Tentative

Tentative next project on the bike. We may or may not about to get crazy up in here...


Out of all the Honda motorcycles I've seen in person and pictures, only one bike has ever got me excited.

The 2007 Honda RC212V:

Strictly speaking aesthetically, the style and profile of the bike remains to be my most favorite in a motorcycle to date. It's just a badass looking motorcycle, and I think I've narrowed it to its three styling deviations why it's so badass. The first and most obvious one should be the tail, which really is uncommonly short length-wise that it really creates the illusion of a raked-up profile. That tail effectively tips right where the rear axle is, when most bikes conventionally tips further out.

To complement the lack of real estate in the tail though, the second thing that stands out and really lends itself well to the minimalistic tail is the extended rear hugger, only this one is extended far more than most extended huggers extend to (catch that?). Notice how the tip of the hugger angles up? That's to complement the raked up tail fairing. The larger hugger also allows for an extension of the bike's paint scheme well past the upper, mid, lower, and tail fairings.

Last but not least, the swingarm. I mean, just look at the damn thing. Well before Honda slowly switched to the now-common-on-racebikes underbraced swingarm, they ran one of the beefiest and best looking brushed-aluminum-finished swingarm. Just look at that chamfer at the topside - gorgeous!

What does this have to do with my bike?

Well, I'm never going to be able to make it look like that '07 RC212V, but I've always thought that I should be able to take those three things I've noted about the RC212V, and somehow implement it on my bike. I mean, I've effectively beefed up how my swingarm looks by having it gusseted, and having it finished in polished aluminum is a throwback to works swingarms.

So why not fit an oversized/extended rear hugger on it?
Why not swap the tail and subframe out for one with a smaller profile?

I'm already well on my way with the rear hugger.

For awhile there I've gone back and forth over getting a Magical Racing Extended rear hugger:

It's made to fit my bike, and I've seen it on other 02-03 R1's before. Not to mention that my front fender is already a Magical Racing unit. Stylistically though, despite being an extended hugger it always seemed simple to me, and ultimately, not really lending itself well with the lines of the bike, so I have yet to actually pull the trigger on one.


Instead I pulled the trigger on this:

The swingarm pictured is a Harris Performance Superbike swingarm made for my bike (about $4k made and shipped to me!), and the hugger fitted is also a Harris Performance extended hugger made specifically to fit that swingarm. Well I found that hugger being sold by another R1 owner who bought it to use, but never really did and just decided to unload it. At the price that he sold it to me for, I had no problem going for it to see if I can make it work on my OEM swingarm. See, while the HP Superbike swingarm is made to bolt-on to my bike and the OEM wheels, the actual dimensions and profile of the swingarm is substantially different from the OEM swingarm; the bolt hole locations alone are already different on this hugger than my OEM hugger, so some creativity might be needed in trying to make it work. We'll see...


Now, about that short, raked-up tail...

Well, here's a quick sketch of my bike's lines and profile:

AAAaannnd here's a quick sketch of the same, only with the HP superbike hugger and an alternate tail, like say from an Aprilia RSV4:

If I do this, the swapped tail may have to be raked up a bit more depending on how aggressive I want it to look, but I don't think there's any question it can be done. Subframe and tail swaps are not uncommon, and if subframes won't work as a straight-swap or modified swap, who's to say you can't make your own subframe? It's just a matter of cutting and welding (repeated ad nauseum, maybe) by someone who knows what they're doing. Of course that won't be all there is to it; there's the matter of making an undertray work as well as a cover for it, not to mention cutting the taillight wiring to swap as needed as well. Still, like I said, it wouldn't be anything never been done before.

So.

This is what's been milling in my head a lot recently. I've already talked to Rob about the possibility of the tail swap...

More to come. Maybe?

Definitely tentatively.

How 2012 Rocked

What is going to be rocking for many years.

Continually trying to make the best out of a shortcoming.

My American Dream.

Just too much fun!

Yamaha, Laguna Seca, TAAF.

Finding out the true measure
of my friends.

A new workbike.

Working.

She is me. She is on me.

Let's see how 2013 will roll.

How to Hit Three Birds with One Stone

1. Get a tattoo of a name on your hand just like your dear older brother.
2. Make it your daughter's name.
3. Make it your daughter's name as handwritten by your wife.

Collect brownie points for life!

Nu Stuff Redux

I haven't owned a dedicated track bike since my 2005 R6, which I bought pretty much four years ago to the date of this entry. I proceeded to do nothing but ride that bike at my utmost limit during that time, intent on learning and continually improving as a sport rider around a racetrack. I fell, got back on it, and just kept riding to learn and improve without too much particular regard for the bike other than keeping it in tip-top, running shape. I sold that bike nearly a year after I bought it, but not without leaving such an impression on me for being an excellent learning tool for serious track riders. I really would've kept it longer, if I wasn't so intent on a consolidated garage, using one bike for street and track riding, which is what my 02 R1 has been doing in the last three years since I sold the R6.

Truth be told, I would've been fine continuing with my consolidated garage. However, without even taking into regard how much time and resource I've spent on my 02 R1 to turn it into my own personal superbike, the fact is that I was lucky (I've lost count of how many times I've been!) to pretty much escape my last crash on it relatively unscathed. When I picked the bike up that day and rode it to the pits, allowing me to thoroughly go over the bike to assess the damage I incurred, I didn't just let out a sigh of relief - I bellowed it out. I could not believe how lucky I was that after all that, I only needed to replace the fairing stay.

So while I had no qualms about riding the bike that very next weekend in my treasured TAAF street fairings around Laguna Seca at full-tilt, what happened that week only served to remind me that it was perhaps time to invest in a dedicated track bike again. Maybe I have been pushing it with my 02 R1 in the past three years, and it's only now come back to bite me, though only slight.

Well I'm not about to wait for the big one.

So here we are, and I've found myself a 2007 Yamaha R1. Non-repairable title from a parking tip-over after it was bumped off its kickstand by a car, breaking a tiny piece off of the steering lock insert, which is subsequentially a part of the whole frame. Insurance companies don't like it when the frame is touched in any shape or form, so it was written off as junk. This means it can never be registered for street use again. Perfect!

I also paid less for it than I did the 05 R6 four years ago, or my 02 R1 before this. And with less than 6k original miles, the irony is in how little this bike cost me, considering it's at least half a decade newer than the two former ones.

But I'm not complaining. :)

And in continuing to work with Z2 Trackdays, I already had a chance to give the bike the first shakedown to get acclimated with it.

Well, when I wasn't working, anyway.

Feeling a Little Like Bruce Wayne

From The Dark Knight (2008):

BRUCE WAYNE

Well, you've sold me, Dent.

I'm gonna throw you a fundraiser.

HARVEY DENT

That's nice of you, Bruce, but

I'm not up for reelection for three

years. This stuff won't start for -

BRUCE WAYNE

I don't think you understand.

One fundraiser with my pals,

you'll never need another cent.

  And here's why:  

Trouble is, if a man is truly defined by the company he keeps, then I don't know how I'll ever live up to the quality of man my friends have defined me by.

 

But for them, I will damn well try.

Coming Full Circle

 

That was at my very first trackday, back in October 2007, and at of all places- Reno-Fernley Raceway (RFR). Talk about stubborn; I had just found out what trackdays were at that time, and immediately I wanted to do one. RFR was the next immediate trackday on any provider's calendar, and it was with Zoom-Zoom (Z2) Trackdays. So it was 300 miles away from me, I didn't care. I made calls, and made it happen, even though I was without a truck.

 

Fast-forward five years and many more trackdays since, and though I've done trackdays with practically every other provider other than Z2, I'm fairly certain I've done the most with Z2. This was not as if by intent. Just happened that way, and it just so happened that the rapport and environment with Z2's staff and crew mirror my easy-going and wise-cracking self. So even if without intent, I just gelled better with Z2.

 

So now here we are, five years since my very first trackday with them, and I just had another first day with Z2.

 

I didn't want to post this when it happened, just in case it hadn't worked out yesterday, but during the Yamaha Owners Appreciation days last month, Z2's president approached me himself, having me meet with his Grid Director, asking me if I would be interested in joing their crew in providing grid direction and vehicle/rider recovery. That was already a seriously awesome day, only punctuated by this seriously awesome proposal that fell on my lap.



Doing crash recovery

So yesterday was my first day as an official Z2 crew, and I'm happy to say that it all felt natural, as if this is what I ought to be doing now after years of doing trackdays. I already know the ropes of how a trackday goes anyway, so now I'm actually in the ropes helping to pull them.

This also feels like an evolutionary step to what has always been my track goal: To be a track instructor. I've taken great satisfaction seeing my friends make improvements with my help and guidance, and so I would love to officially be in a position to be able to do this. So this feels like a step in the right direction, the right foot in the right door.

Next up will be Z2's Thanksgiving Weekend at Thunderhill Raceway, and after that, can't wait to see next year's calendar!

A: Get back on and wring the shit out of it!

Q: What do you do when you fall off your horse?

Before I had the fairings on the bike custom-painted for TAAF, I simply ran the street fairings on for my trackdays; all I would swap out were the wheels and the mirrors. After I had it painted, I planned on saving the painted fairings from any possible incidents at the track, at least for a good year or so, just out of respect for all the kind and generous people who helped make the project possible.

Well, it's been about two years now, and though my slightly damaged track fairings are still structurally useable with no problems, I think I'm going to go ahead and just run my custom-painted fairings on and off the track as initially planned.

Trully full-time representing!



Two years after I had the street fairings painted, I've finally taken them out to the track.