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'90 Suzuki RGV250 VJ21- Highside update

Discussion in 'My Bike' started by MIZ, Jan 23, 2011.

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  1. Gosling1
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    Gosling1 Forum Whore of Death Veteran Member Supporter

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    Re: Archie, My 1990 Lucky Strike Suzuki RGV250 VJ21

    there is a lot to like about P6 250 production........:twisted:



    [​IMG]
     
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  2. supamodel
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    supamodel Secret Aaaaaagent Man Staff Member Moderator Supporter

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    Re: Archie, My 1990 Lucky Strike Suzuki RGV250 VJ21

    It lives! Needs a few more bits and pieces tidied up before tomorrow, and a few more after tomorrow too, but it lives. It at least has 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears, anyway.

    Took ages to get the gearbox working. Considering the gearbox takes 6 minutes to go from case on to gearbox out, the fact it took about 5 hours to get the gearbox working is irritating. Turns out I had to play around with shift forks and things to make everything work and line up.

    Other fun things include discovering why the tacho occasionally went berko and the bike wouldn't run properly: short from the bottom cylinder coil. Also snapped the water temperature sender off - I think it was already 90% rooted because I literally just pushed the spade terminal onto it and the end fell off. Lots of cocking about to adjust the 9 separate throttle and power valve cables, that was fun. Plus adjusting the clutch just by feel is difficult, got it sorted now.

    Now to finish rinsing the fuel tank out, as I ran it on premix today to make sure the oil lines were completely bled without siezing the bike, and then put it onto the trailer.
     
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  3. Gosling1
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    Re: Archie, My 1990 Lucky Strike Suzuki RGV250 VJ21

    good stuff mate. I hope you forgot a piston circlip or something else that slows the cook down a bit.......so I have at least 1/2 a chance of finishing in front of her :wink:
     
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  4. supamodel
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    supamodel Secret Aaaaaagent Man Staff Member Moderator Supporter

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    Re: Archie, My 1990 Lucky Strike Suzuki RGV250 VJ21

    I can always just jet it up a bit. I'm bloody hoping I didn't forget a piston clip or cocked a ring up, that would irritate me greatly.
     
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  5. supamodel
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    supamodel Secret Aaaaaagent Man Staff Member Moderator Supporter

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    Re: Archie, My 1990 Lucky Strike Suzuki RGV250 VJ21

    Well, as some of you witnessed at Wakefield and I've previously mentioned, it ran. Thanks again to [MENTION=7203]Lachlan.B[/MENTION] for his heroic efforts pushing it in the morning - it doesn't start that well when cold without a choke.

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    Photographic evidence it ran thanks to Lee.

    I zinged it up to maxish power by the end of the 2nd session, ran pretty well. Bit stuttery in a couple of places but I think that was oily spark plugs not anything else. Felt good despite the fact I already had the EC gearing on it. Probably should have run it shorter but I still got it into 5th, and it works nicely in the bottom 5 gears. Dunno about 6th.

    Did a few practise starts with Stace running it, she's got the hang of run starting it now. Which is good, cause there's no way I'm going to try to fix one of the gearbox plates to accommodate a kickstarter now. The Rubicon has been crossed, see...

    I like the fact that other than a few little itty bitty things, there's no evidence I've done anything inside the motor. I like getting things better than they were before without necessarily making it obvious.

    Obvious changes below in pictures.

    [​IMG]
    Added a digital temperature gauge, removed the stock temp gauge, moved the front brake lever up the bar for extra leverage and went to stock length levers to deal with the fact shorties would be too short, gutted a LHS switchgear set and refitted the choke lever, plus changed the front master cylinder reservoir tubing to something else.

    [​IMG]
    Now blingy and clear. Before someone pulls me up, yes, this is the proper brake fluid safe Tygon 2375 tubing. Also swapped brake fluid to the EBC BF307+. I've been using the castrol dot4 from supercheap as that's what the previous owner used but it was time for a change to really race fluid. Brake fluid was only a few race meetings old (I think I last did it before the 1 hour last September) but it was still manky.

    [​IMG]
    Also got rid of the rear master cylinder reservoir. Used the HRC part from an RS125 as it comes with all the clips and stuff and wasn't that expensive. RGV rear master cylinder = 10mm, hard to find Tygon in that diameter. Well, it's possible, but usually sold in 50' lots or more. At least the 8mm and 6mm can be bought in shorter lengths.

    [​IMG]
    No more kicky. Genuine Suzuki race kit kickstarter plug worked really well at Wakefield, and it's far enough from the road it won't hit in an accident anyway.

    Just gotta do a few little cosmetic things here and there and it's ready for this weekend at the 1st round for the PCRA championship for this year.
     
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  6. supamodel
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    supamodel Secret Aaaaaagent Man Staff Member Moderator Supporter

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    Re: Archie, My 1990 Lucky Strike Suzuki RGV250 VJ21

    So after it ran like crap and was stuttery at the first round and we didn't do the second race, I wanted to get a professional and second opinion on it. Dropped it out to Brett at Moto Garage for a once-over on Saturday. Did a bit of playing around, and tonight we chucked it on the dyno ago to see how it's going.

    Good news: 60 hp, which got Stace excited as that's a good figure out of one that's completely stock, and it's done about 2 hours since I rebuilt it. OEM pistons obviously work better than the el cheapos that were in it before. Powervalves also appear to be operating ok now so I think the major unhappiness it had at the first PCRA round is gone. It'll probably make more power as it grows up, we gained 3 hp as it loosened up when we bought it. Even if the dyno was being optimistic and we take 10% off, it's still 55hp which is our best figure to date and that's with a fresh and tight motor.

    Slightly less good news: an occasional misfire. Looks like it's sparking from the vertical coil which I had to fix before the race anyway, it was arcing out at low revs against the frame. Long story, but there was some dodginess about how a previous owner had fixed the spark plug lead; I did my best to rectify that without replacing the lead (as I didn't have one) but it seems I'll need to at least a new plug lead. Might as well swap the coil for a spare, just in case the insulation on the coil itself is breaking down.
     
    Last edited: May 21, 2013
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  7. MIZ
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    Re: Archie, My 1990 Lucky Strike Suzuki RGV250 VJ21

    Well, we got the power issue sorted. But now we have more problems to fix...

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    The rain had set in and I decided to get acquainted with the RGV in the wet. Seeing as i'd be racing at the 1-hour in September, come rain hail or shine, i thought it best to see how it handles in the wet. (Mistake #1)

    Well, after a few laps, I got a little cocky and started chasing down a CBR600 (Mistake #2). I grazed the ripple strips with my knee as i came up over the hill, I thought, "Sweet, I'm hanging off and keeping the bike upright and keeping corner speed, Yeah!" (Mistake #3). As i came down the hill, I took a handful of brave pills (Mistake #4) and braked hard and late like i do in the dry and managed to hang off far enough again to just graze my left knee slider. On the Exit of turn 8 i got on the gas at the same point i would in the dry and the rear spun up, the bike flicked sideways to the right then flicked me up and off. Hello Highside!

    As i flew up over the bike, my pelvis slammed into the fuel tank, followed by my left Knee and right ankle into the fairings. The first thing to slam into the track was my pelvis and sternum. Winded, i rolled a handful of times, hoping to god the RGV wasn't going to run up over the top of me (i could hear it scraping and sliding along behind me). As i finally came to a stop ion the mud off the track, i looked back hoping no-one else had followed me. I got straight up, did a 'head, shoulders, knees and toes' knew i was all i one piece and ran back over to the bike. I somehow managed to pick the thing up (no grip or throttle tube on the RHS and pouring brake fluid made that fun). Carnage. It's the only way i could describe the mess of plastic, metal and broken bits.

    The Ambo came over and gave me a quick check over. He helped load my bike into the trailer and then asked me if i was hurting. "No" i gasped Right at that precise moment all the adrenaline drained from my body. All of a sudden, EVERYTHING hurt. He knew i was lying, and i confessed my Pelvis was searing with pain and my hands tingled like they were on fire. He gave me the a-ok to go back in the trailer, but told me i should go for precautionary X-rays, just in case i had fractured my pelvis! *Funfact, the front of a pelvis isn't one solid piece. It's joined in the middle by cartilage and expands when a lady goes through child birth. The ambo was worried i may have fractured one of the two 'arms' of my pelvis, or had torn the cartilage and muscles from the pelvic bone.*

    After getting to the ED and uttering the words 'Motorcycle accident' the attending nurses rushed me through to a bed and prepped me for bloods and CT + X-rays. Not a minute of waiting - it took [MENTION=1453]supamodel[/MENTION] longer to park the car! Despite making it crystal clear i had crashed on a closed private racetrack, the ED Staff were adamant the police be called and my accident be reported. Finally my Doctor realized what i was saying and managed to calm the other attending staff and stop them from calling the police. The nurses kept asking me where the other person was, and was he okay. Confused, i asked who they were talking about - they meant the rider, they thought i was a pillion! I explained, no, i was on MY bike, and I crashed BY MYSELF on a racetrack, they became uninterested in me and went to find Supa from the waiting room.

    Within 45min, i had a cannula, blood taken for tests and was off for a CT Scan. Everyone of the staff were AMAZING! my wardsman was drifting my bed around the corridors on my way to my scans and the Radiology staff were hilarious, telling homer simpson jokes as i slid into the CT Scanner 'donut'. Turns out i hadn't fractured anything but after a visit from the surgeons, they decided to keep me overnight in case of internal bleeding or ruptured organs. Cue, no sleep, beep-beep-beep and hourly checks from the nurses to do my blood pressure and ask me my name, DOB and pain rating out of 10.

    Finally 7.30am rolled around and Breaky of weetbix and yoghurt arrived! I've never been so happy to see plain old weetbix - I hadn't eaten since breakfast on friday! My Doc wandered around, gave me a final check and instructions and said i could go home to bed rest, food, sleep and more food! I have to admit, cruising home from the hospital with [MENTION=39623]Exonoesis[/MENTION] 's R1 in the back gave us a few funny looks!

    I tried to swing a leg over the SV today in hopes of riding tomorrow, but my body says 'no way man!' so i think i'll listen and take the car to work.
     
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  8. MIZ
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    MIZ Member

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    Re: Archie, My 1990 Lucky Strike Suzuki RGV250 VJ21

    Bike Sitrep:

    - Broken Rearset - Rear brake lever
    - Broken clip on, throttle tube and shredded grip
    - Busted Front Master Cylinder + Assembly
    - Busted rear Master cylinder
    - Bent H-bracket
    - Ruined RHS Fairings (dustbin)
    - Ruined Front Faring (dustbin) - Note my headlight hole patching held up fine!
    - Scuffed rear seat fairing - just needs a repaint
    - Scuffed and scratched RHS Muffler
    - ruined Kill switch box assembly
    - Carbon fibre clutch cover - only top layer of coloured carbon fibre is ruined

    Leathers + Gloves + Boots - just some scuffing and re-dying required but most importantly, NOT A MARK ON MY HELMET!!!
     
    #288
  9. Jdeks
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    Jdeks Gone into the West

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    Re: Archie, My 1990 Lucky Strike Suzuki RGV250 VJ21


    Tell me about it - those nails are just all the wrong shade of pink!!




    Tough break Stace.....or rather, thank god there was no break. Pelvis is not a bone that one wants to break.

    Hope the bike patches up easily.
     
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  10. Jdeks
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    Jdeks Gone into the West

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    Re: Archie, My 1990 Lucky Strike Suzuki RGV250 VJ21



    I'm not as familiar with the RGV, but that actually doesn't look like too terrible a repair bill. Nothing structural at least. Will it be expensive to replace the fairings?
     
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  11. supamodel
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    supamodel Secret Aaaaaagent Man Staff Member Moderator Supporter

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    Re: Archie, My 1990 Lucky Strike Suzuki RGV250 VJ21

    Fairings there are options but several hundred plus time to make new belly pan etc. EDIT: we have sourced some proper fibreglass ones potentially, which is better than our bogged up plastic road ones which do tend to shatter when crashed.
    Factory rear set hangers are quite rare as 89-90 RGVs aren't that common. 91+ different setup.
    Front master cylinder is also a bit of a tart but for the price of a secondhand one & put a rebuild kit through that, I can probably source one new. Since it has very good brakes, might as well not compromise it/save $50 I'm the interests of being a tightarse, so new one it is.
    Other stuff is just a pain eg mufflers will probably go aftermarket, but that then means modifying end of expansion chambers.
     
    Last edited: May 26, 2013
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  12. eeyore
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    glad you're ok MIZ. Looks like some good work to be done on the bike. Will you go for a new look with new fairings?
     
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  13. MIZ
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    MIZ Member

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    Nope, I'll repaint it exactly the same scheme when i get the new fairings, these ones are dustbin, there's just too much surface area missing to patch it up.
     
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  14. Heidi1
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    Heidi1 Member Veteran Member

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    Sorry to hear that mate, I know how much fun you were having with the RGV! Glad you are ok.
     
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  15. Jimmc
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    Sorry to hear about the bingle, good you are ok. Some work to get the beast back up but it seems the damage is light, good luck with cost.
     
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  16. Viper
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    Sheeit, that sounds like an absolute heartstopper. Glad you're ok, Stace! Your new nickname should be the Iron Woman. Also happy you're not changing the look of the bike when it's fixed!
     
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  17. MIZ
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    MIZ Member

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    feeling a little less iron woman and a little more busted today hehe.

    so far so good with no internal bleeding, but the next few days will give me more shades of blue, purple and yellow!
     
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  18. Epona
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    That was an exciting account, you're a brave little one.
    I'm suprised you went to work at all today.
    Rest up.. is the helmet still a keeper? :mrgreen:
     
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  19. Whickle
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    Whickle Little Spoon Staff Member Moderator

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    Good to see your not broken Stace. There are better ways to give Supa a rest from his study tho.


    Aint it funny how people think a female injured in a motorcycle accident must have been the pillion. :rolleyes:
     
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  20. timeeh
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    Oh dear, not a good day at the track by the sound of things... Glad your O.K. And poor little RGV, i hope you get better soon :p
     
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