New 700cc Outfit

Thanks for the positive comments guys.
Jim no mods to the XS only a service and check over, I do have plans for a monster engine but will need a new chassis.

Luckily one of my mates kids recorded a video of the start up and has posted it on facebook.
I am not a member of facebook but you can read it without being a member. Even without the RD video its a good read.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Personal-Blog/dowman_racing-1900237280084327/

Turn the sound up.
 
Thank you again guys for the positive comments.
Halfmile funny you should mention that I did look at making an 4 inline XS but the show stopper was spark plug location for cylinders 2 and 3.

During testing on Friday the clutch slipped at 6000 rpm, it was like a switch, and there were a few other small problems.
Friday night we drilled the pressure plate in the clutch and fitted some XS springs for its first outing on Saturday.

On Saturday the clutch would not release, and we did a couple of practise seasons and one race.
My mate did a great job riding the thing with no clutch !
The chassis handles well and has no headshake a low speed, the wide tyres are great so we are pretty please with the chassis.
I do want another handle on the back as I was reaching for it and it wasn't there, which is funny as we did a bit of rehearsal in the workshop to work out the handle positions.

The motor from the limited testing we could do with no clutch looks to have potential.
We did get it into the power band and it felt like it was fast but we didn't get a full lap in without some problem causing us to lose time.
After crashing the gears for 3 sessions we parked it up before something in the gearbox broke.

Today is a public holiday so today we pulled the motor out and stripped it completely to have a look see. It all looks pretty good so sign of pistons hitting the heads, or over heating . Numbers 2 and 3 have more black underneath than 1 and 4 but not so that we need to worry.
The gearbox still looks ok, and we have started devising how we can beef up the clutch.
The bottom of the inlet ports and boot ports does need some more chamfering as there is some signs of pistons scuffing.
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At the meeting the bike generated a lot of interest and we had some very knowledgeable people giving us hints and tips which we both listened to intently.
We have a busy time in the workshop this month as the bike will be painted and ready to go for the Mike Pero Southern Classic the last weekend in November. We have heard form the organisers that there are 27 sidecars entered most of them classics.
 
We have been very busy in the workshop, the bike is finished for now and we leave for the South Island next Wednesday.

The clutch is now very much modified, it was a lot of work it now sports 8 FZR 600 plates, a new custom pressure plate, RGV250 springs, custom spring holders and a larger bore master cylinder.

The cases (early type) needed to be modified to take a flange that reduces thrust on the bearing the bearing fitted to later type cases.

We couldn’t do this in house as the welded cases were too tall to fit in the mill, this and the water jet cutting are the two jobs that we couldn’t do between us.
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The rear and side brake master cylinder was not releasing properly and was faulty from new. Next time we will be using used OEM rear master cylinders. We have had a lot of problems with the hydraulics but they are all sorted now but it took a lot of time.

The front brakes have been re bled.

A new fuel manifold has been made; the old one had too many pinholes in the Lumiweld to repair.

The new one has a larger more direct overflow pipe to the fuel tank in an effort to stop the carbs being pressurised.
The carbs have been stripped and cleaned and the floats levels checked, the fuel system has been flushed to remove any water and debris left over from making and pressure testing the manifold.
The tank breather in line restrictor has been enlarged.
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A gearbox breather has been fitted and piped into the carbs catch bottle.
A clear cover has been fitted to the ignition and a pointer made so that TDC and timing can be checked quickly.
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An extra grab handle has been made, aluminium finishing strip around the side wheel guard made and fitted. The platform has been upholstered.
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Broken exhaust thermocouple housings have been re soldered, larger grub screws fitted to the drive and coupling sprockets.
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The Frame and plastics have been painted. The frame has a gold metallic flake in it the black looks normal in the shed but really pops in the sun. Black is not the ideal frame colour so far as crack checking goes but hopefully with an engine that’s not trying to jump out of the frame cracks may not be such an issue.

The body work was finished tonight so took a few photos.
Pretty pleased with how it turned out, hope we can get it to perform to expectations.
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Future plans are a fairing and more porting/tuning hope to get it on a dyno some time after Boxing day.
Number 250 is on the table now for new tyres and a once over before the trip south.
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Thanks for the positive comments we both enjoy the building process and hanging out with other likeminded people the racing is just a bonus.

Yamadude, the starts are great fun and can get a bit hairy. Last year a Norton exploded on the grid and sent some quite large chunks of engine flying. One rider had to duck to avoid a piece of shrapnel.

Mailman, yeah we did talk about making a clear cover for it, might do this if the mod works out ok. We are now looking for a RD 400 gear box as I understand the ratios are better.

MaxPete yes it is great fun and the outfits are generally more forgiving than solos. We have been in all sorts of strife on number 250 and got away with it if we were on a solo’s no way we would have been off.

Most sidecar racing associations have “have a go days” or try out days to promote the sport. Go along and have a go, the Riders will adjust their style to suit the passenger’s ability or disability.
 
Got back last night from Timaru and the MPSC 2019. What a fantastic event, if any of you are ever down this way early December get yourself to it you won’t be disappointed.

Everyone running the event was super organised and very friendly.

We took the XS and the RD. The XS was entered in the pre 72 class and we entered the pre 89 class on the RD (in with the moderns). We could have entered the pre 76 class but it was run at the same time as the pre 72 and we couldn’t ride two bikes in the same race.

There were 6 XS twin powered outfits, 0ne XS triple and 17 classics in total in the classic class and 14 in the moderns.

Practise was wet and although we got soaked was great fun.

This is really our first outing and the RD handles very well, it is much easier to passenger on than the XS. We experimented with rear and front exiting and our start method. On the start convention is the passenger places as much weight as possible over the rear wheel to assist traction. However we found that if I did this the bike bogged and we started better with the weight forward off the rear allowing it to spin up and keep the bike on the pipes.

All in all the entire bike is an absolute hoot to ride, so much fun.


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Now to pull the motor to check /repair damage for boxing day.

The RD performed better than we expected and we were not disgraced in the pre 89 class (2nd). It was very tiring racing two classes with a rest of one race in between. I have nothing but respect for one passenger who is 70 years old, been doing it for years and knows all the tricks he also raced two classes.

For me the best part was no motion sickness that has troubled me off and on for a few years now but i think I am on top of it now.

The XS has a few problems and is not handling well and seems to be down on power, time to freshen up the motor and give it a birthday. The frame is probably cracked as well.

Will post some photos of the racing as they become available here is a photo of the shambles that was or pits.
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Boxing Day has been and gone and unfortunately we didn’t finish a race.

We qualified 4th but there was only points of seconds between 2nd 3rd and 4th. The new clutch set up is doing the job after it warms up

The first race was all going well and we were in 3rd place on the second lap of 8, then a Norton ahead of us locked up its gearbox and skidded to stop in a dangerous place and the race was stopped.

Back in the pits my problem with motion sickness started and before long I was in no condition to go out again so that was our day done.

We did get offers of another passenger but my friend did not think it was a good idea as he is still learning to ride the bike and the passenger although experienced would be new to him. A street circuit is not the ideal place to learn how your team mate and bike react.

Sadly there was a bad crash in the modern sidecars race I am unclear of the details of what happened but several people were injured and ended up with broken bones and concussion.

On the brighter side the 700 attracted a lot of attention and will be completive as we are at the start of our development and our competitors are pretty much at the end of theirs.

I also got to meet the son and wife of the man who first joined two RD’s together in NZ, he is living in Perth (WA) and was over here racing modern sidecars. Unfortunately He sustained a broken nose in the crash above.

My friends son and daughter did well riding above and beyond what their bike ( stock XS 650 big wheeler) should be capable of and got a third place . Well done you two.

I will post a link to the racing footage when it becomes available.
 
I enjoyed reading your multi-faceted racing update!
Having been involved with road racing for many years in the 90's and 2000's, I understand the mixed news that a weekend at the track brings.
There are victories in project development, as you are having, along with darker events on the track.
Keep at it !
You have many fans here.
 
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