Stuck

Stuck is the current state of the Speed Triple project right now ... or should I say again as it's already been trough moments of doubt since the beginning. Today should have been a productive working day on the bike, one of those that marks a huge leap toward the finished product. But it ended up being a complete disaster, mainly because of a seized rear wheel nut.

That nut is still in place and not moving at all, which prevents the front and rear sprocket to be changed easily and most of all it blocks access to the rear bake caliper. The later is in desperate need of some attention. The pistons seem seized as well and the pads are rubbing hard on the disc, making the rear wheel hard to turn by hand.

I've tried several ways to unscrew that rear wheel nut, but none could get if off the bike. The only option left is to put the Speed Triple back to road trim and ask the dealer to have a look. Great ... they will certainly be willing to help ... as always ...

New bike lift

It was definitely missing to help working on some areas of the Speed Triple. It's a BikeIt I found cheap on the Riwambi Weiss website. It's certainly not as good as the LV8 I had for the 1050 Speed Triple, but it will do the trick.

Unfortunately, this is how well packed it is for that price ...

WSBK is back

Today was the first round of a new starting season of WSBK. As usual the two-round serie happened on what is certainly one of the best track in the world : Phillip Island.

This season could not start better for Sylvain Guintoli on his new ride with a win and a second place. At the end of the 2012 season, Max Biaggi left the official Aprilia Team and Sylvain took his ride. It was a late but much better decision than signing with Suzuki, which was Sylvain's plan at first for 2013.

Funny thoughts on MotoGP

Found this one on Six3Seven tonight on the pre-season testing session in Sepang. Could not resist sharing ...

If you haven't seen the time sheet yet, Pedrosa leads ahead of Lorenzo, Rossi's third and Dovizioso is somewhere 2 full seconds behind.

Rear cut

The triple is having its rear end cut. It's less radical than it sounds as only the undertray is being cut. It's a dual purpose modification. As explained earlier, the first desired effect is to make the street-to-track transformation easier. But the operation comes with a second noticeable effect which is weight loss.

The new plate support is from Republique Racing and is incredibly light. You can hardly feel its presence in your hand. The finish is good as well. This kind of plate support - the "stage 2" - had previously been proven on the R1100S before, so I bought knowing what to expect.

Vintage Racers Bobbemir

Triumph's Bonneville is certainly a target of choice when it comes to building a retro custom, so by now we should all have seen dozens wandering the web. We have even seen them so much that it now feels like a simple job to make one on your own. What does it take after all ? Spoke wheels, flat bars and loud cone pipes ? Well looking closer at this bike, you would just come to realize that it would just get you started. 

The blue and black plaint really does it for me. More on this bike on the Vintage Racers website.

Mivv exhaust

A brand new Mivv exhaust arrived from Carpimoto last week. It will be used on the Speed Triple, but can't be fitted for now as I'm working on the rear mudguard - cutting most of it off the bike - and don't want a shiny titanium pipe to be in the Dremel's way. 

Mivv exhausts are certainly not as desirable as Akrapovic or Arrow, but still they are light and the finish looks good for half the price of the latter big names.

The idea of cutting is to end up with a clean and light rear end that most parts - like number plate carrier and turn signals - can be easily and quickly removed for track days (more on that later).

Random from the archive

Abstract:
A half-faired 99 Honda CBR600 posing in the winter sun after a good track training session. It's Saturday around 1PM and I'm back from the local short track after some rounds trying to validate the bike was ready for the complete season racing. It's back when the ramp had not been cut yet and the lower part of the fairing had to be stripped to put the bike on the trailer. That year (2006) was certainly the most busy year when it comes to track action. And this bike with its neutral feeling is certainly the one that taught me the more on the art of leaning and braking.

Challenging nut

That's a picture of the front sprocket nut that's been freshly sprayed with penetrating oil. Simply by its rusty look, I guess it won't let easily removed. Bring on the 36mm socket and extended ratchet !

There a bit of cleaning to perform around there too. The chain looks tired and the sprocket box filled with dried up chain lube. Yuk !

Tools

Found these Facom sockets real cheap from Promeca. They will prove handy when it comes to removing the front sprocket (36mm) or the rear wheel nut (46mm) from the Speed Triple.