Stickers and a quick turn throttle. Heading to the track on Friday.

I like to check out how people set up their work space. I look for good ideas I can copy. Here are a few pointers to help you do better work: Take the time to set up the best space you can. Time spend organizing will save much more time when you’re doing the bike work. Give yourself as large a space as you can with a separate place to put parts out of the way.

You don’t need a painted floor or a lift table but you do need a clean space and a few feet around the bike. Park the car in the driveway. Set up a table or shelves to put the parts on. Hang the body work from the beams. Put tools back in the box when not in use.

Do the job in steps with clean up after each step. If it looks like a bomb went off in your work space you could have done a better job with less stress.

Half our team tested the bike today and loved it. Check out James going for it!

I’ll be found hanging out at Auto Club Speedway with Fastrack Riders, M-Gymkhana and WERA. You can find me in Garage 61.

Dirt riders got tired of smashing their fingers into trees. They came up with Bark Busters, guards that go around the brake and clutch lever to protect their fingers. Then everyone noticed they also protect the controls.

We have a no crashing rule for our endurance race but shit happens so we also have bark busters. The only thing left to do is the suspension. I saved that for last because I already know what it needs. We will be testing this Saturday with M-Gymkhana at ACS. You can find me in Garage 61, Fri to Sunday. Fastrack on Fri & Sat. WERA on Sunday. The 24 Hour race is next weekend at Willow Kart Track with M1GP.

When Roadracing World asks if I want to spend a day riding new bikes on free tires I always say yes. Check out the November issue for the full story.

http://www.roadracingworld.com/

The bike is together and runs well. Time to ride it around in the pits while working at a not so secret track.  Next step is the suspension.  I think we will go with LE.

More progress: New chain & sprockets, Numbers, Instrument Bracket and Both wheels True & balanced.

After replacing the missing spoke I went to work on our bent and out of round front rim, it’s True now. Then I straightened the brake rotor. Exhaust system installed. New throttle cable installed and throttle tube cleaned, it’s working smooth now. People like to put grease on stuff that moves but in many cases the grease just attracts dirt. New seal in the petcock and new fuel line equals no fuel leak. New air filter and spark plug, the plug in it was one heat range too hot, that could have been a problem. The front caliper is soaking in hope that the stuck pin will come loose.

In this list of today’s work you can find a bunch of things that would be a big hassle in any race let alone a 24 hour race. That’s why I’m doing them now.

This big Hayabusa is ready to be picked up. My next job is this little TTR125. The springs are a different size and the amount of damping they need is different but the theory behind all suspension is the same.