CBX Racing

CBXs, new bikes, old bikes, cars, trucks, general chat, off topic, this is the place to post it.
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wyly
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Re: CBX Racing

Post by wyly »

Vass Performance Cycle, it's a tiny hole in the wall shop in Carstairs about 15-20 drive north for me. GPS will get you to the address is but once there there's no evidence of a repair shop, no signs, no front door, nothing. I cruised around until I found a guy working on a KTM in the back lane and that was Willie Vass. Phone ahead if you're going there so you can meet him.

He's a one man shop and even though he doesn't advertise or have a website he's busy you need to book about a month in advance during the winter. Willie's contracted to build 1250cc Yamaha engines for Legend Class cars(they need to have identical performance specs) and suspension for racing bikes. He also does custom fabrication if required. I took my GS cylinder head to him to remove two spark plugs that oxidized themselves solidly into the head and then bring the head back to working condition.
CBX a work in progress, still improving...GS1150EFE completed and awaiting modifications.....RD350, remnants in boxes scattered throughout the garage

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cross
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Re: CBX Racing

Post by cross »

It's nice to hear that you are doing good!
I bought rear shock from progressive and improvement is crazy just straight out of the box, without any adjustments. Front I usually keep at 12.5/13 and it handles pretty good considering bikes size and weight.
Adding air to the forks also raises front of the bike slightly so have adjustable rear shock hos raise the rear to offset that change. I still haven't gotten around to play wit adjustments but I will once I upgrade fron with race tech springs and gold valve emulators as well as upgrade my brake hoses to steel braided ones.

George dillaway had told me once that he raced his CBX with stock rear shock and had no problems but this bike can definitely use suspension and brake improvements.
Sasha

'82 Honda CBX
'99 Triumph TBS
'01 Honda Valkyrie

:auto-sportbike:

Warwick Biggs
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Re: CBX Racing

Post by Warwick Biggs »

Thanks guys and Nils I appreciate your offer & will organise some racing pics soon when I have a bit more time.

The bike now has solid cast iron disks fitted with an alloy spacer to take up the extra width Honda built in for the venting.

With the carbs reamed out to 30mm its making 115hp with good power from 5,000 rpm and the new cams really come on around 6,500. This is close to a 50% improvement all on stock piston pressure and hopefully without affecting reliability too much. Allowing for driveline losses its getting close to 150 crank hp which is pretty good for a mildly tuned 33 year old air cooled road bike.

Does anybody have any recommendations for racing tyres in the stock 19"/18" sizes? I'm currently using Dunlop GP TT100's but they are pretty hard and unresponsive. Why can't the tyre companies do special runs of slicks in the Classic tyre sizes? Makes more sense than pushing the engine up in the frame and increasing the C of G.

Pics:

Moderator Edit: Sorry for the delay - I have had these for a couple of days but forgot!

I admire your mojo, and can relate: I took up road racing at the tender age of 39, had to get it out of my system. 2 great seasons, no permanent injuries, no regrets. Hope it goes the same for you Rick.

N.


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daves79x
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Re: CBX Racing

Post by daves79x »

Warwick:

Can you get your mechanic/dyno guy to post the same article he did on CBXWorld? Seems each forum has half the story and many forum readers do not cross over. Thanks

Dave

steve murdoch icoa #5322
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Re: CBX Racing

Post by steve murdoch icoa #5322 »

Are you allowed to run slicks in the your class?
Also wondering if the extra grip afforded by the slicks would overwhelm your bike without MORE frame/suspension upgrades.
Rol would probably have tire recommendations.
Avon does make some performance tires in your sizes. http://www.avonmotorsport.com/historic- ... motorcycle

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Re: CBX Racing

Post by Warwick Biggs »

I don't know anything about "CBXWorld" but If you Google 'Robinson Precision Engineering Bathurst Australia' I believe somebody has put together something on something called Facebook that I also don't want to know anything about but Hugh Robinson is a toolmaker by trade and has an Aladin's cave of cutting, grinding and other machines with all sorts of odd bods wandering thru' tinkering with their toys, not to mention Ricardo Nunez and Paulo his 2 Portugese understudies, both of whom are good blokes and highly skilled. Anyway there is film of the bike on the dyno, apparently.

And yes, we can run slicks on 5.5" rims that won't fit into any standard swingarm of the period. As a retired lawyer, don't get me started about rules written to favour the rich! So that's what I have to compete against but as any motorcyclist knows there are some people who can ride the wheels off a scooter. So I can't expend too much effort whingeing when its the rider that needs more work.

I like the look of 'Sweepings' and I can guess the reason for the name. Why don't you guys come over with the US Classic match race team and bring over one of your CBX's to Phillip Island? We may not win but we can make a howl that will make the penguins wonder, what the hell is going on? And have a good time doing it.

This year we have the Harris Brothers to explain what they did to the Pom's Hondas last year that saw them take home the silver ware. You can bet it wasn't a back yard job.

pics soon.

Warwick

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Re: CBX Racing

Post by daves79x »

Here's a link to the thread on CBXWorld showing Warwick's bike on the dyno: http://www.cbxworld.com/modules.php?nam ... ic&t=16942

Dave

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Re: CBX Racing

Post by FalldownPhil »

I think it is RPE posting on CBX World.
Phil
When you are up to your ass in alligators it is sometimes difficult
to remember that your objective was to drain the swamp !!

daves79x
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Re: CBX Racing

Post by daves79x »

You are correct and the subject is Warwick's bike.
Dave

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Re: CBX Racing

Post by NobleHops »

Photos just added up there ^^^^
Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA '80 CBX, sort-of restored :-)

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Re: CBX Racing

Post by Warwick Biggs »

I have sent Nils some pics of the CBX in action at the Phillip Island Classic and here is what happened......

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We had electrical gremlins to start with, conking out after the first 4 laps going over Lukey Heights with a flat battery and coming back with the sweep. Could't find the short so eventually we pulled the plug on the generator and ran on total loss. Then, lots of rain limited practice and qualifying (the Classic is run over 4 days) but we ended up having some dices in the final race of the week end, including briefly keeping up with one of the US team on a TZ750, until he eventually cleared off.

The pic with number 4 is a member of the Irish team on a Katana and he eventually slipped past when I missed a gear accelerating out of Siberia. Its funny but I kept finding a false neutral accelerating out of that corner only - nowhere else.

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We did manage to pass under brakes and then hold off the NCR Ducati in the background of that pic but I had to keep backing off in the faster corners and the Island is a very fast circuit, with Jeremy McWilliams clocking 275kph or 175mph at the end of the straight. The limiting factor was a serious wallow going into the high speed corners that threatened to turn into a tank slapper.

We think we have identified part of the problem being a soft side wall Avon 130 on the skinny stock 2.75" rim. Too much weight and power for the tyre. So we have been lucky to find and acquire a good set of "boomerang" wheels off an '82 CB900 Bol Dor. The 3" rear and 18" front will give us a wider tyre choice and Continental now do a much stiffer 130 rear with a reinforced carcass. This should help.

Trevor Manley who rides 'the Beast' for Roly Skate had modified our suspension in the week prior to the race. Stiffer front springs and re-plumbed dampers and an adjustable ride height Wilbers monoshock have given us the extra clearance to be able to run an 18" front - hopefully.

If anybody knows where I can find a set of rear suspension bushes or a rectifier/regulator for a pro link I would be very happy to hear from them.

This w/e Trevor and Roly are in action with 'the Beastess' in the support races for the opening of the SBK World superbike championship at the Island and in a few weeks we have the Barry Sheene Classic at Eastern Creek, so lots of classic racing action in Australia at the moment.

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Warwick.

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Re: CBX Racing

Post by steve murdoch icoa #5322 »

Thanks for the pics and story, Warwick.
Did you have fun?

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Re: CBX Racing

Post by Warwick Biggs »

Thanks Nils that looks good and yes, Steve I did have fun!

I do admit to fits of depression as we struggled to deal with all the problems over the weekend coming last, last and last and trying to come to grips with an undeveloped bike and a new and very challenging track in the races themselves, with hardly any practice. It was somewhat daunting to be up against some of the most highly developed and fastest racers in the world and the noise when we all took off was enuf' to make your ears bleed! But it came together for me in the final race where we were able to not only keep up but to pass some of the other bikes. We managed to out drag many of the two strokes off the line altho' they tended to come past me in a freight train when the CBX started wallowing around going into the fast corners. What I'm most relieved about tho' is that I think with a little more development the bike is going to be competitive. For a while I was beginning to think I had embarked on a fools errand, trying to make a racer out of a 34 year old 6 cylinder road bike but then as Roly says, "if it was easy, everybody would be doing it". And Nils if you still have that racer, I encourage you to get it going again.

Classic racing is enormously popular here with some of the biggest grids of any bike racing discipline and its relatively cheap, especially the later P6 bikes that can be picked up for a song. We had over 80 Period 5 (up to 1982) bikes on the grid in the unlimited class alone and the noise when we all took off was enuf' to make your ears bleed! More importantly for me, Classic racing is competitive, often fiercely so but the atmosphere amongst the riders and teams is enormously supportive and civilised. And unlike 40 years ago there are women involved too! Then there are all these fantastic machines and the passion to not only keep them running but to use them as they were intended. With open pits allowing everybody to get up close and personal with their favourite bikes and to rub shoulders with past world champions, makes for a heady cocktail indeed.

I had heaps of people come into the garage throughout the w/e and start telling me various stories about their experiences first seeing or owning a CBX. It is definitely a bike that draws a very emotive response from all sorts of people. And nothing sounds like a CBX at full throttle. It howls!

When I arrived in Victoria after a 1,00klm drive from the Hunter Valley I stayed with old friends in rural Drouin and Paul & Maggie Smart were the other house guests. I still had heaps to do to the bike so after the formalities were briefly attended to we backed the trailer into the garage and Paul started to give me a hand so I can say some famous racing hands have been laid on the bike. Over dinner I produced an original program from the 1972 Imola race that Paul made famous for Ducati and there was a degree of emotion as Paul leafed through a document he hadn't seen since 1972, going through the photos of other legendary riders, many of whom are no longer with us. And of course Maggie is Barry Sheene's sister so she naturally knew many of them too. So there were a host of fascinating stories that flowed.

The program came from my mechanic mate back in Wollombi, Dennis Brown who couldn't make it because of a bad back but Paul has signed it so Dennis is happy.

My partner Fran tells me she enjoyed herself and an old school friend who used to help me when I was racing in the 70's turned up to join my pit crew and complete a very big circle in time. And I have to remind myself that in March 2014 I was lying paralysed in hospital after a major stroke thinking my life was over.

So yes. I had fun.

Rick.

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Re: CBX Racing

Post by NobleHops »

(moved this topic to the general discussion thread)
Nils Menten
Tucson, Arizona, USA '80 CBX, sort-of restored :-)

steve murdoch icoa #5322
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Re: CBX Racing

Post by steve murdoch icoa #5322 »

Like Ian has mentioned, kudos to any owner that represents/promotes the CBX in a positive light.
Sounds like you and the mighty six have made an excellent comeback with more to come for the both of you.

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