Racing requires sponsorship and sponsorship demands that you, your motorcycle, and your race hauler resemble a professional team, since every sponsor, no matter how small, only wants to engage a professional effort. This is what is needed; the paint should be clean, well-done and conservative, the sponsor’s stickers should be strategically placed, straight and free of blisters or bubbles. The bodywork, in a like fashion, should be mounted in a safe, sane and sturdy manner to preclude any accidents because of improper attachment.

Tuning or wrenching on a thoroughbred racing motorcycle often mandates removing the fairing and/or tail section to access the necessary adjustments or repairs. This takes its toll on all the mounting holes of the fiberglass as well as the mounting systems themselves, such as screws or Dzus™ fasteners. Screws can get lost, threads can strip on the frame tabs and Dzus™ fasteners, after a while, get “confused” where they won’t accept the male member. Hmm, just what are we talking about here? Actually, the male member on a Dzus fastener picks up an “S” shaped spring within the female member of the fastener. The “S” shaped spring can lose its tension, become twisted, or pop its rivets and disappear to be picked up by another unfortunate racer’s tires. While the whole thing isn’t exactly Malibu Shores, it does have kind of a familiar theme, doesn’t it?

The key in this case is not to overtighten the Dzus™ fastener to begin with, then when the inevitable happens and the “S” shaped spring gets “confused”, drill its little rivets out (there are only two) and replace the spring neatly. After regular maintenance on your Dzus™ fasteners for a season, you should be able to do cardiovascular surgery on a squirrel, rivet gun notwithstanding.

Screws are a simpler breed of fastener, but can be just as frustrating. Generally little threaded pieces of stock with a straight slot, Phillips head or Allen head, these can be easily lost because of vibration, forgetfulness, or plain old clumsiness. The threads can pick up sand, dirt, or trash; then upon fouling the threads, completely strip out what little threads you may have left on the frame tab receiver. Thread chasers or a proper size tap can often be employed to restore the threads to accept its screw, but if not, proceed to the next step. Replacing the screw is usually easily accomplished, but repairing the stripped threads on the frame tab receiver is the job for a Heli-Coil™. These are tiny threaded inserts to provide you with visible threads to hold the factory body-parts on. In some cases all that is required is the replacement of a factory sheet-metal style “speed nut” that slides off the frame tab receiver to await a fresh factory part to be slid back on.

These methods of bodywork retention are the easy stuff, the difficulties arise when a crash obliterates all or most of the original mounting apparatus so that a quick fix becomes damn near impossible. This is generally where the rub comes in. In order to establish a quickie repair you can cross the line between a legitimate race mount and a piece of junk, unfit to pass tech. New increased insurance regulations for sanctioning organizations require tougher, more stringent enforcement of tech standards.
The Cliff Notes?: make sure it’s right before you get to the tech line. If racing is your life (and I gather that it is or you wouldn’t be reading this publication), you must depend on your reputation preceding you in the technical inspection line. If you have previously trotted up a pile of worn-out crap on two wheels, you can expect a thorough going over before you leave.

Contrary to popular belief, tech inspections exist because, no matter what your ideas are on the subject, they would rather that you didn’t crash! If this takes failing you and your tuner’s ham-fisted ways to insure the safety of others, rest assured you will suffer lengthy stays in the tech (snooze) line.

Broken bent bodywork brackets need to be refabricated from good stock, and welded or bolted into place. Tie wraps and duct tape are good racer tool items, but are not a replacement for the proper brackets or stanchions to secure the aerodynamic panels. Avoid the embarrassment of pushing a motorcycle up to the tech line that looks like it would be more at home on the set of the Beverly Hillbillies©.

Proper racebike preparation is not only a goal, it is your responsibility to your fellow racers. Their safety can oft times pivot on whether or not you or your tuner actually take your jobs seriously. The next time you are aboard your machine at speed, take a cursory glance at the plastic and fiberglass detritus that seems to abound at nearly every racetrack. Reflect momentarily on what effect that fender or panel might have had to your motorcycle had you not seen it in time, and perhaps run over it. Like keeping the rubber side down, keeping the racing unit in one central place should be considered just as important. This whole concept might not seem like much to some folks, but the idea of racing while shedding parts does not translate very well, either.

One of the major reasons for the loss of many fairing components comes from the deterioration of the fiberglass cloth structure around the fastener holes. “Say again?” After cinching the fairing pieces down several times, the resin in the fiberglass loses some of its integrity and starts to powder. The result? The hole keeps getting larger and larger, until the fairing panel suddenly falls off en route to the checkered flag. Get into the habit of carrying a small fiberglass repair kit with you in your racer “kit” for just such an occasion. When you receive your new fairing or tail section, you usually have to drill the corresponding holes in order to mount it properly. After drilling the hole, take some of the two part resin from the kit, and mix a small quantity in a tiny receptacle of some sort. Being careful of your exterior paint, using a small inexpensive paint brush, dab a little resin around on the inside of the hole into the fiberglass cloth. Once fiberglass surfaces have been compromised by drilling holes or crashing, the principal structure will continue to deteriorate until restored by the resin. This in effect, “welds” the cloth into integrity.

One word or two of caution though, do any patching or work on fiberglass out of the sun’s rays. Curing wet fiberglass resin, left out in the sun, will develop a synergistic reaction and begin to heat up and smoke. The super-heated resin will bubble and even burn in some cases, and will often blister your paint and sponsor stickers. Unsightly and time consuming to mend, this is easily avoided by working in the shade. If your bodywork happens to be plastic, composite materials, or carbon fiber, there are repair kits available to help you effect the same repair.

If you have structural parts made of carbon fiber, such as wheels or frames, do not try to repair any compromise to the surface resin coat without checking with the manufacturer, first! This is extremely grave; carbon fiber, when used in a structural role, can be easily compromised by scratching or breaking the gel coat. In my previous six year tenure as Dunlop/Phil Flack Racing Service’s crew chief, I was the only person allowed to balance the major teams’ carbon fiber wheels. Using a wheel weight tool with little restraint would result in a megabuck wheel becoming a real nifty garden hose reel. Not something I care to explain to Terry (Mr. Vance) or Eraldo (Mr. Ferracci).

In tooled up fabricated mounts, always remember to incorporate some type of rubber bushing suspension system. This could be a real spiffy factory part reused from a different bike or simply a slice of neoprene fuel line, but take care to insulate the bodywork from shock and vibration. After you decide what type of bushing to use, place a proper size “fender” washer on the bolt or screw to prevent the screw from pulling through the rubber bushing. This insures a strong mount that will allow you to do your team proud, by dint of not falling off on your way to Victory Lane. Whenever possible, use a rubber washer or bushing on both sides of the fender or fairing to protect the piece, however sometimes this provides too much “give” to the assembly.

In custom bike building and roadrace motorcycle tuning you learn to resolve things in a patient, level-headed manner rather than the hasty, beat-it-back-into-service met-hod. You must always remember that “races are won and lost in the pits”, but more significant, that the lives of others depend on your performance in those same pits. Tuners within the ranks of the major teams are not graded by their abilities to cobble a bike back together, but by their precision, their mechanical aptitude and most importantly, their attention to detail.

A friend of mine, Al Ludington, of Smokin’ Joe’s Racing Team once told me, post race, “Losing Sucks”; while Richard Marcinko, founder of SEAL Team Six and author of the famous Rogue Warrior book series, said to me at a party, “Last time I did the probs and stats on it, ---------Dying Sucks.’’ You be the judge, what’s it gonna be? DNF or DEAD -- either way it sucks.

Vaya Con Dios