Panici's R6 x2 - Street & Track

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Took stock of the spare bodywork.
One set is decent enough to use, but there are two sections which could use some fiberglass reinforcement for strength (one on the upper and one on the lower).

The tail is definitely an Armorbodies Superbike, but I'm not familier with the brand of the upper & lower.
I spent a few minutes pealing off the old seat foam and racing numbers.




There is also a new tail which could be used, however the design isn't my favourite.
The other two sets of uppers and lowers are pretty rough. Could be saved with some serious fiberglass work, which is probably why they were kept as spares.

Two week update. Not much progress on the bikes, have been working on the car as promised. That is going well and I'll push to have it back on the ground this weekend.

Picked up a set of old and crusty stands to get both bikes up in the air for tire swaps. I'd like a set of quality pitbulls, but these will do for now.

I have been ordering parts and building a healthy to-be-installed pile. Mostly goodies for the street '05 but a few items for the track '03 as well.

I got in touch with some of the previous owners of the bike, and found out that the engine has indeed been rebuilt. Was told it was a "comprehensive" rebuild so that is good news.

Did some research regarding tires:
(Slick Tire Sizes vs Street Tires)

Right now I'm thinking about a set of Bridgestone RS-11 tires in 120/70ZR17 and 190/55ZR17 for the trackbike, and a set of Dunlop Q5S tires in 120/70ZR17 and 180/55ZR17 for the streetbike.
That may change depending on price and availability, as I'm going to wait a bit before ordering tires.

For now I'm going to transfer over the existing set of Dunlop Q3+ tires (which are only a few years old, two trackdays on them) to the streetbike. Unfortunately the front is a 120/60ZR17 which is 25mm shorter OD then the 120/70ZR17 that is on there now.
I'll have to raise the front end of the bike to compensate, and will then need to mount the Renthal clipons below the triple. Not ideal ergonomics for the street but I want to use up this new-ish set of Q3+ tires. I can always get a set of Woodcraft 3" riser clipons if I hate the riding position.


I did change out the levers that came on the '03 for a set of black eBay shorties.
Glad I ordered two different styles, because I found the front brake master cyl isn't stock.
It's a Brembo radial unit and takes the same style lever as my '05. However I don't know if it's an identical internal size to the '05.

First weekend of R6 work. Focus is getting the '05 street bike ready for the season.

Moved the hoist away from the wall and unbolted the front wheel clamp.

Removed the blue Armor Bodies Superbike track bodywork.
Installed a set of Spiegler brake lines front & rear. Needed to use my powerbleeder to get the front bled properly.
Changed the oil & filter.

Installed a white front fender and an OEM rear hugger.

Swapped wheels between the bikes to get the new-ish set of Q3+ on the street bike. Had to swap the rotors and sprockets as well. Cut the old chain off.

Raised the front end to make up the difference in the shorter front tire (60 aspect ratio).
Drained the old gas out of the tanks.
Made a quick attempt of painting a spare tank, but it didn't turn out (cold paint on a cold day, old multiple layers of paint on the tank already).

Also, refinished and installed a kickstand (was a blue eBay special) on the trackbike, and painted my yellow set of front/rear stands black.

I had a chance to putt around on the '03 trackbike yesterday on private land.
When I bought it there was snow on the ground, so this was my first test ride.

It was a quick session, but I got the general feel of the bike at low speeds. It's obviously similar to my '05 and felt natural.


Two big takeaways were:
1. Suspension is STIFF for my weight, just a few sharp bumps were felt immediately through my back. Felt like there was no sag at all.
Already knew I needed the suspension set up, and I'm betting it will need to be re-sprung front & rear.

2. Motion Pro quick turn throttle is aggressive. You have to be absolutely sure you aren't putting any weight on your hands.
It's got a 50mm yellow cam wheel inside, which from what I can tell is the largest/quickest of the bunch.


Overall the bike is running well and that carbon Yoshi exhaust sounds sweet! 😃

Two weeks of wrenching and the street bike is almost ready to hit the road!

Installed a new Gold D.I.D. 520 ERV3 Chain with Rivet master link. Bent my first (cheap) chain tool in half, so ordered another one to finish the job.

Installed a set of 520 Driven Racing sprockets. Evo-Spec Steel Rear (48T) and Steel Front (15T) for (-1, +0) gearing. Speedohealer v4 installed to correct the speedometer.

Filled the bike up with real coolant for the first time in years. Rewired the Clear Alternatives taillight.

Threw on a set of eBay White ABS Bodywork + Solo Cowl. Don't worry, the original street bodywork is fine. I moved it from the garage attic to the shed for safe keeping.

Installed the Two Brothers Carbon High-Mount Exhaust (Heat Wrapped), mirrors, chain guard (modified to fit), and original windshield.

Also installed a set of Woodcraft rear axle sliders, as the rear spool sliders like to sheer off the tiny 6mm stud whenever they hit the ground. Have already replaced one swingarm in the past due to crash damage.

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Not to be left out, the track bike got a set of safety-wired Woodcraft Front Axle Sliders, and a Red 45mm quick-turn throttle cam (after a parts run to one of the bike's previous owners).

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Took the bike for a test ride yesterday morning. First time riding in 4 years.
It was pretty cold (near freezing), had a hoodie over my leathers. Hands went numb pretty quick. Couldn't get helmet to unfog unless it was cracked open.

Bit of a coolant leak on the hose coming out of the water pump. And front rotor making some noise when I got back.

Pulled off each caliper from the rotor and spun the wheel. Both rotors were not spinning true.
These wheels are off the trackbike, and I transferred my larger '05 rotors over.

Left front rotor wasn't sitting perfectly flat due to a bit of orange paint. I prepped the surfaces and now its fine. Right front rotor inner & outer sections weren't concentric.
I think when the front forks fell off my crappy front stand the rotor outer got knocked off center. A few small hits with the deadblow and it's sitting significantly better.

Wheel spins more evenly now and sound is gone. Update: Test ride the following day showed problem is solved.

And trimmed a bit off the suspect coolant hose. Will work for now but I should probably replace all the coolant hoses next winter.

Wish I had moved the bike further from the car to work on it, had lots of room on the other side.
I am feeling very sore today from contorting around taking off the fairings and messing with the coolant.

Had some unseasonably warm days last week so I rode the bike to work twice!

Issues discovered:

• Turn signal controls are sticking a bit, could use some clean/lube.
• The right shoulder pad in my Suomy 1-piece suit is disintegrating. I ordered some CE Level 2 pads which I can hopefully modify to work.
• Heel still hits the high-mount exhaust pipe even with the rearsets adjusted forward. Throws off my foot positioning on the right side.

I've bought some exhaust tubing and will be modifying the pipe for clearance. Already have some stainless steel wire on-hand for my MIG welder from car exhaust work.
I put on the chrome Hindle so I can still ride the bike in the interim.

Took the lower fairing off the track bike and discovered that the Yoshimura exhaust is a full system with a 4-2-1 header. Unfortunately the outlet diameter is different so I will need to make an adapter to use other slipons with this header (or even to use the carbon yoshi can on a stock header).

Ideally I want to have the carbon Termi pipe mounted on the two brothers high-mount pipe, but it's a different pipe diameter again. 🙄

Replaced the right footpeg with a spare purely for cosmetic reasons.
Replaced the wood floor in my trailer (3/4" marine-grade plywood), and added a waterproof stain as well. Just have to install the d-rings to make it ready for hauling the trackbike!

Want to make a special mention of the legends at Motion Pro. They sent me some old stock throttle reels FOR FREE after I reached out to them about my older Revolver quick throttle. They sent along a black 35mm, blue 40mm, and red 45mm.

Only got out on the bike once this week, as it's been quite cold (snowed one day!).
Oldschool Hindle can sounds as good as ever, and I'll admit to spending a couple minutes polishing the top of it. I bet the rest would come up nicely with some elbow grease.

I did replace the right side Renthal clipon tube with a spare, and spent a little time adjusting my bars.
Rotated them forward and dropped the levers a bit.

Also played with the exhaust some more. Reduced the size of the Termi can entrance for fitment on the two brothers high-mount piping.

In other news, bought a straight-but-poorly-painted gas tank today. This makes three spare tanks, but only one with good paint. Should be good for a couple crashes now. 😅

Finished up the trailer floor with recessed D-Rings, it's ready to haul bikes / make landscape & dump runs.
Ordered a set of Dunlop Q5S tires in 120/70ZR17 and 180/55ZR17 for the trackbike.
Was thinking about a 190 rear but decided to stick with a 180 for now.

Installed a set of Woodcraft front axle sliders on the streetbike. You can see the damage to the right hand side of the forks from previous crashes.

Spent WAY too long (all of saturday) modifying the two brothers high-mount exhaust pipe. Working in multiple dimensions and getting the thing to look good was challenging.

Needed to move it backwards for foot/boot clearance.
Also modified to work with the Termignoni slipon.

You can see in the first revision that it sticks way too far past the tail section.
I ended up changing both the pipe length and angle. Even though it's not parallel with the tail now, I think it looks much spicier this way!

Still need to wrap it in DEI Titanium Exhaust Wrap this week, and make sure the modified slip joint for the Termi can is at least attempting to seal.









After tweaking the length and angle...

Finally got around to wrapping my modified high-mount exhaust on the street bike.

AND...

I came across a great deal on a 2005 parts bike on Friday for $1700.
Previous owner bought it at auction as a theft recovery, and couldn't get it started.

Immobilizer wiring was cut, original ignition gone.
I printed off the full wiring diagram on four pieces of 11x17, and went through it troubleshooting the issue.

I got it cranking after addressing the fusing, but it wouldn't fire off.

Hooked up the immobilizer from my street '05 (with it still attached to the other bike!) and swapped the ECU over.
It now cranked with a flashing Check Engine light, but still no fuel pump or injectors.

Ended up finding the "Starting circuit cut-off relay" misbehaving, so I pulled the one out of the track bike to test (first time I've had the tail off, and it's all custom under there).

Bike started and ran but was still tethered to the other '05.
I put the immobilizer defeat circuit back together that the previous owner hacked up trying to get it to work. Also installed a spare airbox I had in storage.

Engine seems to run well. Once it was at operating temp, I did hear a little of what may be noisy valves, but could also be knocking . It has old gas in it, so I will try some fresh Shell 91 to see if that helps. Also, who knows what kind of oil is in there (although it appeared clean and at the full mark on the dipstick).

All-in-all definitely a good buy for a parts bike! Will help to keep the other two in running shape for a long time.