Building a race bike.

Twinstar Joined: Jul 12, 2014 Posts: 48 Location: UK

Winning already guys,

This is one serious project, I just wish I was more local so I could see her in the flesh.

Can't wait to see some videos up of her racing!!!!

Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 10:45 am

Congrats guys! This puts a great big smile on my face.

Nich

Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 5:06 pm

Jim asked if I could upload a few pics to here.. These are some of Jim's incredible journey....

Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 5:15 pm

Very cool Mel ..thanks!

Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 5:29 pm

I just spoke to Jim, he's at Willow Springs Raceway.. Dennis is flogging the bike now.. Bring home that trophy!

Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 5:44 pm

Thanks Mel! Good stuff.

Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 5:50 pm

Looks awesome!

Best of luck!

Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 6:45 pm

melchiro wrote:

I just spoke to Jim, he's at Willow Springs Raceway.. Dennis is flogging the bike now.. Bring home that trophy!

I can't wait to hear what Dennis thinks of this motor combination compared to the 985cc motor he's been using.

Popcorn

Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2015 9:48 pm

Go Dennis go! Just rev the nuts of that thing, you just KNOW it's up for it!! Good luck and can't wait to hear how it all went.

BTW, great lighting in the workshop, no need for head torches - noice!!

Many thanks for posting the pics Melchiro, I'm sure you all had a heap of fun in de Man Cave and hangin' out together !

Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 1:04 am

Mel,
So sorry that you did not come down to Willow with the guys. It would have been nice to finally meet you. I had a great time with the rest of them and then gave Brent a ride to the airport. The bike sounds great and Dennis can ride so it is a good combination Smile

Best,
Phil

Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 1:12 am

FalldownPhil wrote:

....I had a great time with the rest of them and then gave Brent a ride to the airport.

Phil, I always hoped you and Brent would get to meet sometime, that has just made my day! So pleased you all had fun.

Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 1:58 am

Thanks Tony Smile

And he is as nice as you are. Maybe next time I can take him over to Daniel's.
Best,
Phil

Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 5:24 pm

Mylaps.com reports

Race 7-VSH//F750/Sportsman750 Dennis completed two laps only, finishing 15th ... David Crussell won
Race 10-FVintage/350GP/NoviceHistProdHeavy Dennis was 2nd ....following David Russel

Since different bikes run on the same race, the final result should be splitted into three different classes (?)

Does anybody have more details?

CB1100F Joined: Jun 18, 2006 Posts: 2526 Location: UK

Hi Ivan

Yes in the US they run a few classes in many races to get a large enough grid

That must have been yesterdays results

Not sure if Dennis has a smaller bike he may have raced in race 7, but race 10 was for the Vintage heavyweights so Dennis should have been on Jims Bike

I know Dave Crussel has a few bikes he races in many classes, has a Z1 Kawasaki, and a couple of smaller Kawasaki triple 2 strokes 500 & 750, met him at Road America a few years ago, comes from London originally, and he is very quick on all his bikes

I am sure we will get a full report soon enough

Keith

Posted: Sun Apr 26, 2015 6:34 pm

I too do not know which bike Dennis was on. He has his heavyweight and Jim's to ride. Also the 350.
Here is the crew. Brent, Jim, Phil (not me) Smile

Jim, Brent, Dennis on bike.

Best,
Phil

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 7:01 am

Here's the report from Willow Springs International Raceway

http://www.mylaps.com/en/events/1127631

Race 7-VSH//F750/Sportsman750 Date 26 April 2015 14:00

Race 10-FVintage/350GP/ProductionHeavy Date 26 April 2015 15:00

Dennis lapped very fast in Race 10 ... Now the question is , on which bike ?

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 1:09 pm

Is this the same Yoshi Kosaka? http://www.garagecompany.com/

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 3:32 pm

Jim sent me a FB message .... unfortunately the yellow bike gave up during the first race and DNF'd.
Dennis reported it's faster than his though. Well not bad for a brand new engine/chassis combo.
Good job everybody, Jim, Brent etc

PS I think this has been an appetizer. Jim plans to rebuild the engine and seek revenge

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 7:01 pm

petrat wrote:

Is this the same Yoshi Kosaka? http://www.garagecompany.com/

Yep - very, very nice guy. We chatted with him in the pits. The bike he raced is STREET LEGAL - the horn still works!

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 7:16 pm

ivan_the_terrible wrote:

Jim sent me a FB message .... unfortunately the yellow bike gave up during the first race and DNF'd.
Dennis reported it's faster than his though. Well not bad for a brand new engine/chassis combo.
Good job everybody, Jim, Brent etc

PS I think this has been an appetizer. Jim plans to rebuild the engine and seek revenge

It is quite a bit faster than my bike - which is a 1020cc version; that extra 35cc over a 985 helps... Smile

The wind was awful, a steady 25-30mph with godawful gusts that would blow you around on the bike and the bike around on the track. Turn 8 is ~130mph and very long; I had to keep pulling myself forward on the bike because the wind kept pushing me back on the seat.

it was very different to ride than my bike but once we did some tweaking it got a lot more comfortable to be on. Little stuff like moving the clutch lever, adding length to the left footpeg and putting a smaller "toe" on the shift lever because there wasn't room to keep my 14's on that peg. On the other side I had a nice floorboard with the peg and pipe.

Two tiny things were giving me mental problems - as the front brakes were bedding in, the lever travel would keep increasing and after about 3 laps in the practice sessions the lever would come back against my knuckles so it was making me brake early everywhere just in case the lever travel was different. At the end of the practice sessions it had stabilized. The other is my throttle turns way quicker lifting the slide 29mm instead of the 35mm that Jim's bike has. I wasn't able to get it to WOT (wide open throttle in case that's a new term) in some short chutes since you gas - brake too quickly to get two grabs of the throttle done.

But fast? Yes - FAST.

One example of what I had to change in riding style - my 1020cc bike I can hit the apex at 5500rpm and have it pull cleanly to 10K on the exit. Jim's bike I had to hit the apex at ~8000rpm and it would pull cleanly to 12K. It was difficult to not upshift on Jim's bike to get the rev's back down where I was used to. It sounds different too; higher pitched than mine.

Dangit.

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2015 8:53 pm

Why did it quit? Sad

Never mind. I saw the post on FB.

Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 3:30 am

FalldownPhil wrote:

..Here is the crew. Brent, Jim, Phil (not me) Smile

Best,
Phil

Hey Phil, yeah for sure it would have been fun to go down there and meet up with you and all... It would have been a memorable weekend at the races! Good for you, for taking Brent to the airport.. Yes, he is an awesome guy..
Did you talk, "CBX" with him?? He said that his CBX is just to nice to modify. But he is a man, that is born to modify stuff, so we'll see what he does with it..

Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 10:39 am

DennisTheMenace wrote:

It is quite a bit faster than my bike - which is a 1020cc version; that extra 35cc over a 985 helps... Smile

...
But fast? Yes - FAST.
...
One example of what I had to change in riding style - my 1020cc bike I can hit the apex at 5500rpm and have it pull cleanly to 10K on the exit. Jim's bike I had to hit the apex at ~8000rpm and it would pull cleanly to 12K. It was difficult to not upshift on Jim's bike to get the rev's back down where I was used to. It sounds different too; higher pitched than mine.

Dangit.

The super head needs aprox 12.5:1 compression ratio to deliver serious HP .
In this case the engine has been assembled with std pistons so it was much lower (in the range of 9:1)
Next rebuild is going to have maybe custom Diamonds or Wisecos ... JIm?

Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:15 pm

First,
Dennis, it was great to see you back on the track again and to have a little chat.
Mel, Yes Brent and I talked a little bit of CBX, and Mopars, and turbos, and more. It was 100 miles to the airport
in Friday afternoon traffic. A real gentleman he is.
Here are a couple of photos of Yoshi and the bike he rode. He and I go back many years and The Garage Company is close by.
I guess he is quite the celebrity now with his appearances on Storage Wars I think it is called.

Did I mention he was having some clearance issues with the Bassani Smile

Best,
Phil

Posted: Tue Apr 28, 2015 7:54 pm

ivan_the_terrible wrote:

DennisTheMenace wrote:

It is quite a bit faster than my bike - which is a 1020cc version; that extra 35cc over a 985 helps... Smile

...
But fast? Yes - FAST.
...
One example of what I had to change in riding style - my 1020cc bike I can hit the apex at 5500rpm and have it pull cleanly to 10K on the exit. Jim's bike I had to hit the apex at ~8000rpm and it would pull cleanly to 12K. It was difficult to not upshift on Jim's bike to get the rev's back down where I was used to. It sounds different too; higher pitched than mine.

Dangit.

The super head needs aprox 12.5:1 compression ratio to deliver serious HP .
In this case the engine has been assembled with std pistons so it was much lower (in the range of 9:1)
Next rebuild is going to have maybe custom Diamonds or Wisecos ... JIm?

The nice thing is, that he has a set of pistons that currently have the right valve pocket. A plaster mold of the CC and one of the old pistons sent to whomever he decides to use, makes it super easy for them.

If I'm having pistons made for a race only bike, I'm pushing that CR to at least 13.5:1, more if there's room. Take advantage of good fuel, if legal that is.