MacLean

I'm going to have a look into how awkward (or not hopefully) the front sprocket is to change. I've previously had sprockets and chain done at shop so haven't had to touch a front sprocket before, I guess I'm assuming that due to the crap that gets dragged in there and the load on the front sprocket that its going to super tight and potiential for rounding off bolts or snapping things or other fun stuff like that?

Changing the number of teeth on the Front sprocket would have a greater impact......so, if you upped the front sprocket by 2 teeth it shouldn't have too great affect on the chain tensioning if any......and I would have thought that changing the front sprocket over while you're swapping the wheels wouldn't be too much of a job?......

Well that might be an idea.... I have read though that 16tooth front sprocket can cause issues on drz with rubbing a plastic guard piece or something...

I was also put off by guys talking about locktite and the like on the front - making me think that a front sprocket is a bit of hastle if you want to swap it on a semi-regular basis.

But I dunno - perhaps I need to have more of a look into that.

Hi,

I have a drz400 with 18/21inch dirt wheels on and I have a set of 17inch wheels with road tyres. I'm wanting to be able to switch between the two but the gearing with my dirt wheel is 14/47 which is bang on for green laning, but need to lower the teeth on rear sprocket quite a bit to make it more suitable when in 'road mode'.

After using this very handy tool http://www.gearingcommander.com/ I have found that by reducing the rear sprocket to my ideal which is around 40 - 42 teeth i will not have enough room to adjust rear wheel to take up the slack....

Which led me onto chains - I thought maybe having two chains would be a good idea, but the chain on it does not have the clip on master link therefore - can this type of chain be removed and reasembled without destroying/weaking them?

I'm thinking that perhaps I may just have to accept a less than ideal gearing and just go with a large sprocket on the back in road mode and just avoid motorways! The bike is primarliy for green laning which I've been using it for so far so will not compramise it for its intended purpose but would like to have a bit of fun on it with some solid road tyres on the road. (knobblys are scary on road lol)

Cheers

I agree with little cat.

I rekkon it only seams as though the right is worse as you tend to need to keep your right wrist low when operating throttle... On left side, you can hold your wrist in a higher position without impacting your ability to control the machine meaning full locking to the left is easier.

I know because I thought the same when I went from fazer to r6.

However measure it and see if the bars are bent!

All I can say is if ur thundercat is like the r6 - then slow speed stuff is a friggin nightmare. Tight u turns are very difficult due to poor turning circle - and something about the ergos of sports bikes just makes them bloody awkward at very slow speed compared to for example my drz which is easy to turn on the spot more or less!

BUT you do get used to it... So measure it all up make sure nothings bent or twisted - if not then just practise in a car park!

Nice 1.

Getting plenty of track days under your belt!

The number of guys that go down in the wet vs the dry is like night and day. It really is pretty treacherous in the wet.. But when its dry, you really cant beat whizzing a sports bike round a track, its so fun its just unreal.

I got a voucher for bday, but am just reluctant to book anything as I can't help but feel all our sunny days have been and gone lol.

I think that was a good call to not carry on. I will think a bit more about it next time it starts pissing down. Although it hurts to pay so much money for a day and then have it written off by the crappy weather. But riding on the track in the rain is really not fun and thats the whole point of the day aint it.

I had quite an eventful day yesterday! Got two dry as a bone sessions that were fantastic then the heavens opened .

Felt some serious rear end traction loss giving too much beans out a corner in the wet. Had me standing up feeling the back end moving around with engine screeming, but it stepped back in-line. Calmed the feck down after that.

Later on in the day the front end went on me and I went down like a tone of bricks on the first low speed chicane at Oulton. Was down before I knew what was happening. I still haven't figured out what went wrong.

Frame slider saved the bike from pretty much any damage at all. I seriously don't know how my right bar end, fork, peg, lever, pipe etc didn't even make contact with floor. Picked it up and was out for the rest of the sessions! New rhs frame slider is only repair needed.

Quite a lot of guys went down yesterday 10+. Although not as much fun as the first due to wet track, deffo learned more lessons this time in the wet!

actually this will only be my second full day, have done cadwell on performance plus ( which is half a day on track) one session at castle combe as part of a bikesafe day ( xmas pressie from my lovely man),#one full day at cadwell on a reclaim your tracks day ( birthday pressie from my best mate)

and now donnington coming up, paid for by my bestie because he fancied doing it with his racer buddies and I think he secretly( or not so secretly as it happens) wants to coach me, and its my local track .

am I addicted ...possibly...I find it much more exhilarating than riding on the road...the perfect environment in which to see what you are capable of ( and also what the bike is ) without the usual hazards or unknowns

Oh! It just seemed you were on the track every week or something lol! Must admit having a coach or someone experienced would be really handy! You should be biting his hand off for advice!

I totally agree and I feel the bike is so much more where it belongs at the track, and my enthusasim for the road has dwindled a bit since going to a few trackdays

Encase anyone digs this up in future with simillar symptoms - a new relay fixed the problem

My nomination is the pidgeon that scared the shit out of me.

Driving into work gate at about 15mph with window down. This pidgeon is flying on perfect collision course with my face through my window... Causes me to duck, hit brakes and feel stupid that such a little creature disrupted me so much

WHAT A NOB

I should hope so considering I'm a qualified M.V. technician .

Haha yeh I thought you sounded like you've done a bit more than just the odd bit of tinkering with electrics.

I guess you like something to really sink your teeth into. I can imagine electric faults really get the cogs in your head turning.

Good to hear the bypass did the trick, what did the connections look like?

Do you mean the two chunky connection on the relay? Err looked okay to me. It all looks in reasonable nick to me. Not particularly corroded or anything.

Cheers for tips re the grips - will check that vid out tonight.

It's a very fast way of making a good earth connection for the battery.

If the bike suddenly turns over properly with this in place, you have a bad battery earth & it needs cleaning - this is a very common fault that prevents stater operation.

P.S. Yes, relays are just an electronic switch - very handy for numerous reasons. I have one controlling my heated grips & 12v socket, this means I can supply both with a decent electrical supply (without tapping in to a separate circuit and possibly overloading it) and also have them denied power as soon as the ignition is switched off.

Cheers am with you now. Sound like you know what your doing with electrics?

I have a set of heated grips on my bike that came on it when bought - however I took off the extra terminal from the battery negative terminal to disconnect them as I had suspicions they were draining my battery and obviously don't need em in summer. I think they may be pinching voltage from another circuit or something like you say.

BTW bypassing the relay starts engine perfect every time and yes it was a bit sparky.

Ordered another relay off ebay for 15quid - hopefully problem solved!

I have be trying to book one the last two weeks everyone that I am able to do is fully booked. people on holiday from work so can't get extra time off. got Silverstone on sept 4th with an added bonus of all Suzuki racers being there to give instruction. really needed to do one before then to try out new bike.

That shit man. Just look as late as you need to then book it first then you'll be really determined to push your boss for the day off when you're 100 - 150 quid out of pocket

no think outlon on Tuesday would be pushing it a bit....im at donniington on Monday for a focused events track day, with a load of mates who race ...omg...lol. not sure what that'll be like be im sure it'll be a helluva lot of fun

Wow littlecat, I am jealous of how many trackdays you've been able to get under you belt. Must be a good few?

I take it your completely under the influence of trackday addiction

Cheers for help guys,

I didn't realise the relay is just a switch at first. I was thinking in terms for example if you bypassed a processor in a computer - it wont work. I though that the relay done something more than just make a connection so was just a bit confused till I realised its just a switch that can by bypassed.

Matt, last question.. promise... What did you mean in your first post about bypassing chassis ground by connecting - terminal to a ground point on the bike. I don't understand that?

Everything else makes perfect sense now. Thanks for the help

Will hopefully diagnose the relay tonight.

Cheers

Anyone going to be at the road bike only trackday at oulton park on tuesday?

Just got booked on it. Think the trackday addiction is kicking in!

This is an image of what seems identical to my starter relay

http://www472.pair.com/exalt/09r6_(162).JPG

If I was to turn bike key to on, then take a jump lead and connect the big bolt terminals, should the starter engage and I'm then bypassing the relay?

If I get a reliable crank of the engine doing this, then I can then point finger at the relay being cause of fault?

Check all your battery/starter connections and chassis ground i.e. the other end of the battery negative cable. Make sure they are as clean as you can get them & tight.

You can use a jumper wire from the battery + to the starer terminal, bypassing the relay. Or remove the relay and send 12v down the correct pin to the stater.

A quick way to bypass the chassis ground is to connect a jump lead from battery - to a ground point on the bike.

I'm 'realy' (will get my coat) sorry to pester - but I don't quite understand the point of the relay if bypassing it does the job? Any links to a good for dummies explanation? The ones i looked at still don't make sense to me for some reason.

Took battery off gave it a full charge and gave it all a scrub and tightened it up. First press of starter I get a click that is deffo the starter relay, second press I got turn over and bike started fine.

Dont want to jump any wires or any of that till i understand it better

Basically when I go to start the bike, if i push the starter - I get one single click from under the seat near the battery and it won't turn over.

If I try it a few times, it will click each time i press the starter then just magically turn over after a few goes and start perfectly.

It then seems to be fine and will be able to be turned off and started fine, but if i leave it a few hours it goes back to clicking for the first 5 - 10 attempts and then works again.

It is not btw that brrrrrrrrrr kinda click you get with a low charge battery, its just one single snappy click for each press of the starter button.

My snooping around the net suggest it may be starter relay which is apparantly a common fault on the r6, does any one here have any ideas?

mine was my first the other week I had a mate that was there with others so I had people around from the start but I was soon talking to others as we were all there with the same interest. which track was you at ? i'm thinking about booking my next one soon just have to check for days off as people on holiday at work

I was at oulton park. I am not going to be doing one for a bit due to me going on holiday but perhaps get one more in before the summers done, late july early august maybe.

Did you have crash sliders on btw when you came off? Sounds like a very minor one anyway if you were able to keep riding it. I don't have any at the moment but have bought some r&g ones online.

Went on the first trackday today. Absolute blast! Perfect weather. Stayed rubber side down

Opens your eyes to the skill of some of these guys.

No knee down but completely obliterated my 'chicken strips' right to the edge.

Being on my own was a bit intimidated at first but ended up in a garage with a really cool bunch of guys that helped me out a lot and even gave me a canister of petrol when I was running low for last session.

Lent bike further than I thought possible. Bloody fantastic day, the bike seems like it belongs on the track more than the road lol.

Will have to get a few more under my belt

Just another thing to check, make sure in all the faffing about you haven't flicked the engine cutoff switch.

The fact that lights are on but your getting absolutly nothing from starter button sounds like engine swtich may have been flicked...

Good luck if not though.

Got first trackday week today at oulton! Fingers crossed for weather.

How necessary is taping things up?

I'm riding there (only 30min ride) - I was planning on pulling out headlight fuse, removing mirrors, bit of tape on the speedo and lowering tyre pressures - track prep done.

Not particularly over the moon about taping the whole of the two headlights or indicators or rear lights. How necessary is it?

Any other final tips? Getting mildly nervious now

Yeh im on the m6 everyday and one of the worst things is the guys that are going fast as possible, then want to make their exit with yards to spare so usually end up swerving accross busy lanes causing disruption to lanes 1 and 2 with brake lights held on, force into a gap in lane 1 then full throttle down the exit, and then hard on the brakes for the red traffic light at the end of it

But then I wonder if when they get to their destination 30 seconds early do they call everyone else on the road a knob??

My nomination is the guy infront of me yesterday, rear ended the car infront of him, then blindly followed hit car over to hardshoulder and nearly hit another

May have been innocent, but it did look as if the driver was looking somewhere other than the road (maybe a text?) as he literally just edged forward as usuall in traffic, but didn't brake

Didn't like the look of #3 straight away although it obviously gives more information.

1 & 2 more visually nice to look at and 2 takes the lead for me.

The way the road overlaps with the circular thing just seems a bit awkward and put me off #1

#2 Is a cool looking logo, a less cluttery overlappy feel about it - simple black/white and sleek.

So if its just to look cool number 2, if a sleek look is less important then number 3 shows more information but doesn't look as good as #2

IMO