Building a race bike from the showroom...

Just finished mine. paid 6900$ for a new 2009 R6 and had www.speeddealermotors.com go to town on it. Freakin nice, built exactly the way I want it. So it loses big $$ right off the bat. I dont care.

 

I always buy brand new bikes, because I am terrified to get a 'tweaked' bike and be chasing handling problems forever. I also don't want to get a grenade.
I'll pay more to know the bike is perfect (straight frame, forks, ect)....but I also keep my bikes for a long time.

I am paranoid about getting a tweaked frame, because the two racebikes I bought in high school had tweaked forks/frames/swingarms and I don't ever want to go through those hassles again..

 

You know you can take them to GMD or equivalent and get them straightened for like $500?

 

Yeah, I know :up: I just don't want the hassle, I am getting lazy in my old age

 

I did it with my first racebike, an `89 GSXR1100. Big mistake, not because of the costs since I did not really want to ride on the street anymore, but because it was a maneater. I broke more bones than anyone i know racing that thing, in only two crashes...but I was run over by the guy following me. Should have started on a smaller bike.

I bought a salvage `06 GSXR750 in `07, did some of the prep work myself and let Marietta Motorsports handle the rest, Huey and Opie did a fabulous job and it ran like a raped ape for a relative stocker. Spent alot more than I would have if I would have just bought an already built racer. It was fun putting it together though.

 

I bought my first racebike used. A great SV650 that required NOTHING from me to be competitive.

My first year as an Expert (2007), I built up a new Triumph 675. I was sponsored by European Motorcycles of Pittsburgh and they gave me a great deal on the bike. It was broken in during a trackday BeaveRun "bone stock". Then the build process started. A bunch of fun.....but if you don't have any support from suppliers it can be pretty expensive.

 

I'm pretty sure that is what I am going to do. (may go 600). I'm still going to track my MV from time to time at trackdays for a couple of sessions. It's only a machine, right?

 

I bought a leftover 08 R6 in December of 09 at a great price, purchased all the goodies and had an someone with AMA crew chief experience put the bike together for me (kept the motor stock).

I didn't worry about the cost, as I wanted to start with a clean slate. I figured it was equal to buying a harley, but was going to give ME way more fun and excitement. I'd do it again, as I feel more comfortable knowing that I have exactly what I want versus something close to what I want.

Do want you can afford and what you want! There are thousands of ways to skin the cat. Which way to do want to do it is the question.

Before:


After:

 

I buy new-ish for the street and once I get to 20-30,000 miles make it a trackbike.
Then buy a new streetbike and the cycle continues.

I like the "after" better.

 

Same here. Sold my 03 street bike for an 01 track bike. After a few years I THOUGHT i wanted another street bike. Bought my 06. Rode it less than 2000miles, and said F' this.

sold the 01, and the OEM bodywork, for enough money for a light trackday build basically. have added to it over the years.

 

Just buy mine already!

I understand the whole 'knowing the history, blah blah blah' part but when I can buy a bike a year old for half what it cost to build I'm going to do that. I buy from reputable sellers where I can know the history of the bike. The only way I would build one is if I made stupid money or if I got a lot of free stuff. Plus you have to remember if you are putting it together it's not exactly something you do over a few hours in the garage! Hell, after I buy a bike I take it all apart and grease everything, fix the generally crappy way people safety wire their stuff, neaten up wiring, etc.. That alone takes me a couple weeks worth of a night here and a night there.

 

Well, I did buy a new bike in 2000. None since. For once had the money to buy new.
Would have rather bought the 2000 750 valvoline bike in october 2000. I didn't have 10,000 at the time to snag it.

 

built my '08 848 from new.... the first one in the midwest went straight from the showroom to the lift. put 30 miles on the dyno breaking it in, changed the oil and went racing. would I do that today?? no, as now there are a ton of 848s around but I wanted to race an 848 and there weren't any options for used.

 

I have built every racebike I ahve had from bone stock new.......

01 gsxr 750 (not really a build but new bike I raced pretty stock a few times)
03 R6 (first full year, spent as much on parts as on the bike)
04 GSXR 600 (first expert year)
05 GSXR 1K (my only try at the 1K bikes, well racing.....)
06 R6
08 Zx6 (I had alot of help getting this one together, or it wouldn't have)

I always had the best suspension I could get, never touched a motor (and never broke one). I would say with spares and the builds I had I always had pretty close to double the cost of the stock bike in them ( a bit less but not a ton, i was getting bikes at a fair deal).

Of coarse I always ended up racing a year and being too broke to continue, and built a big hole to climb out of....... but wouldn't change a thing (except maybe a better job during my days of racing...)

 

I did it with an 06 GSXR-600. Cost waaaaaay too much to convert. Won't do it again.

 

I don't think I'll ever buy a showroom new bike to convert, I just don't have the scratch for it. I have taken several low-mile, well looked after streetbikes and converted those from scratch though. Some nasty beat up vintage piles too. Best bang for the buck, by far, is a used racebike from a reputable seller.

However, the whole "know it's history' thing is kinda moot if you rebuild it. IMO. That's what I do now, and possibly the most valuable lesson racing vintage has taught me.

When I buy a streetbike to convert, it gets completely torn down. Every chassis bearing is new, every part is cleaned, inspected, and to the proper torque when re-installed.

If it was a good runner and I'm not doing much or anything inside the motor, I leave it alone until the offseason or until there's a problem.

If I'm going any farther into the motor than a cam swap, or if there's any signs of a problem, I take the entire motor down and rebuild it from the crank up. It's basically a brand new bike when I'm done.

Disclaimer - I only run vintage, sumo, and minis, so I have zero knowledge of the modern classes and the kinds of problems or builds that come with those. But I will say that if I can take a clapped out 30 year old streetbike and make it into a competitive and safe racebike, someone can certainly do it with a modern bike. Obviously, it's going to be more complex however. If I was looking to do a max power build and have serious head work and the like done, I would send it out to someone. Basically what I do is limited to known internal engine 'part swaps' and known aftermarket cam/piston/crank/carb kits.

If you're pretty handy mechanically, all it takes is time, patience, meticulous work habits and a service manual. All of my bikes, no matter how old they are, look, run and handle as new or better. I'm no great mechanic either. Anyone could do it with the motivation and willingness to learn.

 

We build new bikes all the time. I have 7 brand new, zero miles bikes in the shop right now being built. It is VERY expensive compared to buying a used AMA bike....but is also perfect, built the way you wanted it, and that has tremendous value to those that can afford it.

I know I can't afford it....

 

Buying showroom new and then converting is too much cash and too much headache.. I will buy my next few bikes from the same team, so long as they are still racing.

 

Werd.

If you want cream of the crop a ex-ama/wera professional bike is the way to go, then if you insist on having the best/fresh have somebody like KWS go through it. :up:

 

Another good point....the number of AMA bikes for sale at the end of each race season seems to be less and less each year......dramatically less. :down: