The devil is in the details. Things to make a race bike just plain work.

Well, it has been a week and a half since I got into the shop long enough to work on something to write about. I have been busy with work since a new class arrived. It is like all of the sudden I have 60 more children that need my constant attention. Things have settled a bit and I was able to work on a small list of tasks that will make operating the race Ninja a little easier.


First up I needed to get some oil and coolant back into the bike so that I could do a test start and make sure my wiring work did mess up the starting circuit. The Ninja has several safety cutouts that chain together to prevent either an unsafe start or run condition. The oil went in and so far no leaks. I picked up some Yamaha racing coolant and cleaned up all of the hose clamps. After inspecting all of the hoses and fittings I reinstalled the system. I made sure to line up the hose clamps so that if I need to take anything apart at the track I can reach them with a socket and extension. This will make things easier in between heat races if there is a coolant problem.


I gutted the tail piece of all of the lights and seat lock gear. I left the seat latch and springs on the frame. I still needed a way to quickly remove the seat to access my rerouted wire bundle in case of an issue. I took an old coat hangar and measured up a section long enough to reach.


A few bends and some heat shrink wire wrap later and I had a nice little pull handle for the seat release. It stays tucked under the seat and is easily accessible in the space left by the tail light.


I removed the fuse box mount as part of the wiring simplification. I wanted to make sure the fuses don't jiggle around possibly cause a short circuit. A little hook and loop tape to the side of the air box is an easy way to hold the fuse box tight under the side cover.


I removed the left side switch cluster and choke lever as detailed in an earlier post. I used some coat hangar wire to put in a finger pull for easier start up. As it is now I usually just need to pull the choke for start up and it will idle without me holding it continually. We'll see how that goes.

I finished the day by washing the tail piece and fairing. I mounted all the number plates and windshield. Next up is cleaning the chain and reassembling the rear end. One more good solid day in the shop and I should have a bike ready for testing. I plan to take a trip to Adams Motorsports Park in Riverside (the same track where I took the Supermoto class) for a testing day, then hopefully to a track day at a bigger track. If The bike performs well, I will enter a race with M1GP or another organization that has a class for the little Ninja.

Thanks for visiting!

Blue

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