SMSP 04 Jan

**Kyle** · 05-01-2015, 05:45 AM

Big thank you to @stevem, Nick and the other gents for coming to check out my bike. After only getting in 10 laps over 3 sessions with 2 offs and the front of the bike feeling like it was on ice, they realised my forks had some damage I hadn't noticed and stopped me going out for a third crash.

The bike is going to SuspensionSmith today here in Canberra to get sorted.

Cheers again, top blokes.

**stevem** · 05-01-2015, 06:03 AM

No worries brother, Don't forget the steering head bearing were loose also. Depending how long they have been like that they may have had a hammering, I would replace them with tapered roller bearings from a local bearing shop then that is something that can be ruled out as a problem. Keep us posted Kyle on the findings. Cheers

**Marshy** · 05-01-2015, 07:09 AM

Originally Posted by Kyle

Big thank you to @stevem, Nick and the other gents for coming to check out my bike. After only getting in 10 laps over 3 sessions with 2 offs and the front of the bike feeling like it was on ice, they realised my forks had some damage I hadn't noticed and stopped me going out for a third crash.

The bike is going to SuspensionSmith today here in Canberra to get sorted.

Cheers again, top blokes.

No worries Kyle; happy to help! The springs were like rocks, and even though the oil level looked fine, they had no give at all, even with everything backed off. Definitely something wrong with them!

Look forward to catching up at the next one. Next time you're doing a track day, keep an eye out on here for other TT members that are going, and head for the same garage. We normally go for the 35-37 triple, which is next door to where you and steve were yesterday.

Cheers,
Nick

**Turtle** · 05-01-2015, 02:05 PM

That sucks to hear man, but glad you were able to get a hand from the boys. Are you okay after going down? You're a tough nut for wanting to go back out after 2. I'd be in a corner having a smoke and a sook.

If you're at the track up this way again and need help with the suspension, obviously there are the TT members who you can go to, or head down around pit exit and you should find Kelvin Reilly most days. He runs BC Performance and is always more than happy to help people out on the spot with adjustments. He's working with me on the Gixxer at the moment, top bloke.

Get some photos of your ride up! Keen to check it out. Might be worth posting the wear/damage on your forks too so others can see what to look out for.

All the best mate.

**Kyle** · 08-01-2015, 09:01 AM

I picked the bike up yesterday from Laurie (SuspensionSmith), and got it home yesterday to strip off the fairings and begin the repair. Damage wise I was very lucky, only minor aesthetic stuff to the fairings, and a crack across the front right cowl where the bike flipped, so a touch of fibreglass and some plastic putty and they'll be as good as new. I did manage to bend both rear set mounting plates, but I'll throw them in the press.

So, back to the suspension. This is a new bike to me, I've done one day at Wakefield and it took all day to get comfy, but I thought it was alright, so although I knew the suspension needed to be set to me, I wasn't rushing to go and see Laurie as I didn't think it was urgent. Lesson learned. The forks are off of an earlier model R6, 05 by the looks of things, and they had just been jammed into the lower triple clamp. Laurie had real problems taking this all apart, and once he had, it wasn't going back together, so the lower triple was replaced. The forks themselves weren't damaged, the oil level was far too high to allow any compression (@Marshy, the other fork was nearly full!) and the headstem bearing was quite loose. The spacing in the steering dampner was off too, but I new about this and had rectified it for the day, the crash bumped it back however. There was some routing issues with the cables (hence why the throttle was sticky) and a few other small things out of place: all in all, whoever had the bike before me had done a hack job at putting it back together. The guy I bought it from knew nothing about this, so he must have been genuine when he said he had only done a day or two on it before selling (it was his second bike for racing).

What all this means is that as the bike was leaning, nothing was behaving right. The geometry was completely off from the forks being forced into the clamp, and obviously with no ability to compress the forks, the front tyre had no ability to maintain grip. The tyres were definitely at the right pressure (thanks to triple checking with @stevem 's handy air pump) and they are day old GP-A's, so no issues there. Laurie has set the suspension up for me now too, so no more excuses! He'll be at Wakey next time with me too so that we can test and adjust.

I'll be back out at Wakey on the 30th to give it a go, I think my first session will be understandably well behaved, but if anyone can make it come and say hi. I think this has thrown out the St George season for me this year, as I'm not keen to jump straight back into EC in a race on the 31 Jan/01 Feb, with only a test day at Wakefield on 30 Jan, so there goes a third of the season.

Originally Posted by stevem

No worries brother, Don't forget the steering head bearing were loose also. Depending how long they have been like that they may have had a hammering, I would replace them with tapered roller bearings from a local bearing shop then that is something that can be ruled out as a problem. Keep us posted Kyle on the findings. Cheers

Cheers Steve, they are new bearings, they must have come loose in the first stack. All tightened again now, no damage to the head stem luckily.

Originally Posted by Marshy

No worries Kyle; happy to help! The springs were like rocks, and even though the oil level looked fine, they had no give at all, even with everything backed off. Definitely something wrong with them!

Look forward to catching up at the next one. Next time you're doing a track day, keep an eye out on here for other TT members that are going, and head for the same garage. We normally go for the 35-37 triple, which is next door to where you and steve were yesterday.

Cheers,
Nick

Cheers again Nick, I really appreciate you taking the time and making sure I didn't get back out there again.

Originally Posted by Turtle

That sucks to hear man, but glad you were able to get a hand from the boys. Are you okay after going down? You're a tough nut for wanting to go back out after 2. I'd be in a corner having a smoke and a sook.

If you're at the track up this way again and need help with the suspension, obviously there are the TT members who you can go to, or head down around pit exit and you should find Kelvin Reilly most days. He runs BC Performance and is always more than happy to help people out on the spot with adjustments. He's working with me on the Gixxer at the moment, top bloke.

Get some photos of your ride up! Keen to check it out. Might be worth posting the wear/damage on your forks too so others can see what to look out for.

All the best mate.

Cheers man, I'll get some pics up when I'm off the work computer. No damage or wear to the forks luckily, just set up all kinds of wrong. I'm fine, no damage to me, the gear did its job.

**Kyle** · 08-01-2015, 09:30 AM

20150107_193916.jpg

The R6 back home ready for repairs

**Kyle** · 08-01-2015, 09:36 AM

20150107_193916.jpg

The R6 back home ready for repairs

**chubb** · 08-01-2015, 09:36 AM

Let me know if you need a hand repairing etc.. I'm only down the road...

do wetty's trick of cracking the oil filter too since its been down..

**Turtle** · 08-01-2015, 09:43 AM

R6's like to spew oil into the air box too when going down don't they?

**Kyle** · 08-01-2015, 09:57 AM

Originally Posted by chubb

Let me know if you need a hand repairing etc.. I'm only down the road...

do wetty's trick of cracking the oil filter too since its been down..

Cheers Rancell, will do. I'll crack the oil filter too, good idea.

Originally Posted by Turtle

R6's like to spew oil into the air box too when going down don't they?

I'll open it up and check it out, it seemed alright running after on the day.

**Turbo** · 08-01-2015, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by Kyle

20150107_193916.jpg

The R6 back home ready for repairs

Glad to hear you're ok and working your way through the issues!
Lucky you got away comparatively lightly, given what was going on in there!

**Kyle** · 08-01-2015, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by Sicko

Glad to hear you're ok and working your way through the issues!
Lucky you got away comparatively lightly, given what was going on in there!

Thanks mate.

**Turtle** · 08-01-2015, 01:16 PM

Shame you're not in Sydney dude. All my mates work on their bikes in my back courtyard, could've invited you round for a day of tinkering and a BBQ hahaha. End up with up to 7-8 bikes being pulled apart in my yard some days.

**stevem** · 08-01-2015, 01:21 PM

Kyle, check out Ray Oxford on facebook there is some photos from the day also .

**Kyle** · 08-01-2015, 02:28 PM

Originally Posted by Turtle

Shame you're not in Sydney dude. All my mates work on their bikes in my back courtyard, could've invited you round for a day of tinkering and a BBQ hahaha. End up with up to 7-8 bikes being pulled apart in my yard some days.

Haha it's a bit of a drive! I'll pop on up one day. Did I meet you up there on Sunday? (I'm not real good with forum names sorry dude, hence my screen name...)

Originally Posted by stevem

Kyle, check out Ray Oxford on facebook there is some photos from the day also .

I did thanks mate! Rare footage of me actually on the bike...