I really do love riding this bike (the toona), but so far it has kinda been one issue after another and I’m feeling the need to vent. The first outing it blew a counter shaft seal and puked oil. The next couple of times at the track went great.  It is a fantastic bike, that is so much easier to ride the the R6.  I’m really hoping that once we get everything sorted out that these kinds of things are not going to happen anymore.  I’ve finally finished making changes to the bike.  It’s just a matter of getting everything dialed in.

But this weekend, just was horrible! Not all the of the suckiness was to do with the bike, but it was the worst part.

In case anyone wants to know it is possible to use the Triumph quick shifter with woodcraft rearsets. However, it won’t work if you’ve by passed the clutch switch. Which just seems really stupid to me, since it is labeled for racing only. Why would I want to keep all that street crap on the bike, if it’s going to the track? So it won’t work unless you roll off the gas, again, dumb, what’s the point of a quick shifter if you have to roll off.

The trackday went fantastic!!!  It was the first time that we tried using control riders to deal with the riders that went off the track instead of the corner workers doing it.  That left them free to deal with the bikes that were still on the track and do the flaging that needs to be done.  I think it went great.  We only stopped the track to clean up some gas from one bike and for lunch.  Otherwise, there was just loads of track time.  It was fun helping some of the novices out, and working with them.

I spent the part of Sat, afternoon getting my suspension dialed in and it was working great! The bike really is a blast to ride, I was really looking forward to racing on Sunday, after that.

So the wheels that I had bought had issues. The front one worked fine, but the rear one the rotor drags against the caliper, of course I didn’t realized that until after I had the new rubber put on it and mounted it. So I had to have it taken off that wheel and put on to the stock wheel. So I wasted $$ and a lot of time getting the tires mounted and unmounted and remounted…. not to mention I missed dinner with the group because I was mucken’ with those dang wheels.

So I get back to the friend’s house where I’m staying, we all hang out and talk about bikes, then off to bed. I wake up at 3:30am, to throw up. Then again at 5, then it’s time to get ready to head to the track. So I’m Secretary for the club so I have to work registration, I had to leave a couple of time to go throw up some more…. Side note: red Gatorade is a really nice Technicolor when it comes back up….

I did make it out for my first race, I hung back as I wasn’t sure that I was going to be able to complete the race, but I did and it wasn’t too bad. I wasn’t last either, but that’s not saying much since I was about 8 seconds off my usual times.

By the time the second race came around, I was feeling better. I haven’t figured out how to launch this bike yet, but I did better then the first race, and was only running about 3 seconds off my pace. The bike felt great, I finished 4th.

So I get back to the pits, I’m putting on my rear warmer, when I noticed that there was fluid in my belly pan. I stuck my hand in and I couldn’t figure out if it was oil or water…. Pulled the pan off and it was oil.. mostly. But I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. So I turn the bike back on ran it for a minute and turned it off. That’s when it started to run out of the overflow. We looked, and yuppers, there was oil in the coolant overflow. Pulled all the body work off and opened up the radiator and .. YES more oil in the radiator. So I checked the dip stick and it just barely showed that there was any oil.

I dropped the bike off with the Service manager on my way home, he is going to take it into work on Tuesday and start tearing into it to find out what is going on.  I have to say the Dealership (PJ’s Motorcycles)  has been fantastic about dealing with all my issues, and Aaron is working on sainthood…. I can be a pain, but he deals with it really well. I’m sure that he’s sorry that I have his moble number.   
Best guess is that it’s a head gasket or the water pump. Yea! This bike only has 1248 miles on it. It just seems like a lot if issues, for a new bike… I’m really missing my R6 right now. Three years and it never gave me any problems.

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