FL & GA riders, Lets Race!

[Billy Golightly]

We've actually got the opportunity to do some real three-wheeler racing and I'd hate for anyone to pass it up. Theres 2 more flat track races this season I'll be able to attend and I'd really like to get some other trike guys out there during them. The race dates are:


11-18 in Valdosta, GA at the Valdosta carting complex
12-2 in Ocala, FL at Thunderbowl Speedway.

I've been told by the Southern Flat Track league promoters that if we have 3 or more trikes we will have our own class to race and compete in. If you sign up as a league member (Not required to race) you'll also get points towards the year end series. I raced my first time back in September and had an awesome awesome time. Lots of looks and cool comments from the other quad racers. I guarantee if you come out and race, you will enjoy it. In fact if you show up, run both practices, heats, and final and you can tell me with a straight face you didn't like it I'll pay your $20 entry fee. How ya like them apples?:D Requirements to race are very light. You need gear (Helmet, chest protector, over the ankle boots, goggles, gloves, long sleeve shirt and pants) and also low profile rear tires. Fronts are also normally required but as long as you don't have a brand new mud-grip or are running a pretty worn front tire you'll be fine. And if you do have a pretty knew knobbie tire in the front, we can probably get an exception arranged just for the one race for you to try it out.

If your wondering what its like heres a thread I made about my first race back in September: http://3wheelerworldforums.com/showthread.php?t=57766

I know some of you guys have expressed an interest in getting into it, so lets all get together and get out there and show the quad guys that real men RACE three-wheelers! Who alls in, and if you ain't in, what do I gotta do to get you in? haha

[Mr. Clean]

Billy,

I cannot make the 11th race, but I believe I can make the 2nd in Ocala.

You asked "what do I gotta do to get you in?"

1. Gear- I have a helmet and goggles and I have 10 eyelet dr martens steel toes boots (will those work?). What kind of pants, shirt do they require? Gloves would be no problem but I would need chest protection.

2. Low profile rear tires and wheels- what do you recommend here and how much is this going to cost?

3. Suspension mods-lower the front and rear-what is the best and cheapest way to do this?

4. Front tire- mine is a worn original look alike not ohtsu but dunlop maybe 50% wear. Do I need a replacement?

5. Mechanically my R is running good, but not perfect. What are your primary gears you are going thru 3-5 2-5 1-6?

6. I have been tuning my R since I got it, 1st and second mid throttle it kinda breaks up, from then on it seems to run perfect, It runs the best with the air/fuel mixture jet at about 1 turn out. I am concerned that I am not getting enough fuel but if I turn that screw out it runs worse and hardly will idle. My concern would be racing it and blowing it up. Any thoughts. Where can I get jets and rebuild kits for my stock keihin?

7. It appears that my front fork tubes are slightly bent as visually you can see, I had no problem running Ocala NF last weekend. Do you think I can run it on the flat track?

8. I seem to have more smoke than I should, and I noted in another of your posts talking about seals in the engine to keep trans oil out. Tell me more and what kind of effect this might have racing?

That is all I can think of for now. I am pumped to do this, I just dont have alot of extra money to spend after buyin this thing so I need to go as cheap as possible. More questions to come I am sure.

[SYKO]

:TrikesOwn I can make a lowering link for you man, I'll get right on that for you, the front tire should work that you got, boots should be fine, I wear black large dikies for pants, you need some gloves, I'm running 8 inch wheels with golf cart tires on them, you could possibly only have in tires and wheels about $120 in them to race in, I have only about 68 the cost of wheels as I already had tires, I will bring the lowering link to ocala for you, oh yea and you need some numbers Im number 13.

[Mr. Clean]

Lucky number 13!!! I will have my buddy make some vinyl stickers, 57 will be my number!

Sky that would be great, I was talking with my wife and we are definitely going to Ocala 24-26, cool on the lowering link. I have a golf cart tire supplier close by, I will stop in and see what they have available. I have one month to get this right.

[Billy Golightly]

Actually the race in Valdosta is on the 18th of November. But if you can't make it, understandable. sykolincoln wasn't sure he'd make it down to Ocala for the December 2nd race so if you can that'd be great. I do have an extra chest protector, but i have promised it to sykolincoln to use until he can get another one. If you don't mind wearing last years style (I sure don't, haha) you can usually get them pretty reasonably at a bike shop, between $50 and $60 and trust me they are worth the money. Mine has saved my ribs I don't know how many times so far.

Tires: Go to Walmart or sears or other similar store and pickup a pair of 18x8x8 (18x8x9 if you have original wheels) low profile turf saver lawn mower tires. This is all the guys in the 80s use to use and a couple guys here on the forum use them too. Super cheap for a brand new tire at around $35 a piece. I'm gonna guess your front tire is OK, but if you could post a picture of it that I or you can send to the league guys to make sure it is, would probably be a good idea.

Lowering: Cheapest way for the front is to pop the cap off of your fork tubes and remove the 3 inch short spring out of the top of each one them, put the cap back one. For the rear, its best to have a lowering link, BUT if you have spanner wrench you can adjust the two large pre-load nuts on top of the spring on the back shock (Might require removal of the airbox to do) if you adjust it all the way up (loose) your shock will be softer and it'll squat a significantly amount more then it did stock. Might not be a bad idea to mark where its at now before you go adjusting it if you like the way it rides.

Gears: I'm running 15/40 sprockets and stay in 3rd and 4th gear once I get going off the start. This track up in Valdosta is a lot looser then the one I raced in Jasper, so its likely I'll be able to pull another gear or at least stay into it longer.

Carb: Mine was doing a similar thing with me before I was scheduled to go race again and found out that my piston was toast. Most any bike shop should carry the jets you need. Your carb if its original is a Keihin "PJ" series, and the jets it takes are pretty universal among the Keihin carbs. I'd say most of the time your going to be half throttle and above. The only time you'll be in the low RPM is taxiing to the start or during the line up before the light/flag comes on. I think you'll be OK. Checkout the official Jetting guide/sticky in this forum and also the OEM Service manual for more info.

Forks: Which way and what part of the forks are bent? My front wheel is about a 3/8inch out of round wobbling, and I can feel it on the track but its controllable. Again, the surface in Valdosta and Ocala both are a little bit looser then over here at Jasper which is like asphalt. The more give there is in the ground I think the less you'll notice things like that.

Crank seals: Pretty much if they aren't working you'll keep sucking in the trans oil into the combustion chamber and it'll blubber and leave a huge nasty black goo all over the exhaust system and it wont ever "clean out" when your running it. Unless its doing all that and your gearbox oil is dropping significantly I'd say its probably just a carb issue.

Leme know on anything else ;)


EDIT: Yes Numbers! I forgot about those. Numbers are required to be on each side of your back fenders, and also on the front. Letters should be 6inchs in height or larger (Get 8s though, cause thats what the requirements are gonna be next season) I'm running #22, and anything else besides that and syko's number should be up for grabs in the trike class. If we have to race with the quads and your number is the same as someone else's the league rules call for a black x behind the numbers to clarify the riders (Easily done with electrical tape :lol:)

[SYKO]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=013&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWN%3AIT&viewitem=&item=230038431341&rd=1,1


CHEVY.. thats the place I got my wheels from I ordered them on sunday night, the lady called me monday morning and I had them tues! very fast and from what I got extremely reasonable my wheel/tire combo only wieghs 12 lbs for each wheel/tire, super freindly and easy to get ahold of

also check local bike shops, sometimes they have extra wheels laying around, I have bought a few hear and there form shops that were stacked up outside in back for cheap a few times

[Mr. Clean]

Last night I was working on the R and noted some black buildup on the exhaust flange and the connection between pipe and silencer. I also noted a little puff of smoke by under the exhaust flange. I took of my FMF pipe and noted the flange was not even around the pipe, thinner on top, thicker on the bottom. I was most likely getting an exhaust leak in that area so I broke out the MIG welder and welded the flange all the way around. I did not get a chance to see if it helped, but I believe that it may have helped the flat spot that I get in 1st and 2nd gear. I also believe this motor has the seal problem and is burning trans oil. It is going to be difficult to tune this motor with the extra oil, but I will just keep doing one thing at a time.

[Yamahondaman]

Talked to Billy last Night and told him i'm gonna Build up a POS TRI-Z Flat Tracker for next year... I Hope all them ATC's don't get my bike too Dusty !! :cry:

[Billy Golightly]

Hey, thats all you can do is take it one step at a time. Once you get comfortable working on it changing the crank seals really isn't to big of a deal and can be done in a couple hours taking your time.

[Mr. Clean]

Billy

I have the Clymer, and have some mechanical skills, as I have restored that 57 chevy you see in the background and my in process 79 harley frame up resto. So does the clymer give good direction for replacing the seals. Any special tools required?

[Billy Golightly]

Clymers are OK, usually they'll get you by but the OEM service manuals are better in every way IMO. Try a forum search for service manual download, Dammit has a site hosted with with tons and tons of service manuals on it in .PDF form. Great resource.

Nothing really special with tools. It helps to have something to hold the motor from spinning over when pulling the clutch basket off but if you have a high torque impact wrench you can break it loose before the engine turns over. The trickiest part is removing the old seal without disturbing the sealing surface and pressing the new one without it going in crooked. Its just a little time consuming but nothing really special. Piece of cake after you've finished up, haha.

[phil53]

I guess I'm going to get off my butt and finish my 85 flat-trackerR I was piecing together. I believe I have 95% of the parts to put it together.
Was going the show route with it.

black powder coated frame, black plastics & tank, black #plate,
38mm mikuni flat-slide, cr ignition, esr pipe & silencer, DB 2 + 2 axle, lonestar rear hubs, chrome swingarm, rad mounts, and foot-pegs, ITP t-9 w/ 20" duros, lowering link, polished forks, list goes on............

bad part is, its all in pieces in my room and garage.
I was wanting to finish it but no space to put it together at the moment, hopefully at the end of the month.

[Billy Golightly]

I guess I'm going to get off my butt and finish my 85 flat-trackerR I was piecing together. I believe I have 95% of the parts to put it together.
Was going the show route with it.

black powder coated frame, black plastics & tank, black #plate,
38mm mikuni flat-slide, cr ignition, esr pipe & silencer, DB 2 + 2 axle, lonestar rear hubs, chrome swingarm, rad mounts, and foot-pegs, ITP t-9 w/ 20" duros, lowering link, polished forks, list goes on............

bad part is, its all in pieces in my room and garage.
I was wanting to finish it but no space to put it together at the moment, hopefully at the end of the month.



Sounds sweet! Finish that thing on up and come race with us, the more the better! Heck who knows, if we can get a consistent good showing at the local level maybe we can move on to some regional and national events? Never know :)

If you have any questions or I can help you out with anything please let me know and I'll do whatever I can.

[SYKO]

if my R is still running a the endo of our thanksgivin ride I will leave it in ocala to race the next weekend, then I have to see about aquiring a roller to make me a full time flat tracker. untill then I cannot afford to keep my one R up for riding and racing