCalRC390]

What did you order? How is the build coming. I just picked up one of these bikes as well and have begun the build. Let us know what you intend on doing?

 

[big_sur]

The build out hasn't quite started in earnest yet as I'm waiting to get it back from the initial service, but I think I do have almost everything ordered:

KTM Racing Bubble Windscreen

Brake Pads - EBC HH

Spiegler Brake lines (ABS bypass)

Tank Grip

R&G Case Covers

Lithium Battery

Power Commander V

Auto tune

Tail Fairing - Netherlands

Seat foam

Belly Pan- Netherlands

transponder

Levers

Driven Rear sets

JRi Double Clicker - Group Buy

Spools

Fuel Cap

Exhaust - Arrow GP2

Brake Lever Guard

We can't put in cartridge kits so I'll probably just give the forks to the suspension guy and hope for the best but I'd like to get the shock on before that happens to make tuning easier. 520 chain and new sprockets are also on the list, but I need to get some track time in to see where it sits now in terms of gearing. I have the brake stuff and just got the rearsets so I'll probably throw those on this week sometime and see if I can make it out to the cart track to get a good baseline.

 

[OldVet]

Very cool and I'll say it looks like you had a lot of fun ordering all that stuff Looking forward to watching your progress.

Where did you come up with big_sur? I live about 40 miles from Big Sur, CA but I know you aren't there from your location of 7,432'...

 

[DCMoney]

Hope you didn't order those fairings from the Netherlands yet...

The Tyga fairings are much better quality. I only went with them because thee Tyga ones weren't announced yet.

The guy the makes them is a great guy had lots of conservations but now that I have the Tyga on one and netherlands on the other I will be replacing them with Tyga this winter.

 

[big_sur]

I did, but honestly as long as they bolt up ok, I'll be happy. Are the tyga ones just prettier?

 

[DCMoney]

I did, but honestly as long as they bolt up ok, I'll be happy. Are the tyga ones just prettier?

Unfortunately no.

1. Tyga comes with all the proper mounting hardware. I made my own right rearset bracket and used the rubber mounting parts the abs module was bolted to for the tail section tank bolts.

Not pretty but it works, tacked a few welds on the inside where that bend was cracking.



2. Netherlands did not take paint well at all. Paint guy fought and fought to get anything to stick to it. Spent way more time than the Tyga set did.

3. Quality, Netherland seat is extremely thin and flexable, I cracked it the first time I sat on it. I'm no stick, 200+ lb, but you can physically see that Tyga has much more material on the seat. I went and folded a piece of sheetmetal and fiberglassed it in to reinforce the seat. Right hole on the bellypan was way off had to drill another, no big deal, but the Tyga set was perfect.

4. Box showed up looking like this, and took a month to get...





Now they don't have control on how the shipper handles the box, but if you've ever received fairings from Tygo it comes in a fully foamed box that is made for fairings.

 

[big_sur]

Hmmm, well I guess we'll see what it looks like when it gets here. I'm only ~150lbs so maybe lighter is better? If it doesn't work out, I think he takes returns within 14 days, just have to pay to ship it back across the pond.

 

[big_sur]

Very cool and I'll say it looks like you had a lot of fun ordering all that stuff Looking forward to watching your progress.

Where did you come up with big_sur? I live about 40 miles from Big Sur, CA but I know you aren't there from your location of 7,432'...

First forum was a mountain biking forum, at which time I had a big sur mountain bike, which is named after Big Sur, CA and apparently I like consistency.


Regarding the fairings, they showed up today and the packaging was fine, but they are a little too mickey mouse for me. I mean yeah, they're race fairings, but they could've used a lot more sanding before they got to me and I'm not going to risk sanding them down to where they're too thin. That and one of the mounting holes completely missed the carbon reinforcement that it was supposed to go through so that says enough about the quality for me to return them. They'll be headed back soon and the Tyga ones are already ordered up. Live and learn I suppose...

 

[big_sur]

Got the bike back today and started tearing it apart tonight. The headlights were way too much work to remove but they finally came out after splitting the cluster tree. Got rid of the headlights, grips, horn, tail section, erector set, signals, keyed gas cap, and put on my shiny new levers. I was trying to get to the ABS system tonight but it's right smack in the middle of the frame above the cylinder so I've got some more removal of crap to get to it.

First nude pic...

 

[OldVet]

Dang that looks like a lot of work maybe you should have bought the cup bike but then you wouldn't be having all that fun

 

[big_sur]

Day 2 and I finally got the rear sets on and the ABS removed, both of which were a PITA. The ABS pump is located in the most inconvenient place possible right under the battery in the middle of the frame. Changing rearsets requires removing the swingarm pivot bolt, after jacking up the bike and sticking a t-handle through it. On the positive side, the stock rearsets feel like they're made of iron next to the driven ones so there's definitely some weight savings there. Only complaint with the driven rearset installation is they tell you to use their spacers on the shifter side in the instructions, but on the brake side in the diagram. The brake side is correct. I didn't reinstall the side stand and simply taped the magnet to the sensor and moved it up into the tray by the airbox for safe keeping.

My shiny new hole where the ABS used to live. It's a lot of work for 2.7lbs.

New rearsets

Getting closer

Also I removed the emissions crap by combining the tank lines to vent\drain down and removed the throttle body hose with the cannister. The important part is to make sure you cap the port on the throttle body with a vacuum cap so it doesn't run oddly.

Blue vacuum cap next to the TPS on the throttle body

 

[tecknojoe]

Awesome^ thanks for all the info

I ordered the driven rearsets too, and I'll order the ABS bypass soon as well

 

[big_sur]

Day 3- Bled the brakes, put on grips, double H pads and lever guard, buttoned it all up and it's ready for its first track day tomorrow. Only two issues for the day were 1)the ebay gas cap didn't quite fit (it says RC200 on it), but a little grinding and pirating screws from the stock cap got it on, and 2) when I fired it up, it threw an FI code related to my removal of the emissions. Sounds like Akra map or resistor is in order.

Problematic gas cap

Ready for fun tomorrow

 

[ArkansasDave]

Needs a belly pan...

looking good, thanks for posting the info about the emissions crap.

 

[Hunterbear]

Thanks for posting the info on removing all that crap. Good pics too!

 

[DCMoney]

I had that same style gas cap on my ninja 250, hated it.

 

[big_sur]

Got it out on track Saturday and today after putting on my new R&G case covers. It's definitely a huge adjustment from the super duke, but it is a lot of fun. The rear shock is absolute shit and needs to be replaced ASAP (come on group buy!)as it was super loose and I slid around a lot. Even so, one of my future competitors was there with an R3 on GP-A Pro\A13's with an R6 shock and he was much slower so that was promising considering I'm still on stock suspension with the stock tires and still have a bit of weight to lose and power to gain. I still haven't gotten anything to time myself, but he said he was running 2:20 and I need to be clocking at least 2:10's, preferably closer to 2:07 to run up front so I'm anxious to get the suspension\tires done and see what I can turn on it when it's a bit more sorted. I got a 10z GPS Receiver ordered up so hopefully I can get some telemetry soon.

I definitely wouldn't recommend leaving the belly pan on without doing anything to the suspension as I have my new rearsets in the second to highest position and one of them got dragged on the ground so I'm sure it'd be sanding down the belly pan if it was there. The gas cap did lose its o-ring so I'm not sure how sealed it actually is at this point but other than that, it's just a gas cap. I only saw one other options for getting rid of the keyed cap and it was over $100 so it's doing fine for the moment. Now I just need more stuff to show up, preferably my shock.

 

[tecknojoe]

Someone besides Hammer is on an R3 now? Awesome, hope to have a full grid next year

 

[big_sur]

Well this guy, Brian?, said he has raced the past three seasons on an R6 but will be new to the 400 class on the R3 next year. I think there's basically three fast guys in the class right now, two R3's (Hammer and Absolon) and a Ninja 300 (Jackson). They all run under 2:10 race pace.