The Red Baron has arrived

[Turbo]

Ultra cheep cheep, too. Ultra ultra. Nice bit of kit. Wouldn't mind trying some on an Ape one day.

Nope, this is MY brand now. Go find your own :P

Glad it worked out buddy!

If I don't like it tho, I'll be expecting a full refund from you!!

[stevem]

This is taking shape nicely Owen. Very nice.

[Marshy]

Nope, this is MY brand now. Go find your own :P

[Wolfie57]

So impressed by the suspenders, what a steal! This bike is getting plenty of attention, I thought the sleep dep would have got you by now mate!

[Turbo]

So impressed by the suspenders, what a steal! This bike is getting plenty of attention, I thought the sleep dep would have got you by now mate!

Hahah thanks mate!! The late nights have allowed for some extensive googling!!
and for parts shopping...

[Negrogrande]

looks amazing mate.

well done on almost stealing the suspenders

[Turbo]

The bike is a repairable write off with the culprit looking to be the slight damage that the flywheel sustained.



We had a crack at removing the damaged flywheel but without the proper puller, it was a tricky bugger to get off!
The loctite on it also has a release temperature of over 200c!! Without knowing it, the temp we excerpted on the replacement flywheel (still on the crank) actually caused it to lose it's magnetic charge... The benefit of hind legs taught that there's no substitute for the right tool for the job!



With this in mind, it was off for a quick trip to Bikebiz to get them swapped out using the proper BMW tool. Here is where we discovered the replacement flywheel was without it's magnetic charge!!
After a bit of ringing around and head scratching about how to re-magnetise a flywheel, as luck would have it, Wolfie57 turned out to have a spare flywheel on the motor he was about to replace. A couple of favours later and I was back in business!!







Then it was back to the SSR workshop to get engine sealed up and rinsed out.





Next up, with the motor back together, I can start piecing together some crash protection along with Ti drilled caliper bolts, drilled oil sump and drilled oil filler plugs. Then I'll pull apart the brakes and give them a bit of an overhaul.

[Wolfie57]

Good bit of teamwork last week, need a replacement motor, Brett Harpur calls Anthony Saad who mentions one on FB that Josh McFarlane is stripping, sold, quick chat with Owen, flywheel sorted for him and pick up of motor for me with help of Marshy, everyone's happy and all in a day

Looking forward to seeing you out there mate and helping me beat these pesky Aprilias!

[Marshy]

Looking forward to seeing you out there mate and helping me beat these pesky Aprilias!

Ha!! Good luck with that



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Carl-52]

good stuff guys! looks like its coming along now owen. is the kid learning the names of tools already against her will??? hahaha

[Ruckos87]

Good bit of teamwork last week, need a replacement motor, Brett Harpur calls Anthony Saad who mentions one on FB that Josh McFarlane is stripping, sold, quick chat with Owen, flywheel sorted for him and pick up of motor for me with help of Marshy, everyone's happy and all in a day

This is the best thing I'm finding out about this sport, and the guys here on TT
Bloody fantastic !!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Turbo]

Good bit of teamwork last week, need a replacement motor, Brett Harpur calls Anthony Saad who mentions one on FB that Josh McFarlane is stripping, sold, quick chat with Owen, flywheel sorted for him and pick up of motor for me with help of Marshy, everyone's happy and all in a day

Looking forward to seeing you out there mate and helping me beat these pesky Aprilias!

Totes!! Busy day but very lucky how it happened.

Ha!! Good luck with that

Who needs luck? We've got ambition that'll outweigh anything you care to mention!!

[Turbo]

good stuff guys! looks like its coming along now owen. is the kid learning the names of tools already against her will??? hahaha

She's not bothered about tools.. she's already told me that's my job.
She's purely concentrating on riding...

[Turbo]

More shiny things have been arriving in the post so I thought I should get to work fitting them up!!

First up from the good people at Hel Australia, some braided lines front and rear:



Before I could fit the new lines tho, there was the small matter of eliminating the ABS system.
If you've not seen one before, basically all the lines are run back to a central pump that has a bunch of plungers in them that apply the ABS. On the BMW this box is also a control box for the traction control so you can't just rip the whole thing out.
You can either buy a clever harness/black box thingo that takes care of the traction control and potential fault codes or you can go at it with blunt instruments until it looks done. (Thanks for the tips Stevem, JonnyB & Wolfie57!!)
Happily my new ECU flash takes care of the error codes so I decided to go without the aftermarket harness and opt for the latter, blunt instrument approach...

Here's the ABS unit, under the seat...




I think I only really need the bit on the left, under the plug, as the stuff on the right is for the ABS plungers. There looks to be a PCB board underneath it all tho so I'll not strip it back any further.



It was a bit of a mission, pulling out all of the rigid brake lines that were threaded through the engine but I think we've saved a fair bit of weight!



Whilst I was in there I removed the old exhaust flapper servos too. Again, the ECU flash will take care of any errors.



I tidied up the control unit under the seat but found there was a bit of a hole where the ABS pump unit was mounted...



I've got some BMW control software coming, for the electronics, and I'll need a cable to control that, so I made the hole a bit bigger and it'll get an IP rated USB port fitted






With the old brake lines off, I was now ready to fit up the new ones. Happily this meant fitting up the new Vortex rear-sets, carbon hugger and finally the Akra!





I ran the front lines too but there are a few more bits that need done to the front end before I can call that done...

[Ruckos87]

Looking sweeeeeet!!! ETA on track?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Turbo]

Thanks mate!! I've just been told that the ECU and fairings are both landing next week!
If I can find the time to put it all together... end of the month?!? Maybeeee?!

[Marshy]

Looks awesome!!!!!! Nice, neat work

[stevem]

Owen the prong that was mounted on the electrical side of the ABS pump you may still need for traction control to work. I stabbed mine in to a piece of foam and taped it up.

[nigelnobody]

Very impressive build sicko!
New pb's on the way i'm thinkin' some trophies too.

Edit: btw if your sticking with v02 fronts some guys are doing 33's now too.

[Turbo]

Owen the prong that was mounted on the electrical side of the ABS pump you may still need for traction control to work. I stabbed mine in to a piece of foam and taped it up.

I'd say that's power to the pressure modulator. It's just two prongs that go back to the PCB board.
I didn't want to tear it out, but as they don't move, I saw no harm in making them shorter.
If I'm wrong tho, there are heaps of cheap replacements on eBay!

[Turbo]

Very impressive build sicko!
New pb's on the way i'm thinkin' some trophies too.

Edit: btw if your sticking with v02 fronts some guys are doing 33's now too.

Hahaha, thanks mate!
33's on the out lap

[Leezx10r]

It's all coming together now mate, great work 🏻


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dan]

Looks rad dude


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Negrogrande]

looks ace Owen

[Turbo]

Shocking development....

Despite having bought the gear second hand, the Bitubo guys in Australia and at HQ have been incredibly helpful when it comes to information.
I've heard from a fair few people that the BMW's can be a pain to setup for handling etc so I was keen to at least get a base setting to work from.
What I received tho, was page after page after page of setup information for a rider my weight, including fork height, shock length, clicker settings, oil height and even shim stacks, straight from WSBK recorded data for a variety of tyres on a variety of tracks.

Just a snippit...



One thing I discovered, is that the shock I'd bought is actually for a 2010, not the 2013+ that my bike is.
The overall wheelbase was decreased from 2010 to 2012 on the bike to make the handling better, so this would have been the reason the shock changed.
Armed with the setup and build data for both models, it was easy too see what needed changing to make it work...




So it's out with the old...




....and in with the new!!






Last thing for today was some GB crash protection!! Race profile frame sliders and the engine case covers...

[Ruckos87]

That's awesome!! Pays to ask the questions hey...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Turbo]

My ECU finally arrived back from it's trip over to Germany! Freshly flashed and with speed holes drilled in it



I don't know what I was expecting but I was still slightly disappointed that the ECU looked exactly the same on the outside.....
On the inside tho...


With my newly acquired BMW Race Calibration Kit software and interface, I've unlocked a bewildering array of adjustment and fine tuning parameters:




Part of the flash I ordered, was the WSBK ECU settings, directly from BMW/Alpha Racing's factory team. So, helpfully, it's already likely to be pretty good out of the box.
I can use these settings as a base then fine tune my own presets and modes for the local track conditions and tyre profiles.
Here's another look at what I had done:

Proven WSBK/MotoGP mapping including the following optimised functions
* injection
* ignition
* airbox funnel switching
* traction-control (gear-dependent, wheely-detection for optimised slip calculation)
* quick shifter (reduced shift duration)
* engine rpm limitation with soft-cut
* e-throttle mapping (independent in riding modes)
* launch control (also in 2. gear)
* engine brake (gear dependent)
* DTC (dynamic traction control)
* ABS
* PIT rpm-limiter
* read/delete ECU error-memory
* clear adaptation values

The ECU is controlled through the diagnostic connector(bottom of the pic) which connects to the PC via a USB to serial converter (BMW Motorrad box) which was included with the Race Calibration Kit.






I decided to hard wire this in so that I can make adjustments quickly, without having to remove the tail fairing.
So, I fitted an IP rated USB connector that fits in perfect beneath the battery box...




With the back of the bike really starting to take shape, it was time to turn my attention to the front end...
First up were the forks, they needed a little TLC!



Then I took out the old internals and fitted the new Bitubo Gas Carts!!





Re-built and refreshed then back in the bike, looking schmicko!!




I've never used 2 piece calipers before but having taken these apart to clean, I think they're ACE from a maintenance point of view!
Before.... AFTER..



In go the Vesrah's too...



Then I sanded back the brake discs back, for a good bed, and put it all back together with the new Titanium cross-drilled caliper bolts!







Best book some track time soon!!?!

[Marshy]

Oh. My. God. THAT'S AWESOME!!

Bonus points for the blingy blue usb cable

[chubb]

That looks so good Sicko

[Leezx10r]

Oh yes, this build is going to be a monster 🏻
Keep the thread going mate, great work!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[stevem]

Wow dude, very nice. There is two track days at the end of the month Weds 29 and Thurs the 30th. I was looking at doing both cause its been a while.

[Turbo]

Whilst I was waiting for my ECU to get sorted by Alpha, I couldn't help but update my shopping cart... once or twice...
One such update was the switch block kit. It removes the heated grips stuff and moves the 'Mode' button from throttle hand to the left and just generally looks badass!!
Also fitted up here is the Brembo clutch lever and Renthal dual-compound grips....




Completing the switch package is the race Start/Kill switch and Alpha quick action throttle.
I LOVED the Brembo 19RCS on the R6 so I couldn't resist getting another!
Here it all is lined up on the new Driven Halo Clip-ons:




Last thing for the hand controls is a Woodcraft lever guard and the mini Brembo race reservoir...




Next job was the drivetrain, 520 chain and sprockets conversion and you can just see the new GB pickup spools and 90 degree valves...





The engine was open for a while so once I'd re-fitted the oil cooler and Radguards, I flushed and re-filled the motor with new oil and a new filter.
Then, fitted some cross drilled plugs and caps to make the lock-wiring easier....







Whilst I was doing fluids I also filled the new brake lines with race fluid. I'm a sucker for the HRC rear reservoir so that's fitted too.





Last job for now was the small matter of THE NEW FAIRINGS!!





Other than some personalisation and numbers etc...There's not much more to do other than sit on it and make vrooming noises!!

[chubb]

Definitely needs on board cameras for first outing


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[zoidberg]

This build is making it move. It's a little embarrassing, but there it is.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

[Ruckos87]

Looking awesome can't wait to here how it goes on the 29th


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Marshy]

This build is making it move. It's a little embarrassing, but there it is.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

I'm glad I'm not the only one. But let's not look each other in the eye, ok? That would be weird.

[Krackeye]

Mental fucking build Owen. Some of those parts I just have an urge to lick.

[Turbo]

Ummmm... thanks? I think it's best if none of you are left alone with it tho...

[Leezx10r]

That's one of the best build threads there's been on here Owen.
I want to see a onboard camera to see your face for the first put 🏻


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Condor]

W O W ……

Looks f*&%ing mental dude… well done. Hopefully see you 29th

[stevem]

Exhaust guard.

[Turbo]

Yiewww!! Thanks all. Can't wait for the 29th Hope you can make it Condor
Good idea, Steve! I was actually looking for one already, after you showed me yours!
Do MCAS do em??

[stevem]

I got mine as old stock from Morgan and Wacker up in Brisbane heavily reduced but ebay you could probably get one for $95 landed

[WRCPUG]

jesus what an awesome build mate i'm so jealous of all the trick bits you have.

Looking forward to hearing how you go on its maiden run

[Turbo]

Thanks man!! I'll be sure to post up once I've had a crack!

[Wolfie57]

Yiewww!! Thanks all. Can't wait for the 29th Hope you can make it Condor
Good idea, Steve! I was actually looking for one already, after you showed me yours!
Do MCAS do em??

I got one from Germany (through Ebay) after Steve nagged me as well! Was $93 ish......

[Perry]

Very nice who did the paint

[Turbo]

I got one from Germany (through Ebay) after Steve nagged me as well! Was $93 ish......

Cool man. They're stocked locally tho. I just ordered one through my local bike shop, from the distributor. $79.95
http://www.ficeda.com.au/ep0008bk-7467ce.html

Very nice who did the paint

Thanks man. It was the MotoGP safety bike design, with logos etc removed. Fairings were through Superbike Source.

[Turbo]

The Red Baron is almost ready for the 29th too!!
Just one more small but extremely important thing that I hope I can get resolved before next week...
In the meantime.. a bit of personalisation! Name, numbers, seat foam and stomp grips all fitted tonight, along with a shiny new lithium battery...
Getting SO flippin excited.... so excited that I may have been testing the launch control on the stand in Marshy's garage..... sorry bud!

[Leezx10r]

Man she's looking sooooo good 🏻


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk