component fail then crash

Not a good idea, we torque the wire every wheel change because the rules say wire.
Is it required to keep
It there? Nope, not if torqued properly but we torque AND wire because it is required.

Every rider and crew cheifs preride should include a once over to make sure all axle and brake bolts are tight. Safety wire makes that a visual check.

Hell we torqul Caliper bolts on all customer bikes just because and I still do a once over on them even if I do the work myself before it leaves the shop.

 

+1 on this. I've never seen a correctly torqued fastener work its way loose, and I always used safety wire as visual confirmation that the correct torque was applied. Correctly torqued means more than a reading on a torque wrench, it also means clean, dry male and female threads in very good condition. I always kept the bike manufacturer's fastener torque chart on the table in our pit, and we quickly stopped using Ti fasteners because of the discrepancy in required torque to the OEM SS fasteners. One less variable for no gain in a club racing situation using titanium to save a few grams.
Someone else here mentioned distractions as well, it used to drive me nuts having people try to talk to me when I'm working in our pit. Sorry to be rude, but what I'm doing is critically important. Have fun later.

 

I hade a set of auto bleeders, just loosen them up and they have a 1 way valve built in so you can pump fluid through. A bolt or maybe a rock came off a bike in front of me and cracked the bleeder, 2 corners later i grabbed the front brake and it came to the handle bar and I was on my head. Lesson for me is no more auto bleeders (even if they are cool).

 

Safety wire saved my ass this weekend at Tally with AHRMA. I looked over my bike after the VIR endurance and everything looked fine. (Dry belly pan and everything) I noticed a shiny spot in my belly pan Saturday waiting on my race, which was not there after Friday practice. I removed the pan to figure out where the oil came from and noticed it dripping from between my oil filter (Suzuki Filter) and engine. It had come loose at some point during Saturday morning practice. This is after Friday practice at VIR, 2hr 45min of endurance racing (We had electrical issues), and 4 sessions of Practice on Friday at Tally. The safety wire on the oil filter kept it from spinning enough to cause a major issue. It was only barely dripping. SAFETY WIRE YOUR BIKE!!! AND MAKE SURE YOUR SAFETY WIRE IS TIGHT!!!!!

 

Im by no means on the same level (experience) as u veterans on here for right now im doing trackdays but a few weeks ago im at a TD @ NJMP & just happen to remember to go over certain bolts after a few sessions & sure enough one caliper bolt had already fell out & the other was half way there as well.I never tourqued them when i left my house because i had plans to remove wheels when i got there & have tire vendor change my valve stems, last minute i said screw it cause i didnt want to rush but & @ the same time forgot about the damn bolts.Man that would of been ugly.

 

Hope everyone perusing this thread understands the value of safety wire. Even when it’s not required, it’s piece of mind and the only thing that will help when a bolt starts to loosen. Given enough time in tension and vibrations, it’s bound to happen even to properly torqued bolts.

Buddy has his factory fresh 1199 lose a rear caliper at VIR at the kink, whipped in the wheel and took out his valve stem. Luckily he felt it and got to a stop. The remaining bolt still had its paint pen mark from factory torque and no doubt the one that failed did too. Hadn’t been touched since new.

I similarly lost a rear after finding out my NC30 hub was seized from debris getting in the swing arm. Several hours fighting it initially, diagnosing, disassembling, cleaning and rebuilding later (in the 100F Virginia heat) and I slapped her together to go for a shake down. Didn’t get a caliper mount bolt torqued and had skipped safety wire because I was going to revisit it after the session. Actually thought at the time I’ve never had a bolt back out before....

Bottom line, safety wire will save you from mechanic errors, and loosening over time with heat and vibration. Nothing else will.


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Had something similar happen to a buddy last year... crashed in the morning, we rushed to fix his bike, grabbed the master off his backup bike, installed it, among some other repairs. Went for a ride around the paddock, everything felt good, warm up lap, fine... went into turn one and the master snapped where it was bolted to the clip on and he went sliding through the field and I went down trying to avoid him... Ironically I was the only other person that went down and I was the one who bolted the master on and "over tightened it" depending who you ask.

 

Not sure how a regular bleeder would have done anything different in this situation other than also allow air to be sucked back in?

 

Impact gun, torque wrench takes too much time

 

I do a quick check of the entire front brake system including lever pivot bolt and nut prior to every track session. IMO it is the most critical system on the bike.

 

I had a clutch basket but back out on the banking at Daytona on a 750 just shifting into 6th gear. That was an interesting ride with the back wheel locked up. No idea how I didn’t crash, especially after the tire blew.

 

Turned all the way up, and let it hammer for a minute.

 

nah, that's too far... three ugg gugs and you're good

 

The auto bleeders have an aluminum body which sticks up quite high. It was cracked.

 

Not sure if it's been mentioned, but check brake line routing also. That includes looking for wear marks on bodywork or on the lines themselves. Failure points that I have witnessed: Front or rear tire rubbing the side of a line (either didn't account for tire deflection, line deflection through suspension travel, or improper routing after maintenance/crash damage), exhaust touching rear brake line for the same reason as previous.

 

Another policy our team adopted was stripping each bike we acquired completely apart, then inspecting and rebuilding each individual component per manufacturer's recommendations prior to first use. For a lot of teams that's a given to "re-set the maintenance clock" and eliminate a lot of variables. I only mention that because of all the mentions on here of components failing that were originally assembled at the factory and not touched since. That is how you can predict brake master cylinder failure, by correctly rebuilding it yourself with OEM parts to OEM spec before use, then logging the hours you put on it between flushes and rebuilds. Anything short of that is rolling the dice on each ignored component.

 

SLLafoon mentioned brake line routing.. Was at Daytona 2 years ago, a newer rider came to my garage on his bike asking some questions. I look down and notice he has no front fender. THEN to MY HORROR, i see his brake line, is resting on the tire. the outer rubber/plastic coating of his steel line was worn and it had started wearing the steel braiding. un-fuking real. He said he had lost the fender on track earlier that day. I was at another race, and a guy didn't have a front fender, and he had his lines zip tied to the fork tubes. My opinion? front fenders should be mandatory..

Also at Daytona about 6 years ago, My friend Rodolfo Ramirez during a team challenge event, had the front fender come off, and get chucked out the front by the tire, ripping out one of the brake lines, just as he was approaching the back CHICANE ! he went straight into the hay bales, pretty big crash but was relatively ok.

Front fenders can fuk you up if not mounted properly.. either by flying out and taking lines out, or allowing lines to rub on the tire depending on how ya route em