SIKKO's RVF400

[SIKKO_X2]

Well the wheels are back with their new shoes and the forks are at the shop getting rebuilt!

Front mudguard also arrived and I got a bit carried away on the weekend and ended up installing the new exhaust system:











My phone died while using it as a torch so will take some new ones with the exhaust and other goodies installed soon. I have also used the opportunity to refresh the cocpit, by repainting the top triple clamp, adding a carbon speedo surround and a machined aluminium stem bolt.

 

[motorman]

Looks so good mate. :thumbup:

 

[SIKKO_X2]

Here she is with the new exhaust:







There was a small leak between some of the pipes, which have now been fixed with some high-temp silicone. I also re-jetted the carbs with 112 mains (standard are 108). It was revving beautifully and sounds awesome. I'm just waiting for the forks to get back from the shop and she'll be ready for a test ride!

 

[SIKKO_X2]

I got the forks back and spent friday night getting everything back together and I am proud to announce that the bike is complete (for now)!

I took her for a spin on saturday and the bike has completely transformed. It is SO much easier to ride, with linear power (no more flat spot at 5-6k rpm) and a lot more torque. The sound is fantastic

The rebuilt forks have made it far less draining on the body as well, while massively improving handling and confidence. Peter at ProMecha told me that the forks had very little oil and needed a new spacer as whoever last rebuilt the forks put in a shorter spacer, meaning that even with 100% preload there still wasn't enough.
I will definitely look at getting the rear shock rebuilt given the HUGE difference that the rebuilt forks have made.

While the forks were at ProMecha I painted the top triple clamp, added a billet top clamp bolt and carbon fibre tacho surround to clean up the dash. I might also have a Tyga solo RC45 style rear fairing on the way which will really improve how the bike looks.

I am absolutely ecstatic with how it looks, sounds, feels and performs after all of the work and cannot wait for the 2x track days that I have booked between now and christmas, with more to come next year.

 

[motorman]

Far out mate it's been such a wicked journey since you first got it to see where it is now!!

You have done an absolute stella job restoring it to it's former glory.

I absolutely love it. If you ever think about getting rid of it let me know as I got first dibs. haha

Now time to enjoy it on the tracks.

 

[Cordogs]

^^^ Agreed!!!

That thing looks of the hook, you've done an awesome job mate kudos! :grinning-smiley-003 :hail:

 

[Snaptrax]

Always loved the Rvf400s. Those single sided swingers look amazing on them. If i was every going to get a road bike I would 100% get one. Awesome job restoring it mate.

 

[SIKKO_X2]

Well it's been a while since I updated everobody on the progress of this bike.

Since I last posted, I have done about 4 or 5 more track days and I am still in love with this bike! It is so quick in the corners that I find myself getting frustrated being stuck behind much larger bikes. Being between 20-40kg lighter than 600-1000cc bikes yet only 60-70hp, I find myself getting blasted on the straights, only to reign them right back in on the corners. It's really exciting and allows me to 'battle' with riders on much bigger bikes. On my last track day I was stuck behind a Daytona 675 and tried so hard to get in front that by the end of the session I was so exhausted that I physically couldn't remove myself from the bike.. When back in the pits I put the stand down and sat there for 15 minutes trying to get my composure. At that point, I decided that I was going to get into racing.

Now, having said that I had a big learning experience late last year where I low sided at crash-corner at Broadford, which taught me more than any tuition could have. I came in too hot - missed a gear on down shift - got flustered and was approaching the corner far too fast, which lead to me over compensating and grabbing the front brake. After a loud screech I found myself sliding across the track with the bike on top of me.

Thankfully, both the bike and myself were only bruised and slightly damaged:




My leathers were ruined and a ligament in my shoulder damaged, but nothing that a bit of TLC and money for the both of us couldn't fix.

After analysing it 10,000 times in my head, the 1,000 things that I did wrong became apparent. Among which, I needed to commit to corners, get used to braking late and learn to compensate for things that happen on the track. Following the crash, I took these things in and actively applied them to how I ride, spending every pre-lunch session focusing on a certain corner and aspect of my riding, then trying to combine it in the afternoon sessions into decent laps.





I quickly found that even though the forks had been rebuilt and setup correctly, the rear end was holding me back. I was exiting corners too wide and almost lost the rear on a few occasions on high speed corners. Due to this, I saw the need to upgrade. It was a situation of either spending $800+ to get the NC30 shock that I had spare rebuilt, resprung and sorted to offer compression, which I would quickly out grow and need to upgrade. As a result, I forked out and bought a $1200 custom built Nitron R3 shock:





This shock is absolutely beautiful and being custom assembled to my specs, it is as simple as fitting and riding. It includes ride height adjustment, high/low speed compression adjustment and rebound adjustment. The more time that I spend researching and watching Youtube videos on Nitron shocks, the happier I am with my purchase. After installing it today I cannot wait for my next track day in March.

Since the crash I have committed to getting into racing in the next year or 2, so I havn't worried too much about the cosmetics of the bike (as you can see by the crash rashes in the pictures), but since my last post I have also changed the gearing as a result of getting quicker in the corners and am looking to buy some aftermarket rear sets as my current stock ones are heavily ground on the right hand side and my old boots wore through past the sliders. Even my new ones have worn through, needing replacement of the sliders after the first track day of wearing them - I hope that the added ride height and reduced squat through corners reduces it.

At the moment the bike is still road registered as I have no need to set it up for racing regs as it is really just a track bike, but that won't last long.

 

[motorman]

Awesome thanks for the update dude.

Looks like you are getting a lot of time on the bike after all the work rebuilding it!!

Shame about the crash and scratching it all up but as the old saying goes "If your not crashing your not going hard enough".

 

[SIKKO_X2]

Well I've done a track day since fitting the new shock and it has completely transformed the bike!
It is so much more comfortable to ride and it feels like it just sticks to the track and the line that I am trying to ride. Without even trying, I knocked 3-seconds off my PB time, which goes to show how much of an impact decent suspension has.



I am still working to dial in the front end now that the rear end is sorted and I should hopefully have it all sorted by my next track day.

The next issue that I have been having is that the current foot pegs are too low, meaning that I am constantly scraping my boot when I get the bike leaned over. Out of fear of ruining my shiny new boots, I find myself trying to straighten the bike up mid corner, which affects my speed and line through the corners. To help prevent this I have ordered and fitted a set of Tyga rear sets (pics to come), which raises the foot pegs by 20mm and moves them back by 5mm.

With the crappy weather we've been experiencing I have decided that now is the time to rebuild the front braking system and install some new organic pads. I have rebuilt the master cylinder with a new piston and seals and am in the process of doing the same to the calipers. When disassembling the calipers I noticed that at least one of the pistons was fully seized, which was reducing the braking efficiency.



New and Old master cylinder pistons:

I am waiting for a few more bits to arrive, but it should be ready to reinstall onto the bike next week.

Given that I will be upgrading the rotors and pads next year, ensuring that the braking system itself was performing as it should is a definite necessity.

 

[SIKKO_X2]

Well the front brakes are back together and on the bike. After plenty of fiddling to get any air bubbles out the brakes feel incredibly strong. I ended up opting for sintered pads for better braking performance and have used high-temp brake fluid.

I also decided to replace the 20-year old chain guard with a Tyga carbon one, which really cleaned up the rear end.

Old:

New:


I also managed to score some LED H4 bulbs through work, so will be installing them soon. They are incredibly bright compared to the old halogens