Been keeping busy. Lots of stuff happened recently.
Friday
George (R1 Buddy) and I went up to Grand Bend race track to check out the Rider 5 racing school. The track is about 2 hours west of Toronto so it was quite a drive up there but we saw some real fast riding and met some great guys and gals.
A very scenic drive to Grand Bend
Grand Bend paddock
Track bikes look so much better than street bikes ...
Hmmm.... yes I approve of this one
On the way home, we stopped by at Zdeno Cycle for the first time and were struck with awe by the amount of stuff EVERYWHERE. Entire ceilings covered with fairings and shelves upon shelves of carburetors. It was quite the orgy of old odds and ends.
Walls of fairings
Stacks of forks
Halls of wheels
At the end of the day, we stopped at Tom's house. Tom is an ex-Suzuki factory mechanic with a massive collection of rare bikes; a superbike spec OW-01, a superbike spec OW-02, a Buell XBRR, a TZ350 (harris frame, all original), and a Vivaldi superbike spec ZX10. I'm kicking myself for not taking more pics of Tom's incredible collection but you can sorta see the Harris modded ZX10 swingarm in the pic with the OW-02 fuel injectors.
OW-02 throttle bodies. Throttle bodies that are worth more than your car
Saturday
George and I went across to Buffalo where I picked up my Brembo forged master cylinder from Hard Racing... which was shipped over a week late. Weeks earlier my wife bought me this as a birthday gift. Thanks baby!
Another step closer to finishing up my race rep front end.
Brembo! Damn, my pants!
Sunday
George and I finally got around to installing the Harris swingarm onto his minty fresh 1998 YZF-R1... and she is a thing of beauty!
Stock swingarm coming off fast
Supporting the frame on stands
Some ZX7 monkeys helping install and bleed the AP Racing caliper
Ohlins... so... GOLD
Old swingarm on the bottom, new one on the top
"Dude put that camera down and help me put this thing on"
Almost there ...
... and we're done!
Happiness is a garage full of bikes :)
Unfortunately we hit a few snags. First, it seems the OEM rear rotor is too big for the AP racing caliper. Furthermore, there appears to be quite a bit of play in the wheel on the rear axle. We suspect that this is due to the fact that the caliper hanger (which doubles as a wheel spacer) is designed for the 2000 R1, which probably has a smaller rotor and wider hub compared to the 98 R1.
Hmm... either the bracket is too short or the rotor is too large
R1 staying over for the night
Rolo taking a gander at the collection
Monday
Showed up at the office and saw a big box at my desk!
Light weight + big box can only mean one thing ...
... carbon fiber!
F****** Hot is right!
I got these carbon fiber ram air scoops from former BSB Racer Dave Redgate. I'm not sure what his affiliation with F-Hot is but his ebay account sees these ram air scoops moving regularly for decent prices. Unlike many other scoops, these ones are designed to work with the stock airbox OR the carbon fiber race airbox. The flexibility is nice because the race box is both rare when your looking for one and expensive when you find it.
Original air scoops
Original air scoops
Original 3-piece scoops VS new ones
Original scoops = big and heavy
Carbon fiber scoops = slim and light
Shot of the old scoops on the bike
New scoops on the bike
The grills were a tad difficult to fit... I imagine they were originall designed for racing applications and therefore not meant to be fitted with a grille
I noticed the seal between the ram air tubes and airbox wasn't the greatest. I suspect that although these tubes are designed to be compatible with the stock airbox, they are designed to work with FCRs as opposed to CVKs. I don't have any weather stripping material on hand but I suspect that it can be used to improve the seal... or I'll just reinstall my FCRs when I get them sorted out.
New scoops fitted
New scoops fitted
New scoops fitted
New scoops fitted
New scoops fitted
New scoops fitted
Overall, the air tubes are very high quality. The carbon fiber is nicely formed and there is very little distortion of the weave, especially for such a complex shape. The fit around the front grilles could be better but I suspect it wouldn't be an issue on race fairings. All in all I'm pretty happy with these tubes and they make the bike look great. Will take some better pics when the sun is out.
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