AFM 250 Superbike Race Clips

[2WheelGuy]

Just a couple clips of me from my AFM 250 Superbike race last Sunday April 25, 2010 at Sears Point raceway. My bike is the one with the bright orange belly pan. The clips are short but you get an idea of how close the racing is. The close passes you see in these two clips happened in almost every turn for the entire race.

Link to original page on YouTube.

Thanks goes to Dimitry and Vision Wells for taking the video. You can see all the race videos here: http://www.ustream.tv/user/VisionWells/videos The races with 250 Ninjas were numbers 3,10 and 12. I was in all of them.

[Alex]

Nice vid!

[Davidb1986]

I 2nd Alex's statement!!!

[JS73]

That looks like a blast!

[Snake]

Great video!!!

[afbarr]

So what sort of make/model bikes usually compete in the AFM 250 superbike? Which ones are competitive? I know the AFM 250 production is pretty much entirely Ninja 250s (please correct me if I'm wrong).

How big are the 250 superbike grids? I looked at the AFM rules for the superbike class and saw it sounds like you can dump the oem airbox, use a pod filter, switch to a different carburetor, use a different cylinder and head, etc. Did I read this correctly?

[nexus]

Originally Posted by afbarr

So what sort of make/model bikes usually compete in the AFM 250 superbike? Which ones are competitive? I know the AFM 250 production is pretty much entirely Ninja 250s (please correct me if I'm wrong).

Bumping for interest.

[ztrack157]

Superbike anything goes. Production is all ninjas except an old vtr. Honda is supposedly trying to race their bike.

The ninja is not the top dog in the superbike class no matter how much money you toss at your bike the 38 hp monsters sportisi built with kirk or brian on it might have a little bit of a fighting chance. The fastest bike is a tzr250 or 125 chasis and a custom built crf250 motor. 450 singles are also class eligible.

[afbarr]

Originally Posted by ztrack157

Superbike anything goes. Production is all ninjas except an old vtr. Honda is supposedly trying to race their bike.

The ninja is not the top dog in the superbike class no matter how much money you toss at your bike the 38 hp monsters sportisi built with kirk or brian on it might have a little bit of a fighting chance. The fastest bike is a tzr250 or 125 chasis and a custom built crf250 motor. 450 singles are also class eligible.

How on earth do you get 38 hp from a Ninja? Is this rwhp? Old or new gen? I don't plan on trying but I am curious to know what you guys did to get 38hp?

[ztrack157]

A massive stack of c notes

[afbarr]

Originally Posted by ztrack157

A massive stack of c notes

I figured as much but you know that's not what I'm asking.

[ztrack157]

It's on a new gen. Can't go into motor specifics.

[afbarr]

Originally Posted by ztrack157

It's on a new gen. Can't go into motor specifics.

Well at least tell me how $/hp since you brought up the c-note thing. I'm interested in getting up to 33 rwhp myself but not at expense of low and mid-range torque as much as possible. How much money would this cost

[ztrack157]

Near the 400 per extra hp mark. 32 is reasonable with not dumping a lot of cash.

[afbarr]

(So before someone else chimes in and tells me I'm better off spending my money on a 600cc if I want performance, blah blah blah, I'll preempt the peanut gallery: I get it. I know the truism about buying a faster bike to begin with because hp/$ is better that way. I like the challenge of improving a small, cheap, slow, bike that already happens to be sitting in my garage, ok? )

So after the airbox delete, k&n filter, area-p full racing exhaust, dynojet needle + best main jet (whatever that turns out to be), what other mods are recommended to get to 33hp? This is a street bike 99% of the time with a few track days a year thrown in.

I don't ever plan on racing this bike (because I think I'd rather race a honda cb160, cb350 or rs125, incidentally).

[ithaca00]

Originally Posted by afbarr

(So before someone else chimes in and tells me I'm better off spending my money on a 600cc if I want performance, blah blah blah, I'll preempt the peanut gallery: I get it. I know the truism about buying a faster bike to begin with because hp/$ is better that way. I like the challenge of improving a small, cheap, slow, bike that already happens to be sitting in my garage, ok? )

So after the airbox delete, k&n filter, area-p full racing exhaust, dynojet needle + best main jet (whatever that turns out to be), what other mods are recommended to get to 33hp? This is a street bike 99% of the time with a few track days a year thrown in.

I don't ever plan on racing this bike (because I think I'd rather race a honda cb160, cb350 or rs125, incidentally).

*Edit - Oh, yeah, this is totally the thread for this conversation
So the better question is why do you want specifically 33hp? Why not just do those mods and be happy with whatever it gives you?

One of the annoying things with these motors is that the power can vary considerably from one to the next. So, with the same mods you may still see different power gains.

If you want to keep this a street bike then do the mods you've listed and call it a day.

As for Matt and those Sportisi built motors... What new products did you throw at those or are they "special" motors, not that Kirk or Brian need them to beat anyone

[ztrack157]

I was thinking the same thing ryan. I will tell you what mods were done next time I swing by your house. Or at bw.

[afbarr]

Originally Posted by ithaca00

*Edit - Oh, yeah, this is totally the thread for this conversation
So the better question is why do you want specifically 33hp? Why not just do those mods and be happy with whatever it gives you?

Because that'll match the rwhp of my last bike adjusted for bike + rider weight. It's an "arbitrary" number to everyone else I realize but not to me. Besides, I need to pick some "reasonable" number, right

Why no be happy with just the mods I already have? Is that supposed to be a rhetorical question? I'll answer it anyway: Why not. That's like half the fun of getting into motorcycles is wrenching on it isn't it. So much for preempting the peanut gallery That's like asking why do you race? Why not be happy with riding on the street. Why not be happy sitting on a couch or driving a cage. I mean, what the hell man!

Seriously though, I did hijack this thread didn't I

[ithaca00]

Originally Posted by afbarr

Because that'll match the rwhp of my last bike adjusted for bike + rider weight. It's an "arbitrary" number to everyone else I realize but not to me. Besides, I need to pick some "reasonable" number, right

Why no be happy with just the mods I already have? Is that supposed to be a rhetorical question? I'll answer it anyway: Why not. That's like half the fun of getting into motorcycles is wrenching on it isn't it. So much for preempting the peanut gallery That's like asking why do you race? Why not be happy with riding on the street. Why not be happy sitting on a couch or driving a cage. I mean, what the hell man!

Seriously though, I did hijack this thread didn't I

Yes, you did. And you didn't even understand what I was saying. I should have figured that since you hijacked the thread anyways I'm not questioning your choice of mods (at least to you ) I was questioning the arbitrary number and saying DO THE MODS, then take solace in knowing you have more power. Don't dwell on the specific number.

[afbarr]

Originally Posted by ithaca00

Yes, you did. And you didn't even understand what I was saying. I should have figured that since you hijacked the thread anyways I'm not questioning your choice of mods (at least to you ) I was questioning the arbitrary number and saying DO THE MODS, then take solace in knowing you have more power. Don't dwell on the specific number.

Apparently I didn't understand what you were saying since it sounded like you were saying something else Anyway, maybe the problem is that no-one has mentioned the double secret probation mods that make up the secret sauce. Regarding your comment about ninja 250 engines being so different with respect to each other in terms of the effects of any given mod could this be dealt with using engine blueprinting techniques? There is a series in Motorcycle Consumer News about this (Part II of a IV part series was in the last issue) which was pretty interesting. I have A. Bell's book on 4-stroke tuning on my Amazon wish-list now because of it.

I don't actually have the Area P full racing exhaust yet but it's the next thing on my list to get next month. Then I'll probably upgrade the forks using a race tech kit. I already upgraded the front brake pads with ebc hh and brake lines with steel braided galfers. I realize the chassis and suspension are even more critical than the engine in terms of improving the whole package. Well, actually, doing track days even more so than all of these. BUT the engine is the fun one for me (I like mechanics, thermodynamics, fluid dynamics, etc. because I'm a geek like that).

On a side-side note (to this hostage thread), I saw megacycle doesn't have special cam shafts for the Ninja 250. I guess this is the nuclear option that would also require porting, uber-slick roller bearings, higher compression pistons, lighter conrods, lighter and stronger valves and springs, 100+ octane gas, etc. But pouring $1000s of dollars into a Ninja 250 engine is lunatic fringe -- I like it

ztrack157, after how many miles do the 38hp engines require top-end rebuilds (I imagine they must be running at the ragged edge!)? Also, is your secret sauce really that secret? I mean really