The "things not to do in the middle of track days" thread

[xxaarraa]

Of all the things I have seen being done between sessions on track days, this one takes the cake. For witness protection reasons, the person in this report will only be referred to as "Max Power." I know that also sounds like it could be his porn name, but it works in this context

Max Power and I go out to ride the second session of the morning, we are both riding moderate expert trackday pace, nothing crazy. Max Power pits in and says "I feel like my bike is dancing around, I need to take out some fork oil!" Before I could say "say whaaaaat!?" he disappears into his motor home and reappears with what looks like a huge turkey baster. He then quickly cannibalizes his home-made extended run kit for a generator, recruits a fellow rider into Max Power & Associates, and proceeds with this:



Miraculously, he puts the bike back together and goes out riding the next session. Now, as an Aprilia owner, I have also been guilty of doing some unwise pit-side maintenance between sessions. But this between-session fork oil extraction with self-fabricated tools is beyond my skillage. And totally bada$$.

P.S: No trackday riders were hurt and this is all in good fun.

[Petorius]

I'm curious about the diagnosis. If only this mysterious badass also happened to be a member of NESR, maybe we could get some detail. Was this part of an ongoing tuning process? Seems like an odd choice of variable to manipulate on the fly for a bike that I'm assuming has lots of adjustability.

[Chippertheripper]

As a former track day enthusiast I'm going to file this under

As long as nobody's safety was compromised this is just business as usual.
I hope that doesn't sound too brash.

[TheIglu]

As long as he wasn't running a carb'd bike. That's just insanity right there. HOW DO THEY WORK?

[Chippertheripper]

As long as he wasn't running a carb'd bike. That's just insanity right there. HOW DO THEY WORK?

Magnets?

[TheIglu]

Spot on, Chip. Spot on. You know my feel.

[number9]

Magnets?

What are you, a moron?

They run on gnomes. Lots of little gnomes.

[R7]

The question is, does Shell make fork oil?

[aldend123]

Sounds like you need to hang around with more DIY types. That seems pretty normal considering he's paying $X to be there for the day, spent the time to drive out and unload - might as well make the bike feel right. I was at a dirt bike race and there was a guy in the pits changing his clutch between classes, bike laid on it's side on the lawn. No sense in letting that waste the day.

[GixerJockey]

I don't understand why this is a thing "not " to do. If it was necessary, and he was capable, whats wrong?

[tsorfas]

I assume the reason why this is considered not to be done is because you assume/know the guy is not capable of doing such suspension adjustments on his own.

But if he does then there's nothing wrong with that. People have done way more serious stuff mid day (rebuilding forks, changing springs).

I actually know of a hawk guy who has taken most of motor apart and put pack together during lunch lol

[xxaarraa]

I don't understand why this is a thing "not " to do. If it was necessary, and he was capable, whats wrong?

Sounds like you need to hang around with more DIY types. That seems pretty normal considering he's paying $X to be there for the day, spent the time to drive out and unload - might as well make the bike feel right. I was at a dirt bike race and there was a guy in the pits changing his clutch between classes, bike laid on it's side on the lawn. No sense in letting that waste the day.

Max Power is quite capable, I've seen him do other things track side.

I just thought the turkey baster fork extraction between sessions was funny is all.

[Kurlon]

Have you seen the official tool for that job? Instead of a turkey baster it uses a large syringe. Attached to the business end is a long metal tube and a sliding hight stop. Suck away!

[TheIglu]

Max Power is quite capable, I've seen him do other things track side.

I just thought the turkey baster fork extraction between sessions was funny is all.

That's what I use.

[nhbubba]

Looks like a large syringe to me. Perfect tool for a job like that. Reminds me that I need to buy one.

[nhbubba]

Have you seen the official tool for that job? Instead of a turkey baster it uses a large syringe. Attached to the business end is a long metal tube and a sliding hight stop. Suck away!

The more I look, the more it looks like that is exactly what he has. What I can't figure out is that it looks like the cap to a VP fuel jug is involved somehow?! Is that some sort of fork cap tool?

[Kurlon]

Looks like a large syringe to me. Perfect tool for a job like that. Reminds me that I need to buy one.

Tractor Supply is supposedly a good source for them, my last batch was a combo of gifts from Doug Sheppo and our local vet. All sorts of uses for helping with bike work.

[aldend123]

If anyone's having trouble finding general purpose syringes, you can get 'em on Amazon.

[nhbubba]

I've tried several Tractor Supply stores. None seem to carry them.

Let me tell you, you get one hell of a dirty look these days when you ask for "the biggest syringe you sell" while standing there in a motorcycle jacket holding a helmet. "Sir, we cannot sell you the needles." Uhm, yeah, okay.

Amazon is my next step. I keep forgetting to mix one into the order when I am ordering stuff.

I really want to try reverse brake bleeding. Maybe I'll do it in the middle of a track day.

[JettaJayGLS]

I

I really want to try reverse brake bleeding. Maybe I'll do it in the middle of a track day.

That's how you bleed hydro brakes on bicycles. Its unbelievable efficient. I don't see any reason they you can't do it on a motorcycle. Do they sell threaded bleeder values?

[JohnnyV]

The question is, does Shell make fork oil?

Rotella > Shell

Wanna fight?

[TheIglu]

Rotella = Shell.

Der.

[Ductard]

I'm curious about the diagnosis. If only this mysterious badass also happened to be a member of NESR, maybe we could get some detail. Was this part of an ongoing tuning process? Seems like an odd choice of variable to manipulate on the fly for a bike that I'm assuming has lots of adjustability.

Lol...guess I'm "Max Powers"

This was one of several adjustments that were made to try to dial in the suspension.

I'm not aware of another adjustment that will do *exactly* the same thing as adjusting the fork oil. Softer springs will be softer through the entire stroke. Less compression dampening let you use more stroke but will affect other things.

[Ductard]

The more I look, the more it looks like that is exactly what he has. What I can't figure out is that it looks like the cap to a VP fuel jug is involved somehow?! Is that some sort of fork cap tool?

That's a homemade fork oil adjustment tool make from a homemade extended run generator kit and a homemade reverse bleed kit. Hence the VP jug (I use a different one for filling the bike, I hate the VP because it's so easy to over-fill). Yes, that's a syringe and not a turkey baster.

A couple things I guess XXaarraa didn't know:

1. That is pretty darn close in form and function to the real deal . Right down to the hose clamp that sat on top of the fork tube to keep the tube insertion equal from one side to the other. The one thing that made it harder to use was that a hose clamp wouldn't keep that hose on the luer lock syringe, so it kept popping out.

2. Fork oil height is one of those things where you, adjust it, ride it to see how it feels, adjust again if necessary, so trackside it makes sense. I don't think people do it very often and it's a lot more involved than turning a clicker, but if you're going to do it it makes more sense than doing it where you can't test it.

[Ductard]

I've tried several Tractor Supply stores. None seem to carry them.

Let me tell you, you get one hell of a dirty look these days when you ask for "the biggest syringe you sell" while standing there in a motorcycle jacket holding a helmet. "Sir, we cannot sell you the needles." Uhm, yeah, okay.

Amazon is my next step. I keep forgetting to mix one into the order when I am ordering stuff.

I really want to try reverse brake bleeding. Maybe I'll do it in the middle of a track day.

as others have mentioned, amazon.com is the way to go for syringes.

My one piece of advice is to get a hose clamp that will hold the hose on the bleeder valve. Otherwise, you just pull air in from around the sides of the valve.

I bought one of those mighti-vacs and I got the syringe afterwards, I like it better....If you somehow manage to get brake fluid past the little bottle on the mighty-vac that catches it, the vac becomes a brake-fluid gun......

If you get really fancy, at the very end after you (slightly overfill and) seal the master cylinder reservior, you put a few pounds of vacuum on it so that your brake pads get sucked back away from the rotor when you release the brakes. The mighty-vac has a dial guage on it so you can set it to a certain vacuum value. I never got to that point though, because the issue of bubbles going around the bleeder valve made that dial useless, and putting a vacuum on the system would have increased the chance that one of those bubbles got sucked into the brake line as soon as I stopped pumping.