Lego Motorcycle (non-VFR related)

Lego was my favourite toy as a kid. It was all I wanted for christmas and birthdays. I wasn't very good at "playing" with my creations, I just liked building them. I read recently that the founder of Lego is a billionaire and the wealthiest Dane. I guess I'm not the only kid who liked it.

I found myself in a toy store on Sunday and I couldn't stop myself from buying this kit. It's a fully functional streetfighter motorcycle with working suspension, a 3-cylinder motor with functioning 180' crank and pistons, primary drive, transmission countershaft, final drive and functional roller chain. The kit also has alternative instructions for a chopper-style bike, but fuck that, choppers are dumb.

I bet with an unlimited supply of technic parts in front of me I could build a wicked VFR1200... V4 engine, shaft drive and all.

Dear Santa: Please bring me a Lego Technic Unimog kit for Christmas. I've been a good boy and I promise to leave you gluten-free cookies and nonfat milk.

467 pieces, took about 2 hours total

Coming together nicely. You have to build the chain from individual links

Finished. I left out the corny decals

Yellow pistons, rods and crank are visible here

Yup... pretty badass

VFR1200F at the Dragstrip

I always wanted to try dragracing. Race City provides an easy and cheap introduction with their Friday night grudge racing known as "Secret Street". Every Friday night at 6pm in the summer, anyone can bring their car, truck or motorcycle to the strip, pay $25.00, go through a brief tech inspection and get 3 passes down the quarter mile, complete with time slips. It has a lot of support in the city, as it keeps the racing off public streets, and the enthusiasts love it because it sorts out the bullshitters.

I went out of curiosity with zero experience so I wasn't expecting to break any records but I wanted to run respectable times. My friend Brad wasn't able to go faster than 11.0 at 134MPH on his 2010 ZX10R and a little over 12 flat on his 2011 R1. The VFR doesn't have as much power as those litre bikes but I figured it would be easier to launch, with its long wheelbase and short first and second gears. I decided I would be happy with low 12s on my first try, and I'd be happy to be any faster than that.

There weren't many bikes around when I arrived, but soon an experienced drag racer with a heavily modified CBR1000RR showed up and was happy to give this first-timer some pointers. I didn't get his name... let's call him "Cletus". First and most important: Don't wait for the green; go when the bottom yellow is lit. There are four tenths of a second between the bottom yellow and the green; this is where your reaction time is measured. If you even see the green, you waited too long. He had never seen a VFR1200 before, but based on the large engine size and a lot of torque, he suggested that I would want to launch at about 3000RPM and feed the clutch out smoothly rather than pop it open. He showed me how to stage and where to do my burnout. I decided I wouldn't bother with a burnout. Tires are expensive and burnouts are messy.... I like to keep my 1200 clean. A burnout might gain me a couple tenths, but I wasn't here to compete, just for fun.

Bikes line up separately from the cars, and have to cut in when it's their turn. All of the bikes race at once, then the cars come back on.  Eventually another bike showed up (CBR600RR) we got our turn. Cletus said he would go first solo, then I would race the guy on the 600. He didn't think it would be a good idea for me to line up with him on my first try, because he would do a big burnout, and his bike would make a lot of noise which might "intimidate" me. I smiled and nodded... I appreciated his concern. (#rolleyes)

Cletus did his burnout with his wide drag tire and extended swingarm, staged, and laid down a 10.56. He said he could have done better, and he generally runs low 10s.

I lined up next to the guy on the 600RR, who had dragraced a few times before. I staged, held the revs at 3000, and when I saw the bottom yellow light fed out the clutch quickly and smoothly and fired off the line. The surface was sticky so I didn't spin much, just a little fishtail, and I didn't wheelie. I didn't see the green light, so I knew my R/T was good, and I didn't see the other bike, so I knew I beat him. I missed my shift and banged off the rev limiter in second so I knew I probably wasted a few tenths. I also shifted into 4th as I crossed the timing trap when I could have probably just over-revved a bit in third. The display board in my lane wasn't working so I couldn't see my time until I picked up my timeslip at the tower. 11.03@126! My "opponent" ran a 12.4. I was very pleased and it was a hell of a rush. I was excited for my next run.

Cletus looked in disbelief at this rookie's slip and decided that when we got our turn again he would line up against me. Some other bikes had shown up, mostly 600s and 750s. He told me that it's more fun to race someone with similar times, and while he would still "leave me in the dust" it would be closer than if he were to race the other bikes.

Our turn eventually came and I lined up against Cletus. I held the revs slightly higher (maybe 3300) and had another good launch, though I did spin and fishtail slightly more than the first run. Cletus didn't have a good launch. I saw him wheelie out of the corner of my right eye. Not a little wheelie where he floated the front end, but an out-of-control silly tire-spinning wheelie up over 45 degrees from the horizon and crashing down hard as he shut the throttle. If you've never witnessed a motorcycle with a stretched swingarm do a massive wheelstand, it's quite something to behold.  I held the throttle to the stop, kept my head down and  blasted through 400 metres. I kicked his ass! My time was 11.07 and his was 14.8. Granted, he made a big mistake but it still felt great. I think he wanted to teach this rookie a lesson and he got a little carried away.

When I circled back to the lineup Cletus was a bit humiliated and didn't really want to talk to me. I didn't want to wait around another 45 minutes for a third pass so I quit while I was ahead and went home with a sense of smug self-satisfaction.

I understand how people get addicted to this sport. It's not just a cheap thrill, but a precision contest between perfectionists, where every thousandth of a second counts. After only 1 pass, I was thinking about where I could have shaved tiny fractions of a second.

I had a great time trying a new sport and I exceeded my expectations. I like to imagine that the spectators (there were a lot) were bewildered at how this big red shaft-drive sport-touring bike was going faster than all the "crotch rockets". The fact is, the VFR1200 happens to have a few qualities that make it very quick in the quarter mile. Long wheelbase, short first and second gear, great traction, awesome power that builds quickly and a relatively aggressive riding position. If I could do 11.03 with no experience, no preparation (other than letting a few pounds of pressure out of the back tire) no burnout and a hard-compound touring tire, what could I do with some practice and sticky rubber? I think low 10s would be very achievable. That achievement, however, will remain in the realm of bullshit, because I don't plan on doing much more (if any more) drag racing on this bike. I really enjoyed myself, and the bike was quick, but I have to think that this is pretty brutal on the drivetrain and I don't want to subject the VFR to the abuse.

Still... I wouldn't mind seeing a "10" on a timeslip.

Tech Inspection

Waiting for other bikes to show up

long lineup of racers

 

Time Slips (I'm number 90)

The Skalkaho Pass

I finally got around to producing the footage of this crazy road from my trip last month:

link

Air Filter Change / Resonator Removal

It would ordinarily be a bit premature to change the air filter element, but my recent trip had me concerned. I rode on a number of dirt roads through a bunch of fine dust and I suspected that my filter would be clogged up.

The local Honda Powerhouse wanted $120 for a new filter which I found flat-out insulting, especially as someone who has recently bought a new motorcycle from them. I ordered it from Ronayers.com for less than half that price. I had to wait a couple weeks to get it but I didn't have any riding planned in that time. I will always give the local retailer the first opportunity to earn my business, and if it is even reasonably close to what I can pay online, even within 25%, I'll buy it locally. When the price is 100% higher, I'm afraid I can't justify buying local.

Lift the tank

Take the airbox cover off... here's the old filter.

Old filter on the left, new one on the right. It doesn't look especially dirty, but it was obvious by the weight. The old filter felt like it was at least double the weight of the new one. Its folds were packed with fine dust. I'm convinced that stock paper filters do a much better job at picking up fine dust than the oiled cloth filters from K&N, etc. You'll never see a K&N in one of my vehicles.

While I had the airbox open I decided to remove the resonators. As far as I can tell, they're there to tune the induction noise. From what I know of similar systems on cars, they are meant to reduce the "sucking" sound when the throttles are opened.

They came out easily, 2 small screws each. I took my time to clean the airbox, scoops, and velocity stacks, wiping up any residual dust and oil and even sucking up debris with a vaccuum cleaner.

I doubt that removing the resonators will make any performance difference whatsoever, but I do know that I haven't seen them in any of the supersports bikes I've owned. They do take up a lot of space in the airbox and probably generate a lot of turbulence. I started the engine up and cracked the throttle a few times to see if I could tell a difference in the sound. I'd like to think I can hear more of a "ssschwissshhhh" with the resonators out but would I be able to tell the difference in a double-blind scientific test? I'm not sure.  If I don't like it I can always put them back in.

I wonder what Honda's genius engineers would think of all the hacking up this roundeye bumpkin has done to their creation? I'd love a chance to talk to them all about it. If anyone from Honda reads this, my passport is up to date and I have some vacation days to use up this year. You're invited to fly me to Kumamoto for an all-expense paid tour VIP of the factory, as well as an exclusive meet and greet with the engineers where we will eat a bunch of sushi and get drunk.

Arigatou Gozaimasou (bows deeply)

Old Spiral Highway Video

http://vimeo.com/27959699

Beartooth Pass Video

http://www.vimeo.com/27905944

I deleted the youtube video and uploaded to Vimeo in full hd. Enjoy!

Power Commander V

While I was on holiday a package arrived from Bayside Performance. I've been interested in installing a PC5 on my VFR and I finally got around to ordering one.

What does it do?

It overrides the motorcycle's fuel injection system to alter the air/fuel ratio. It can be programmed at small incremental throttle openings in each gear.

Why install one?

Modern fuel-injected motorcycles must meet emissions standards and therefore have "lean spots" in the air/fuel map in order to pass the tests. A Power Commander with a proper map will eliminate the lean spots for an ideal air/fuel ratio and therefore improve performance and make the bike run more smoothly.

Fairings come off again... getting pretty quick at this now.

Honda left a perfect spot under the seat for a power commander

You need to pull the axle out of the tank to run the wires under it.

Plug and play.... almost.

This little hot-tap splices in to the throttle position wire.

Here's the fun part: installing the 02 optimizers. The rad needs to be partially removed to get your hands in there. The plugs can be dismounted from their frame bosses which makes them a little easier to work with.

I'm running the "jardine slip on, stock air filter" map from Dynojet. I can't imagine my Leo pipe really needing much different mapping. Maybe this winter if I've got money to burn I'll have a custom map done up. As long as the lean spots are tuned out I doubt anyone can tell the difference.

I went for a quick ride to try to feel the difference. It seemed to pull harder and more cleanly from lower revs, and the throttle reponse seemed crisper between 2500-5500RPM. I'll need to get it out for a proper ride to really evaluate the difference.

I have read some reports of the 02 optimizers throwing a fault code. Basically all they do is short out the 02 sensor signal to the ECM. Evidently, the VFR's computer is a little more sophisticated than they were expecting and isn't fooled by the optimizers. If I run into this problem I'll just hook the 02 sensors back up. My concern is that this will cause the PC5 and the ECU to "fight" over the fuel ratio and cause a surging. We shall see...

edit:  You'll probably need to zero out the throttle position on the power commander. Mine thought the throttle was open 5% when it was closed. CLick on "power commander tools>calibration tools>throttle calibration. Whatever the voltage reading is with your throttle closed, set that as the minimum. I think on mine it was 0.708 or something.