How often do you guys do oil changes, coolant flushes, and clutches on your race bikes? I always thought the frequent oil changes were kind of a waste, the fancy green Motul probably has a pretty long service life. Then again, I have found parts / debris during oil changes that saved me from big blowups....but that was on the Ducati The oil that's in there looks pretty good, i.e. still green and translucent....just got the bike from a guy who does pretty good maintenance.
I always changed oil every weekend regardless of what bike I was riding. It's a chance to check it for glitter, and I don't like that it always smells like MR12 when it's drained. I worry about the corrosive potential from whatever fuel manages to mix with the oil. The other thing is the clutch shedding. With your dry clutches it wasn't a concern, but I always think about how much clutch material ends up in the sump after 8-10 race starts. It's why I'm not that big on synthetic oil. I don't worry as much about the oil breaking down as I do the stuff I contaminate it with.
I do the oil in my race bikes every race weekend and every 3 track days. Coolant I just check and do a twice a year flush. Brake caliper pistons are cleaned every 3 race weekends. Valves are checked every 2 race weekends. And before every weekend wheel to wheel inspection of the whole bike. I only run Motul 300v in all the race bikes.
Like braun said, if it wasn't for the worry of clutch material, I wouldn't change mine so often, but because of that I do mine after every weekend, regardless of how much I rode. I only look at my clutches when I see evidence of wear in the oil. Water wetter every season, but I check the level every race since it's mostly water and can evaporate.
i do oil/filter every 2-3 weekends, coolant annually, and valve check annually. the bikes original clutch lasted a race season and i just replaced it. but i have no idea how many bad starts or wheelies the previous owner did on the street. hopefully i get at least 1 full season out of it.
Ok, so I'll do oil after this weekend. I usually do a pretty good checkover of the bike after each weekend, remove all bodywork, put up on front and rear stands for a good wash / inspection. I have never checked or adjusted valves on these bikes, so that will be a learning curve. It was a little tricky checking clearances on the Ducs. I spoke to Livengood right after I bought the bike. It has a lot of miles on it, Armando Ferrer raced it in the '15 D-200 and it was sprint raced for half a season after that. I originally bought it to be a track day beater but I've had so much fun on it, I decided to try racing it this year. Seems to make good power, not burning any oil. If I really like it I may upgrade to one with fewer miles / slightly newer chassis. This is an '08. Has some pretty good stuff on it though for a $6500 bike, YEC ECU and Harness / Switches, Ohlins TTX and 25MM kit.
Sounds like a good bike and you seem to be enjoying it. Instead of buying one with less miles/hours, why not just go through it and freshen everything up? Service the suspension and chassis, new wheel bearings, freshen the engine and maybe give it a new paint job. Genuinely curious...
This. ^ You won't be gaining anything by getting one with a newer frame and swingarm, they are identical. I would just use that money to refresh it.
True. I guess I will have to price out some of the stuff I would want to do....real bodywork (I think it's motoFairings on there now, not bad but Sharkskinz or equivalent looks way better.) a decent paint job, fresh motor and suspension service could go a long way. Needs a few parts, the front subframe has been crashed a few times, got some small repairs to it that I can see, so that needs to be prettied up. The wiring and hoses all look pretty good, and the rear sets are in good shape. Bars, levers, switches, etc. are all pretty good.
TRUTH!! I have an 08 and it only had 1200 miles. I went through it and replaced things even though they didn't necessarily need it.
Sounds like a great deal. Supposedly the 25mm are better vs. the 30's. I imagine you mean this? https://jet.com/product/detail/07a5...204480:pla-161720695500:na:na:na:2&code=PLA15 When I found them this cheap on ebay, I bought 3 of them. It worked very well, just had to slightly shim the gauges on the ones I got. Different company but it was made in China. Also, if you aren't racing MotoAmerica SStk class, the 08-10, maybe some other years, have bigger velocity stacks and make more power, vs. the newer years. If you want to make top power on a SStk build, with that many miles, you probably need the head redone and the titanium valves are very expensive.
I have been racing the same 2008 r6's since 2009. I run my motors all season long, running 6 sprint races each race weekend (4 on the sb, 2 on the ss bike but add in some practice on both). i go 2 race weekends on oil, and every other change i do the filter. More that this is overkill. (imo). If a bearing is gonna go, it's not gonna be slow and gradual. you WILL hear it and you shut off, or it just goes bang. clutches: this is totally rider dependent. I know guys that smoke clutches every couple weekends. I get a SEASON out of my clutches, and i do pretty well on starts. That's kinda the key. Guys that over-rev on starts go through lots of clutches.. You need to become familiar with pulling the stack and measuring the stack height. very narrow range that the clutch works, and slips properly. Putting the cover on will take some practice.. lol! this bike is NOTHING like the duc. I freshen my motors each season, and i have NEVER had to adjust valves. (they get replaced, seats cut). If you put a ton of mileage on the motor, then yea, you will need to check valves. CHECKING is very easy.. adjusting will take more time/skill. feel free to hit me up with questions Gino. In all honesty, i can't quickly think of anyone that has raced this model bike as much as i have.
What the level of difficulty on changing the clutches? I've got a slipper clutch. From the videos I've seen, seems like getting the ball bearings to align up properly can be kind of difficult
First time you take that clutch cover off you'll want to kick the bike over and start knitting. But if you ratchet it on there its not a huge deal, just need to figure out the proper technique.
it's not easy, once you have done it a few times, it's not so bad. Using a telescoping magnet through the fill hole helps, figuring out how to move the actuator arm to the correct spline (so the dot on the arm and arrow on cover line up) without letting the pin slip out will also save lots of time.
My R6 is due for a clutch, it was slipping at high revs my last race. OEM from '08, odometer is sitting at 8k. Bought it with 1k on it. 7,000 miles of track days and racing. Can't complain. Lol I have read a lot about the infamous clutch cover, I will see if it makes me want to punch babies or not.
I remember my first time doing the clutch, I thought what the heck was Yamaha thinking? I still don't know why that design is better, vs. every other bike I've done a clutch on that is easy? Anyway, I've tried packing with grease, can't remember if I had heard of the magnet trick before I started using this old school approach. Go ahead and laugh, but it works for me. I can do it very quickly this way. You already have the lower off, and I can't remember if you need the upper off, but with the Graves quick disconnect on the upper it is off in a flash.
