After 22 years on my FZR400, I am planning to retire it at the end of this season. (I'm not selling it ... it will look just fine sitting in front of a wall of trophies, and I'd still like to keep it in ready-to-ride condition and perhaps do a couple of practice sessions per year on it.)
I just bought something else ... a used 2015 Yamaha R3 with a little over 6000 km on it - a street bike. Yeah, maybe it's cheaper to buy someone else's already-race-prepped bike. But this way, I have a winter project, and I can do it MY way.
There is a long list of things to do, roughly in this order:
- Handlebars. (Woodcraft 41mm 1.5" rise on order) - I want to sort this out before I take the stock bodywork off, to check clearance.
- 2006-on R6 throttle tube (on order). (Shortens the throttle throw, and it's also easier to install and remove grips on the R6 throttle tube, apparently. The R3 grips are apparently almost impossible to remove without destroying them.)
- Rearset footpegs (Woodcraft GP-shift on order). This is another thing I want to do before taking off the stock bodywork, so that I can sort out the riding position.
- Full exhaust system (Hindle on order). Bike has a slip-on, but those do nothing for power. Safety-wire the mountings.
- Engine case guards. (on order)
- Strip off all the street bodywork and hardware, and inventory all the fasteners.
- Steel front brake line. In the course of doing this, safety-wire the brake fittings and caliper mountings.
- Steering stop (lower clip-ons will hit bodywork otherwise).
- Steering damper.
- Bypass the side-stand switch and the clutch switch.
- Find a way to mount my air/fuel ratio gauge.
- Replace the air filter.
- Replace air filter cover screws with socket-head cap screws. (M5 x 20)
- Install block-off plate for the air suction valve and remove the solenoid.
- Check the valve clearances.
- Degree the camshafts.
- Safety wire oil drain plug and filter, and change the oil.
- Dyno tuning - possibly via reflash - this needs to be discussed with whoever will be tuning it, and I have not decided that yet.
- Quick-shifter.
- New shock, possibly Ohlins, possibly Ktech.
- New fork damping cartridge and springs, possibly Ohlins, possibly Ktech.
- Bodywork.
- Taller windshield.
- Lighter chain and sprockets with a selection of ratios.
- Shark-fin guard for the swingarm. TST has a trick one that also captures the rear wheel adjuster blocks so that they don't fall out of place when changing the rear wheel.
- Lighter battery.
- Tires.
- Paint.
- Drain cooling system, safety-wire clamps, refill with water. This will be left to last because then I don't have to concern myself with transporting the bike in winter if it needs to go somewhere.
I'm planning to keep this roughly CSBK legal, even though that class isn't for olde people like me. That means, stock engine internals, which saves the trouble and expense of going into the engine.
There is no particular rush with getting this done. I'd like to have it looking like a race bike by the January 2019 bike show, and I'd like to be ready to do a winter shakedown test with it at Jennings sometime in Feb - Mar 2019.
I just bought something else ... a used 2015 Yamaha R3 with a little over 6000 km on it - a street bike. Yeah, maybe it's cheaper to buy someone else's already-race-prepped bike. But this way, I have a winter project, and I can do it MY way.
There is a long list of things to do, roughly in this order:
- Handlebars. (Woodcraft 41mm 1.5" rise on order) - I want to sort this out before I take the stock bodywork off, to check clearance.
- 2006-on R6 throttle tube (on order). (Shortens the throttle throw, and it's also easier to install and remove grips on the R6 throttle tube, apparently. The R3 grips are apparently almost impossible to remove without destroying them.)
- Rearset footpegs (Woodcraft GP-shift on order). This is another thing I want to do before taking off the stock bodywork, so that I can sort out the riding position.
- Full exhaust system (Hindle on order). Bike has a slip-on, but those do nothing for power. Safety-wire the mountings.
- Engine case guards. (on order)
- Strip off all the street bodywork and hardware, and inventory all the fasteners.
- Steel front brake line. In the course of doing this, safety-wire the brake fittings and caliper mountings.
- Steering stop (lower clip-ons will hit bodywork otherwise).
- Steering damper.
- Bypass the side-stand switch and the clutch switch.
- Find a way to mount my air/fuel ratio gauge.
- Replace the air filter.
- Replace air filter cover screws with socket-head cap screws. (M5 x 20)
- Install block-off plate for the air suction valve and remove the solenoid.
- Check the valve clearances.
- Degree the camshafts.
- Safety wire oil drain plug and filter, and change the oil.
- Dyno tuning - possibly via reflash - this needs to be discussed with whoever will be tuning it, and I have not decided that yet.
- Quick-shifter.
- New shock, possibly Ohlins, possibly Ktech.
- New fork damping cartridge and springs, possibly Ohlins, possibly Ktech.
- Bodywork.
- Taller windshield.
- Lighter chain and sprockets with a selection of ratios.
- Shark-fin guard for the swingarm. TST has a trick one that also captures the rear wheel adjuster blocks so that they don't fall out of place when changing the rear wheel.
- Lighter battery.
- Tires.
- Paint.
- Drain cooling system, safety-wire clamps, refill with water. This will be left to last because then I don't have to concern myself with transporting the bike in winter if it needs to go somewhere.
I'm planning to keep this roughly CSBK legal, even though that class isn't for olde people like me. That means, stock engine internals, which saves the trouble and expense of going into the engine.
There is no particular rush with getting this done. I'd like to have it looking like a race bike by the January 2019 bike show, and I'd like to be ready to do a winter shakedown test with it at Jennings sometime in Feb - Mar 2019.
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