I actually enjoy working on the bike quite a bit.  I don't know how you can race if you don't do a lot of work yourself.  Finding the oil leak was my biggest concern when looking at the list of things to repair on the SV after the last crash.  The rest seemed fairly straight forward.



I got after the bodywork right away with fiberglass cloth and epoxy resin.  A couple layers of fiberglass fixed all the serious problems, and as it hardened, it looks ratty but useable.  I would like it to look better, but for the time being, it's going to do.  The plastic and tank will get treated to a professional paint job over the winter, so I am not going to spend a lot of time on them now.



The fuel tank turned out to be a very easy thing to fix.  I didn't fix it at all.  Now, I own three SV 650 fuel tanks.  One cost $50 and is on its way, another I got for free from a friend who passed it along.  He also got it for free.  The third is the leaking tank.  All three of them are dented, but like the bodywork, it doesn't bother me to have some imperfections for the time being.



There was a big piece of gravel in the front brakes.  Once it got coaxed out, the brakes were fine.  The rear brakes took a lot of bleeding, but the banjo bolt that got lose was the only problem there.  I am ready to rebuild them, but they don't need it.  The bike spat up some oil, and it had me very nervous.  I looked all over it after a good cleaning to see where the oil was coming from.  I couldn't find any, but did find a crankcase breather hose that had come off its connection at the airbox.  The oil looked like it came from the top of the motor, and the breather would have been on the downside of the bike while it was on the ground.  I am close to 100% sure reconnecting the breather solved the problem.



Motobits supplied me with some new rearsets.  I put them on without the stock spacers, moving the pegs both straight up from stock and in a bit.  Putting the pegs closer to the center of the bike allows just a bit more cornering clearance.  I like the pegs fairly far forward, and they are.  In time, I will know if they are too far forward or not.  For now, it is another experiment.



As it turned out, the original rearsets are probably OK with a new peg.  There are some bent plates and the shift rod is bent a little, but all the bent parts can probably be straightened out with a little work.



Now, the only thing standing in the way of the bike's preparedness is remounting the bodywork.  The seat, tank and tail are on, but I have to refabricate an aluminum fairing bracket and put in new Dzus fasteners.  The bracket is a cobbled up part made of 1/8" aluminum stock, and it should be fairly straight forward to make.  I have the broken part to use as a template, making it easier.  I have ordered a couple fastener kits from Lockhart Phillips, and when they arrive, all I have to do is make the bracket and install the bodywork to make it ready.  I have enjoyed the time in the garage working on it, even if it is a single car garage with several other bikes to crawl over and around.



As long as the bike was apart, I decided to see if a minor modification would make any difference.  Supposedly, if you lift the fuel tank just a bit to allow more air into the airbox, it lets the engine breathe better and makes for a bit more horsepower.  I shimmed the tank up with a couple extra thick washers on each side.  It doesn't look like much, and I don't know if I will be able to tell a difference.



This season has been a blast.  More Power Racing, Aurora Suzuki, Lockhart Phillips, PowerStands, Panolin Oil, and Vortex have been great all year.  They have my complete thanks for the support they have given me.  Without their help, I wouldn't have spent nearly as much time in the garage, let alone been able to race.

The weekend started with an Adrenaline Freaks trackday.  I rode the Gixxer to get it sorted in the morning, and then went out to play on the SV in the afternoon.  The SV is pure fun.  It was a bit too much fun, since I bit it going into turn two.  I found a ripple and some seams in the pavement while on the brakes too hard and did a face plant.  The bike has some fixable damage, and I got off pretty easy, with bruises and a finger that looked like it could be broken but wasn't.



On Saturday, I decided to let the cobwebs clear by corner working.  I had a headache from the crash all night, and was a bit nauseous at times.  Corner working got all that taken care of.  Watching the experts and how they approach my corner was a great education.  When the novice race came along, a bunch of friends had a running battle the entire time, and watching them made me want to be out on the track in the worst way!



On Sunday, I was nervous during practice and felt every ripple and bump in the track.  Two cups of coffee and an empty stomach didn't help.  Note to self:  back to no coffee during days at the track.  There was a long time to wait until the race.  I bled the brakes and make sure the bike was 100% ready.  Since the SV was at home waiting for repairs, I was going to ride the Gixxer.  I gridded at the back to stay out of the way for a lap or two until the red mist kicked in properly.  It did, after a poor start, but some ding dong didn't get his oil drain plug in correctly and made a huge oily mess in turn two.  We got a restart, and the red mist was in full bloom in my head by then.  I got a much better start and got around a bunch of people right away.  I got around a few more in turn two, as another couple bikes slid off and the guys I passed got distracted.  Unfortunately, there was another red flag and the weekend was mostly a bust.  It makes round five even more important for me, since I hope to graduate to the expert ranks.



Fixing bikes and replacing damaged gear is tough, but the whole season would be impossible without the support of my sponsors.  More Power Racing always come through, like the great guys and sponsors they are.  Aurora Suzuki always get the parts I need and make sure I can get on the track with the best bike I can build.  Vortex has high quality replacements for parts I seem to break way too often.  Panolin Oil keep the engines running and strong, although even Panolin wouldn't have helped the idiot who couldn't figure out how to install a drain plug.  Powerstands supports both bikes for work and in between sessions.  Powerstands also supplied the digital tire warmers that let me go all out right away.  Last but certainly not least, Lockhart Phillips supplies all kinds of parts, supplies, tools, and equipment I use every time I touch either race bike or my street bike.  Thanks to all of them for making the ongoing adventure possible.



Edit:  The round will count toward graduation as a finish, so one more heat for observation and I can play with the really fast guys.