FZ-07SS - Racebike Build

[twf]

Yes, it is painted. We raced last weekend.
 

[gogokawi]

Though I've made lots of progress, I still have quite a bit of work to do.  I just got new sprockets and a 520 chain.  Those are going on over the weekend.  And the body work is getting painted now.  It should be ready by next weekend.  Unfortunately, there was an issue with the shock that's being fixed now.  I expect that to be back by next weekend too.  The plan is to test the bike at Summit Point Shenandoah next weekend.  That's the perfect track to find any and all issues with a bike.  And then it's to CMP for my first CCS race in the lightweight class.
 
Here's the bike with all of it's clothes on, except the front fender.
 
 

 
 

 
The paint scheme will look my other racebikes, Kawasaki green and black.  I hope it turns out well.  It's kind of my staple.  Number plates have to go on.  And I need to figure out how to mount the lap timer and cameras.  I usually run a front and rear camera.
 
The last somewhat major modification I'm going to do is to add some girth to the steering stops to limit the amount of bar turn.  I'll feel better once that's done.  And I won't have to worry about the bars destroying the fairing from a drop.  Not sure how just yet.  But I'll let you all know what works and what doesn't.  I talked to AP about it.  He's going to try to do something as well.  

[twf]

For steering stops I driller and tapped hole in original one and put screw in it.

[merc16]

Wow! That bike is looking good !

[rowdy]

@gogokawi Nice progress. Looks Awesome!

[rowdy]

RE the Shorai battery. Remember the shorai has no fluid. It doesn't care what it's orientation is. Often I have found with Shorai's that putting them on their side fills the space better though you sometimes have to extend one or both of the leads. They are so light that a rubber strap will hold them solid no trouble.

The battery that Shorai recommends for our bike LFX19A4-BS12 is the one I bought, and it matches the stocker exactly with one slim foam pad on the left side and with the battery on it's side.  In that configuration the terminals are exactly where the OEM terminals are (or within an mm).  

[gogokawi]

For steering stops I driller and tapped hole in original one and put screw in it.

 
 
I considered that and then got gun shy. I usually mess something up when drilling and tapping. What size screw did you use?

[twf]

Don't remember now and bike is not here to check. Think I actually used standard size set screw I had and put nut on it so it can be adjusted.
You can do old racer trick and just stick wheel weights on it.
 
 
 

[gogokawi]

Don't remember now and bike is not here to check. Think I actually used standard size set screw I had and put nut on it so it can be adjusted. You can do old racer trick and just stick wheel weights on it.
 
 

That is ingenious!  I love all of the tricks people do to get things to work!  I may try the wheel weights as a short term fix.  I think drilling is the best way to handle this, or welding a longer bar in the middle. 

[gogokawi]

Today was sprocket change day. I went against one of my rules bright and early this morning: Always have the tools you need available before starting on something. The drive sprocket nut is 30mm. I didn't have that socket. So I had to take a trip to Lowes. It fit perfectly!
 
My hope was to not use my impact driver. So I pulled out the breaker bar with the 5 foot pipe that I bought for my ZX6 (that's another story). Luckily I didn't need. I straightened the two locking tabs on the nut, slid a bar between the wheel and swingarm, and just used the breaker bar to twist off the nut. In my mind, I was thinking that it was too easy. Even my 300 needed a little more oomph to get the sprocket nut off. Apparently, my spider sense was tingling, but for the wrong reason.
 
Sometimes, a picture tells the best stories:
 

 
How did this happen?  I'm pretty sure I touched the threads while I was straightening the tabs just enough to cause this.  Here's a pic of the drive shaft.
 
 

 
I sweated over this for days when I saw how you had to take this off.  Despite being careful and knowing that there would be a chance damage could occur to the threads, I still effed up.  I really think this is a bad design.  Kawasaki uses a lock washer that you bend against the nut.  There is no chance you could do something like this.
 
So how am I going to fix it?  I've got three choices that I can think of.  First is take it to the shop.  That might be the best thing to do.  And I probably will after talking with a friend.  I'm not feeling too brave right now.  Second is to get a thread chaser.  I've been looking for one but can find one that's not $200+.  And lastly, I can file or cut through the damaged threads, where I would be widening the already indented part of the shaft.  
 
Less than 2 weeks before race time.  I'm starting to freak out a bit...

[rowdy]

@gogokawi That definitely sucks! It's the kind of thing I always worry about when working on my bike. But shit happens!

[twf]

Looks like you used to wide punch to straighten tab.
You can fix it with small triangle file or buy one of those nice thread restorer files. I have couple of this http://www.summitracing.com/nv/parts/sum-900074/overview/

[gogokawi]

Looks like you used to wide punch to straighten tab. You can fix it with small triangle file or buy one of those nice thread restorer files. I have couple of this http://www.summitracing.com/nv/parts/sum-900074/overview/

Agreed.  I thought the flathead I used was small enough.  I thought wrong.  Going forward, I'll be using an extra-small flat-head for the tabs.  I'm not going to take anymore chances.
 
I talked to a friend right after posting the pics.  He suggested the same thing, a thread file.  I saw a couple of videos with it and it should do the trick.  I ordered the standard and metric set from Amazon since I'll probably need them on something else.
 
Good news is the chain is on.  It took all of 15 minutes to take the old one off and put the new one on.  I didn't realize the 525 was that substantial compared to the 520.  It's a big difference in size and weight.
 
And lastly, the wheel weights as temporary steering stops worked.  I need to see them in use with the body work though.  I'm not sure how many I should use.
 
 
 
 
 

[twf]

Difference in chains is 1/16 in width.
525 means, 5=5/8 pin to pin, 25=2.5 eights (1/8) between plates. 520 is 2 eights so difference is 1/16.

[gogokawi]

@gogokawi That definitely sucks! It's the kind of thing I always worry about when working on my bike. But shet happens!

 
 
Things definitely do happen, regardless of how careful you think you are. But this shouldn't be discouraging. Hopefully this will prevent other from doing the same thing. Just go slow. And have someone knowledgeable on speed dial when you get in trouble.

[gogokawi]

Good news!  The front sprocket nut went on with no problem after using the thread file on the sprocket shaft.  I hope to never run into that issue again.  But I'm sure the files will come in handy in the future.
 
I'm picking up the bodywork from the painter and tires this weekend.  Last thing is getting the shock back from AP next week and then it's race time!
 
The ergos need a LOT of work.  It's part foot position and part bar placement.  I'm going to have to play around with them a bit.  I don't think I will find the perfect setup since I like a more relaxed position, and the bodywork prevents that.  But I hope to find a good compromise.

[pattonme]

sorry, late to the party but you pulled the forks 20mm up thru the yoke? Wow, that strikes me as pretty extreme. The SV is ass-heavy so it was popular to do that, but the FZ already has very aggressive geometry I thought. @twf, what did you settle on and how's the stability out of corners and down the straight with the damper turned all the way down?

[gogokawi]

sorry, late to the party but you pulled the forks 20mm up thru the yoke? Wow, that strikes me as pretty extreme. The SV is ass-heavy so it was popular to do that, but the FZ already has very aggressive geometry I thought. @twf, what did you settle on and how's the stability out of corners and down the straight with the damper turned all the way down?

 
 
Definitely open to any feedback. I was going to run 10mm as a starting point. But then got the info from AP on the fork height. The plan was to adjust it as I practiced next Friday, if it was needed. I ride an 08 zx6, so I'm used to slow turn-in. lol. I just don't want to sacrifice stability.

[gregjet]

Matt,
Actually dynamically I reckon once the proper springs are fitted the forks will sit furthur out than the soggy stock ones and dive less. Not just statically. Lifting the tubes through the triple clamps by 20mm could end up with not far off the stock geometry, especially under brakes with proper heavier rate springs compression damping. The stock springs slop down a long way. Std springs would spend a lot of their time a fair way down ( both cornering and braking), especially on a track.
Mine, as you know, is raised 25mm rear and stiffer springs front. I don't have any lack of trail problems ( bump induced wobble) even on corners with cane train lines in the middle of them. gogo's lowering the front instead means he would have a lower CoG as well which should help on the track ( might have to watch for front end push).

[twf]

sorry, late to the party but you pulled the forks 20mm up thru the yoke? Wow, that strikes me as pretty extreme. The SV is ass-heavy so it was popular to do that, but the FZ already has very aggressive geometry I thought. @twf , what did you settle on and how's the stability out of corners and down the straight with the damper turned all the way down?

You can see it here. We do run different shock configuration.  http://fz07.org/post/70477 
 

[howlinhoss]

If your racing this weekend good luck! I saw your finished bike on the FZ-07R Facebook page. Looks soo good!

[gogokawi]

It's been a while since my last post.  I'm sure I've forgotten a lot of stuff that I did to the bike and wanted type out here.  My apologies.  Hectic is the right word for describing the last week or so in preparation for the races.  The good news is, the bike is all together!!!!!!!!!! 8-)
 
This is what it looks like, minus a few sponsor decals.
 
 

 
I got the shock back last Tuesday and put it on.  I put the bodywork on to make sure everything fits.  I had a tough time getting the bellypan on.  There is a specific way you have to put the fasteners on.  But everything else was perfect!
 
The races were last weekend at CMP, a track I haven't gone to.  Not to mention it was freezing down there, literally.  Temps were in the 30's at night and the high was 60 when the sun was out.  New bike.  New tire choice.  New track.  Cold temps.  What could go wrong?  Honestly, not a lot went wrong.  I expected to have some growing pains.  But in the scheme of things, it was a really good weekend.
 
There were lots of questions about the bike.  What kind of bike is it?  Is it a Moto3 bike?  What class does it run?  How fast is it?  How much was it to build?  Who built it?  Why did you get this instead of an SV?  And many more...  It was really cool.  I think AP is going to get lots of calls.
 
How did the bike feel?  Getting on it for the first time, I felt really uncomfortable.  It wasn't the ergos, but it was the way that it felt.  Sitting on it and riding it are very different.  When riding it, it felt bigger than I thought.  Bigger is probably the wrong word.  It felt longer.  And I think that's attributed to the clip-on position.  But I got used to it fairly quickly.  What I didn't get used to was the suspension.  It was off, and needed to be setup.  After a couple of tweaks, it felt better but not perfect.  After talking with the suspension tech, we concluded that the spring on the shock was too soft.  I talked to AP about it and others have given similar feedback.  That will be changed in the next few weeks.  But the setup really helped a lot.  My first day of racing, I was fighting he bike in every corner.  The second day, we made the tweaks and I was able to get a couple of wins.  It always amazes me how a couple of clicks on the shock and forks can dramatically improve bike feel.
 
Oh!  One of the topics we talked about here was fork placement.  On Friday and Saturday, I ran the forks at 10mm above the upper triple.  With that setup, I ran wide coming out of every turn.  On Sunday, I went back to the 20mm above, and the bike felt much better.  I made turns almost effortlessly.  I even started to scare myself a few times.
 
What else?  I'm sure there's other stuff.  I just can't seem to think of anything.  I'm still coming off of the high from the weekend.  And next weekend is NJMP racing.

[pattonme]

What was the issue with the shock? K-tech from the looks of it. I plan on offering them at low, low prices if folks are interested.

[wickedtwister]

CMP as in Carolina Motorsports Park? That's my home track for auto racing. How did you like it in the big city of Kershaw SC?

[gogokawi]

What was the issue with the shock? K-tech from the looks of it. I plan on offering them at low, low prices if folks are interested.

No real issues with the shock.  It performed well.  In the current setup, the spring is a little soft.  I'm working with AP on it.  Others have said the same thing.  A stiffer spring should solve that.
 
The only concern I have with the shock is the spring size.  None of the vendors at the track had one.  I guess it's fairly slim compared to other shocks.  Now, folks are talking about fabbing collars to be able to use regular size springs.  I need to research this more, but that's the feedback I got from the suspension vendors at the track.
 

CMP as in Carolina Motorsports Park? That's my home track for auto racing. How did you like it in the big city of Kershaw SC?

Yep.  I love the layout of the track.  I consider it a stop a go circuit because of the braking areas.  Lots of fun!  I just need to get my corner speed up.  I know I can easily gain a couple of seconds carrying more speed through the bends.
 
Kershaw wasn't too bad.  No cell service!!!  Believe it or not, I loved that aspect.  I didn't have to, and couldn't, check into work.      There is a barbecue place about 5 minutes from the track.  We went there twice.  Great people and good food.  I highly recommend it if you haven't gone.