Back from the track and broke another driveshaft! Maybe I need a Gen 2 ?

[customizedcreationz]

This sucks and I am not beating this thing that hard.

11.29@121 mph.

Snapped the driveshaft on the next pass.

I can't believe with a pretty much stock bike that I can be snapping driveshafts like this.

Obviously this bike wasn't meant to be at the track and beat to death the way I am racing it.

Yes I know some guys have faster more powerful bikes. But if I can break this driveshaft twice in a week, probably about 20 passes on it, then obviously I need something that can handle a beating. I am not going to pussy foot a gear shift change, take out a good clutch, baby things out of the hole. I am going to beat the living hell out of the clutch, shock the living shit out of my drivetrain and hope that I possibly rotate the earth when I launch out of the hole.

I realize the Vmax is a fun bike and fast, but not designed to take the beating I will give it.

So I am curious, is the Gen 2 ?

Obviously my thoughts of a 1500 motor and possibly a bottle aren't for street cred. If I am going that route, I am building power to run at the track.

For the cost of a 1500 motor and the accessories to go with it, I could sell my bike and probably take that money and put it into a 2009 Gen 2 and already be where the Gen 1 would be with a built motor.

So with that scenario, Gen 2 , am I am going to blow the shit out of that thing too ?

I hate to stray from a Vmax and the Gen 2's can be fast from what I see, but for $7500 I can have a Busa , be in the 9's, hit 200 mph if I dare and have a bike that is reliable as can be and streetable.

The Busa is obviously the hands down dollar figure winner over the Gen 2 Vmax. But it doesn't have the same style or class. I love the Busa and was looking at those before I bought my Gen 1.

I should have never gone back to the track, because if I didn't I wouldn't be in this situation of thinking of another serious reliable bike.

By serious, I mean it has to ATLEAST run 9's to start for me. I should say the potential to run 9's has to be there. I don't expect the first pass to be a 9. But after a couple of track sessions that sucker has to be solid 9's or I am not happy.

I would rather have a cool Gen 2 mildly built and run 9's and then ride around with my wife on back. Because she wont ride a Busa thats for sure.

Decisions decisions.

But for now, I am not sure if I am going to continue my quest to get to the 10's on the bike. I just don't want to have to replace the trans, or crack a case from a mid gear exploding. I would be really pissed if that happened. I just see carnage following this bike.

So what do you guys think?

Todd

 

[customizedcreationz]

I hate to say it, but a quick ebay search netted me quite a few Busa's under $6000 that were really nice.

Hmm.....If the Gen 2 wasn't so high priced....

So I am thinking one of two things. Sell my V Breaks alot and take that money and go buy a Busa. Or keep my V Breaks alot and keep it to street duty and pick up a Busa Next year.

Todd

 

[jbretthorton]

U not gunna break a Gen II....
There are several of us around 200lbs with several hundred passes in the low tens high nines.. with 1.55 - 1.65 60'ers all running a 240 tire...
Almost twice the torque of a Gen I as well

 

[customizedcreationz]

Now see thats so enticing..... I think I need to find someone that would trust me to take the Gen 2 for a round the block feel ride.

I found a bunch more Busa's for sale, $4500 for a 50 th anni model , all stock! Burnt orange looked nice.

A drag version ran 9.20's still streetable, $6500....

Now if I could find a Gen 2 for $10,000

Todd

 

[one2dmax]

You won't find a gen 2 for much under $13k for now. Eventually it will get down there. You are flapping that clutch way too much if you are continuing to break the shafts. You need to try shifting the bike with a quick blip of the throttle. Of course an air shifter will also cure the situation. I sell those too and can show you want to make for the brackets (we can make them as well but you are capable of that).

Sean

 

[customizedcreationz]

So the driveshaft and trans problems will disappear ( not completely I understand ) with an airshifter.

I am barely touching the clutch on my runs. But I don't blip the throttle at all. I just pin it and shift with a ever so slight fan of the clutch ( maybe an 1/8 or less of movement on the clutch lever ).

I am just frustrated right now on this. I know this bike can be made to be faster. Air shift might be the solution to better times as well.

Hmm....

 

[one2dmax]

The air shifter will help times and consistency. Your "banging" the trans with each shift and parts are going to break (pretty much with any bike). You want to preload the trans and blip the throttle to have it slip into the next gear (I do this all but 2nd gear). BUT, the air shifter will unload the trans, let the shift happen, and then turn the power back on. All in milliseconds and with virtually no stress to the driveline.

Much better for racing.

 

[customizedcreationz]

Well then maybe I need to try that first.

Todd

 

[RaWarrior]

Holy crap 2 in one week... you rarely ever hear of people snapping shafts around here even with big bore mills.

I never took mine to the strip though there were many 0-100 dashes off the line...never broke anything. I'd full clutch the 1-2 shift and like Sean said just blip the gas for the rest. The max can take a lot of abuse but full throttle redline jerks into gear are evidently too much.

Keeping it pinned and fanning the clutch seems like just asking for it especially if you have a stronger than stock clutch. Be glad the trans didn't let go, which if the shaft didn't break probably would have been next in line.

I also had a venture drive and I believe venture driveshaft, shorter gears so you'd think it would be more likely to break than the taller stock diff.

This is the problem with drag racing. It's like boats, you think what you have is great for 2 weeks then it breaks down and you decide it's time for an upgrade.

You can go much faster than a gen2 for much less money.

 

[twistedmax]

GET RID OF THE SHINKO, my bike made 130 hp, I hammered the shit out it,burnouts everywhere I went, track a couple times and NEVER broke a shaft. I could tell as soon as I put the shinko on that If I left it on I WAS GOING TO BREAK SOMETHING.

I took my bone stock Gen II to the track and ran a 10.3 and that was with a .290 reaction time, At my weight Im confident I could break into the 9,s with just a little practice! Was it one of the shafts that I sent that broke?

 

[ouchez]

If you want to upgrade consider a new ZX14rr and pipe it with a power commander. I believe Brock has cool parts for the rr, as do many others.

I would not spend the money on your present bike or on the Gen 2 when you have the ZX14rr easily available and priced right on ebay, new.

I don't drag race, but enjoy power roll on's that do no damage to the drive train, but that was a very interesting point on the Shinko tires:ummm:

O

 

[srk468]

The way these driveshafts are made is a joke, if you have another spare laying around take a really close looked and you will see they take like a cast core and then wrap it some way. When I did my swingarm I noticed mine was bent so I bought one from eBay and installed it and bought another from Kyle as a spare, well I broke the eBay one over 100 miles from home and when I got it home and apart I could obviously see the break but there were stress cracks all the way down the shaft like a candycane. I then dug out my bent one and if you look real close you can see the same stress cracks in exactly the same spot like they are made that way. The spare I had from Kyle I couldn't see anything wrong with so I've been running that one every since and I also have went 11.20's at about 118 (I weigh considerably more than you at 285 in gear but I have a few more things done to my bike) and so far so good but I also bought 2 more spares from Kyle and one is perfect but if you get out a magnify glass you can see the beginning of stress cracks on the other, I'm not mad at Kyle at all it's just the risk you take buying used and he hooked me the hell up and is a great guy so if you need another then I'd shoot him a pm. I'll try to take some pics of what I'm talking about but its so small I'm not sure it'll show up on my camera. Nothing wrong with that Shinko cause he broke it on a shift again I'm betting, I've never seen anybody break a shaft on the launch, it's always on a shift and that's also where they like to blow out the case is on a shift if you have a HD driveshaft... He needs an airshifter and that will help tremendously... Ideally we need one made of carbon fiber, something that will flex just a bit to save the tranny on the shifts but unfortunately that would be probably more expensive than a chain drive.

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

[srk468]

Here are 2 pics of the broken one and it's obvious.

Now here is the bent one, see the cracks like I'm talking about?

Sent from my ADR6400L using Tapatalk 2

 

[customizedcreationz]

The drive shafts appeared to me to be cast and then case hardened. They might be a solid piece and then case hardened. I don't have one in front of me. But they are definitely case hardened.

If feasible on these two I ll realign them and then weld them up. Whats the worse that can happen? I have two more useable spares or install them and break them shortly after again.

Rick yes it was one of the ones I got from you.

The more I look at Busa's its obivous that there is way more bang for the buck with one of those. For $4500-6500 you have a solid low 10 , high 9 second machine stock. Add a few goodies and you have a solid competitive 9 second consistent machine.

I think I ll probably end up keeping the Max for the rest of this year, if I do sell it , it will be next season and I ll look at Busa's then. But most likely I ll keep the Vmax for a street bike and pick up a Busa for a race bike. Thats if I even continue to race. But I would say 4 outings in 5 or 6 weeks is probably going to qualify me as getting back into racing.

Thanks for the ideas guys.

Todd

 

[sal98]

I'd be willing to let you take my '09 for test ride if you're interested. Not sure when I'll be joining another MI group ride, but if I see you you're welcome to try it out.

Yes, a gen2 is expensive (along with any of the mods that go along with it), but I'm just in love with the fact that this bike is totally unique compared to most anything else out there... and buying one kept me from getting an FJR. This bike puts a smile on my face just looking at it... and makes me grin like an idiot whenever I take it for a ride (the FJR just wouldn't have done that for me). I don't race and, to be honest, I don't have the riding skills to do it justice, but I don't regret a single dollar that I've spent on it so far.

Scott

 

[donnelly317]

Busa? There's always budmoores 1500 for $7500 lol chain drive never have to worry about that shaft again. :confused2:

 

[customizedcreationz]

Busa? There's always budmoores 1500 for $7500 lol chain drive never have to worry about that shaft again. :confused2:

Yeah but the next weak link is the transmission. Regardless if the driveshaft or chain does or doesn't break, the transmission is the next weak spot.

Todd

 

[CaptainKyle]

Yeah but the next weak link is the transmission. Regardless if the driveshaft or chain does or doesn't break, the transmission is the next weak spot.

Todd

2nd gear is a week link on tons of bikes not just Vmax's . If you wanna play you gotta pay. Eventually something will break on anything if you treat it like shit which A lot of us seem to do. Hell I guess I twisted my throttle to hard the last couple days I managed to break a throttle cable today about 15 miles from wher im staying.

 

[customizedcreationz]

My driveshaft was replaced again today ( so the third one is in ). The one I broke yesterday looked just like the one pictured above. Long spiral cracks all the way down one end to the other and it snapped withing an 1/8" or less of the same are of the first broken one. So thats the common weak point ( that area ). I wonder if you put a small sleeve on that area if that might help a little bit?

I have a feel these are heat treated too brittle and I think that its probably done on purpose to keep from breaking too much stuff.

Yes second gear is a weak spot on many bikes. My 1100 Magnas suffered a few second gear issues, but most where pretty good.

Never had an issue with my GSXR's. I would just waste clutches on those. But 33 passes at the drag strip in one hot day will tend to do that.

I rode 300 miles today with my wife and I love the bike. So it will probably stay in the stable, but I am going to seriously think about a Gen 2 or a Busa for next year.

Todd

 

[jbretthorton]

like others have said, you can build faster for less money than a GenII
If all you are after is going fast in a straight line at the track, then I would not suggest a GenII. New 14R would be the way to go IMO.
But if you want something different (like your GenI) then you wont make a better choice than the GenII. We always get a crowd at the strip after we make a few passes... and whopp up on some sporties, they can't believe that "big ol bike" is that fast...