[RoninRacer47]

Hi everyone!
Im Jae, from philly. Just bought a used x18, it needs some work but i got it for a good price so i dont mind spending a lil to fix it up.

I also ride a cbr600rr and look to race supersports eventually. i was hit by a car on my 2010 ninja (which was totaled) and i tore my achilles tendon along w fractured ribs, back, collapsed lung and lacerated spleen... everything healed up but the achilles, it got infected after the first repair and had to be removed and rebuilt using a skin flap: skin muscle and fat from a donor site on my thigh used to form a new tendon. so i am finally walking and riding again and was going to do superbike school this summer but my strength isnt up to par to learn to hold a 600 or 1000cc bike on my knee... still rehabbing my left leg... so after buying my son a 50cc p bike i decided to join him at the track and race a 110 while i finish physical therapy.

my x18 has a great frame and the engine sounds strong, prob needs an oil change, but starts and runs pretty well. i do need side and tail fairings, nose and tank are good. also have some rust on the gear shift lever and rear break lever so i am replacing them first as its a bit tuff to shift and to get into neutral. also prob just removing instrument cluster or replacing cuz the speedo doesnt work, but temp and gear ind are working. key doesnt work and neither does electric start, but it starts right up w a couple kicks. the batt is dead but i may just remove that anyway since my main objective is to race it... i dont need lights or blinkers...

i am also looking to replace the levers and clutch cable... can someone tell me what the second cable w the plug on the clutch lever is for? im new at this

looking forward to learning, rebuilding and most important racing!
thanks for having me

 

[drgnprelude]

The connector is actually for the brake lite yes on the clutch lever lol you also need to pull the clutch to activate the starter along with the button and key switch on if you want to spend some mo et on it I would step one get decent tires look for 140/70/10 rear and 90/90/10 front those are easy to find and look for one with no lip or small lip on the side wall so it doesn't feel like its walking on hard corners I don't think slicks are available for 10"any more and you will notice real quick the rear shock is anything but that it's just a spring no damper look for a 6.5" shock for mountain bikes online or eBay or the metric size equivalent or people like blitz and swheels have done a linkage setup you can make to use a longer shock with more options I found one for my 18 for around 30 shipped on eBay but you will need to use the stock spring 1200lbs on the new shock because even the 750 is too soft on the stock location
Step two I would suggest a trail tech vapor for tach Speedo and temp along with shift indicators and warning lamps as well
You can also replace the front shock oil with 80w90 for better damping
You can look at some of my pics for some ideas as well I have up I have a 15/18&19 I've been playing with
But the tires and shock are a must before track time I say
There are other things you can get to wake these motors up like a super oil ngk plug
Blue cdi
Mikuni 22mm carb ECT
Welcome to the forum and I hope I answered questions before you asked
Lol also I use mobile 1 4t 10w40 works good for me

 

[RoninRacer47]

hey thanks for the tips drgnprelude!
i was hoping i could use the mobil1 4t racing full synth, thats what i use on my cbr600rr and used on my ninja too. love it.

i def have a ways to go before the bike is track ready, my first prioritys are the foot gear shifter and back brake assembly. the shifter is rusty and loose and very hard to shift rt now, almost impossible to get to neutral. im ordering a gear shifter that attaches straight to the shifter nub on the engine and eliminates that long connector rod. the rear brake is mushy and doesnt return when pressed, its also rusty and wiggling all over the place so i may just buy a new assembly and master cylinder for it.

so if im just racing the bike and not using the key, electric start, lights or signals then i can swap out that whole clutch lever for an aftermarket one and ditch that second cable right?

for the trail tech vapor does that run off the battery or alternator?
im looking to set it up as a strictly track bike so if i dont need the battery for anything im gonna ditch it and lighten the bike a bit.

and i already have a sperk plug upgrade on my list since thats an easy cheap upgrade. have u ever heard of the E3 plugs? i put one in my sons 50cc and it def gave it more pep... was a couple bucks more than the ngk... tho nw i see ngk iridium plug... hmmmmmm

also what do you suggest for an air filter?

my list looks like this right now:
oil change, spark plug, air filter
check brake fluids
foot gear shifter
rear brake assembly
replace levers and clutch cable
add kill switch (needed for track specs)
upgrade rear shock
then before track day get tires and side plastics and tail fairing replaced
(my tires still have enuff life for riding but for track day i will def look for something )


yea ive got quite a bit of work ahead

 

[drgnprelude]

I would suggest a uni filter you can get one from tboltusa and even if it does not fit totally it can be squashed up against something to fit I have them on all my bikes the vapor can be run on either battery or motor but needs 12v to work all the time I has a internal battery as well I think you may be able to use just that also not sure tho they don't make a e3 for these motors I have already checked
Also when looking for a shifter try to find one that the bolt to tighten it goes in from the bottom not the top and try to find a non spring lever or just get rid of the spring part and use a bolt instead cuz I have found the up shift to fold the lever on me cuz its facing backwards

 

[RoninRacer47]

thanks again brother

heres the shifter i found and ordered (not from this site but this one had a better pic) the design looks like i wont have any clearance issues like i would w the other direct bolt on shifters, plus its adjustable and no folding peg. and the mounting hardware is on the bottom :thumbsup:
plus it came inblue to match my bike
[URL="http://www.scooterpart.net/products.php?id=1008"]http://www.scooterpart.net/products.php?id=1008[/URL]

gonna do oil change today, what model spark plug do you suggest w the ngk?
i wanna see if they have em at my local cycle gear

 

[drgnprelude]

I believe it is a cr7hsa I may be wrong Tho can't find one right now

 

[bogieboy]

I believe it is a cr7hsa I may be wrong Tho can't find one right now

Yeah something like that.... Go to a honda dealer and ask for a new plug for an 79 xl75.... I have one and it takes the appropriate plug...LOL cant remember the exact #...

 

[EPR]

Hope you got the heel shifter, be much easier to shift up & down. I was looking for one last week, could not find one, now it's to late,lol.

 

[swheels]

AH YES ANOTHER RACER!!! There's plenty of info to help get your bike track ready. Now the bad news there are no slicks to fit the rear rims of these bikes. But there are plenty to fit the front rim though. Getting a better rear shock that's bolts up to the x18 is another problem. You can go with a 6.5 length which is 1'' longer than stock. I found that it raised the bike up to much for my liking. Plus with that extra amount of travel,when i went into high speed sweeping turns. If i hit a bump the bike would start to go out of wack then into a tank slapper. So I'd have to pick the bike up while slowing down to regain control. This only happened to me at this one track. But i had to fix the problem rather than ride around it.
A buddy of minds came up with a simple bolt on way to get a better shock on the x18. But if your gonna get a shock to race on. Please get one that has bound and rebount adjustments. It is well worth it and it will get you ahead of the game. I'll post some picks and a link to a vid of the shock setup my friend did.

 

[bogieboy]

AH YES ANOTHER RACER!!! There's plenty of info to help get your bike track ready. Now the bad news there are no slicks to fit the rear rims of these bikes. But there are plenty to fit the front rim though. Getting a better rear shock that's bolts up to the x18 is another problem. You can go with a 6.5 length which is 1'' longer than stock. I found that it raised the bike up to much for my liking. Plus with that extra amount of travel,when i went into high speed sweeping turns. If i hit a bump the bike would start to go out of wack then into a tank slapper. So I'd have to pick the bike up while slowing down to regain control. This only happened to me at this one track. But i had to fix the problem rather than ride around it.
A buddy of minds came up with a simple bolt on way to get a better shock on the x18. But if your gonna get a shock to race on. Please get one that has bound and rebount adjustments. It is well worth it and it will get you ahead of the game. I'll post some picks and a link to a vid of the shock setup my friend did.

I am working on a cheap alternative to the rear shock issue....LOL going to a 10.5" shock, may start making kits if it works out (i know a site already has em, but they want a fortune....LOL) it may not be race spec or anything, but for joe blow it should work nicely....

 

[swheels]

If your able to get the shock angle right it might be good for racing. I know when rene13 did his,he didn't get the angle right for the shock. He ended up having to use 2 shocks because the 1 wasn't strong enough.
Here's the link to the vid. This actually worked i test road the bike back in 2009 at the usmgp championships. If you click on his name you can see the other vids. http://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=plpp&v=Hz32Gy6rp4I
The next hurdle will be tires, I've been researching these tire. The heidenau k61 they seem to have the least edge where the crown meets the sidewall. And after reading on some forums they seem to be pretty good. They have fronts and rears,when i get finished building my other bike these will be the tire i will be using.

 

[drgnprelude]

Same here in looking around for those as we speak for my race 15 I found a couple people up here that are willing to race just lots for now tho but I'm psyched only prob is ill have to take it easy so they think there must a little slower and start really modding there bikes lol
Do you have any links for good prices on those swheels??

 

[swheels]

Yep here http://www.racingplanetusa.com/tire....html?sessID=dda48bc4f13f90b9b9da9c367403995d
If your lucky these guys will get more motivation if they feel like they're not fast enough. Plus if they are on a good setup they should be more than willing to put up a fight.

 

[drgnprelude]

Sweet the kendas I have are great and cushy for the road bit when they heat up the slide around like the pavement is 180 deg lol plus I've reached my limit with them to scary to lean hard
I'll order those up next week to try

 

[bogieboy]

i dont have the guts to even find the limits of traction of my stock replacement tires...LOL but i am sure i will get there eventually...

 

[RoninRacer47]

awesome stuff guys! i greatly appreciate all the info. like i said this bike i picked up needs a bunch of replacement parts before i can even think about hitting the track or doing performance mods.

i just ordered the adjustable gear shifter, i will attach a pic below. now looking into a rear brake lever and mounting bracket since the ones on there are pretty rusty. gonna check the rear master cylinder tomorrow and hopefully i can use that and just replace the rusty chrome parts LOL
i bought oil, brake fluid and an ngk spark plug today too so they will go in tomorrow.
also looking to replace the levers, and clutch cable. prob lube the clutch piece i read about somewhere on here too when i replace cuz rt now it doesnt return too well.

im trying to find aftermarket clip on handlebars too, for both my bike and my sons 50cc rsr. they had some nice blue ones on pbu but they dont sell them anymore. anyone know where else i could find them? pic below of the ones i saw

once my controls are good i will do some performance mods: cdi, air filter

and def buying tires before i hit the track

 

[swheels]

To bad they stop making those clip ons. I've always wanted to get a set of those too.
A steering damper does wonders also just incase. If you really like to make rapid inputs on the steering. Though when i had my 110cc motor in i didn't feel the need for one. It wasn't until after i went to the bigger motors. Then i found i really needed one,the bike would run reaaallll lite on the front wheel especially at lean.going through high speed sweepers.

 

[swheels]

Sweet the kendas I have are great and cushy for the road bit when they heat up the slide around like the pavement is 180 deg lol plus I've reached my limit with them to scary to lean hard
I'll order those up next week to try

Hopefully those tires are as good as i have read. Those are jy last hope to stay racing on the 10'' wheeled mids. Otherwise i'll have to scrap the second bike build to build a 12'' wheeled bike. This would me even more money.

i dont have the guts to even find the limits of traction of my stock replacement tires...LOL but i am sure i will get there eventually...

Yes you will. I must say though I've had some stock tires in the past that performed just like slicks and were great! But at the sametime I've had a bunch that was pure crap!. The inconsistency of the stock tire was to frustrating to deal with when it came to racing. And the front tire forget about it, it was a constant task to keep from tucking the frontend.

 

[drgnprelude]

By the way sorry for thread jacking lol the clip ons issue I've had myself x1 clip ons are better than these stock yet I have not been able to find a set if you do come across any please let me know the shock tubes are 26mm if that helps you find some
And swheels I'll def try out those tires yet I will be in a lot not a track so I won't b able to give you full input on how they are we both know a smooth track compared to a grainy lot are two different animals but we will c

 

[swheels]

True but if you take a pic of your front and rear tire as well as your report i can get an idea.
I know you sdscooters didn't have any x1 clip ons. Have you tried here? http://www.pocketbikeparts.com/Handlebar_clamps_X1_X2_p/x1hb302409.htm or here http://www.scooterparts4less.com/web_gas/x1x2_handlebar_clamp.htm