ok, This is going to be a long one, and i plan on it growing and updating often. I know i've spoken with a few of you and brought up my project SP1 and every now and then post some pictures of some parts i've come across.
Well i finally took some time and got some pics to start my Official SP1 project thread
HISTORY
First off, a little bike history. The bike has had two previous owners. The first was Nick Ienatsch, 2 time AMA champion, motorcycle journalist, and lead instructor at Freddie Spencer's riding school. He sold the bike to an older man Named Henry who i bought the bike from with about 4000 miles on it. Most of it's life was spent as a track bike and came with Nick's track fairings. In fact if you have read or seen Nick's book "Sport Riding Techniques" the RC51 he rides throughout the book.....is my RC. Cosmetically the bike was in a bit rough shape when i bought it (damaged tank and a couple scraped fairings), but ran perfect.
DSCF0280 by gts455, on Flickr
Pic of Nick's Fairings
I bought it and first rode it with the intent of it being my cheap track bike and possible daily commuter ride.....that soon changed as i fell in love with it. Most fun bike i've ever ridden, everytime i ride it i feel like i'm on a WSBK replica. At the time i had a pristine and slightly tuned R6 (sold) and a pristine tuned Aprilia Mille R which i still have. I was a die hard Aprilia nut and was big on Motorcycle racing. I began to research the RC51 Racing heritage and HRC and really fell more in love with what the bike was. Come to find out these are getting rare and parts are even rarer, and thats when i decided to completely go through the bike and rebuild it into a weekend Canyon racer/HRC Endurance Racer wannabe.
Project Begins
I began going through the bike to see what it needed and began to realize it had been dumped in some runoff a few times at the track etc. I found torn wires and rotted wire insulation. Radiator hoses were rotted and beginning to tear as well. My original undertail was a cheap ebay one and i did not take my time wiring it up. I also followed the hotbodies instructions which was a big mistake and cut the battery tray to short. it worked but it was messy and honestly i'm embarrassed to have initially done that work.
DSCF0274 by gts455, on Flickr
You can see all the runoff from being laid down on the track on top of the engine case, notice the residue from leaks on the Thermostat. Also there is grease and grime everywhere from a leaky fuel tank
The bike had a few subtle goodies (race wheels, aftermarket sprockets in stock 16/40 gearing with DID 530 chain, Heli bars clip ons, Arrow Slip ons, galfer braided front brake lines, originally a Hyperpro Steering damper which had blown seal, and everything had been drilled and safety wired) None of the free mods were done. When i bought the bike from the Henry he did not know much of what had been done to it, except that it was maintained by Nick's friend who was a previous Factory team Suzuki mechanic on the racebike. He knew it had wheels but did not know what kind etc.
So i've been left in the dark as far as what has actually previously been done to it. I had contacted Nick and he did confirm the bike was truly his but could not remember how it was tuned etc.
My initial year of owning the bike in Aug 2009-Aug 2010 i made a few upgrades (pair removal, flapper removal, air filter mod, Galfer rotors/Galfer sintered pads, a GPR damper, Pazzo levers, Tyga carbon front fender, Magicalracing Rear hugger)
DSCF0020 by gts455, on Flickr
The SP1 on Memorial day 2010 after the initial mods
Right before i deployed in August 2010 i had an issue where my bike would shut off while shifting past neutral into first gear. Figured out it was the ignition coils and tore the bike down before i left. While i was away i had time to research and buy parts (a good amount of parts)....probably too much time and came back with a plan and route i wanted to go with the bike.
About a month ago i finally finished moving into my new house and began to tear the bike down and clean/rebuild. it's going to be a long while till it's done but so far i'm having a blast working on and learning this bike inside and out.
So far this is what i've gotten done this month-
-Completely re wired the bike using an HRC Basic Racer harness and adding in a seperate completely stand alone and detachable Harness for Running lights, brake lights, and manual fan switch. wired in Tach, speedo, and oil pressure. Also relocated ECU next to battery and a few of the relays to clean and organize it
-installed Turnone Snorkel
-Mounted Ethos Design Full titanium Banzai mount Exhaust
-Replaced rearsets with TSR Rearsets based off the HRC spec rearsets
-Replaced top triple clamp with Tyga ignition less.
-Complete SP2 rear swap utilizing SP2 subframe, battery tray, and hotbodies undertail. Had to swap to an SP2 Rectifier as well.
DSCF0262 by gts455, on Flickr
Bike as it sits today
DSCF0268 by gts455, on Flickr
SP2 rear all re wired and re organized
DSCF0270 by gts455, on Flickr
TSR rearset
DSCF0265 by gts455, on Flickr
Tyga top clamp
DSCF0264 by gts455, on Flickr
Turnone Snorkel
Goodies Already bought waiting to go on
-Turnone airbox
-Moriwaki Stage one Cams
-HRC 1/6 turn Throttle
-New cush drive bearings for PVM wheels
-HRC overflow bottles
-PCIII
-Framesliders
-Seat/Tank quick release pins
-04 Hayden Tank Replacement with keyless fuel cap and HRC tank pad
-manual fan toggle switch with carbon fiber handlebar mount, next to clutch lever
-Matris Damper
-New SP1 SE rear cowl
-Scotts ignition stick conversion
-Samco Hose kit
-TSR Slave cylinder
Future purchase in the works when funds are available
-Endurance style Front fairing
-Nitron rear shock
-Fork Cartridge kit
-Rear Link
-15T/41 530 gearing with DID chain
-Rear braided brake line
-Dunlop Q2 tires
- in the far future i'd like to do some upgraded radial calipers and rotors
- and i'm sure there will be much more as i read more threads from all the cool stuff i've seen come out of this forum and speedzilla
Well i finally took some time and got some pics to start my Official SP1 project thread
HISTORY
First off, a little bike history. The bike has had two previous owners. The first was Nick Ienatsch, 2 time AMA champion, motorcycle journalist, and lead instructor at Freddie Spencer's riding school. He sold the bike to an older man Named Henry who i bought the bike from with about 4000 miles on it. Most of it's life was spent as a track bike and came with Nick's track fairings. In fact if you have read or seen Nick's book "Sport Riding Techniques" the RC51 he rides throughout the book.....is my RC. Cosmetically the bike was in a bit rough shape when i bought it (damaged tank and a couple scraped fairings), but ran perfect.
DSCF0280 by gts455, on Flickr
Pic of Nick's Fairings
I bought it and first rode it with the intent of it being my cheap track bike and possible daily commuter ride.....that soon changed as i fell in love with it. Most fun bike i've ever ridden, everytime i ride it i feel like i'm on a WSBK replica. At the time i had a pristine and slightly tuned R6 (sold) and a pristine tuned Aprilia Mille R which i still have. I was a die hard Aprilia nut and was big on Motorcycle racing. I began to research the RC51 Racing heritage and HRC and really fell more in love with what the bike was. Come to find out these are getting rare and parts are even rarer, and thats when i decided to completely go through the bike and rebuild it into a weekend Canyon racer/HRC Endurance Racer wannabe.
Project Begins
I began going through the bike to see what it needed and began to realize it had been dumped in some runoff a few times at the track etc. I found torn wires and rotted wire insulation. Radiator hoses were rotted and beginning to tear as well. My original undertail was a cheap ebay one and i did not take my time wiring it up. I also followed the hotbodies instructions which was a big mistake and cut the battery tray to short. it worked but it was messy and honestly i'm embarrassed to have initially done that work.
DSCF0274 by gts455, on Flickr
You can see all the runoff from being laid down on the track on top of the engine case, notice the residue from leaks on the Thermostat. Also there is grease and grime everywhere from a leaky fuel tank
The bike had a few subtle goodies (race wheels, aftermarket sprockets in stock 16/40 gearing with DID 530 chain, Heli bars clip ons, Arrow Slip ons, galfer braided front brake lines, originally a Hyperpro Steering damper which had blown seal, and everything had been drilled and safety wired) None of the free mods were done. When i bought the bike from the Henry he did not know much of what had been done to it, except that it was maintained by Nick's friend who was a previous Factory team Suzuki mechanic on the racebike. He knew it had wheels but did not know what kind etc.
So i've been left in the dark as far as what has actually previously been done to it. I had contacted Nick and he did confirm the bike was truly his but could not remember how it was tuned etc.
My initial year of owning the bike in Aug 2009-Aug 2010 i made a few upgrades (pair removal, flapper removal, air filter mod, Galfer rotors/Galfer sintered pads, a GPR damper, Pazzo levers, Tyga carbon front fender, Magicalracing Rear hugger)
DSCF0020 by gts455, on Flickr
The SP1 on Memorial day 2010 after the initial mods
Right before i deployed in August 2010 i had an issue where my bike would shut off while shifting past neutral into first gear. Figured out it was the ignition coils and tore the bike down before i left. While i was away i had time to research and buy parts (a good amount of parts)....probably too much time and came back with a plan and route i wanted to go with the bike.
About a month ago i finally finished moving into my new house and began to tear the bike down and clean/rebuild. it's going to be a long while till it's done but so far i'm having a blast working on and learning this bike inside and out.
So far this is what i've gotten done this month-
-Completely re wired the bike using an HRC Basic Racer harness and adding in a seperate completely stand alone and detachable Harness for Running lights, brake lights, and manual fan switch. wired in Tach, speedo, and oil pressure. Also relocated ECU next to battery and a few of the relays to clean and organize it
-installed Turnone Snorkel
-Mounted Ethos Design Full titanium Banzai mount Exhaust
-Replaced rearsets with TSR Rearsets based off the HRC spec rearsets
-Replaced top triple clamp with Tyga ignition less.
-Complete SP2 rear swap utilizing SP2 subframe, battery tray, and hotbodies undertail. Had to swap to an SP2 Rectifier as well.
DSCF0262 by gts455, on Flickr
Bike as it sits today
DSCF0268 by gts455, on Flickr
SP2 rear all re wired and re organized
DSCF0270 by gts455, on Flickr
TSR rearset
DSCF0265 by gts455, on Flickr
Tyga top clamp
DSCF0264 by gts455, on Flickr
Turnone Snorkel
Goodies Already bought waiting to go on
-Turnone airbox
-Moriwaki Stage one Cams
-HRC 1/6 turn Throttle
-New cush drive bearings for PVM wheels
-HRC overflow bottles
-PCIII
-Framesliders
-Seat/Tank quick release pins
-04 Hayden Tank Replacement with keyless fuel cap and HRC tank pad
-manual fan toggle switch with carbon fiber handlebar mount, next to clutch lever
-Matris Damper
-New SP1 SE rear cowl
-Scotts ignition stick conversion
-Samco Hose kit
-TSR Slave cylinder
Future purchase in the works when funds are available
-Endurance style Front fairing
-Nitron rear shock
-Fork Cartridge kit
-Rear Link
-15T/41 530 gearing with DID chain
-Rear braided brake line
-Dunlop Q2 tires
- in the far future i'd like to do some upgraded radial calipers and rotors
- and i'm sure there will be much more as i read more threads from all the cool stuff i've seen come out of this forum and speedzilla