Finally got a track bike, now I'm conflicted.

[JBarx]

OK, ok... maybe I sorta know "now what"... do track days. But it's not quite that simple right off the top.

Strap in, this might get wordy. Just warning you.


The second horse in the stable:






I bought a 2004 R6 with a Rebuilt Title, which as far as I can tell was laid down once on each side at some point (and was confirmed by the owner), but not hard enough to make me suspicious. I rode it quite a bit before agreeing to buy it.

I'm the fourth owner, I believe. The first two owners DID the damage, the owner before me fixed it up. The guy I bought it from bought it as a first bike, wanted to fix it up and ride it but found he HAD to get a Ducati 848. Good luck, man. Hell of a bike to buy with less than 2,000 miles under your belt. :facepalm:

So I grab it for $2600. For how it looks and runs, it's more than reasonable. It was originally listed at $4k, which might have been reaching quite a bit with a rebuilt title and all. It's a 2004 with 17,xxx miles.

My intention is to use it basically as a track bike. But I am going to keep it in street-legal trim for the immediate future and get some street miles on it. I at least want to get acclimated with the thing a little before going full-bore on a track. I don't want to try to figure the thing out at the same time I am on the ragged edge. Doesn't seem like a good idea to me.

So let's get to the "yeah, but's....". I'll just spit them out as they hit my brain.

There's a little rash on the stator cover, a little swingarm scuffing. You gotta look for it. I saw pics of the tear-down and rebuild and was pretty extensive, although the damage seemed fairly superficial. Although it was the seller's first bike, he had his cousin come in and help out since he works on bikes a lot. The tank was hammered out, the plastics were all replaced and everything was painted white.

The brake fluid looks like black coffee.

The rear brake essentially doesn't work at all. That's ok, but I'd like for it to at least function, you know?

It's lowered 3". The kickstand was chopped to accommodate the drop. Not modified, but chopped. It's like a skewer. Always have to keep a puck around. Genius, dudes. :facepalm:

The right switchgear is cracked. Nothing major.

The owner says after an hour or so of riding, it can have trouble holding idle. I haven't ridden it long enough to test the theory. The title is on its way, thus I have no plates and that means no tempting the law.

The clutch is stiff. Gearbox is great, but it takes work at the lever.

The right rearset has some play at the peg/brake pedal assembly. Part of the peg was broken off so I am looking to replace the whole thing. eBay has been great so far.

The right passenger peg bracket was kinda screwed with and the mount was sheared off, so I got another one of those since it holds up the muffler.

The gearing is 16/50 (stock is 16/48?), D.I.D./AFAM 520 conversion. Wear looks ok for now. Chain needs cleaned badly.

Tires are mismatched with different wear. Pirelli Supercorsa III on the front that's cooked to the edges, and a Diablo rear with chicken strips. You tell me... I'm stumped.

Levers and bar ends are a little beat up, but I'm not losing sleep over that either. I'll want adjustable levers anyway. I have small hands so I prefer shorties.

I think that's most of it.


So I tried to prioritize what to do.


The hot-idle issue has been rumored about, but obviously I haven't had a chance to experience it. Most say fresh plugs cure it. If you know anything about R6's then you spark plugs are a pain in the ass. I have coil-on-plug experience with my F-150 and it's not a fun time.

I'm thinking before I put any real seat time in this thing I need rubber, ride height lift, brake fluid, new coolant, and fresh oil and filter just to be on the safe side. Air cleaner is supposedly new.

So the question is: do I tackle this myself? I can, I just don't know if I want to. The idea of the bike all torn down for a month in my garage in the middle of summer seems really counter-productive. Not that it takes a month... but I work a lot and have other shit to do and my only time is evenings and weekends. You know what I mean? That's good amount of time I can be riding it. AFJ Race Shop in Cincy is about 3 miles from my house and charge $50/hour for labor. STG has Pilot Power 2CT's for $240 a pair. What would take me 16 hours, they can do in 4. Get them to knock out a tune up, tires, and the lift... and I am on the road. The rest I can piecemeal over time.


Is that really wussing out, or a smart play?

[evildriver]

I say do it yourself. I don't have much experience as a bike tech, but I am a auto tech. If you do it yourself the first time it seems to always take longer and be more expensive than you thought or what it would be if you took it somewhere. On the other hand if you do it yourself you learn about the bike and all the little things about it. To me thats why i do it myself. Fwiw

Sweet bike by the way.

[Shmoo]

Sounds like you just want to drop it off at the shop - if you got the $, I say go for it. They could also look it over for you, in case there are some things you've missed.

[JBarx]

Well I left a message at the shop I mentioned. I have no direct experience with them and they just opened this year. The guy who runs it is a coach at Mid-Ohio and a WERA expert class racer. I assume he knows what he's doing and has competent help. Maybe not. Who knows. It's really a matter of cost. If I can absorb the estimated labor hit I might drop it off. But after teetering on the issue for a while I am leaning more toward sucking it up and wrenching on it myself. Bite the bullet and start the tear-down this weekend.

We'll see. I'll probably keep flip-flopping for another day or two. In the meantime I might buy the last 4 spec spark plugs at Advance by my place. $6.59 is a reasonable price.

[schrock86]

If you would rather have it done so you can use it, then drop it off and let the shop take care of it. I would suggest that you do the work yourself if you feel comfortable with it. You will learn a great deal about the bike which will make it easier to diagnose future problems. Also you will know it was done right, there are very few people I trust to work on my stuff.

[redrider22]

I have a like new stock rear suspension dog bone off my 05 R6 you can have for free (just pay shipping) if your wanting to get the bike back to stock height.

[JBarx]

Originally Posted by redrider22

I have a like new stock rear suspension dog bone off my 05 R6 you can have for free (just pay shipping) if your wanting to get the bike back to stock height.

Cool. I bought one off eBay with the triangle plates on monday... but I haven't even got a shipping notification yet. If there's a snafu I'll hit you up. That's the part I want the most right now.


You think anyone wants the black screen? I need one I can see through.

[Shmoo]

lol I don't think some guys get it - wtf are you gonna do with an opaque windscreen?!!! or a dark one for that matter (if you have a dark visor, it just makes it doubly dark!)

[JBarx]

Originally Posted by Shmoo

lol I don't think some guys get it - wtf are you gonna do with an opaque windscreen?!!! or a dark one for that matter (if you have a dark visor, it just makes it doubly dark!)

Yeah I was gonna get a light smoke one... probably a PUIG. I have a dark visor but I don't think it's all that dark. But my eyes are sensitive so maybe that's got something to do with it.

[godzuki]

you have 2 bikes right ...........ride the other and tear into this one then you get to learn more about your bike and how it looks and works.

[JBarx]

Originally Posted by godzuki

you have 2 bikes right ...........ride the other and tear into this one then you get to learn more about your bike and how it looks and works.

Yeah I'm going that route. Just got started last weekend. Taking a break for a couple days though, the heat index is 110. Not getting involved with that nonsense.


Starter supplies:




Naked Brandless Wonder:






Brake fluid - just add cream and sugar:






Got a stripped bolt hole in the oil pump cover. Full of shavings. Probably just gonna drill it out 2mm and re-tap it (but never tried that before):




And finally up on stands:





The stock linkage is in, so once I figure out how I want to go about suspending the tail (no grab rail obviously) I'll hammer out the lifting process.

[rmb]

Looks good neked... Use a helicoil...

[Lemonhead]

Glad to see you chose to diy. Hopefully no unexpected serious damage.

[zaq123]

+1 on heli coil. By the looks of that rear sprocket, I assume it was a stunt bike? It looks like personal pizza

[Shmoo]

Bro, you've got to raise the front end up! Holy moly!

[undercover919]

to lift the bike could you just take the seat off and try to wrap a strap around the frame and use an engine hoist or use a ratchet strap to a beam in the ceiling.. that would be the way i would go about it

[JBarx]

Originally Posted by zaq123

+1 on heli coil. By the looks of that rear sprocket, I assume it was a stunt bike? It looks like personal pizza

I thought the exact same thing.... except stock is 16/48, and the rear's a 50. I'm going to keep it for a little extra push down low.

Originally Posted by Shmoo

Bro, you've got to raise the front end up! Holy moly!

Yeah it's dropped 3", and now that have the OEM linkage in hand I can get it back to stock ride height.

I had already mentioned that a couple times, but apparently someone doesn't like reading my online post-books.

[JBarx]

Originally Posted by undercover919

to lift the bike could you just take the seat off and try to wrap a strap around the frame and use an engine hoist or use a ratchet strap to a beam in the ceiling.. that would be the way i would go about it

Yeah when I put an Ohlins in the 599 it was pretty easy, lift the tail with ratchet straps at the grab rail, and then support underneath with a stand. This will be a little more tricky. I guess the tail will have to come off in order for me to get something to grab onto.

Funny, the factory service manual doesn't mention having to support the bike from above when removing the rear shock or the link... but I mean there's no other way to do it, is there?

[JBarx]

Originally Posted by zaq123

+1 on heli coil.

Funny thing about heli-coil... it costs as much as a small set of taps. I'm curious... what's the advantage?

[Sniper]

Good to see an R6 being rescued and used for it's intended purpose. I get so sick of seeing sportbikes hacked up.

The heavy clutch is probably because of heavy duty springs. Those are easy to switch out, if you don't like what's in there.

I vote tear into that bike yourself. There's nothing ther that you can't do.

I never really gave a chit about how anything idled as long as it ran and pulled well. It's injected, right?

[JBarx]

Originally Posted by Sniper

Good to see an R6 being rescued and used for it's intended purpose. I get so sick of seeing sportbikes hacked up.

The heavy clutch is probably because of heavy duty springs. Those are easy to switch out, if you don't like what's in there.

I vote tear into that bike yourself. There's nothing ther that you can't do.

I never really gave a chit about how anything idled as long as it ran and pulled well. It's injected, right?

Yeah. It seems to run fine as far as I can tell. But I have all the goodies and fresh plugs. I'm going to give it a full blown tune-up and swap out some repaired/iffy/damaged bits here and there.

I have no qualms about getting the thing apart and doing some this-and-that... I do fear the spark plugs though.

[JBarx]

OK help.


So I bought a used OEM rearset/master cylinder combo. Well, the hose adapter from the reservoir line to the MC was pulled from the one I bought, so I had to graft it from the existing one on the bike. Example photo (not mine):



Well it was a monster bitch. I finally got it done, but I'm not terribly confident that was the way to go about it. I started looking online, and most people leave the line intact with the reservoir attached, or simply undo the hose clamp on the reservoir line (you can see it in the photo there) and left the 90-degree plastic nipple in place. Seriously, it took two guys to get that thing out of there, and it's not mechanically fastened. I had to use a hammer and a piece of plate steel to finally get the damn plug back into the MC hole, and I have no idea if it's good or not.


Question being, anyone try this before? Did I botch the line? I know the best way to figure it out is fill the system back up and see what happens... but I would kinda like some clue before I might be spraying brake fluid everywhere. If you catch my drift.

[Shmoo]

If it took a good amount of oomph to get it back on, I'm sure it's ass tight.

I mean, it's a track bike...who cares about the rear brakes.

[JBarx]

Originally Posted by Shmoo

If it took a good amount of oomph to get it back on, I'm sure it's ass tight.

I mean, it's a track bike...who cares about the rear brakes.

I hear you.

I hardly use the rear brake... but it can come in handy when you trail brake into deep corners to help scrub a little speed and stabilize the chassis. You gotta be careful but if you are real light with it, it can be beneficial.

This is as much an educational exercise as anything else. I don't expect many people have come across a situation like this with a rear MC so I might just have to fill it back up tonight and bleed it, pump the brake a few times and just see what happens.

[evildriver]

Glad too see you are doing it yourself. I don't know if you are tracking the 599 anymore but I'm going to be at putnam park in indy this weekend to help out my buddy. Lmk if you are going to be there.

[JBarx]

Originally Posted by evildriver

Glad too see you are doing it yourself. I don't know if you are tracking the 599 anymore but I'm going to be at putnam park in indy this weekend to help out my buddy. Lmk if you are going to be there.

Nah I'm not going to track the 599 anymore.

I haven't even rode anything in a week, now. Been busy in the garage lately, putting on parts, swapping stuff out, figuring things out. The brakes on the R6 were pretty bad, and I did a hurried, sloppy flush/bleed the first time around. So I did a quality one yesterday and got that figured out.

I have stainless lines on the way... but now that I got the brakes working like they should, I might set those aside for when I am in the mood for another project.

Got my Chinese Specials (levers) put on as well. Had to modify them a bit to work, but nothing a few clamps and a drill couldn't manage. I would have been pissed if I hadn't paid $38 shipped for them.

Still have to lift the bike back up from it's lowered state. That'll happen here sooner or later.

I also finally got the title and tags dealt with, so with some insurance I'll be legit and street legal.

Need to pull the wheels at some point soon and get tires.

Frame and swingarm sliders are ordered... so at this point I believe I am done "buying shit".

I think I am on the downslope. The height adjustment should be pretty straightforward and then it's a few misc odds and ends (and when is my windscreen bolt kit gonna freaking show up!) like coolant flush and oil change and some of that other stuff I mentioned.

By next weekend I should be up and running if I have fresh rubber. Broke as hell, but running.