THE F4 IS GOIN UNDER THE KNIFE...

[MELK-MAN]

glad to see some discussion about the undercutting.. that was a worry i have and i will get wtih ccs to make sure it is supersport legal..

SuperDave.. i bought the bike in aug. 01 or so with only 500miles on it. I did about 15,000 miles or so of street riding then took it to the track since march of 2002. it has 30 track days with 5 races including 5 practice days at those races.. 3rd and up the tranny just wont stay in gear under a load but it happend kinda all of a sudden. i had been missing 3rd gear alot lately and it may have been leading to this.

[Jeff]

3rd and up the tranny just wont stay in gear under a load but it happend kinda all of a sudden. i had been missing 3rd gear alot lately and it may have been leading to this.

I know I'm not Super-Dave, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn express last night  ::)

If it's happening in more than one gear, it's not likely to be the gear dogs.  Rather, a shift fork or a worn shift drum.  If I were a betting man (which I am), I'd place a crisp $20 on bent/worn shift forks.

What it sounds like is happening is that the bike is never getting completely into gear 3rd and above.

And as for undercutting being legal or not...  Again, it's intrepretation.  It will reduce spinning mass, and theoretically enhance performance, so it would be arguable.  However, it costs $500 to have you torn down to find out, so stop the discussion about it and do what you will...  If someone wants to be that big of a whiner to have you torn down over gears, let them put up the $$$ to do so...

Last year, there was a particular AM rider who a number of us top 5-10 guys felt was cheating.  We thought about taking a collection to have him torn down, but I then stopped to realize that it didn't matter *THAT* much to me...

[Super Dave]

I'd place a crisp $20 on bent/worn shift forks.

What it sounds like is happening is that the bike is never getting completely into gear 3rd and above.

I'd agree there.  Definitely worth looking at.

Last year, there was a particular AM rider who a number of us top 5-10 guys felt was cheating.  We thought about taking a collection to have him torn down, but I then stopped to realize that it didn't matter *THAT* much to me...

Who, I missed that one, but I'm not racing as an amateur.  Seems as though there is more cheating now than what I remember years ago.  It probably doesn't change the result much, but it might give a benefit to the cheater...makes his life easier.

In 1999, an amateur rider protested a rider.  He wasn't particularly well off, so, he brought down his mortage payment for the tear down, I believe of the heads, etc...$300?  The rider admitted that he was illegal, the protesting rider got his money back, and th illegal rider had no further action taken against him.

The illegal rider's friend's dad gave money to another rider to protest the first protesting rider...full tear down...$500.  The referee deemed the protest as "unfair and in retailiation", however, the race director instructed the referee to do the protest.  The first protester knew that it was done to him because he had no money and there was no way he could ever pay for the further expense, etc.  There was a race the next weekend.  A friend and I told him to shut up, and I told him he could ride my bike the next weekend if need be.  The friend and I tore the motor down to the cases...it was found to be completely legal "...and in great need of a valve job..." in the words of the head tech inspector.

Let the games begin.

[Jeff]

And that was the reason why I didn't fuel the fire to tear him down.

I'm 99.9% sure he was cheating.  Watching him WALK away from the exact same and newer bikes on straights was a dead give away.  And there were many other subtleties(sp?) which had one wonder what was going on in the "hush-hush" environment he kept.

In the end, it didn't mean much.  I felt a little better every time I'd outbrake him and take him through a corner.

Out of respect, I'll not say who it was here...  He's not doing as well now that he's an expert though, so there's some consolation...

[Super Dave]

And I can respec that.  Was he on a Yamaha?  If it's who I might suspect, he's riding an R1 in 600 expert classes this year.  How's that?  I really don't care, but he's actually in the way.  Big confidence problem...someone that really needs to my school...anyway, he hasn't.  He'll just plug away on the other bike and, well, life as a racer will suck for him.