YZF 750 Race Bike Project Versions 1 and 2

Mike_SS · Post by **Mike_SS** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 7:34 am

I decided to give racing a go this year and after a bit of thinking and looking around I settled on 'New Era' (1990 to 1995). There were decent bikes to pick from in this era and I also know a couple of the guys already racing in it. In Queensland the class is dominated by Ducatis and Hondas with the odd Suzuki and Kawasaki thrown in. Nobody was racing a Yamaha! My research told me that the YZF750 was a fairly capable bike so the decision was made and I was off.

I started off with a '94 750R -

Now I gotta say that I am not a fan of the paint scheme or the styling but it was the performance I was after so I could overlook everything else

The bike had 20,000 kms on the clock so I reckon that means it has done 120,000 kms. To ease into it I just bought some race glass and had the fork internals replaced and stuck a can on it. Race prep complete!

Well not that easy. I did have some trouble getting it running OK and I was worried about not having spares at the track. What I needed was another one! So along came another '94 750R -

Complete with ventura rack! (sbutler may recognise this bike ?)

Bits were then taken from both to come up with race bike version 1 -

Off to the track for the first round of racing. I didn't know what to expect from me or the bike but we both survived the weekend and I came home fairly happy. I had only ridden at the track once before at a track day on a borrowed 748 Ducati. By the end of the weekend I was lapping 7 seconds faster than the start which was good. I was still 3 to 4 seconds off the fast guys though.

In between rounds I tinkered around with a few things, mainly to do with ground clearance and was ready to do it all again. Round 2 ended with a qualifying crash. It was a fairly uneventful low side but the bike dug into the dirt and barrel rolled. There was a bit too much damage to fix at the track so that was the end of the weekend.

Not very pretty but all fixable. That crash being out of the way I thought I would tart it up a bit for the next outing. So after much fibreglass repair, bog work and dipping into the spares, race bike version 2 was ready -

I was fairly happy with the new look. The colour was one I picked from a colour chart at the paint shop and whilst it is a Mazda colour, I think it suits the Yamaha

. Unable to get YZF 750 decals I used Thunderace ones instead!

Set out for round 3 with a plan to use the Friday track day as a body position practice day. I had seen some photos of my 'style' and it was pretty ugly. Arse planted firmly in the seat, very little upper body movement. I suspect my low side may have been caused by just riding off the side of the tyres!

I laugh when I look at the next pic because in my mind I was hanging right off the bike with the knee out and the head down.

In reality, Arse planted firmly in the seat, very little upper body movement

Then it went pear shaped. The track photographer caught the second half of the incident.

Go for a roll

roll some more

don't look back

time to go home.

So the spares bin is now looking really bare and the rubbish pile is getting bigger

. Race bike version 3 has begun. The spare frame, swingarm and wheels are in getting checked for staightness and I have started stocking up on fibreglass repair materials

It will probably be August before the bike (and me) are ready to go again..but we will go again

That is the story so far. A few people have suggested that I should bale out of the YZF and get something else to race. On reflection the bike has been great, it is just the operator that needs improvement

spook · Post by **spook** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 8:03 am

Our approach to practice and racing seems to be fairly similar

I definitely spend more time fixing and healing than I do riding... Keep smiling

hotcam · Post by **hotcam** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 8:22 am

Wow, fascinating photos and I'm glad you walked away.
That looked like a nasty hit, ouch.

I have to say a big thumbs up for every rider training I've
ever done, here's me before the most recent one:

http://www.sdpics.com/cgi-bin/store/ima ... 4A9957.jpg

That's the best I could get after years of trying. As you can see,
not so great. The bike is doing all the work and I'm just like a sandbag
on top of it.

However after a 2-hour session with Rider Bros in a parking lot on a
Honda 250cc on stock commuter tyres (!) they had fixed my major
problems and I looked like this:

Much more of my bodyweight hanging off the inside, which allows
faster cornering speeds, while the bike remains a little more
vertical (not running off the edge of the tyres).
Also the knee comes out further in that position, allowing the rider
to use the knee to "feel the road" for an accurate assessment of
exactly how much lean angle is going on.

The instructors were great... just said "you can't see that your current
body position is locking up... just do this, and this. Now go ride around
in circles."
POW, instant fix! It's true, you can't see your own faults.
Sometimes someone else has to see them for you, before you can fix them.

Also thumbs up for the stretch panels in my new leathers
allowing me to get my knee out further. That helped.

Also a thumbs up for the YZF as a super-capable track bike.
Some may be equal but there are no better from the time.
Have you seen this video? Maybe it will encourage you that you
are on the right track...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSyPkiTgifU

stan · Post by **stan** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 9:35 am

ar yes, the old ground sky ground sky ground sky, shit, that hurt

stick with the YZF, who wants to be one of the pack any way. once you get it sorted, and have all the spares, all your fellow compitors will wonder what you are riding, and try and follow suit, but you have all the spares (and the exupbrotherhodd for support!!!)

stan

Yoniboi · Post by **Yoniboi** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 4:30 pm

Nice crash

Glad to see you walked away, 'cos the bike.......... poor bike.
That's exactly how I went down last autumn, bummer isn't it when you think you're doing it right and you're not??? I got away with a scratched end can, a bust mirror and a bent front brake lever. Sometimes you just get lucky.

By the way...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSyPkiTgifU
Only 1.6 seconds off a new GSXR1000...

Wow!!!

Like I said, glad you walked away.

Mike_SS · Post by **Mike_SS** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 5:22 pm

hotcam wrote:I have to say a big thumbs up for every rider training I've ever done

Yep as soon as I get the chance I'll be doing some training. Problem in Queensland is that that courses are few and far between. Leo Cash runs one up here occasionally but I havn't been able to get to one yet.

yoniboi wrote:Like I said, glad you walked away.

Cheers. Anyone you walk away from is a good one

spook · Post by **spook** » Sat Jun 13, 2009 6:40 pm

Crashing (falling) sucks, but if your intent on finding your best performance (the limit of yourself and equipment setup) It is something you have to do. Especially if you want to improve quickly. No amount of training or reading will prevent it from happening.

The more hours you put in at the track, getting yourself and bike setup sorted, the less it will happen. However, the unfortunate truth about racing is the lessons are learned generally only the hard way

The top riders often have a couple of falls every race meet, lucky for them they don't have to fix the bikes as well

But the process is the same for pros, and play racers alike. I happily fall into the later category

sbutler · Post by **sbutler** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 12:59 am

Always wondered where my YZF ended up. Now I know. Not a happy story man.
You should stick with the YZF they are the ducks nuts when you learn how to ride them. They havent got the torque of the 1000 but once on the boil they are very hard to beat.

From the pics, it does look like your running out of tyre, that is always caused by not hanging off the bike enough. The YZF is a bit of a trigger in the way it delivers its power, & that can catch you out too.

Stick her all back together & have another go. But look back at the crashers you have had, & try to work out what you did wrong? eg
tyre compound?
Tyre brand
Tyre pressure.
suspension setup
riding style etc etc.
The anwser will come & you can fix that problem. That in turn will/should stop you falling.

Lets know how you get on?
Maybe you could head down this way one weekend for a meeting. You can stay here, if you want?
Steve.

ZoltanP · Post by **ZoltanP** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 2:56 am

glad you walked away mate. i always encourage guys to ride what they can afford to write off. Imagine if you did that to a brand new R1! you'd be crying wouldn't you?

stick her back together, go have fun, don't spend too much on paint

z

Mike_SS · Post by **Mike_SS** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 3:37 am

Always wondered where my YZF ended up

Well parts of it anyhow.

Maybe you could head down this way one weekend for a meeting. You can stay here, if you want?

Definetly want to take the show on the road when I am sorted a bit better. All focus so far has been on getting better at one track. Not much choice up here! Cheers for the offer, I'll file that away for another day

stick her back together, go have fun, don't spend too much on paint

I'm all over it

ZoltanP · Post by **ZoltanP** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 6:20 am

just looking at your pics noticing that your forks stuck up throught the triple clamps HEAPS! Do you know what your fork angles were with you sitting on the bike? Given how neutral mine handles with stock front height, slightly raised rear, i would hesitate to lower the front that much as we're already on 24 degrees with me on it - I'd do it on my cb1100r yes, on a yzf no... - do you think it contributed also to the bike dropping the front end and crashing?
z

97YZF1000 · Post by **97YZF1000** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 7:44 am

ZoltanP wrote:just looking at your pics noticing that your forks stuck up throught the triple clamps HEAPS! Do you know what your fork angles were with you sitting on the bike? Given how neutral mine handles with stock front height, slightly raised rear, i would hesitate to lower the front that much as we're already on 24 degrees with me on it - I'd do it on my cb1100r yes, on a yzf no... - do you think it contributed also to the bike dropping the front end and crashing?
z

From looking at the other pics I don't think his forks were originally sticking up that much through the triple clamps. Looks like the accident caused the forks to move up...

Mike_SS · Post by **Mike_SS** » Sun Jun 14, 2009 3:43 pm

Looks like the accident caused the forks to move up...

Yep that is what happened. I had them level with the top.

ZoltanP · Post by **ZoltanP** » Mon Jun 15, 2009 2:06 am

WOW! never seen forks pushed through like that....