Safety Wiring --- Rule Interpretation

[Nate R]

After reading the rules, I'm still a little unclear: Do I need to safety wire the coolant drain bolt on the water pump or not?

[james-redsv]

Yes! ;D

[Steviebee]

theres a coolant drain bolt?




yikes.

[Super Dave]

Yeah, there's ususally one on the water pump.  I wire the ones that are on the block too.  

[spyderchick]

Nate, there's lot's of stuff that should be wired that might not be in the rules. Example: Safety wire your caliper bolts as well. Drill the holes and wire 'em to each other. Yeah, it's old school, but heck, it's safety. I could go on and on, but if you think it might need to be wired or secured, better to err on the side of caution.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

     Another important one is the front brake lever. The pivot bolt should at least have thread locker on it (if safety wiring it is not possible) to stop it from vibrating out over time. Though I don't remember who it was, someone racing at Road America had his pivot bolt come out of the front brake lever as he approached Canada Corner going something like 170 mph. He came up to his braking point and grabbed for the front brakes only to find that the lever had fallen out of the perch, forcing him to bail off the bike at top speed. I don't know about the rest of you, but that incident was enough to open my eyes.

[MELK-MAN]

front caliper bolts should be wired but not required to be by CCS. my friend crashed when his caliper bolts came out after rushing to get rain tires on at Moroso. no brakes going into 7 at over 100mph. hit rears, slid, highsided, bike landed on him. hes pretty busted up and still in the hospital.
later

[Nate R]

Alexa, I will be safety wiring other non-required items as I get time. I'm just making sure I meet the minimum requirements. I already wired the banjo bolts on the front brake, and I'll be doing the caliper bolts for sure in the future if not today.  I think CCS's wiring rules are a little too leniant, and I'll wire whatever I think I should.

[FUBAR606]

Although I truely believe in preparation and safety, I also believe in keeping things simple and appropriate, at least for me. I do not have my banjo bolts, caliber bolts, pinch bolts or really any bolt that is not required safety wired. I realize by sharing this I may get flamed until I am medium-well. But my thinking, and ritual, is this: I properly torque each bolt previously mentioned and have never found any of the aforementioned bolts loose while periodically checking over the bike. I did however once have a steering dampner bolt spin free, which unto itself is not a safety concern because we can ride without a dampner if need be. However, this bolt held the housing in place and with it missing the shaft could have bound up my steering had I not seen it JUST prior to 3rd call for a race. I've never known anyone to safety wire this bolt.

My point is this, check over your bike regularly. Inspect everything you can see or get your fingers on. Tighten bolts correctly, and then double check them. Follow up behind anyone who has helped work on your bike to ensure there are no oversights. If you follow these rules, safety wiring should be a mute point. Afterall, if you can remember to re-safety wire everything you just worked on, why can't you simply remember to ensure it was tightened correctly to begin with? The only exception I would add to this is when running endurance races.

PLEASE do not get me wrong. I am not encouraging anyone to not safety wire anything and everything if that is what gives them peace of mind. I just personally do not feel it makes the bike or racing any safer by safety wiring everything a hole can be drilled through.

This is just one racer's opinion.

Flame away... :)

[Decreasing_Dave]

Although I truely believe in preparation and safety, I also believe in keeping things simple and appropriate, at least for me. I do not have my banjo bolts, caliber bolts, pinch bolts or really any bolt that is not required safety wired. I realize by sharing this I may get flamed until I am medium-well. But my thinking, and ritual, is this: I properly torque each bolt previously mentioned and have never found any of the aforementioned bolts loose while periodically checking over the bike. I did however once have a steering dampner bolt spin free, which unto itself is not a safety concern because we can ride without a dampner if need be. However, this bolt held the housing in place and with it missing the shaft could have bound up my steering had I not seen it JUST prior to 3rd call for a race. I've never known anyone to safety wire this bolt.

My point is this, check over your bike regularly. Inspect everything you can see or get your fingers on. Tighten bolts correctly, and then double check them. Follow up behind anyone who has helped work on your bike to ensure there are no oversights. If you follow these rules, safety wiring should be a mute point. Afterall, if you can remember to re-safety wire everything you just worked on, why can't you simply remember to ensure it was tightened correctly to begin with? The only exception I would add to this is when running endurance races.

PLEASE do not get me wrong. I am not encouraging anyone to not safety wire anything and everything if that is what gives them peace of mind. I just personally do not feel it makes the bike or racing any safer by safety wiring everything a hole can be drilled through.

This is just one racer's opinion.

Flame away... :)

I second this.
 ;D

[sdiver68]

This Sunday, the guy pitting right next to me looked at my clutch bolt and said "I think you got a problem here, mate" (he was from England).  Sure enough, my clutch lever retaining bolt was about 1/2 way backed out.

I always check my front brake lever good...had a near bad experience with that, no the bolt backing out but the lever 1/2 way cracked thourgh and i didn't know it.

[skidplate]

ok. I am confused about what needs to be safety wired. So we do not need to wire the banjo bolts? AND if the bike has a belly pan can we route the overflow tubes into the belly pan? .. I have an R6 and obviously I am a newbie.