So having established that the correct number of cars and bikes is n+1 where n is the number you have, I thought id get a track bike.
£749 of neglected ex race CB500. It'll need some reconditioning and tidying at some point but has all the pricey bits like race plastics, rear sets, exhaust etc and many spares.
1996 Model
Micron left hand system with sleeved race can
RV rearsets
Renthal flat bars
Single pieces seat/tail unit
Braided brake line
Belly pan fitted
BT003's in good useable condition
Spare set of scrubbed in BT003's
Freshly painted wheels in Cadbury purple
Wets on wheels included.
It's in need of some TLC but for £750 it was always going to. At a glance it needs,
Fork seals doing
Front spindle replacing
Fluid/filter change.
Race panels fitting properly.
New front disc/pads
Longer term I'll spend some time on the cosmetics but that can wait until it's had some use. I've got a load of spares to go through, some of which will be sold,
So, looking to do my first trackday at Cadwell in July. Just waiting on confirmation that I'm in. Better get this old crate sorted we've gone over it and it needs...
Fork seals doing
Fork oil renewing
New front disc
New front pads
Brake fluid change
Oil and filter change
Air filter
Front spindle replacing
And that should do it to start with.
Not bad considering the price I paid.
Tidying the cosmetics can wait until winter
The supermoto stuff I've been doing (and getting decent at) should stand me in good stead but I'll start in the novice group and see how we go. All the lads I know who race are there (in fast group of course) so I'll get ready for some ribbing
Just going to keep an eye on the spend on this one as I know I could have bought a tidy, pretty fresh one for £1800 (what one of the racing lads just sold his for) so i'm hoping to come in at a fair bit less than that to make the fannying about worthwhile....
Bike (plus spares) - £749
Dual carbon Pads - £24.95
Fork seals, sleeves, dust covers etc - £63.90
RBF600 race fluid - £16.43
Silkolene 20W fork oil - £11.25
Rock oil semi synth - 10/40 - £25.99
Hi-Flo oil filter - £6.80
Front disc, front spindle and new air filter - £0 (in the spares package)
Total so far - £898.32
The only other things i'll need to do to get it as nice as the more pricey ones would be new Sprocket/chain (about £70) and then a paint job which I will do myself with materials at around £30. (the £1800-2K race ones all have rattle can jobs anyway)
Should bring me in at just under a grand for a really nicely prepped track bike. Cosmetics can wait until i've got a few trackdays under my belt.
Got it into my mates man den, in shot we have his two CB500 race bikes (wet and dry set ups) a road CB500 purchased as a parts donor mainly for the forks and engine for the race bikes (I'm having a few bits my road one needs too) a husky 500cc mx bike, the soon to be sold to me R6 and my track CB500, out of shot is my road CB500. I think we have a CB500 issue lol.
It was at this point we confirmed the fork stanchions are bent (we had out suspicions) so I need to get some straight ones from a breaker, got a lead on some already. Put it back together using some spare forks as a temp measure.
Moved onto the brakes. Put the new pads in, drained the old fluid and bled them up with the new RBF600 fluid. Also fitted the new disc.
Need to sort the forks before we do much more but getting there and still confident in getting to a track day this month
Sourced some forks for £30 which I'm picking up tomorrow. I'll only be using the stanchions so will keep the rest as spares.
I've also booked onto my first trackday. Mallory park on august 7th as it's taking a little longer to sort the bike. Should still be able to get 2 or 3 in this year I would hope.
Did my first trackday at Mallory today and loved it. Went into novices as it was my first full size track day but the pitbike supermoto i've been doing really stood me in good stead so I'll be making the move to inters next time. Although going around the outside of "fast" bikes on what is effetiveley a pizza delivery bike is quite good fun
Did my first trackday at Mallory today and loved it. Went into novices as it was my first full size track day but the pitbike supermoto i've been doing really stood me in good stead so I'll be making the move to inters next time. Although going around the outside of "fast" bikes on what is effetiveley a pizza delivery bike is quite good fun
Last night the bike looked like this....
At the end of the evening we had it sorted!
Got her lined up with some of the Thundersport lads.
by the end of the day i'd certainly given the tyres a workout
Picked up some lads from Yorkshire a few years back after they'd been into Hinckley for a couple of beers , they said they were racing two production Yamaha machines but were strapped for cash , said they were not looking forward to the esses part of the track due to the tires they'd got with them were well worn lol ....
Sitrep after the trackday : Engine is strong, no oil burnt which is good. Brakes are excellent with the race pads and the handling is good with the rebuilt forks. Clutch cable is a little stiff so I ordered a new clutch cable for £6 which i'll chuck on. I also sold another brake caliper from the spares package which went for £23.
Having run so well on track, I decided to give the old girl a bit of a spruce up. I've decided to go for Red, this was decided by a highly sophisticated approach..... ok, so it's because I had a couple of cans of Mazda "Classic red" in the shed so won't have to buy much paint. I've got the primer and laquer and so far have purchased two additional tins of paint so £13 cost for the paintjob if I don't need to buy more.
My keyless fuel filler also arrived from China so lobbed that on for now.
costs update
prev total - £1032.28
Clutch cable - £6
paint £13
parts sold
Caliper £23
New total £1028.28 not bad at all. I'm now happy with having bought this bike as i've now got what I believe would have cost more like £2K to buy one up to this spec ready done. Loads more spares still to flog too.
So, this is starting to look a bit better now. Aiming to get the tank and front mudguard done this weekend....
Sold a couple of pairs of grab rails from the spares package for a tenner and a trim piece for a rather shabby £1 in the week too, then bought the Honda decals for the tank for a couple of quid so the total is down to £1019.
Once it's painted up and the last of the salable spares are sold i'll stop tallying it up as it will show the cost of a pretty well specced track bike if you are prepared to put the effort in.
After that it'll just be maintenance and development which I can't be bothered to tally up the costs for as it'll depress me.
Made a start on the tank yesterday. Photos don't really show how bad it was but the issues were...
1. It's been painted silver badly with effectively no prep, runs etc all over it.
2. Petrol resistant laquer hasn't been used.
3. Petrol has clearly been spilt and left on it.
Leaving a dull, thick, mess.
Spend ages yesterday attacking it with various grades of wet and dry until I had a smooth surface. It's got a couple of dinks in it but that's ok as I don't need it perfect, just more presentable.
pics...
looks like it's been through a few colour changes as a race bike in it's time...
need to get some primer on there today and prep for top coat/petrol proof laquer.
Hope to get a bit more done tomorrow. Hoping to get a couple of winter track days in before hitting it up properly in spring.
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