Safety Wiring

Apparently, motorcycle racing is dangerous.

Beyond the suit, helmet, boots, gloves, back protector and other protective safety gear, it is necessary to set your bike up to a higher safety standard than is found on bikes prepped for the streets. Racing a bike will put additional levels of stress on the components and fasteners to the degree that things can fall off even if they are attached at the proper torque levels.

I wasn't really clear what the underlying theory was behind safety wiring. However, if you talk to an experienced rider as I did regarding safety wiring, the reasoning becomes pretty clear and falls into two general categories. Category one covers items that, if they open up or become disconnected could kill other riders. Category two covers items that could kill you.

Examples of Category one items that should be safety wired:

- Oil drain plug: Losing your oil might kill your engine, but it will almost definitely cause merry mayhem for the other riders.

- Radiator cap: Again, fluids on a racetrack are never good, even if they're just water. (note that most racetracks make you run water only in your cooling system)

Examples of Category two items that should be safety wired:

- Brake caliper mounting bolts,
- Brake line banjo bolts,
- Wheel axle mounting bolts,
- Brake pad retaining pins,

A story that was recently relayed to me by an experienced rider included a brake pad that came out at the start of the track's straightaway. This was a problem when he went for the brakes as he came up to the hairpin at the end of the straightaway. Losing your brakes at any point on the track is generally catastrophic.

If you're going to safety wire your bike, I recommend you consult with someone who is experienced with safety wiring. Have them go over your bike after the bodywork has been removed to help you locate the points that should be safety wired. This may include points that aren't necessarily called out by your club or racing organization's rules. One example that was pointed out to me was the pin that holds my brake level in place. This wasn't necessarily called out by the club rules, but makes lots of sense based on the review of category one above. Another tip included drilling a few holes in the brake lever about halfway along it's length so that it will break off halfway in case of contact with other riders. This prevents you from losing the entire lever.

Having a wheel fall off will wickedly suck, too.

I started the process off with one #45 drill bit out of my harbor freight drill index and started putting holes in things. It was easy enough at first. I took it slow (meaning slow drill speeds) and used WD-40 as a cutting oil. I used a spring loaded center punch to start each drill point. I began with the bolts that hold the brake lines in place, moved on to the caliper mounting bolts, axle mounting bolts (front and rear), oil fill caps, radiator cap and brake mounting bolt. This was all accomplished with one drill bit. Gosh, I thought to myself, this isn't so bad! WRONG. On drilling the oil drain plug, I broke the bit. I then bought 5 more of the same size in high speed steel. Upon encountering a small piece of the previous bit in the drain plug, I broke the second bit. After three more, I finally go a hole in the drain plug that I could get a wire through. There is a new hole in the drywall in my garage. Next, I started wiring. I had purchased a pound of safety wire online, and purchased a wire cutter and new needle nose pliers. You can also get safety wire pliers, but I elected to wire the bike by hand. It's not so bad, but you want to keep the wire ends 180 degrees opposed and allow the diameter of the wire to create twist frequency. I checked periodically to make sure that I hadn't exceeded the distance to the wiring tie off point. If the twist is too long, you may have to start over. Most of the fasteners I wired were wired to other fasteners that had been drilled, but I did have to make a few novel drill points in order get some of the fasteners wired that were located out on their own. Also, expect to lose some skin if you do this by hand. I opened up small blisters on both of my index fingers. Note that the process went pretty fast, and once drilled, the bike could probably be completely wired in about an hour. Additionally, I had to attach a hose clamp around the oil filter, and then safety wire that to something as well. Here are some pictures: Safety Wiring

Overall, it was an intimidating process that turned out to be fairly easy and mildly amusing. Also, there's one less reason that I might get dead....

Bike Update

The bike came back from the shop over the weekend. They dyno'ed it, put it through some heat cycles, changed out the coolant and it checked out ok! Let's hope the cold weather didn't do any damage that we missed. However, they also left it turned on. I got it back with a 4V battery. They have promised to replace it at their cost.

Stuff

Along with the obvious things needed such as the motorcycle, there are quite a few other things that are needed in order to campaign on the track. These things include front and rear bike stands, tire warmers, a track suit (single piece preferable), boots, back protector, battery charger, portable compressor, fuel containers, a GOOD set of tools, shop manual for the bike, track tires, and pit crew. There's certainly more, and I will catalog it all as I go forward.

Many of these items can be obtained off of craig's list, or the local racing forums. I was immediately able to get front and rear stands (pitbulls) off of craig's list. Pitbull stands are apparently the choice among most of the riders on the forums. They are light, strong, well made and work very well. Those stands at harbor freight weigh a bunch more and look like they might drop your bike. Used pitbulls are just as good as the new ones and might come with some entertaining stickers on them from the previous owner. (What the hell is a 'cougar catcher' anyway?)

Winter is a good time to find deals on new gear at the dealers as well. I found a new 2009 track suit from Rev'it at a local dealer that was marked down over $500. You can find good deals on used suits, but, ick. I've done a lot of summer riding and my leather usually soaked up enough sweat to rival my gym clothes. Finding a good deal on a new suit will prevent you from having to wear the equivalent of an unwashed giant leather tube sock found in an NBA locker room. Also, you can try on suits at the dealer to make sure you're getting a good fit. Another good reason to get a new suit is that you'll know that you're starting with new materials and stitching. Having a poorly repaired seam come open when you're sliding along at 90 is bad business. Avoid skin grafts. Get a new suit.

I picked up a new Haynes manual for my Daytona off of Amazon, which saved about $100 over the price for the manufacturer's version. This may not be a great decision, but so far the Haynes product has been accurate and useful. I found a new tail light assembly on Amazon as well. However, per my note on the track suit above, not all deals are necessarily going to be found online. Sometimes supporting your local shop can get you a customer loyalty card that adds up to additional discounts and helps keep the lights on at one of your best resources for information and support.

As for getting the pit crew, see if you have any friends that might be willing to work for beer. If they're the right size, you can also have them model used track suits.

The Bike

Part 2: The Bike

With the Ducati totalled, I had to get a new bike. Initially I started out with an older SV650 that I purchased from one of my friends. After a bunch of reading online, it seemed that the SV was a pretty good choice for a track starter. Then, I went to a local shop and got a better perspective from a few actual racers. Basically, the SV650 is a good bike to race, if you're looking for a challenge. It has a wide following including many very talented racers, but can be a difficult bike for a beginner.

As it turns out, setting up a race bike is work. It's within reach of your basic shade tree mechanic, but you can go way down the rabbit hole. If you start with a street bike, you will have to perform quite a number of modifications if you want to have a bike to race. Track days with your street bike are still possible with a minimum number of modifications including taping over any glass, changing out the coolant with water, removing the mirrors and possibly the turn signals. Setting up a race bike requires additionally changing out the engine covers, replacing all the body work (and painting it, too!), removing the instruments, replacing the exhaust, dyno-ing and remapping the ignition, installing a quick shifting system, tuning/upgrading the suspension, getting race tires, removing the side stand, buying front and rear stands, buying a trailer to get the bike to the track, performing engine mods, and safety wiring. That's just for starters. Safety wiring will be the topic of a later post. It basically requires that many of the fasteners have holes drilled in them so that wire can be passed through the holes and then attached to fixed portions on the bike to prevent the fasteners from coming loose. This is for safety purposes to prevent parts from falling off onto the track or having fluid such as oil spill out from open fill or drain ports.

The other option is to get on the racer forum for your local racing association, hit the bikes for sale page, and I guarantee you will find several track ready bikes with bunches of modifications and gear ready to go. This is a very economical and practical way to get into the sport. I, however, have that voice in my head that gets in the way of common sense and said "where's the fun in that?" As a result, I decided to buy a street bike and set it up myself.

The timing worked out and I found an unusual deal. A local shop had a 2010 Triumph Daytona 675 that had exactly 90 miles on it and had been wrecked during a track demo day. The damage was mostly cosmetic. One screaming good deal later and it was in my garage. I also purchased a set of race body work, K&N filter, engine covers, new clutch lever and clip on, tank, fairing sub-frame and a few other miscellaneous parts needed to get to minimal track worthiness.

One item I negelected to check upon receipt was the coolant in the engine. This turned out to be a possible problem as the engine may have contained a small amount of water. The technicians at the shop didn't check the coolant level, or if it had been changed out following the track day. Since the bike's last use was on the track, the coolant may have been swapped out with water or "wetter", neither which prevents freezing. When a bike is used on the track, the antifreeze coolant must be replaced with water since any antifreeze spilled on the track will create an extremely slippery surface and has caused fatal crashes during races. Pretty much as soon as the bike made it to my garage, the temperature dropped to -18 for a couple days. As part of the teardown, I drained the coolant, which contained only a cup or two of greenish fluid. It may have been antifreeze, or it may have been wetter. Tomorrow I will be bringing the bike to the shop to get the engine checked out and make sure nothing was damaged by the freeze.

Anyway, the initial teardown went well. I removed the bodywork, instrument cluster, tank, busted sub fairing, headlights, drained and replaced the coolant(antifreeze for sure, this time), removed the passenger pegs and the side stand. More will follow. Stay tuned.

The Beginning

Part 1: How it all got started

So, I'm a 40-something person in the middle of the American Dream. I have also been riding motorcycles for the last 15+ years. Most of the riding I've done has been on the roads of Colorado and Texas clinging to various types of sport bikes. One day last October I wadded my Ducati ST4 going around a corner I've gone around dozens of times without so much as a bump. I wasn't going that fast, but it was enough to total the bike and crush my left leg. The injuries I received were all bruises, but the experience was a bit of a shock.

What I learned is that a motorcycle can crash even if you think you're doing everything right. In this case, I think my front tire was past due for a change. As a bonus, the State Patrol wrote me a ticket for careless driving, even though there is no evidence of that at all. (If you want to know how I REALLY feel about the State Patrol, see my other blog Officer Polyp ).

Now, I like riding motorcycles on the road. I like passing through traffic effortlessly. I like the thrill of cornering in the world class scenery available in the Rockies. I love speed and pushing the machinery to its limits. However, I hate the thought of going off the road into a tree, or possibly a bike rider or someone's oncoming car. As a result, I decided that it was time to move to the track. This blog will be a record of that attempt. It should be entertaining, might be painful, but probably will be both.