RCVTR

I tried to start the bike on Tuesday evening for the first time. I had a nice leisurely list of things to get done before I loaded up for the track on Friday. I installed the tank and put gas in it, put the kill switch in RUN. The gauge cluster lights up, self-diagnostics pass, but no fuel pump.

So I send the next 3 evenings, trying to troubleshoot why the ECU would not enable the fuel pump. I was comparing pinouts between the SP1, SP2 and race wiring harnesses. I talked with Bob about it, and he said it's something simple, you'll find it. I tired everything, checked for good grounds, checked for shorts in the harness, tried 2 different bank angle sensors. Nothing worked. I took Friday off and started at 6 AM. Either I'm going to figure it out, or I'm staying home. Bob called and said "I just though of something. There is a resistor diode in the ignition switch for anti-theft, that needs to be wired in to the ECU." That had to be it. So i took the ignition switch apart, checked for continuity across all the contacts - no diode, no resistor. I guess it's in the wiring harness somewhere on the SP2. I searched on line. Nobody knows anything about it. They were all telling me to bypass the bank angle sensor. Well, I didn't have a bank angle sensor problem, so I didn't do that.

I took the stock wiring harness and draped it over the bike and plugged it in and sure enough, the fuel pump came on. Its getting on about 2:30 in the afternoon. So, now I have to wrestle the wiring harness out, and really wrestle the big, bulky, connector-ridden stock harness in arooung the cooling system. Got it all in place and remounted the throttle bodys, airbox and fuel tank. Turn on the ignition and the fuel pump whirs to life. Hit the start button and she fires right up. So I get all of the bodywork mounted. Damn, she's pretty. Put my helmet on, wheel it out of the garage, thumb the starter. RUM, RUM. Pull in the clutch, click it in to first, PUH. Dead. S%^&, no side stand switch. Back in the garage. Up with the tank, out with the airbox, find the sidestand switch connector, tape the switch in the ON position, zip tie it down, back in with the airbox, 6:00 PM or so, haven't eaten since breakfast, working as fast as I can.

My dear, sweet and lovely wife comes in to the garage and wants to talk about padling outrigger canoes (we're on an outrigger race team). I'm trying not to be distracted. We finish our brief converstaion and I install the top on the airbox, get everything buttoned down, bodywork on, helmet on, quick blast around the block, everything works, don't like working in a frenzy...

So I go to the neghbors, borrow the trailer, load up, grab some tools, put stuff away, sort of clean up my mess, eat a couple of bites of cold spaghetti and roll out of town about 8:30, for a 3.5 hour drive to Chico.

Then it's up at 6 AM for coffee and off to the track. I missed the first session, taking care or the final details - lube the chain, set the tire pressure, top off the oil, quick once-over, tech inspection. Bob and Dave are off on their first session. In to the leathers, a couple deep breaths, feeling calm and cool. Got lots of compliments on my bike.

Out on to the track. The first couple laps are just of getting back on the bike, becoming familiar with it. Feeling really good. The part throttle response is quite abrupt, especially between turns 6 and 7, so I'm working on getting that smooth. I star to pick it up a bit. I know form past experience that you can carry lots of speed in to turn 1, so I'm wicking it on down the front straight. Man that motor is phenomenal. I was gaining and passing people on the front straght that had 30-40 yards on me. what a fantastic motorcycle!

So now I'm picking up some corner speed. There's a short chute between 2 and 3, where I could roll it on aggressively and pas a groups of 3 riders. We spent the next couple of laps trading positions. I'm just working on staying relaxed and really getting in to a groove.

On about lap 8 or 9, I opend the throttle to close the gap, becaus I was a bit slow through 6 and 7. Close the throttle for turn 8 and the throttle is stuck wide-fuken-open. OH ****! I went out of body for a second and grabbed the front brake, which was barely in contact with the ground. So as my baby and I are out mowing the grass on the north 40, I'm thinking "kill switch, kill switch, man this grass is slippery, I should have hit the kill switch." I must have gone off at about 9000 RPM in 3rd gear. The bank angle sensor worked like a champ. My next thought is, "Good, the bike didn't tumble." Follwed immediately by, "****, I don't get to ride any more!"

So I spent the rest of the day being Bob and Dave's pit bitch, helping push Dave's shoulder pad from the bra position, to the shoulder position.

I had to figure out what made the throttle stick. My friend Greg came by and felt the throttle and it felt perfect. He say's, with that look in his eye "are you sure you're throttle stuck open?" "*** yes, it stuck open!" So I lfit the tank and remove the airbox lid, and there's the rear velocity stack, sitting upside down on top of the throttle body. So I grabbed it and opened the throttle, and sure enough, if you stick the thing in sideways, it holds the throttle damn near wide open. Hmmm, that's exactly what I was putting in when my wife came out to chit-chat.

Oh well, it's nothing that $1500 and the next 5 weeks of spare time won't fricken fix.
At least I am uninjured.

RCVTR

The photographer got a few pictures before I tossed it. I post 'em up when I get them.
I took a couple, but forgot to grab the camera today.

New policy. NO talking to me when I'm working on something important!!

mikstr

Sorry to hear about your spill. I only the hope the bike ran as well as you had hoped (and will once again).

Good luck with the wrenching!

nothing

I'd love to see some pics of the track and of course the VTR on the track

Wolverine

Glad it was "minor", looking forward to your pics.

Little_Horse

sorry about the crash, must have been painful watching the bike you put all that time into go down.

lazn

You can also always grab the clutch then even in the engine redlines you are still in control.

Glad you are ok!

VTRumble

Good to hear you're OK. I've done similar things under the same circumstances - long day, no food, mind full of half thoughts, and to top it off somebody needing your last bit of concentration. Could've been much worse. I was more paranoid of messing up the bike than myself last week. My friend kept telling me to "get your f***ing feet up on the pegs", he couldn't understand that I didn't want melted boot on my pipes. Time for a track bike.

FL02SupaHawk996

Glad to hear you're okay and don't blame your sweet wife cuz she didn't take your screw driver outta your hand
RC

RCVTR

I'm not blaming her at all. I just really needed to stay focused, becuase I was in too much of a hurry. That was the problem. Not that she wanted to talk to me about something she was excited about. She has been an angel through all of it!

Yeah. Shoulda woulda coulda pulled in the clutch too. My friend Dave is always good for a few chilling stories, having seen it all. He told me about the time Ken Hill's throttle stuck open at Infineon. The only thing he could think of to do was jump off the damn bike. There's no time to collect your thoughts. I'm just glad I wasn't in a river canyon somewhere.

Here's a few pics:

badboyrr

Awesome pics! That bike looks great.

superhawk22

Even though it was very limited I bet it still felt REALLY good to be back out there again counting the hours until the 4th of July which will probably be the next time I can get back on the track.

RCVTR

You have no idea...

There has not been a single day in the last 2.7 years that I have not thought about it.

superhawk22

Are you kidding I get the D.T.'s just driving off the track property!

steve.g