| Author | Message | ||
     Blake |
Heck yes! | ||
| X1glider |
Ok, I'll give you a call on Thursday sometime to cement the details. The bike is on the trailer and ready to go! Kawabunga! Oh wait, I have a Buell...Buellbunga! | ||
| Blake |
Excellent! Bring your yellow shirt. Just in case there is any doubt as to your status as a CMRA member. | ||
| X1glider |
The yellow shirt will truly clarify my status! I will bring the pan and hardware also if you are interested in it still. | ||
| Blake |
Dang right!! I figured the pan was still mounted on your bike. | ||
| Benm2 |
Really, really, really sorry that I'm in no position to join you this weekend. I'd like to meet you both in person, and have the opportunity to get a little track knowledge/savvy from people that have done it before. But, alas, it is not to be. I'm lining up an exciting weekend of roofing & Buell wrenching. The M2 is in the garage, race fairing & pan mounted (what a pain that was!). Painted the fairing black ($10 at Pep boys & some elbow grease) and thinking about painting the pan (black outside/white inside). I always thought that guys who showed up at the races with clean prepped bikes and went SLOW were dorks, but I can't help myself. I thought it looked stupid with a white fairing, and the clear pan's not much better. I've lined up a pair of used racing leathers (to be gotten this weekend), and am hoping to do NESBA at south carolina on the 17th. I've also got a set of pilot race soft's on the way, and my "Ben's Machine" rearsets are on CAD revision #4. Last price was $80 per side (still too much). Chain drive conversion > done, spacer & seals in hand (thanks Ralph) with new (to me anyway) N4 cams on the way. I haven't ridden since AUGUST when the bike was 'retired' and I'm getting a little antsy. Sorry for the diatribe, but I wish I was with you. Have fun!! Ben | ||
| X1glider |
Ben, leave the bottom of the pan unpainted so the tech inspector can see that you wired your drainplug. Otherwise you'll have to remove it on the spot. PITA! We might meet up next year, socially, not racing. Need to visit my grandmother. Will call Dave (Phillyblast) as well, not to mention anyone else in the area. | ||
| Benm2 |
I had to cut away the back portion of the pan so it wasn't touching the muffler (supertrapp), so you can see the drain plug from the side. Measured capacity (3 qts) per rules, haven't lost any. I'll check, though, before painting. So noted. Ben | ||
| X1glider |
Damn! Just checked weather.com. Looks like rain this weekend at OHR. Track days just aren't going my way this year. | ||
| Blake |
Slight chance only. Stay tuned! In case of rain out, is next Saturday free for you? | ||
| X1glider |
As far as I know, I'll still be here. Seems to be some interest in this weekend at the cmra board. They'll be beside themselves with 2 Buells out there! hehe  | ||
| X1glider |
Nope, doesn't look good Blake. Kilgore weather | ||
| Blake |
Yeah, cold and wet do not a good track day make. Let's bag it for this Saturday and try for next Saturday. My prior commitment has been postponed so I'm good to go. Keith is heading to Shreveport to pick up a new XB9S tomorrow. | ||
| X1glider |
XB9S: looks like their will be a Buell endurance team in the CMRA next year! ![:]](http://www.badweatherbikers.com/buell/clipart/proud.gif) | ||
| Blake |
Thank you for articulating with such frankness and clarity the unfortunate state of what has become AMA Pro-Racing. Go WERA!!! Go FUSA/CCS!!! And another A'MEN to Jerry Wood for setting the record straight, once and for all. There can be absolutely no doubt left... AMA Pro Racing is run by a bunch of shiftless idiots. | ||
| X1glider |
Blake: there's more interest in OHR this weekend. Or are you going to be in land of 100 lakes instead? BTW, did you hear of the lawsuit against the CMRA and TWS because of some schmuck who tore the roof off his RV or bus or whatever it was?  | ||
| Johnm2 |
Wow, you guys even get to think about going riding. There's already six inches of snow on the ground up here and I can only work on my bike (one day, I'm going to heat my garage, d'oh). Benm2, where did you get a bellypan for an m2? Have a nice day. | ||
| Benm2 |
John: From my local dealer, who had no idea what I was talking about. I had to give him Henry Duga's phone number at the factory. I got that number by calling Buell's customer service line and asking about how to get the pan; they just gave me his number. They said they were told to "direct all racing-related questions to Henry". By the way, Henry was EXTREMELY helpful. Once you get the pan, have fun. It is a royal pain to mount up. Maybe its easier with the race header and muffler, but stock with slip-on required extensive use of a coping saw. Ben | ||
| X1glider |
Oak Hill trackday was good fun, at least until 3:30. Keith on his F3 crashed out an hour before me. He rides real well, set a pace for me for a few laps. Track was is good shape. Turns 2 and 8 weren't that bad, but the jaggedness did get me floating a bit. I lost my rear tire on turn 7 right as the radius starts to decrease. Gotta get some better rubber someday. The stock gearing sux for that track tho. A close ratio gearbox would have been great, trying to squeeze in that next gear is almost worthless, so I chose to hang onto the rev limiter for a slight bit longer instead. The crossroads bars mounting plate is bent upward, and the LSL shifter set up is mangled. When I get my collar bone and scapula back in place, I'll remove the parts, make some drawings and machine an even better set of parts. And I'll make mutiples to carry around as spares. Those LSLs took 3 months to get from Deutschland. Only a small amount of cosmetic damage. The tank cover needs a scratch patch buffed out, however you do that without melting it, I don't know. | ||
| Benm2 |
X1 - sorry to hear about the ground-sky-ground-sky incedent. Did you break the collarbone, or dislocate? Sucks, nonetheless. Did you highside or lowside? Losing the rear can go either way... Hope you're okay and recover well. Ben | ||
| Phillyblast |
Bob - Ouch! Sorry to hear. Any permanent damage? David | ||
| X1glider |
Its just dislocations in both shoulders, about 1/4" separation and the clavicle is rotated on axis too, that's the one that hurts. Can't sleep in any known position because the pressure forces the bones where they're not supposed to be. Still too swollen to be manipulated back in place. Might need to go to an ortho to see if there's any ligament and tendon damage. I guarantee the fixing up is more painful than the damage, I've been there before. It was a lowside flat spin. The problem with a spin is that it sets you down on your shoulder which grabs pavement then body slams your back flat to the pavement sending you head first in the direction of travel. (At least there was no guardrail in the way, eh Philly? hehe) I don't think a better back protector would have helped and I just have the built in EVA kind. | ||
| X1glider |
On the upside, I went ahead and took off the bent up parts. When there's a lull at work, I'll bend them back to normal and reverse engineer them. The only part that might be tricky is the coated bearing bore in the shifter arm. I might opt to over bore the new part and put in a nylon bearing, which should be cheaper. Everything else is normal milling. | ||
| X1glider |
The X1 for the most part performed well. It was the first day on the race ECM which performed flawlessly. In all honesty, the bike put out plenty of power for what the chassis is capable of holding to ground. I had to back off the throttle quite often to keep the tires from breaking loose in the sweepers. I just can't see myself on a bike that puts out 30-60 more HP. It's hard to comprehend how it would maintain traction. I guess it only matters in the straights and not the corners anyway. On that note, the stock suspension does suck. Too squishy. Gotta dial in even more compression on the front end. Raceteching the front would be better but I gotta fix it first. | ||
| Blake |
Bob, Sorry to hear about all the carnage. Maybe it is a good thing I was in Wisconsin. Keith said you went down via highside. Dang! Coming into turn 7 is a high speed tumble. Good thing you have those big ole polish bones. Would it have been worth the $350 for a set of race tires to avoid that incident?  I'm glad you came out of it relatively unscathed. That is a bad place to lose traction. I figured the newer ratio 2nd gear would be perfect. Was it too high on some turns for you? The Buell gearbox is close ratio, isn't it? As to polishing without melting the surlyn... that will require hand polishing or a slow and careful buffer/polisher job.  Heard turnout was pretty good, like 15 bikes or so. Am glad you decided to do the track day after all. Let me know when you are ready to get back on the horse. I'm chompin' at the bit to get out there and run again. | ||
| Blake |
Sounds like you need some help dialing in your suspension. I'm running stock suspension and am having no problems at all even with 100 rwhp. I have the preload maxed out for the rear and set for about 1.25" of sag in front. Rebound damping is minimal, just enough to prevent shock and forks from doing a down-up-down, only a down-up after full compression and release. Can you tell what I'm saying. Hard to describe in a few words. I bet if you got some race compound DOT's you would be astounded at how well your grip is. Tires make all the difference. | ||
| X1glider |
Nah, it was a lowside. All Keith could see from the pits was a cloud of red dirt! I missed his crash. I was busy talking in the pits when I should have been keeping an eye out for him. 2nd gear is perfect for most of the turns, it puts me right about 5000 rpm for the most part. The short straights is where squeezing in 3rd gear isn't worth the effort. By the time you get in 3rd, you need to immediately downshift again and settle the suspension before leaning into the turn. Perhaps if I had as much power at the rear wheel as you, Blake, I could queeze it in quicker. Yeah, the suspension is an ongoing ordeal. It's definitely the toughest adjustment to make. The only turns where traction is truly an issue is 1 and 5. The X1 wants to scream thru them but the tires won't allow it. I have some e-mails out to the manufacturers about race rubber for the cast rims. I had some concerns with rubber that comes in a sizing standard that is totally different than the 170/60-R17 we're used to. I can't remember what it was but I couldn't figure it out. Dunlop already got back to me with some race rubber contacts to call. Perhaps I'll just look around the net for a new set of wheels. | ||
| Benm2 |
X1: I picked up a set of michelin pilot race soft's from Island Racing Services in Texas; $260 for a pair (with a 170 section rear). Their link is http://www.bibmen.com. Not as fancy as blake's Metzeler's, but they are cheaper. Also, I sent of some emails to Works Performance, who also make a shock for Buells. Here's what I got back: 1. Does the shock allow for ride height adjustment independant of preload? NO 2. Can the shock be rebuilt / revalved? YES,YES 3. Has the shock been used in racing applications, that you're aware of? The shock has been on the track and highly prised(this shock was set up for the street, just think what happens if it is set up for racing), that I am aware of, in reality it has been raced but I personnally am not aware of such things. This has our style valving and is set up with the compression adjuster on the front side of the piston where it can do something positive and I am not aware of any other shock that does that. Our ball and spring valving has always worked really really well on the track and this pull shock is no exception. And, they sent me this as an attachment: Three models of shocks for Buell motorcycle line-up are now available from Works Performance. These models range from a basic unit with threaded pre-load adjustment and remote reservoir to the top-of-the-line version adding adjustable compression and rebound. Works’ unique design puts the compression and rebound adjustments on the “correct side of the shock piston” for fully functional adjusters. This large-body shock delivers improved handling and braking control without sacrificing street comfort. The shocks are built to order in street performance or road race valving and springing. Early models to 1999 use a longer version 16.5” closed (bolt center to bolt center) unless modified at recall to the short version. All 2000’s and up should use the short shock 14.8”. Please measure the closed length of your shock before ordering. The shock has a chrome body and two exposed chrome bolts running most of the shock length outside of the otherwise exposed spring. Virtually all Buell shocks use a normal compression spring but since this is a pull shock usually the shock must either have cans on the outside of the spring or bolts to translate the compression spring into a pull spring. We feel with good quality careful construction that the external bolt translation looks much better, provides better access to the shock, better cooling, and is much easier to work with at rebuild time. We use a single adjuster nut for preload (a second lock nut is not needed as this nut will never turn by itself). Magazine road testers felt that a Buell with our shock in back gave the handling and control of the harsh road racing shocks but a ride that had none of the harshness and made the bike pleasent even on city streets. This means the Works Shock give the ride that makes the Buell pleasent on the street and at the same time the handling you are looking for even in a track situation. Now we can make the shock specifically for the track in which case it might be a bit much on say the freeway but on the other hand set up for the street (especially with damping adjusters) it will be pretty good, and I mean really good, on the track. Buell pull shocks 14.8” or 16.5” with preload adjustment and remote reservoir $539. $649 adds adjustable rebound. $699 adds adjustable compression (3 way adjustable). Blast!!!!!! Ultra shocks are available for the Buell Blast. These are more normal acting shocks (not pull). Remote reservoir, threaded preload, adjustable rebound $609. $659 adds adjustable compression as well. OK here is the skinny on the rear Blast. The stock shock comes with a 950lb spring on it. The shock is highly leveraged and so the spring needs to be twice as stiff as many single shock bikes in this size from Japan. Even if the shock is up to this the oil inside has to be pushed through tight passages at high pressures to give the resistance at the rear wheel that is needed. The shock oil will die. 15,000 - 30,000mi will typically find a stock shock in this situation going away big time. The stocker is not rebuildable and so is therefore pretty much toast, except as a back up shock. Our shock will be just as hard on the oil but our shock is less sensitive to the oil condition so typically it will go about 50% longer, it is also rebuildable (the oil can be changed out). Since a reservoir will usually increase oil life be 50 - 100%. The oil in our shock could pretty much last the life of a typical Blast. Larger riders and two up riding can be problems for the stock rear shock on the Blast. We can address this also. Our shock normally comes with a 1000lb spring and because our shock is more positive in the way it acts it should be good for about 20% -30% more load than the stock one, and that is before you start adding preload to the spring on our shock (and not adjustable on the stockers I have seen). Reducing the preload on the spring is just the thing for shorter lighter riders to get the bike to squat down for them. For two up with larger riders we can go to higher damping and a stiffer spring if we must (we don’t recommend exceding the gross weight rating of the bike). All the things that make the works shocks better than others and especially stock shocks will be magnified on the Blast because of the high leverage. All Buell street shocks have our 30day ride quality and a 1 year parts and materials warranty. All Buell prices are out of date and could change anytime (10/08/02) Hurry!!! Call to check current prices. We make none of the new Buell V-twin compression type shocks for 2003. Have a Buell V-twin with the new compression shock you could bring by for a couple of days, there would be a nice discount on the shock!!! Here is a quick list of reasons for making Works Performance your choice for shocks. 1. You won’t beat us for quality. 2. People who ride with our shocks experience better road feel and handling almost without exception. 3. Works Performance shocks are fully rebuildable. 4. Factory service is available on our shocks. 5. Parts for our shocks are available from us. 6. Our shocks are relatively easy to work on, we use standard American industrial seals. 7. We build for you, one size can not fit all. 8. Works Performance is the factory not a middleman. 9. Warranty: 30 day ride quality, 90 day (1 year for street use) mechanical. 10. For what you are getting, the prices are very reasonable. Yes, you may order direct and we pretty much ship anywhere. Give us a call, 818 701 1010 8:15-5:00 Pacific weekdays. Verbatim, what they sent me. I was looking for an alternative to the Penske. Good luck! | ||
| Blake |
X1G, Yeah, I'm running a 180/55 Rensport rear tire. Not ideal, but it works fine. You just will never be able to use the entire tread and will always be left with chicken strips. I may try to mount up a 160/60 rear in the Metzler Rensport or a 170/60 in a Michelin Pilot Race to see the difference. I do know that the Rensport race 180/55 rear handles better than the street 170/60 Dunlop D205. I guess that's not saying much. What kind of tire pressures were you running? | ||
| Henrik |
For suspension, I'd (as always) suggest a call to Max at Traxxion Dynamics. Tell him Henrik says hi (no, I don't get %%).They've been doing this for a long time, and have the answers, that more than make up for the $$ you spend. Henrik |
