In day two, I took a couple more seconds off by the third session. I was carrying a bit more speed through the turns, and therefore braking harder to enter the following turns. In so doing, I started to fade the brakes, and I learned that brake fade is a crappy deal.

Braking hard into turn ten, I very quickly noticed I wasn’t slowing down. The brakes just weren’t having any effect at normal brake lever pressure. So I pulled harder. The edge of the track kept getting closer, and my speeds weren’t really coming down. Then I pulled MUCH harder, and bottomed out my fork. The ensuing tank-slapper* was really something. The bars started shaking back and forth incredibly quickly, and the bike was skidding left and right and left and right and boom. I went down.

The now-prone bike left the track much more quickly than I did, and apparently those frame sliders do a good job of keeping the important parts from getting scratched on the asphalt, but serve as vaulting poles when they hit the dirt. The bike careened away, and I slid on my back to the side of the track. Good times.

Check the pics. Pretty spectacular. I am totally fine. I have a bruise on my arm, and one on my hip. I am a little stiff, but that’s likely more from the exercise of riding for two days. I swear I am just fine.

The SV though – totalled. Given the options, I think that’s absolutely fine.

*See an example of this type of gnarly headshake in the video I shot from the previous day. This is one lap of thunderhill, starting at turn five. Download the video and then skip ahead to about 15 seconds before then end and watch the drama.

The camera is a super tiny still camera, but it has a movie mode, and I thought it might work for in-car or on-bike footage. I just completed an around the block test drive with the clamp attached to the topmost “ear” of my cheap momo seat (just over my right shoulder) and I am totally impressed.

Check it! (Right-click and save as please!) My first avi file.

Check back regularly for serious autocross and track footage! Oh boy!

Now the lengthy part. In an effort to bolster my confidence as a rider, and to learn what a motorycycle feels like as it approaches its limits (and therefore how to avoid doing just that on the street) I went to a two-day novice rider school at Thunderhill. My goals were met: I am both more comfortable and more confident on the bike after having attended this school. Of course, I now have new goals; one of which is to attend as many motorcycle track events as time and budget allow. You see, I have been back from the event for a week now, but I haven’t yet had a night that wasn’t spent dreaming of the track. I am hooked. Credit card company executives the world over are chest-bumping with glee.

I focused most of my efforts on proper riding techniques and body position. Having driven cars at Thunderhill a number of times, I figured I would pick up on lines and reference points quickly, and could then focus on the more physical aspects of riding a motorcycle. In two days I went from grinding footpegs through many of the turns, to drifting the bike comfortably, using the throttle to alter my lines, and confidently hanging off enough to keep the pegs in the air and my knees on the ground.

Though I didn’t rent a lap timer, I was able to measure my times based on the session countdown timer at the starter’s tower. My lap times improved from roughly three minutes at the beginning of day one to about 2:20 at the end of day two. That’s what happens after 177 miles on a track. (That’s a lot of laps.) If I could enter my SV650 in a spec Miata race, I would have a chance at a top ten finish. That’s something. Something sad, I guess. Further schools will surely bring me to at least the levels of faster cars. I am not so proud as to think I could actually get good motorcycle times. Not soon at least.

As far as the Keigwin school goes, I can’t say enough good things about the school. The instruction was top-drawer, and the instructors were seemingly all actual racers. There was none of the “track day junkie” instructor garbage that you often receive at car events, in which each instructor only knows “the line” and can offer you nothing once you too have learned that there is no such thing as a good early apex. The instructors at Kegwin were happy to discuss alternate lines, and encouraged all of us to ride everywhere on the track, to gain experience in a wide line, or on the outside edge of the apex. Their theory is that it is good to know what the surface is like everywhere, because someday, you will screw up, or get passed, or push yourself, and you will end up in an unexpected place. Better to be as prepared as possible! I fully agree.

If you have read this far, you are likely skimming, looking to see if I fell. Well, I didn’t. Of the two categories of rider, those who have been down and those who soon will go down, I am still in the latter camp. I hope to keep it that way for some time. I think this school went a long way to helping me meet that goal.

I now have to buy new knee and toe sliders. And higher rearsets. And clip-on style bars. Oh God. I have been here before. Anyone want to buy a 1600-2?

Bad plan.

The electrical bit is actually a tip-over sensor consisting of a small circuit board held vertically with a pivoting magnet that moves as the bike leans. Seems when the bike falls on its side, the magnet moves, and the fuel injection system cuts fuel: killing the bike. No bueno. Especially when you, like me, orient the sensor longitudinally instead of laterally and the bike cuts out when you brake hard or go downhill. Heh.

I disabled the sensor with a little silicone to prevent the magnet from pivoting. The sensor can lie in any orientation now. The bike works properly, and I don’t have to worry that it will cut fuel in a tank-slapper, or any other unforeseen but recoverable track situation.

I installed Racetech springs and gold valve emulators in the fork (as did this guy), and an SVraceshop-modified GSXR-1000 shock on the rear. The bike is way more composed, and while significantly stiffer, actually feels less harsh over hard-edged impacts.

Break-in is half over, and I can rev to 7,500 RPM. I have never been so patient in my whole life.

With the increase in revs has come a realization… My new bike sounds like a sewing machine. I can tell there’s a twin in there somewhere, but the whirring of the reciprocating bits seems to overshadow the character of the exhaust. I had heard that de-baffling the stock muffler was the cheap alternative to a new can, and I had to give ‘er a go.

I followed the process outlined on svrider.com except I didn’t end up having a sledgehammer, and I had to whang on the damned thing with a framing hammer for about 10 minutes. I am sore, but it worked like a charm.

Looks like I only had one spot weld, but it was a mutha. Check the pics – ripped some of the inside of the can clean off. Note the mashed-ness of the end of the pipe upon which I so steadfastly whanged, and the fact that that pipe is now forever joined in holy union with the baffle. (They are quite happy together. I wish them the best, though I did cheap out on a gift, and got a little too drunk at their wedding.)

I am VERY pleased with the results. I recorded at each step in the process. I used a stereo mic about 10 feet behind and slightly above the pipe – where a car driver’s head might be if we were stopped at a stoplight for example. The mic placement and gain (volume) was not changed at all between “takes,” so the volume differences are 100% true. (i.e. It got louder.) Listen to the snarly tone at the end. Mean.

Have a listen yo’ se’f:

Stock exhaust before anything.
After drilling a ring of holes around the perimeter of the baffle.
Baffle removed. Note my happy-ass whistling after I shut off the bike. I was clearly stoked.

That rear fender had to go. I plan to get a rear hugger before it gets rainy.

Below is a general description of what I had to do to get the fender to go away. The process wasn’t as quick as I had hoped it would be, but it isn’t rocket science.

Materials (all can be bought at almost any hardware store):

• Framing bracket/joist hanger (bought from Orchard Supply Hardware for about two bucks)
• 2 skinny bolts (thin enough to fit through the holes in the joist hanger) that are roughly 2 inches long
• 4 washers to use with above skinny bolts
• 2 nuts (preferably locking) for the skinny bolts

Time:

• I spent about 3 hours, including head scratching and swearing.

Difficulty (one bleeding knuckle to five bleeding knuckles):

• One bleeding knuckle

Process:

1. Expose the two seat mounting bolts by removing the two triangular side covers which attach to the frame. (2 allen bolts)
2. Remove the two allen bolts that attch the seat to the frame, and lift the seat off as shown. (2 allen bolts)
3. Unlock and remove the passenger pillion seat, and disconnect the left and right turn signal wires. Note which is which. Remove the grab handle. (2 bolts)
4. Remove the four phillps-head bolts that attach the tail section plastic to the frame. Two are at the front of the tail section, and two are shown below. If necessary, use a magnet to remove the rearmost two bolts from the recessed area, as shown. (4 phillips-head bolts)
5. Remove the single small phillips head screw that holds the two halves of the tail section plastic together. This screw is just under where the back of the seat normally rests.

(1 phillips-head screw)

6. Remove the terrible plastic pop-rivet that, along with the the screw above, holds the two halves of the tail section plastic together. Use a screwdriver or other blunt object to push the pin from from the outside. It will pop right out, and you can then pull the whole terrible plastic pop-rivet out of the tail section. (1 terrible plastic pop-rivet)

   Note: If you are a hamfisted buffoon, you might try to do exactly the opposite of what I wrote above. If you do that, it will look just like what you see me doing in the image below. That is the wrong way to do it. Ask me how I know. Doing this means you may damage the tail section plastic around the rivets. Again, ask me how I know. If you are doing this in the direct sunlight, you may begin sweating, and you will definitely begin swearing. Shower when you are finished with this process, and then go apologize to your neighbors. Their children may never have been exposed to such language before, you big jerk.

7. Remove the six remaining terrible plastic pop-rivets that secure the tail section to the undertray. Two are at the rear of the trunk area, seen from the top. The other four are on the underside of the tail, two on each side. Just as before, you want to push the rivets through from the front. If you break them, I have it on good authority that they are about $1.25 each from Suzuki. Lame. (6 terrible plastic pop-rivets)

   Thanks to JD, a sundaybender visitor, who explained the right way to get these rivets out. He suggests pushing the pins through from the top with a small screwdriver or other thin blunt instrument. His comment is below.

8. With the tail section plastic free of the frame, you will note that it won’t come off. That’s right. You need to flex it just enough to get it around the frame. Spread the pieces as much as possible without breaking them, and lift the plastic up until you can access the screws shown below.
9. Remove the two bolts that hold the plastic undertray to the frame. (2 Bolts)
10. The undertray will still be secured in place by bolts near the shock. There is no need to remove those bolts to access the fender bolts. Simply flex the undertray out of the way and remove the four bolts that secure the fender to the frame. See the image of the fender assebly (removed) below to note the relative position of the four bolts. (4 bolts)
11. With the fender assembly removed, remove the nuts that hold the turn signals to the assembly. Thread the turn signal wires through the fender. Remove the plastic spacers from the fender assembly bolts and set the signals aside.
12. Use the tool of your choice to cut the fender from the top section of the assembly. You will be left with a “batwing” as shown below.
13. Depending on the hardware you chose from which to fabricate your bracket, you may need to re-use the black plastic spacers to affix the turn signals. Cut the prongs, shown below, off of the faces of the black plastic spacers so they will fit flush with the bracket.
14. Fashion your bracket. The bracket shown below was made by bending a framing bracket. The flat face with the bar code sticker on it was originally not bent perpendicular to the rest of the bracket. The bracket was bent 90 degrees to make what you see below. Clearly the work of a master fabricator.
15. Drill holes in the bracket for the mounting hardware and wires. Affix the license plate and turn signals. Smile with pride.
16. Reassemble the tail section, using the “batwing” in the place of the fender assembly.
17. Move the fuse holders from the trunk, place the bracket where you want it to be (be sure you have it right!) and drill through the undertail plastic and trunk plastic.
18. With the holes drilled, thread the bolts through and mount the bracket. Drill a large hole through which you can thread the turn signal wires.
19. Go take that shower, and don’t forget to apologize to your neighbor.

I will be documenting various projects, rides, schools, and other events as I go.