First of all, the technical content.

Going through 2, the engine hiccuped a bit, like it was running out of gas.  It was actually fine on the rest of the lap, but I brought it in anyway - and at low revs, again, it most definitely wasn't fine.  It sounded like it was misfiring.  I took it to the pits, and found the following.



The bolt in the middle snapped.  The fix is straightforward - drill out the bolt that's in there, get a new signal generator and new bolt, put it back together.  But I'm wondering why the bolt snapped. I don't want that recurring.  :p  Any ideas of what else I should be looking at while I'm fixing this?  Also, is it, er, normal for the generator to melt like that? Chafing, grinding, tearing I could understand - but melting to the point that the plastic drips?


On to the chatter.  This was my first time ever at Sears Point, so I joined the C group.  We loaded the bikes - m'boy's big SV and my lovely GS - and took off.

The first session was sighting laps - that was all good for orientation.  The second session was ungodly frustrating.  I couldn't get a clean lap - hell, I couldn't get two clean turns in a row (and yes, I tried the pull-off-and-come-back-on trick).  I was determined to start at the front the next time out.

After a big stack in the B group, the last C session of the morning was delayed until after lunch.  I got out near the front, and finally, bless, had two nearly clean laps.  On the third, the abovementioned happened.

Ah, well, at least I was cleared for B.  I hopped on m'boy's big SV - did I mention it's big?  It's also heavy, and has heavy steering (especially with the damper that he has on it)  It has a GSX-R1000 suspension, but it's set for his weight, so it was too stiff for me.  It took me a session to get used to it, but as soon as I did, I definitely improved my lines.  The SV is unforgiving of imprecision and lack of smoothness, so I learned it quickly.

In my opinion, Sears Point is an awesome, whee-ful, terribly fun track.  There is very little in terms of pure straights, so you can't go fast on horsepower alone.

Me and the lovely GS.




M'boy and I.  As we were in different groups (he was in A all day), we could share the SV.

RG.....
been there
done that
it happened due to you(or somebody) crashing the bike and hitting the bolt on the end of the rotor
a yr or two later it fails and takes out the sig gen.


i can see indication of the initial damage.....threads busted out in the cover from the drop

get reverse drill bits and go slow

i got lucky and there was some threads left to grab with a vice grip

Hmmmmm makes me paranoid a bit.  I recently "eased" mine down after lettign it get away from me.  Since then I noticed theres a slight cicada like noise.  With it beign summer when it happened, i didnt notice the noise...blended right in with them critters. But now that its fall and you dont hear them so much, I hear the noise.  And its def. comign from there.  Is there a gasket in there that needs replacing after you remove the cover?  And since Im a noob, time to look like an idiot for a few minutes...Do i need to drain the oil before I pop that cover off? Im thinking not(with it beign electrical and all), but i want to be doubley sure.
Thanks in advance.

Quote from: shiznizbiz on September 30, 2008, 03:21:23 AM
Hmmmmm makes me paranoid a bit.  I recently "eased" mine down after lettign it get away from me.  Since then I noticed theres a slight cicada like noise.  With it beign summer when it happened, i didnt notice the noise...blended right in with them critters. But now that its fall and you dont hear them so much, I hear the noise.  And its def. comign from there.  Is there a gasket in there that needs replacing after you remove the cover?  And since Im a noob, time to look like an idiot for a few minutes...Do i need to drain the oil before I pop that cover off? Im thinking not(with it beign electrical and all), but i want to be doubley sure.
Thanks in advance.

no and no

Thanks for the info, werase.  No question this bike has been crashed a few times (although I haven't, so far, knock wood), but I didn't realize the consequences on that side (although I did check the magnets on the other side, fer sure).

Quote from: ohgood on September 30, 2008, 03:56:54 AM

Quote from: shiznizbiz on September 30, 2008, 03:21:23 AM
Hmmmmm makes me paranoid a bit.  I recently "eased" mine down after lettign it get away from me.  Since then I noticed theres a slight cicada like noise.  With it beign summer when it happened, i didnt notice the noise...blended right in with them critters. But now that its fall and you dont hear them so much, I hear the noise.  And its def. comign from there.  Is there a gasket in there that needs replacing after you remove the cover?  And since Im a noob, time to look like an idiot for a few minutes...Do i need to drain the oil before I pop that cover off? Im thinking not(with it beign electrical and all), but i want to be doubley sure.
Thanks in advance.

no and no

thank you and thank you. 

Pictures of the GS.






And the big bike.  (Thanks to m'boy for letting me ride it, so I didn't have to pack in early.)

Very nice. Those are sweet pics!