2fat2fly
Well-known member
Finished up the new bike the other night. Long process. Building it is almost as fun as racing it. Almost.
The GSXR turned out beautifully. It's almost too nice to race it. ALMOST.
Motorcycle Roadracing Garage
- Thread starter ekraft84
- Start date
The GSXR turned out beautifully. It's almost too nice to race it. ALMOST.
Idle Serge
Well-known member
Some awesome things are going on in here!
MachoManAndySavage
Member
Wow just went through this whole build...such a gorgeous garage. That floor came out amazing. Looks like thats something that you can do yourself but there is quite a difference when you have a pro come in and jam it out. Great work with everything in there and damn, those bikes! Great looking bikes (especially the Suzuki!) and you have some great shots of you and your dad on the track. Awesome thread! Lots of good ideas, great job!
Can you go into a little detail about the pans, trays, and other organization tools you use when you're tearing a bike apart? They don't teach you this stuff in books - but it can make the difference between spending 2 hours looking for that one circlip that rolled under a bench somewhere.
Any tips or tricks on what you use? I see some foil trays, pans, cutting boards? I can't tell exactly.
Any tips or tricks on what you use? I see some foil trays, pans, cutting boards? I can't tell exactly.
Thanks guys. 2Fat, exactly.
OSULemon - 2-3 Motion Pro magnetic parts trays, for bolts and all the sort. 4-5 brownie pans, 8.5x11 in size. I cut/glued clear, textured cabinet liner to the bottom of the trays. To top off the OCD, I put a team sticker underneath the liner of each one.
When we're disassembling a bike, everything gets labeled and put in a tray, bin, or zip-lock bag. This year especially with two bike builds going on at the same time, it's easy to get lost on what goes where, for which bike. Whenever possible, we put bolts back on the bike/frame/etc. so when we reinstall a piece later, it's there and hasn't gone running off somewhere.
Foil trays are for things involving fluid. Oil, brake bleeding, fuel-related stuff, etc. Easy to dump and clean for use again.
Cutting boards are for anything using blades obviously - cutting hoses, stickers, etc. One is a cheap one from Target. The other, I made for my mom in highschool - and persuaded her to let me take it back.
You would think that with the thick clear covering on the butcher block tops, I'd have no problem cutting and hammering right on that. Truth however is, if we're swapping wheel bearings or doing something sharp/dirty/with propane, etc. I have a stack of rags/towels to lay over the covering to protect it from getting terribly distorted.
It's a problem I have, I realize.
OSULemon - 2-3 Motion Pro magnetic parts trays, for bolts and all the sort. 4-5 brownie pans, 8.5x11 in size. I cut/glued clear, textured cabinet liner to the bottom of the trays. To top off the OCD, I put a team sticker underneath the liner of each one.
When we're disassembling a bike, everything gets labeled and put in a tray, bin, or zip-lock bag. This year especially with two bike builds going on at the same time, it's easy to get lost on what goes where, for which bike. Whenever possible, we put bolts back on the bike/frame/etc. so when we reinstall a piece later, it's there and hasn't gone running off somewhere.
Foil trays are for things involving fluid. Oil, brake bleeding, fuel-related stuff, etc. Easy to dump and clean for use again.
Cutting boards are for anything using blades obviously - cutting hoses, stickers, etc. One is a cheap one from Target. The other, I made for my mom in highschool - and persuaded her to let me take it back.
You would think that with the thick clear covering on the butcher block tops, I'd have no problem cutting and hammering right on that. Truth however is, if we're swapping wheel bearings or doing something sharp/dirty/with propane, etc. I have a stack of rags/towels to lay over the covering to protect it from getting terribly distorted.
It's a problem I have, I realize.
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Not a ton has been happening to the garage, but I thought I'd share a few photos from the start of our season so far:
At the dyno getting the power sorted out:
First race weekend. A GSX-R750 in the middle of two 1000's. We would win this race by .045 seconds at the line:
Trying to go faster:
This isn't necessarily helping:
Last weekend down at Road Atlanta testing:
Dad doing work on the suspension:
Next week we race down in Atlanta. Can't wait to go back. The garage will be busy with activity between now and then and I'll try to snap some shots of it in the process.
At the dyno getting the power sorted out:
First race weekend. A GSX-R750 in the middle of two 1000's. We would win this race by .045 seconds at the line:
Trying to go faster:
This isn't necessarily helping:
Last weekend down at Road Atlanta testing:
Dad doing work on the suspension:
Next week we race down in Atlanta. Can't wait to go back. The garage will be busy with activity between now and then and I'll try to snap some shots of it in the process.
bochnak
Well-known member
WOW. Looks great!
TheClaw
Well-known member
Just read thru the whole thread. Awesome build and sounds like you are on to a great season with a great list of sponsors and support. Spent a lot of time at Grattan, mostly on my Ducati's. Raced CCS for a year (before the kids were born) but a highside in 9 ( 
) convinced me that track days were a lot more fun. I'll leave the racing for the young guns.
Good luck this season. Going to be fun following it. You have a FB page where you post updates?
Jeff
) convinced me that track days were a lot more fun. I'll leave the racing for the young guns.Good luck this season. Going to be fun following it. You have a FB page where you post updates?
Jeff
TheClaw
Well-known member
Found your FB page 
bww_mnm
Well-known member
I always look fwd to your updates. Keep 'em coming.
Just read thru the whole thread. Awesome build and sounds like you are on to a great season with a great list of sponsors and support. Spent a lot of time at Grattan, mostly on my Ducati's. Raced CCS for a year (before the kids were born) but a highside in 9 (
Good luck this season. Going to be fun following it. You have a FB page where you post updates?
Jeff
Thanks Jeff. There's a team FB page (Witchkraft Racing) that my brother posts to, along with my own personal one.
Nice, on getting to Grattan. The bus stop can be a tricky turn for sure. Our first race there we ran the track counter-clockwise. Our next visit back will be clockwise. It's like two completely different tracks!
Crescent for the ceiling lights. Going flush cost a little more than conventional lights, but I like the look.
I wish I had put a couple more in at the time. Can never have too much light.
Below is some data from our test at Atlanta last week. It's telemetry showing a number of variables such as RPM, TPS (throttle position), gear, speed and more for a given track and/or corner.
The circled points are showing upshifts at 100% throttle and what RPM they occurred at. As you can see, they weren't all optimal:
Here you can see the difference in my best lap, where the shift points were more accurate - around 14,500k, and how that translates to increased speed.
There's no excuse really, other than on the previous bikes I could tell by the sound of the engine where to shift, as it had become second nature. On this new bike, I'm still figuring it out and need to look at the tach more, to ensure I'm shifting at the proper RPM to maximize speed for now.
We go back and race at Atlanta next weekend, so we're hoping to put some of this data to good use.
The circled points are showing upshifts at 100% throttle and what RPM they occurred at. As you can see, they weren't all optimal:
Here you can see the difference in my best lap, where the shift points were more accurate - around 14,500k, and how that translates to increased speed.
There's no excuse really, other than on the previous bikes I could tell by the sound of the engine where to shift, as it had become second nature. On this new bike, I'm still figuring it out and need to look at the tach more, to ensure I'm shifting at the proper RPM to maximize speed for now.
We go back and race at Atlanta next weekend, so we're hoping to put some of this data to good use.
TheClaw
Well-known member
I re-read my post, the highside was at Blackhawk (yeah, i made it sound like Grattan but my brain had shifted gears). You're right about bus stop at Grattan, usually the problem there is just coming in too hot. The Ducati club would run the second day of our rally counter clockwise at Grattan. Loved coming out of 5 and hitting the bump.
Telemetry pretty cool stuff.
Jeff
Telemetry pretty cool stuff.
Jeff
sbhockey
Well-known member
I do miss Grattan. Might try to make a trip back up just to turn some laps there. Always thought of it as a paved MX track with all the blind turns and elevation change.
markito - Not a ton over the summer, unfortunately. I've been spending much of my time racing for the most part this summer, but the garage has been a great place to work on the bikes.
I have been waiting on the cabinet guy for awhile now, to finish off the other side of the garage. I think the cabinet work thus far may have been more work than he anticipated, as I can't get him back out here. And I'm not sure I can find someone else to duplicate his work, as they were built from scratch.
A couple random notes - I love the air compressor. Been using it all summer - works great (for my needs) and is extremely quiet. Thanks also to fredtech for the suggestion of the rubber mat on the lift table. Excellent addition. Easy to keep clean and super durable - even to brake fluid!
A few photos posted below. Looking for some creative ideas if you have any:
A bit messy, but a look at the one side of the garage. Half of the remaining cabinets are supposed to go where the NGK banner is. Full height, to the window trim you can barely see on the left side of the photo. The adjacent wall with bike photos looks boring to me. Thinking of either painting it darker, or doing something completely different. Any suggestions?
Not much has changed here. I'd like to do a back splash here of some sort. Suggestions welcome.
Rubber mat on lift table works great. Note new bodywork on one of the Zook's, as I ended up on my **** earlier in the season.
I had to do something, so I recently screwed a bunch of plaques to the wall. Pre-drilled two holes in each plaque, and leveled each one to the wall before mounting. Even spacing between speaker and red stripe. OCD at its finest.
Clean bikes are happy bikes:
Leading at Pittsburgh International Raceway::
I have been waiting on the cabinet guy for awhile now, to finish off the other side of the garage. I think the cabinet work thus far may have been more work than he anticipated, as I can't get him back out here.
And I'm not sure I can find someone else to duplicate his work, as they were built from scratch.A couple random notes - I love the air compressor. Been using it all summer - works great (for my needs) and is extremely quiet. Thanks also to fredtech for the suggestion of the rubber mat on the lift table. Excellent addition. Easy to keep clean and super durable - even to brake fluid!
A few photos posted below. Looking for some creative ideas if you have any:
A bit messy, but a look at the one side of the garage. Half of the remaining cabinets are supposed to go where the NGK banner is. Full height, to the window trim you can barely see on the left side of the photo. The adjacent wall with bike photos looks boring to me. Thinking of either painting it darker, or doing something completely different. Any suggestions?
Not much has changed here. I'd like to do a back splash here of some sort. Suggestions welcome.
Rubber mat on lift table works great. Note new bodywork on one of the Zook's, as I ended up on my **** earlier in the season.
I had to do something, so I recently screwed a bunch of plaques to the wall. Pre-drilled two holes in each plaque, and leveled each one to the wall before mounting. Even spacing between speaker and red stripe. OCD at its finest.
Clean bikes are happy bikes:
Leading at Pittsburgh International Raceway::
patrickg20
Well-known member
- Joined
- Oct 4, 2013
- Messages
- 509
Man that is one sweet setup. I love it! Nice bikes too!
Good so far, thanks. We've won two WERA Championships (1000 Superstock and 750 Superstock) this season and next head to the Grand National Finals (at Barber Motorsports Park) later this month.
The Suzuki platform itself is very solid. The engine is a rocket (built by MCJ Motorsports/Vesrah Suzuki), which has been the most fun, coming from a 600. There's still improvements we're finding in both the bike and my riding, but it's coming along nicely. We recently found some setup info that has proven beneficial, so I think as we start to piece what we've learned and work on it over the winter, it'll be an even better package against the 1000's next season (and at the GNF this season too!).
Here's a photo that went out to sponsors earlier this morning. Similar garage shot as the previous photo, but with both bikes this time.
Tronyadorable
Banned
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2014
- Messages
- 1,170
Class act. A true pro operation !
thetastelingers
Well-known member
I dig the color combo. The garage looks great! Good decisions.
I have a couple of those plaques from when I raced. We used to call those kindling. LOL
Keep up the good work!
I have a couple of those plaques from when I raced. We used to call those kindling. LOL
Keep up the good work!
We do too.
They don't do trophies like they used to (the bigger ones are in the basement), so plaques for wins now. The 2nd place plaques are place holders and the 3rd place ones never get displayed - they just make me upset.
Superbike Planet on the artwork.
[
Wheels back from power coating:
.....things do!
Ok, where could I get a Yoshimura wall piece like that ? I have only seen banners out there.
Great looking garage and bikes!
EDIT... I just saw I can buy it from yosh direct!
shade
Well-known member
Whats the bike put out on the dyno?
Curious is the ****** undercut on the 750's?
Curious is the ****** undercut on the 750's?
Good power.
Transmission isn't undercut. Haven't had any issue shifting (as of yet anyway), where that would be needed.
Couple minor updates recently. Rather than use a can of safety wire to hold the door open, with a plastic bottle to stop it from putting a hole in the wall - I finally put on a door stop and bumper. Earlier in the garage process, we flipped the door, so it opens against the wall and not into the cabinets. Even without the cabinets, it never made sense how the door opened previously. It was like you were walking into a wall when opening it.
After that, mounted two stainless kick plates on both doors (other one, leading into the house), given they are white and all. Gives a nice finished look.
Also in the second photo below, the white 2-gang box on the wall was updated (thanks dad). Forgot to take a close-up, but replaced the standard on/off with an interval timer, for the wall-light mounted outside the door. I would never use the light, for fear of forgetting to turn it off - and I didn't want them on the same timer with the lights at the front of the garage (which turn on each night), as it wasn't necessary. Now I can set the outside light for 5, 10, 20 or 30 minutes and forget about it. It's good when leaving for work/gym early in the morning, when it's cold out and the garage doors stay closed, when expecting people over, etc.
Yes, I see the bit of red paint that made it onto the white molding. It's on my to-do list.
Hard to see, but an interval timer was mounted on the wall to control the outside light for 5, 10, 20 or 30 minutes:
On this calendar, it's always April.
Next up, power/plugs on the lift. Computer setup. And maybe finishing the cabinets! I actually talked to the cabinet guy the other day after a couple months of him being MIA, so I'm cautiously optimistic they might get finished in 2014.
Thanks for reading.
After that, mounted two stainless kick plates on both doors (other one, leading into the house), given they are white and all. Gives a nice finished look.
Also in the second photo below, the white 2-gang box on the wall was updated (thanks dad). Forgot to take a close-up, but replaced the standard on/off with an interval timer, for the wall-light mounted outside the door. I would never use the light, for fear of forgetting to turn it off - and I didn't want them on the same timer with the lights at the front of the garage (which turn on each night), as it wasn't necessary. Now I can set the outside light for 5, 10, 20 or 30 minutes and forget about it. It's good when leaving for work/gym early in the morning, when it's cold out and the garage doors stay closed, when expecting people over, etc.
Yes, I see the bit of red paint that made it onto the white molding. It's on my to-do list.
Hard to see, but an interval timer was mounted on the wall to control the outside light for 5, 10, 20 or 30 minutes:
On this calendar, it's always April.
Next up, power/plugs on the lift. Computer setup. And maybe finishing the cabinets! I actually talked to the cabinet guy the other day after a couple months of him being MIA, so I'm cautiously optimistic they might get finished in 2014.
Thanks for reading.
Frank Dukes
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2014
- Messages
- 178
awesome stuff. love the bikes and the garage
Thank you Frank.
Here are a couple photos of the electrical outlets finished up on the lift. Initially when cutting concrete, we ran wire through PVC in the floor for this. Only recently did we get around to finishing them up (extension cords were becoming frustrating). One side is a GFI, so if either plugs gets wet (when fully lowered into the pit), it will trip accordingly.
Overall, nice to have when working on the bikes - using an impact wrench, among other tools.
I'm regretting not running electrical through the floor, on the other side of the pit, where the larger workbench/table w/chairs are. Powering that floating bench would have been nice. Oh well.
delirium330
Member
Nice garage man! I'm remodeling mine now and taking pointers from you. Can I ask what Park Tool bike vise/stand that is in post #218 bolted to the island/table? I've never seen a product like that from them and I've been meaning to buy a full work stand but really like this option.
Kevkx125
Well-known member
Delirium330 try this http://www.parktool.com/category/bench-wall-mount-stands
dhubbard422
Well-known member
It's hard, if not impossible, to predict in advance everywhere you'll need/want power and/or air. Would it be easier to add power from the ceiling? If yes, perhaps a retractable cord reel above the bench would be an acceptable solution?
Congrats! On your season so far and best wishes at the Finals!
delirium330
Member
Great, thanks. How has your guys experience been using these bench/wall mounts versus a typical free-standing version? Other than the portability downside...
dubber
Well-known member
Love that last round of overall garage shots. And congrats on the season!
Just got my Yoshimura wall piece from Yoshimura... Hopefully it will look as nice as it does in your garage
I like the electrical outlets on the lift
I've only used the bench mount. It went in a good location in the garage, where I have room to work on the bike, along with plenty of bench space for any parts.
I end up just leaving the bike mounted up in it, when not using it.