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Author Topic: My Hayabusa Superbike:  (Read 12128 times)

Offline Kirk

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My Hayabusa Superbike:
« on: November 13, 2011, 05:10:13 PM »
 :bike:
-Kirk

Offline Ghost-Geezer

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #1 on: November 13, 2011, 08:21:23 PM »
 :thumb: :bike:
"The thrill of Boost cannot be duplicated on earth."

"One drink is too many and a thousand is not enuf."

"Step UP or Step Aside"

"Four wheels moves the body,
Two wheels moves the soul."

Offline Cookie

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #2 on: November 13, 2011, 10:19:15 PM »
Do you seriously still have that same busa, Kirk? :D
-Chris

גַּבְרִיאֵל guide me to the light ישוע המשיח

Offline Kirk

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #3 on: November 14, 2011, 05:28:27 AM »
I wish.  For the time being, I have to make do with this:
-Kirk

Offline Grumpy 69

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #4 on: November 14, 2011, 07:36:41 AM »
 :thumb:
not enough bullets to get em all.......but I can try......

Offline Cookie

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #5 on: November 14, 2011, 02:17:53 PM »
Nice look, Kirk. Gotta forward that pic to Ghost-Geezer. He counter-steers.  :lol:
-Chris

גַּבְרִיאֵל guide me to the light ישוע המשיח

Offline Ghost-Geezer

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #6 on: November 14, 2011, 07:22:26 PM »
I just happen to have read Keith Code's book and he says that for normal street riding, counter steering is very effective.  I do not care, whatever gets me around the corner in one piece is what I use. 

Since I got Turbusa II, I have not ridden my 09 once.  I love booooooost.  Hopefully this childish infatuation with ridiculous straight line speed will pass and I will do some turns stuff on the stock bike.  For now.........the black and purple bike is the one I have been riding.  It is fast. Very fast.
"The thrill of Boost cannot be duplicated on earth."

"One drink is too many and a thousand is not enuf."

"Step UP or Step Aside"

"Four wheels moves the body,
Two wheels moves the soul."

Offline Ghost-Geezer

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #7 on: December 02, 2011, 08:21:18 PM »
I wish.  For the time being, I have to make do with this:

Awesome pic..............and yes, I do now shift my weight from side to side, I am convinced.  I am also amazed at how easily the bike falls into the turns when I do that.


I still counter steer my Schwinn Drifter though.   :thumb: :lol:
"The thrill of Boost cannot be duplicated on earth."

"One drink is too many and a thousand is not enuf."

"Step UP or Step Aside"

"Four wheels moves the body,
Two wheels moves the soul."

Offline Kirk

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #8 on: December 02, 2011, 08:59:26 PM »
Dave, that IS counter-steering.  I scoot all the way over before I even reach my braking point (while still going perfectly straight, at W.O.T.).  I then deploy the air-brakes by coming up from my race tuck, and crushing the brake lever.  As I reach my turn-in point, I ease off the brake and slam that bitch RIGHT NOW by counter-steering.  Because my body is already in the correct position, I do not upset the chassis by tryng to climb around on the bike while braking or turning in.  I'll be the first to admit that Code is a wierdo, but his book is right.
-Kirk

Offline Ghost-Geezer

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #9 on: December 02, 2011, 09:20:22 PM »
Dave, that IS counter-steering.  I scoot all the way over before I even reach my braking point (while still going perfectly straight, at W.O.T.).  I then deploy the air-brakes by coming up from my race tuck, and crushing the brake lever.  As I reach my turn-in point, I ease off the brake and slam that bitch RIGHT NOW by counter-steering.  Because my body is already in the correct position, I do not upset the chassis by tryng to climb around on the bike while braking or turning in.  I'll be the first to admit that Code is a wierdo, but his book is right.

Well, well...............Hey Chris, what do ya think of that?  To me, counter-steering is pushing on the handlebar in the opposite direction you wish the bike to turn, and Chris has been telling me that I was out of my mind.  It would appear that a combination of weight shift and counter-steering work perfectly.  Thanks, man.

P.S. You look like a poster for Sportbike Magazine.   :tu: :tu: :tu: :bike:
"The thrill of Boost cannot be duplicated on earth."

"One drink is too many and a thousand is not enuf."

"Step UP or Step Aside"

"Four wheels moves the body,
Two wheels moves the soul."

Offline Kirk

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #10 on: December 02, 2011, 10:07:30 PM »
It's not a combination of anything- that's all countersteering.  My body position is purely to gain ground clearance, otherwise I would have to reduce my cornering speed to avoid levering a tire up off the ground and crashing.  

And thanks for the kind words, but I'm nothing special.  That picture was taken during a practice session, and I was only about three seconds a lap faster than the cut-off for the "fast" group.  As an expert-licensed road racer and road racing instructor on a 1000cc R1 race bike, I think I was barely keeping up with a 12 year old girl (on a clapped-out 15 year old 125) that had been a novice student of ours about six months earlier.  You may be able to make out her first name in the corner of her windscreen, and her last name (in pink) on the back of her leathers:

« Last Edit: December 03, 2011, 10:43:57 AM by Kirk »
-Kirk

Offline Kirk

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #11 on: December 02, 2011, 10:18:20 PM »
Things have gone pretty well for her.  Here she is, riding Suzuki's MotoGP race bike on track:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/V2WS8Mu_V38?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/V2WS8Mu_V38?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>
-Kirk

Offline dadofthree

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #12 on: December 03, 2011, 10:12:58 AM »
Not bad on cold tires  :bike:

Offline dadofthree

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #13 on: December 03, 2011, 10:16:52 AM »
Great share Kirk, but in case you haven't heard the Busa doesn't turn  :bike:

Offline Kirk

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #14 on: December 03, 2011, 10:44:54 AM »
Yeah, I've heard.   :hys:
-Kirk

Offline SLUGI

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #15 on: December 05, 2011, 11:35:55 AM »


"FORTUNA IUVAT AUDACES"

Offline Kirk

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #16 on: December 05, 2011, 12:54:39 PM »




For your safety, please be careful.  You are already dragging the fairing and the stator cover, but the Hayabusa has the potential to corner MUCH faster than you are doing:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/8PJkSZNnkyA?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US" target="_blank" class="new_win">http://www.youtube.com/v/8PJkSZNnkyA?version=3&amp;amp;hl=en_US</a>

There are several things that you can do to improve your safety by increasing your ground clearance:

1) Get off the seat.  The further you hang off, the less you have to lean the motorcycle over.
2) Have the correct fork springs installed.  The stock fork springs are unsafe: http://www.suzukihayabusa.org/forum/index.php?topic=85774.0
3) Raise the rear of the motorcycle, using a 55-series tire AND shorter rear suspension links: http://www.soupysperformance.com/catalog/item/4408900/4618665.htm

It would also be a good idea to replace the stator cover with a billet aluminum stator cover, to prevent severe engine damage and to prevent covering the track in oil:  http://www.suzukihayabusa.org/forum/index.php?topic=75353.0
« Last Edit: December 05, 2011, 12:59:46 PM by Kirk »
-Kirk

Offline SLUGI

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #17 on: December 05, 2011, 01:15:06 PM »
... nejsem závodník, na okruhu jsem jezdil na akci prodejce Suzuki který umožnil ježdění svým zákazníkům.
... netušil jsem že jezdím takové náklony do doby než jsem viděl následky v padocku  :wink:
"FORTUNA IUVAT AUDACES"

Offline Kirk

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #18 on: December 05, 2011, 01:33:33 PM »
... I'm not racer on the circuit I rode Suzuki dealer in the event that enabled its customers driving

... I did not ride that tilts this until I saw the consequences in paddock  :wink:


I hope you had a good time.   :bike:
-Kirk

Offline Kirk

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #19 on: December 05, 2011, 01:36:19 PM »
Fooling around with "Google Translate":

Nemluvím česky.

Jen jsem se snažil pomoci tím, že nabízí radu.

Mám zkušenosti v této oblasti.
-Kirk

Offline SLUGI

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #20 on: December 05, 2011, 02:10:17 PM »
... pochopil jsem že šlo o radu - Děkuji  :thumb: :wink:
"FORTUNA IUVAT AUDACES"

Offline Kirk

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #21 on: December 05, 2011, 02:17:11 PM »
 :tu:
-Kirk

Offline JHerheim

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #22 on: December 22, 2011, 09:50:13 AM »
Cool pics Kirk.

Just for perspective.   

Could you talk about mods to your busa before you sold it and how they may have affected your lap times vs. the first time you got on track. (I'm assuming you modded as you went) 

Also, make a comparison to lap times and such when transferring to your R1.    Again, assuming you rode both bikes on the same track.

Offline Kirk

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Re: My Hayabusa Superbike:
« Reply #23 on: December 22, 2011, 02:02:17 PM »
Cool pics Kirk.

Just for perspective.  

Could you talk about mods to your busa before you sold it and how they may have affected your lap times vs. the first time you got on track. (I'm assuming you modded as you went)  

Also, make a comparison to lap times and such when transferring to your R1.    Again, assuming you rode both bikes on the same track.


Excellent questions, although the ultimate answer is actually a little embarrassing.  Sorry for the length of this post, but the information that you're asking for is quite a lot.   Most of the Hayabusa modifications happened prior to taking any lap times.

A stock Hayabusa has some pretty significant limitations when it comes to using it on the track.  Almost all of those limitations can be fixed, and many of them are pretty cheap/simple/easy to address.  Some of those limitations need to be addressed immediately, and some only become an issue at an expert road racing pace.  Basically, there's no reason NOT to use your Hayabusa for track days, or even for novice level road racing.  If you're looking for a road racing bike, though, there are better choices.

Installing the correct fork springs are a MUST, on any Hayabusa, even for just commuting on the street.  Life and death stuff.  Since I had to do the fork springs and planned on racing it on the track, I just went ahead and had both ends re-sprung and re-valved.  But about 75-80% of the benefit, was just installing the correct fork springs.  My next Hayabusa will probably get just fork springs.

I used EBC GFA "kit" race HH sintered racing brake pads, which worked better than the regular HH pads above about 150 mph.  The bike is heavy, so braided stainless steel brake lines and good high-temp brake fluid is important too.  Goodridge made me their first set of -2 sized racing brake hoses, and I use Motul 600F degree DOT 5.1 synthetic brake fluid.  I also bleed it often.

Since the stock Hayabusa exhaust system is so heavy, and weight is a major issue, I got a screamin' deal on the absolute lightest exhaust system I could, which was Muzzy's titanium full race exhaust.  It weighed about 6 pounds, which was less than the packaging it came in- I almost hit myself in the face with it when I first picked it up.  It met my needs at the time, but I think next time I would probably just buy something in stainless, and there was nothing about the Muzzy exhaust that made me want to buy another one.  My next full titanium exhaust was Ti-Force (made by Toobee, the same company that makes the Graves Motorsports exhaust systems), and I think I like them better.

I removed the engine counter-balancer, and that made a STARTLING improvement.  The reduction in flywheel weight and effect, made the engine rev quicker, made downshifts on the track easier, and made the bike feel 50 pounds lighter when flipping it from side to side at race pace on the track.  I HIGHLY recommend removing the balancer from ANY Hayabusa.  It serves absolutely NO purpose in terms of engine balancing, so there's no reason to keep it.

I'm about 5'10" and 185 pounds.  When I'm in racing condition, I can bench 285 pounds.  But I was having a hard time changing directions quickly on the Hayabusa, due largely to the weight of the stock wheels.  Not a bad idea to safety-wire your grips on.  A sponsor of mine got me a good deal on a set of Marvic Penta II magnesium racing wheels, and the difference was unbelievable- you really have to experience it to understand it.  I had to learn to ride the bike all over again.  It tipped in so easily, that I found myself double-apexing- I would turn in, apex to early, have to stand it up, turn in again, and apex a second time.  It was really cool.  But I would not recommend magnesium racing wheels on a street or track day only type bike, and if you're racing, they make the bike illegal for the Supersport class, so there's not really much point- I don't think I'd do it again.

I learned early on, that the engine dragged on the ground when you're going fast, and the stock stator cover might as well be made out of tissue paper.  I also learned from people smarter than me, that the large sport-touring sized stator gives exceptinoal leverage on the end of the crankshaft.  If you throw down a Hayabusa, it's probably going to look like a re-creation of the Exxon Valdez, and bend your crankshaft in the process, totalling your engine and shutting down the track for an hour, while a dozen people push grease-sweep around with shop brooms on the track.  In order to minimize chances of becoming "that guy", it's only responsible to take your Hayabusa on the track AFTER you've equipped it with a good heavy-duty billet aluminum stator cover.  SERIOUSLY.  I've never oiled the track, but I've been out there getting a heat stroke cleaning up after a Hayabusa that went down with a stock stator cover.  Un-freekin' believable.  It was only four quarts, but you would have thought a 55-gallon drum of oil fell off the back of a truck.

The geometry of the Hayabusa also needs some significant changes to get it to turn.  Changes, which fortunately also result in much better cornering clearance for the engine.  A $17 pair of 1" raising links (combined with a 190/55 rear tire), will raise the rear of the bike about 1.5" total, making the bike turn MUCH better, and raise the engine, giving you better cornering clearance.  Lowering the front by sliding the fork tubes up through the triple clamps about a half-inch will also help it to turn.  You do NOT need anything more than a stock steering damper.  This bike is the motorcycling equivelant of a locomotive in terms of stability, and modifying the damper or adding an aftermarket damper is not only wasted time and money, it makes the bike harder to turn, which is the absolute OPPOSITE of what you need.  Shortening the wheelbase by altering the physical length of the final drive, will also help the bike to turn.  You can shorten it in any combination up to three teeth shorter than stock.  I just took two links out of the chain, shortening the wheelbase 5/8", from 58.5" to about 57.9".  It really helps.

The stock 190/50 rear tire size limits tracton on corner exits, because it puts so little rubber in contact with the pavement when banked over.  The short overall height slows steering, and the flat profile makes the bike feel heavier when turning in, and even worse when banking it from side to side.  Use a taller 190/55.  180/55 and 200/55 tires will also work much better than the stock 190/50 size.  Do not use race tires or track day tires on the street- you'll never get them up to temperature, and you'll slip and fall down.  YMMV, but If you're in the "C" group during track days, street tires intended for sporting purposes are fine.  If you're in the "B" group during track days, use track day tires.  If you're in the "A" group or racing, race tires are probably best.

There's a lot of weight on the Hayabusa that you can simply unbolt and throw away.  The engine counter-balancer (don't forget to plug the oil hole in the shaft), tool kit, tank prop rod, all that black plastic under the tail, the PAIR system, front footpeg weights, handlebar weights (about a pound each!), and on, and on, and on.  My bike ultimately weighed about 475 pounds (about 75 pounds lighter than stock), with the magnesium wheels and titanium exhaust.

The windscreen had a lot to do with my ability to ride the motorcycle- it was kind of a "bike fit" issue.  The stock windscreen is good for top speed runs if you're small, but it's really hard to see through.  A clear aftermarket windscreen obviously is a good idea, and they're not expensive.  If you're not concerned about being Supersport legal, a taller Double Bubble type windscreen gives you a lot more protection at speed.  I had a little trouble with the regular Zero Gravity Double Bubble, as I was hitting my face shield on it while climbing around on the bike- other people may not have this issue.  I ended up with the "low" (also known as the "drag") version, which is the same screen, with a crescent-shaped cut out of the trailing edge, giving me a little bit more room.

I also switched to regular solid aluminum OEM Gixxer footpegs, which gave better feedback in terms of traction.

ALWAYS notch your front brake lever if you're going to ride on the track, if it's not already notched (some aftermarket levers aren't).  HUGE safety item.  Life and death stuff here.  You don't want to be doing 190 mph and reach for your brake lever at your braking point for a slow turn and find out that it got knocked off when you got together with someone exiting the last turn.  Just drill a hole in it or grind a notch in it about an inch and a half from the end, that way you'll only lose the tip of it, and you won't die.



 

The main reason I had to replace the Hayabusa as my race bike, is that the width of the engine really limited my ability to use alternate lines.  You'd think with a bike like this, that you'd be taking advantage of it's superior acceleration by squaring off the corners and then pulling the trigger.  But the width of the engine required me to take lines that looked an awful lot more like the lines of 125s.  As soon as everyone else figured that out, the jig was up.  They could easily block my passes in corners, and plotting passing solutions against me (in corners) became painfully easy.  I'm not saying that the bike's mid-corner speed was slow or that I was parking it in the corners, because I wasn't-  I once passed our associations 125 champion, IN one of our more challenging corners.  And surprisingly, I was still taking some of the smaller bikes on the brakes-  Don't ask me to explain that one, because I don't understand it either.  I'm not bashful on the brakes, I'll tell you that.  But if you've ever raced, you'll understand what I'm talking about when it comes to being able to maneuver.  It ain't no track day.  The only advantages that I had at that point, was that I was still freight-training EVERYBODY on the front straight, and my bike scared the hell out of EVERYONE, so if they even HEARD me coming up the inside (the Hayabusa sounds a lot different than smaller bikes), I was able to secure the pass, just as if I'd already shown them a wheel.

So after I got my expert road racing license, I bought the R1 to eliminate those limitations.  I already planned on prepping it as a Supersport, instead of a Superbike.  My Hayabusa, because of it's Marvic magnesium racing wheels and Zero Gravity Double Bubble, was technically a Superbike, so it was only eligible for one class.  The R1 Supersport would be eligible to race in Open Supersport AND Open Superbike (because the rules allow you to race UP one class).  Also, the Hayabusa was not eligible for any road racing contingency payments from Suzuki, but Yamaha would pay $2,000 per win in Open Supesport AND Open Superbike- so if everyone faster than me fell down, I could, in theory, make $4,000 a weekend from Yamaha alone, not including tire and other contingency payments.

After breaking the R1 in, I purchased a full titanium racing exhaust and Power Commander, installed the correct map, and did my initial suspension set-up.  I did not enable the quick shifter yet, because I wanted it to be completely legal for the Open Supersport class.  Then I taped the lights, stripped off the street junk (mirrors, etc.), and took it to a track day to try it out.  At the track, I got a fresh set of race rubber from my tire sponsor, and was immediately 3 seconds a lap faster than the Hayabusa.  Doh!  It was also required a LOT less effort to ride, and since I was going about 20 mph slower on the front straight (170 mph vs. 190 mph), my braking point for turn one was a lot easier to find.  But the best part, was that I was now able to change lines mid-corner, enabling me to pass wherever I wanted to.
« Last Edit: December 22, 2011, 03:34:24 PM by Kirk »
-Kirk