Quest For The Track Bike

[upshift]

Well I am starting off on my quest to find a track bike. As it's going now it looks like I will be getting one very soon. However, as most of you know, things on my end dealing with bikes sometimes do not have happy endings. In this thread I will outline my failures and successes that come with finding/getting a track bike.

So far I have been looking at a 2001 SV650 for a potential track bike and its located not too far from me (whereas any other good deal seems to be positioned far away from where I live). I plan on going to look at it sometime this week and make my decision on whether or not to get it.

A picture for reference


Right now my biggest worry is going to be whether or not the bank will cooperate with me and not screw me in the long run with a huge amount interest. Insurance is another big thing too however I wont need it until I take it on the street. 2008 looks to be a promising year for me and bikes and hopefully I will be able to get something soon.

[upshift]

Well I never got to go look at the bike. Finals come at the best possible time. So Im having to resort to browsing craigslist and ebay looking for bikes. Ill post up if anything interesting happens.

[upshift]

As most of you already know I finally got my bike It is a 2000 Ninja 250 in fairly decent shape. I plan to ride and also fix it up as much as I can. The list of damage includes:

-cracks around upper most bolt on the front right fairing
-minor rusting on the handle bars
-previous owner rattle canned the purple colored parts black
-clear coat bubbling in some spots
-left turn signal has been hot glued/epoxied/taped on
-two or three bolts missing in the windscreen
-needs a new rear tire (not too bad but no tread on the center)
-black tape on tears in the seat (almost unnoticeable...from far away)

Other than that the bike runs perfectly fine. I should be able to get some more pics of the bike and damage on Monday. Im going to be ordering the parts I need soon also. Wish me luck

[upshift]

Here are some pics of the damage on the bike:

Cracks


Clear coat bubbling up


Turn signal glued/epoxied on


Rear tire


Im going to try and get a new set of flushmounts today. At least that much will be fixed. And I may have a friend touch up the clearcoat or I may just leave it like it is.

[upshift]

First day of tuning/tweaking. Got up today and cleaned the bike up pretty well. I managed to get most of the grease off of the engine with degreaser (actually wheel cleaner but it go the job done ) and then I moved to the oil. According to the oil light this 250 needed oil BAD. I looked thru the sight glass and there was no oil to be found, not even below the low marker. Took me about an hour to locate the amount and weight of oil I needed. I finally found it on some 250 forum somewhere and took off to the auto parts store.

Changing the oil was pretty easy. I found the bolts holding the air filter and oil to be torqued just as much beyond factory specs as the fairing bolts (in other words way too tight). I finally got everything out and put the new oil filter and oil in and started it. At first I thought it wasnt going to start but eventually it got the new oil in and now it runs like a dream. I adjusted the idle up to 1000rpm and took it for a spin. I almost think it runs better with new oil in it.

Tonight I am going to be looking for new fairings and a new seat, and get them if I can find them for fairly cheap. Tomorrow I should be getting a new back tire and a new left turn signal. It should be a very interesting day

[upshift]

Finally got around to taking all the fairings off today and doing a little maintenance. Yesterday evening I decided to take the lower fairing off to get to the engine. When I did the tabs came off



So the plastic was pretty much dry rotted and useless. I ended up leaving the lower fairing off and it doesnt look half bad. Next I took the seat off to try and get to the airbox but I realized that you had to take the tank off and I wasnt about to drain all the gas out of the tank.



A little dirty but nothing that cant be cleaned up.



Next I took the upper fairing off so that I could fix the crack around the one bolt.





Me and FT ended up super gluing the cracks together and it amazingly holds up pretty well. Its no longer loose and just hanging there like it usually is. Im still in the process of getting a set of turn signals and I found a new seat for $40 on ebay Maybe I will have this thing looking brand new in a couple of weeks.

[upshift]

Took a couple days off of fixing it and I've been riding it around the neighborhood trying to run it out of gas so I can go down the street and get some. It feels so awesome to ride it! I can wait to get into battlefield park with it and ride.

[upshift]

Today is new tire day for the 250. I've worn most of the center tread down on the old tire so I figured it would be a good of a time as any to get a new one. A friend of mine is going to put the tire on so I just took the whole rear wheel off and left the bike sitting on jacks. Yeah I know its stupid but it works





New tire.


More pics of the old tire and wheel assembly to come.

[upshift]

Pics of the old tire, wheel, and sprocket.

[upshift]

Well it took me all day but the wheel is finally back on So in order to save time and space here is an outline of how the takeout/install went:

-jacked up bike
-took wheel out, piece of cake
-spray painted wheel and sprocket black
-got tire put on
-went to put tire on
-WTF WHERE'S THE JACKS?!?!
-bike is on paint cans...had to take the jacks off in order to drive cars to Dollywood
-put bike back on jacks
-put wheel on..wait no jacks are in the way
-move jacks
-next hour or two consists of sighing and inaudible cussing and finally getting the chain around the sprocket and the wheel in place
-caliper wont fit rotor
-i get the bright idea to press the brake lever, brake locks up
-go to store to get more brake fluid
-drain all old brake fluid, pry calipers open, replace brake fluid with fresh
-finally get calipers to fit rotor
-regrease all necessary components
-put axle in, tighten everything up, and admire what took all day to do

So after that I take it for a ride and find the the chain is too tight. Go to loosen it and the left side of the axle wont budge So I loosen a bolt that looks like its welded into place an the axle finally moves. I get it aligned perfectly and tighten everything up and park it for a couple of pics.

New paint on wheel and sprocket (you may not be able to tell but trust me, its new paint )



A little dark



One thing I've noticed is that the bike handles ALOT better than it did and feels alot smoother now that the new tire is on. It's amazing what a difference a new tire can make.