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Seeing as Ive dedicated a bit more time on this bike now, I thought that I chronical it all for all of you to enjoy reading


First off...A bit of background

The bike was bought from a Bemsee racer who decided that two wheels was one two few, and so a friend of mine bought the 'race ready package' from him with the intention of using it as a start into the world of racing.




The bike had pretty good spec.....including.....

Full 4-2-1 Race System (Akrapovic I think)
Race built engine (bhp unsure)
Total loss (nothing from the charging system remains)
Cut down loom
Ram Air (custom airbox and modded radiator to match)
Reworked forks and a zx6r rear shock
wets on wheels


There were a few 'characteristics' with it though...it was a bugger to start from cold, the brakes were pap, the exhaust had been ground down a little on the can shoulder and had been gun gummed but still blew, and the clutch dragged.

Aforementioned friend then proceeded to get a couple of things that the bike really needed like wavey disks, KTech forks, New Dunlop Qualifiers etc. Things were going ok and some of the niggles were being worked out until he went on a trackday at Oulton Park earlier in the year and turned this...



into this.....




The above picture doesnt really show the whole effect of half of Oultons infield mud and water absolutely covering the bike (pic was taken after the bike was washed down!!!). The incident occured at Island bend where he changed line to avoid another rider and ran out of room so sat the bike up and ran across the infield grass........until.....(baring in mind that this was late Feb)....the nice green grass turned into a large grass covered puddle......in short, the bike got caught up in the deep standing water and threw the rider over the top.

My mate was knocked out and laying in a puddle about two feet deep but the emergency staff were on the scene really quickly(they did a really good job) and the only major injuries sustained were damaged ligaments and cartlidge in his knees.


This was a major blow to him (over 4 months to recover) so he decided to give the racing plans the heave-ho. This left him with a bike that needed a good tidy up (and a bloody good jet wash too) and various other faults ironed out before it was sellable, but alas he needed to get some money quickly, so I stepped in and bought the bike from him.

So...the bike is mine, but I needed to know exactly whats wrong with it, so I removed all the broken fairings and threw them in the bin, and then stripped the bike down a litte further and gave it all a good clean (whod have thought that mud could get where in all the places I found it)



Gave it a good going over and got it running. Also found out that the brand new (for the trackday) Brembo master cylinder took a bit of a beating too and needed the service kit to replace the broken retaining washer.



One of the main issues with the bike is the clutch....it both drags and slips !!

Anyway, new steel plates, and new EBC heavy duty friction plates coupled with an oil and filter change seems to have put paid to them (although I cant really check the slipping part as its not road legal).


Another of the bikes weak areas are the brakes...so special attention was paid here, quite simply what are the biggest best brakes that I can fit (within a reasonable budget), so after asking around on this forum and getting advice from racers, the GSXR1000 K1-K2 6pot caliper conversion was the way to go.

Following the guide from Rene regards the procedure, today saw the addition of the previously mentioned calipers. A couple of weeks ago I asked a friend of a friends friend to make me up the required spacers to be able to fit these, but, due to various constraints, it doesnt look like theyll be ready before my deadline (Anglesey trackday 14th Sept). So I had a good hard think and have made my own spacers. Got hold of some High Tensile bolts and went about fitting calipers.

Spacers fit like a glove and the calipers are now fitted and bled. Im quite looking foward to seeing just how good 6 pots, braided lines, and a Brembo master cylinder are going to be on a 400.












After spending a while trying to get the bloody thing to start(it was never easy to cold start, but now it just didnt want to know) I gave up and bought a new set of spark plugs and it now starts with the most minimal of effort (both on the starter or being bumped)


I managed to get hold of a set of race plastics from a racer friend and have now fitted the rear unit









Ive bought a new 'spare' battery to use whilst on trackdays and with the exception of fitting the rest of the fairings I dont think that theres an awful lot left to do.

looking good


the exhaust is a micron system btw

nice pics, keep us updated with it as you go along!

Bodywork was fitted yesterday, so all that is left is some general tinkering to get things how I want








I also fitted the side stand back on, as it can be a pain in the butt if you want to get off the bike but dont have a paddock stand or someone free to help nearby

looks nice man.
watch out for the exhaust link pipe ( looks like a micron?) especially at the banked hairpin at anglesey

my bro has the same exhaust set up as yrs, and slid the back end on the link pipe coming out of the hairpin, not good when you need to get the power down.

mine was similar, but i bent the pipe right in tight, and cut an 1nch and half off the can hanger, and used the next hole up on the hanger if ya get me? anyways it sorted the clearance prob right out.

the blikes looking lovely! glad to see you manged to get the spacers ect sorted! you wont be disapointed with the brakeing power

Looking bloody nice mate. You've done some good work there!

Time to conclude this chapter for the trackbike.


Friday saw the fruits of my labours pay off well.......First time out on the bike.


The only niggle i had all day was the battery that came with the bike was consumed during the first session !!!! think the battery wasnt charged well, or its knackered. I simply chucked my brand new spare battery in and had another 5 sessions without fault.

Engine wise, its all good there...good strong pull throughout the top of the rev range and no complaints from me as it didnt miss a beat.....but....(obvious statement alert)...it just doesnt stand a chance against the bigger bikes once the track opens up and the power gets put down (most of my inters group was bloody gsxr 600+750s) I did spend a fair bit of time picking off the slower riders, but even then it was hard work keeping them behind come the faster parts.

The new clutch also worked well too, with no drag or slipping now.

The bike handled well despite being setup for someone of a lesser stature than myself and by the end of the day I was running out of lean angle, as both knee and toe were being scraped along the deck (feet were tucked back on the pegs too), much more and the pegs (non foldable) would have touched down, then I imagine the exhaust wouldnt have been too far away.

The brakes held up too without any issues, good hard braking with no fade and a constant feel all day.



Battling the Gixers






All in all I am pleased that all my efforts getting the bike ready paid off and I had a painless debut on it, but Im still not sold on the idea of only having 400cc and around 70bhp, especially having come from 636cc and 115bhp. The 400 was fun, and with more people on similar sized machines then it would be more fun, but with scores of bikes passing you as soon as the straights appear, Im not sure that that is a postion that I want to be in. When on the 636 (and old 600 before) I used to be quite evenly matched to a few friends on similar trackbikes, but on the 400 Friday, they went past and then proceeded to disappear despite a large effort on my behalf. I might try another trackday or two to see if this type of bike is for me, but for now, Im thinking about building a gsxr600 K1/k2 trackbike and selling all the 400 stuff.