My little bit of success at croft

[Kylezx7r]

Decided on August to race at the NL Racine meeting at cadwell, had a good weekend qualifying 5th then finishing 5th all weekend.

Last week the series went to croft in Darlington , my local track only 20 miles away so decided to put an entry in,
I was parked next to my pal Grant Whitfield who was leading the newcomer 1000 series until some recent bad luck, he went out and bought a 2016 S1000rr seeing as he wrecked his ZX10r so a lot of time was spent getting it dialled in.

Anyway first race we went out and I finished 2nd! Holy **** how did that happen ? I'm a 18.5st mong who's only ridden a bike twice this year, grant took the win.

2nd race I crashed, the front tucked at the hairpin and down I went for a little nap,
Bothe third and fourth races I finished 3rd making me one happy chap, not only that it's re-ignited my love for s1000rr and passion for racing. That Beamer is so well set up the suspension, the fuelling everything is just perfect for me , I can't wait for 2018 now, I will be doing my own bit of riding as well as supporting a number of road riders

I'm pretty sure a couple of guys from this forum were at croft last weekend but I didn't catch their names though

Me and grant

On it haha

Then off it

Even now a week later I'm still buzzing from it


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[Loupe]

What a great post, really enjoyed reading that and nice pics too.
Fantastic results, and the bike looks the business.
Simply Loveley :chuncky:
Do you know him??!

 

[Kylezx7r]

What a great post, really enjoyed reading that and nice pics too.
Fantastic results, and the bike looks the business.
Simply Loveley :chuncky:
Do you know him??!

Haha no but I love his banter. My 10 year old walks round saying "bloody good shot sir" and he doesn't even know why he's saying it, just heard all of us saying it


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[Kylezx7r]

At Caldwell and Croft the only issue was that I was struggling for rear wheel grip, it just wanted to power slide everywhere, and trust me, I?m no Marquez . The front end is perfect but with me being a heavier guy I think I?m needing to extend the wheel base further so the swing arm is going to get machined to allow me to move th rear wheel right back which should give me more mechanical grip.
Naturally it will effect other things but it?s worth a try.
ive also got some adjustable yokes being made as we speak so I can play with the position of the forks as the rear wheel grip issue could still be an issue on the front end yet. Just need to find it

On on Sunday morning qualifying i put in a 1:28 which is 2 seconds off my previous best best at Croft so the bike is certainly heading in the right direction

 

[Beavis]

Simply lovleh , ha ha ha . Bike looks great , plenty in tank then eh !

 

[alex]

Cracking effort Kyle! Thanks for the write up too.
These adjustable triple clamps, what adjustment ranges are we talking about? Are they being made by a local shop or are they from a known brand?


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[Kylezx7r]

Cracking effort Kyle! Thanks for the write up too.
These adjustable triple clamps, what adjustment ranges are we talking about? Are they being made by a local shop or are they from a known brand?


- Sent from Mobile

I'm making them myself with the help of a machinist mate of mine , (I served my time as a machinist)
Basically I will have upper and lower yokes made with 2 offset spacers the offsets will be +2mm and +4mm I will only need the 2 spacers because I will rotate the spacer 180 degrees to give me (-) offets of -2mm and -4mm

So In total I will have 8mm of adjustment to move the forks forwards or backwards but keeping the rake angle same as OEM (that's a whole ball game getting into that)


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[Loupe]

I'm making them myself with the help of a machinist mate of mine , (I served my time as a machinist)
Basically I will have upper and lower yokes made with 2 offset spacers the offsets will be +2mm and +4mm I will only need the 2 spacers because I will rotate the spacer 180 degrees to give me (-) offets of -2mm and -4mm

So In total I will have 8mm of adjustment to move the forks forwards or backwards but keeping the rake angle same as OEM (that's a whole ball game getting into that)


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I was understanding it until I reached the "rotating the spacers" bit. I'm sure in theory it's simple but I can't get my head round what you're on about lol.
Anyway, looking forward to seeing them.

 

[DrIoannis]

Adrenaline is so intoxicating...Great effort.

 

[Kylezx7r]

I was understanding it until I reached the "rotating the spacers" bit. I'm sure in theory it's simple but I can't get my head round what you're on about lol.
Anyway, looking forward to seeing them.

Perhaps spacer is not the right word to describe it , its more of a sleeve. Look at the pic below , you see the black sleeve which the steering stem goes through in the middle of the yokes I will have 2 different sleeves where the hole will be 2mm further back and another sleeve where the hole will be 4mm further back this will push the forks forward . I will need to machine the yokes and make the sleeves to suit.

if I want to bring the forks closer to me thus shortening the wheel base all I do is take the sleeves out and rotate them 180 degrees then re fit . That will bring the forks closer to me either 2mm or 4 mm depending on what I select.

Having a longer wheel base will give more mechanical grip. I'm also having the spindle holes on the swing arm machined to give me another 10mm there aswell. Yes it will have an effect of the steering but if I can hit that sweet spot between grip and corner agility then we're laughing


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[Oli]

Fantastic post Kyle and many congratulations on your successful weekend! [emoji16]

Best of luck finding your ideal setup with the swing arm mod and triple clams, hope you have a fantastic race season ahead of you in 2018!

 

[Loupe]

Perhaps spacer is not the right word to describe it , its more of a sleeve. Look at the pic below , you see the black sleeve which the steering stem goes through in the middle of the yokes I will have 2 different sleeves where the hole will be 2mm further back and another sleeve where the hole will be 4mm further back this will push the forks forward . I will need to machine the yokes and make the sleeves to suit.

if I want to bring the forks closer to me thus shortening the wheel base all I do is take the sleeves out and rotate them 180 degrees then re fit . That will bring the forks closer to me either 2mm or 4 mm depending on what I select.

Having a longer wheel base will give more mechanical grip. I'm also having the spindle holes on the swing arm machined to give me another 10mm there aswell. Yes it will have an effect of the steering but if I can hit that sweet spot between grip and corner agility then we're laughing


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Thanks for spending the time and explaining this to me, I understand what you will be doing now.
Here was me being all chuffed changing my wheels over and you're drilling out and making up new bits for your bike to make it work better for you!

 

[pof]

if i re call phil crowe as an "extended" swing arm to help with this issue but i may be wrong

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[Flyingscotsman]

Well done Kyle !!!! Great photos and write up. Thanks for posting.

 

[andy tims]

Well done :applause:

 

[Kylezx7r]

if i re call phil crowe as an "extended" swing arm to help with this issue but i may be wrong

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Yeah that's right phil and he runs a huge wheel base, or atleast he used to when he was bigger


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[pof]

he aint to shabby round cadders either [emoji12]

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[Kylezx7r]

He'll only get quicker as his timber drops off after his gastric band aswell. Will be interesting to so see his times next season I was at his place 2 weeks ago and he's completely different to what he was 6-8 months ago


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[Kylezx7r]

Problem with loosing weight or gaining for that matter is u ride different , the more belly u have the more u sit upright and vice Versa . People I teach I have them pad their tops out to improve positioning . Best way to get somebody upright is put a rolled towel across the belly, great for getting them to use there legs to hold on correctly instead of legs poking out everywhere.
Phil been in game far too long to let weight drop alter his ride much ... as u say time will tell.
Out of curiosity how far u stretching the chassis buddy if u don?t mind me asking . What ratio ish u going for ? The angle of rake going to be ur biggest issue hence the yoke adjuster which I really like in theory, what projection is the target or is it trial and error ?? Thanks buddy




Jay

It's going to be pretty much trial and error, I struggle a lot with rear grip and after talking to phil a few different people who know how to set these bikes up for fat boys it's most likely to be because of me , I'm 18.5st and I tend to sit too far forward rather than getting my arse back in the seat after looking at the wheel base phil runs compared to mine it makes sense to lengthen it. I'm going the same way as he did with machining the swing arm and in all fairness that would probably be enough I'm making the yokes firstly so I have the option to go longer (the rake angle will stay the same the forks will only be moved forward and ofcourse I'll be able to keep it stock. Secondly just because I like to make stuff haha.

It could be a terrible idea and might make it handle like a pig but atleast I'll have the option of playing about with that setting, every time I ride this bike I'm learning more and more about it


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[smemly]

Well done Kylezx7r, cracking read and i'm definitely interested to see how it all works out for you.