Goodbye TT2, Hello VUN

Last week I said goodbye to my Ducati TT2 and Triumph 675 Daytona. My beautiful TT2 was sold, the Daytona gave me four months of fantastic riding and is now in storage for the New Zealand winter.

This week I returned to Northern Europe and I'm getting reacquainted with my VUN. My first ride involved pushing her three city blocks from the garage to my apartment. It was a cold winter here and the lightweight Lithium Ferrous battery I installed last year was dead flat. At one point I attempted bump starting it down a gentle slope.

A bump-start technique for 650 singles:

1. Find a gentle slope, or a steep slope. Not too steep or you will loose traction on the rear wheel. Remember that if it doesn't start you will have to push it back up.
2. Put the bike into 3rd gear. This lowers the amount of engine breaking so your rear wheel doesn't lock up.
3. Rotate the engine until the piston is just before top dead center. This ensures that the engine will be ready to fire as soon as it starts turning. This requires a bit of feel... top dead center is the point of maximum compression.
4. Turn off the lights, check the kill switch (important), and turn on the ignition.
5. Sacrifice a chicken (optional).
6. Still in 3rd gear, pull in the clutch and run beside the bike, get up to your maximum running speed. 
7. Jump onto the seat (side saddle style). At the moment your ass slams onto the seat, let out the clutch and pray to the gods of speed. Timing is important here. You want to put as much weight as possible onto the back wheel before letting out the clutch. This requires a bit of balance, do not fall down, with any (lots of) luck it will start. 

Slamming your weight onto the seat helps to prevent the back wheel from sliding. If this happens, don't panic, just pull the clutch back in. If you still have enough speed and are still going down hill then throw your leg over the seat and stand on the pegs. Now push all your weight on the pegs (start to fall onto the seat then stop the fall with your legs). Let out the clutch again when there is maximum weight on the back wheel.

Bump starting a VUN on your own is pretty difficult but I managed to start mine. Unfortunately, after riding about 20 meters I had to stop at an intersection and the engine died (I was now at the bottom of the hill). That was my first short ride on the VUN for 2010.

Here is a short list of what makes my VUN different from the standard model:

• Marvic magnezium wheels,
• Breaking "wave" front & rear disks,
• Ohlins rear shock absorber,
• Racing "sterio" lightweight radiators,
• LSL clip-on handlebars,
• Lightweight Speedcell lithium iron battery (now fully charged),
• High-flow air filters, free flowing headers pipes (no catalytic converters),
• Rizoma LED indicators,
• Rizoma mirrors,
• Custom paint.

This year will bring another series of modifications starting by replacing the rear subframe with a lightweight alloy one. As ever, the goal is to reduce weight, improve handling and (less importantly) increase power.

Lightweight Battery (2 of 2)

(part two of a two part article)

Fitting the Speedcell Battery

Remove the seat: Unlock the the rear seat pad, remove the two bolts that hold on the seat, then remove the seat. This gives you access to the rear bolts that fix the gas tank. Remove the seat by sliding it back and up. Check the owners manual for more information and diagrams on removing the seat.

Be careful not to damage the rubber grommet which holds up the tail light assembly. Put a dab of Vaseline (petroleum jelly) or suitable grease on the inside of this grommet. This will help you replace the seat without damaging the grommet. When replacing the seat I also like to put a drop of Loctite on the bolts holding it down. These bolts have a tendency to come undone due to vibration.

Click to enlarge

Undo the gas tank: Remove the four bolts that hold down the gas tank (two front and two rear). Now lift up the front of the tank to give you access to the battery. Be careful not to pull the fuel lines and fuel pump wiring harness too tight. Support the tank in this position with a suitable piece of wood. If you have something the right size it can be slotted under the tank in such a way as to support it in a stable way.

The alternative is to disconnect the fuel line (undo the bayonet connection), remove the fuel breather hose, disconnect the wiring harness to the fuel pump and then completely remove the tank. I did not do this because I had trouble getting the fuel line disconnected and I did not want to damage the bayonet connector. This is probably just me not knowing how to do it properly.

I have a philosophy related to motorcycle maintenance. If it requires more force that you'd expect to undo a part then you are doing it the wrong way. Stop and think again. This rule only applies to modern motorcycles :-).

Remove the old battery: Black = negative, red = positive. Always undo the negative battery terminal first! This is because the negative terminal is connected to the metal parts of your motorcycle, making them all negative (also known as "earth"). If you undo the positive terminal before removing the earth, then you could short-circuit the battery by touching any metal part of the motorcycle with your metal spanner. You do not want to do this! Once the negative terminal is undone, it is safe to put a spanner (or screwdriver) on the positive terminal.

Looking down. Note all the extra space. Click to enlarge.

Fit the Speedcell battery: Do not remove the plastic cover on the new battery's negative cable just yet. This is to prevent the two leads coming together and shorting the battery (bad).

The new battery fits snugly into the existing battery box. I fitted a strip of rubber adhesive padding between the metal bracket at the front of the battery box and the new battery (see right-most red circle in image above). This makes the fit tighter and prevents the battery from rubbing directly against metal.

I used two fairly heavy duty cable ties to secure the new battery. One at each end of the battery (see photo). These simply go under the metal battery box and over the new battery. I wrapped a smaller cable tie around these two to stop them from being able to slip apart (this is not shown in the photo). You might want to wrap a third cable tie around the middle of the battery for extra security.

Remove the black cable that used to connect to the negative terminal of the old battery. The new battery's negative lead will bolt directly to where the other end of this cable connects to the frame (top red circle in the image above). But don't connect the negative battery lead yet as this will earth the whole bike. Use the rubber protective caps from either end of this old cable to fit over the two red and black (positive and negative) leads of the new battery.

Now bolt the battery's positive (red) lead to the two cables that used to connect to the old battery's positive terminal. I used the old battery's terminal bolt for this. Now cover the exposed metal where these wires are bolted together with the black rubber protective cups. I used a small cable tie to secure the positive lead to one of the cable ties that hold down the battery. Position the lead so that the join is not able to contact with any metal part of your VUN. See bottom red circle in the image above.

Now it is safe to remove the protective plastic cover on the Speedcell's negative (black) lead. Bold this lead into the position where the old negative cable used to connect to the frame and place the protective black cap over it (see top red circle above).

Test that the battery is securely positioned and that the positive terminal is not exposed to any metal parts of your motorcycle.

Now you can replace the tank and seat.

Testing the new battery

My Speedcell battery arrived in the mail fully charged. If your's is not charged then you will need to do this first. With the new battery fitted my VUN started right away. I have been using the VUN fitted with the new battery for a few weeks now and I can say that it works fantastically well. I have had absolutely no problems and the bike always starts strongly.

It is probably an illusion due to the fact that I just got back from a long trip with a heavy tank bag attached, but the VUN does feel lighter. Whether or not I can really 'feel' the difference, the VUN is 3KG lighter than before. I am very happy with this change and I can't wait to take the next steps towards a lighter VUN.

VUNS at Loiano

The VUN PPP (Pronto Per la Pista) at the CR&S stand in Loiano.

Unfortunately day two of the "Motorhad Futa" show in Loiano was completely rained out, but the first day was really great.

My usual experience at motorcycle events is that it's just a bunch of guys who are into bikes. In Italy it was different. All kinds of people come along, guys & gals, young and old, knowledgeable bikers and curious newbies.

Me & my VUN being prepared for the show in Franco's workshop.

I was proud to have my VUN at the CR&S stand, watching crowds of enthusiastic Italians poring over it. Some celebrity VUN personalities were there too including CR&S owner Roberto Crepaldi and VUN Marathon rider, Claudio Zanoni.