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Spies/Mladin/Hayden Yoshimura SBK- inside

3K views 27 replies 9 participants last post by  kwaka10r 
#1 ·
Lets have a look at just a little bit of the trickery inside the Spies/Mladin/Hayden Yoshimura SBK in 2007.
I'll come back and post a pic every few days as I get a chance.

Per suggestion from Anthony D, a basic description of what this is.

2007 Yoshimura GSXR 1000. This was ridden by Mat Mladin. This is his "B" bike, at VIR.
The parts in this photo are now banned in most professional race series, as they were so effective...and expensive.

Parts:
Kit swingarm (endurance/quick change)
Kit toe-saver
Brembo dished rotor
Tokico kit single piston caliper
Kit axle and nut
Yoshimura service stand
Kit stand adapter
Kit axle adjuster
Wheel speed sensor bracket and timing ring
JB Magtan 16.5" magnesium wheel
 

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#2 ·
Well, not much activity here, but Ill post anyway.

Tommy Hayden's office for the weekend.

Parts:
Kit frame (notice nylon/delrin lockstops, adjustable rake angle, etc)
Kit magnesium gullwing adjustable triple clamps
Kit throttle
Kit showa fork (this was a development fork, early BPF, and different coatings, etc)
Kit aluminum fuel tank
Kit carbon budywork
Motec dash and data aquisition
Brembo billet clutch and brake master M/C
 

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#6 ·
You should give a description of what people are looking at with the pics and explain why the unobtanium bits are soo cool...
 
#9 ·
Always interesting to see the differences between bike within the same team. 2007 saw Tommy Hayden racing alongside Mat and Ben. Not only did Tommy have a bunch of nasty crashes that year, he was also getting used to the GSXR. By the time VIR rolled around, he was testing all kinds of different stuff for the team. Here, you can see the forks, which were totally different to any other Showa stuff used at the time.
These forks never found favor with Yosh, although Tommy liked them. Anyone know why? Its an interesting story- maybe @BillV will chime in.
 

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#10 ·
Those look like the smaller diameter Showas, and if I recall correctly they had quite a bit more "flex" compared to the bigger diameter Showas....2007 was also the first year that the external compression adjusters were designed inside the fork bottoms. Dave Cruz, who was their main Showa tech for many years, had quite a bit of input into that design....FYI
 
#14 ·
How about another shot of the swingarm- this time from the right.

Really sexy stuff here, especially for 2007.

Yosh Ti pipe- these are not off the shelf pipes
Showa shock (factory/works)
Tokico single piston caliper (kit/dirt bike/scooter)
Kit rearsets- folding toe spigots
Kit carbon body- (Sticker says Sharkskinz, but I dont know)
Kit QC swingarm
Kit chain adjuster/caliper hanger
Kit QC axle and socket quide/pull cup, Delrin)
Brembo billet integrated rear M/C
Brembo dished rear rotor

The cable is for the booster battery. These are still used today, by all of the superbike teams. Added insurance.

Lots more details here, but Ive gotta run.
 

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#16 ·
Yosh replaced the guard over the rear master with a carbon fiber design. But it's a very beefy design, maybe 1/4" thick, so it might not be any lighter. I'm not sure what that is about, maybe something to do with the rider moving around on the bike. Those chain adjusters are the good design but they require that the end of the swingarm be machined to go with it. Previous posts here indicated that the entire swingarm was made by Heat Magic. I can't pick up a dish in the rear rotor, but it is a floating type. That seems unnecessary, particularly with that wimpy rear caliper. The muffler looks like something out of a Yosh catalog, but they commonly had a larger ID and were unobtainable. I like what looks like an aluminum axle nut in post #1. I've been interested in one for some time but have been afraid to try. Yoyodyne used to offer them.

Harleyferguson: You may know something that I don't. For several years the AMA had been tightening up the rules to level the field by lowering costs and banning special parts. That included banning magnesium wheels, titanium fasteners, and parts like that swingarm. I think that was why Yoshimura stopped using JB Power Magtan wheels. At one point they were talking about banning custom ECMs like Magneti Marelli but Yoshimura threatened to withdraw if they did. Is some of that stuff going to be allowed again? The titanium bolts were of interest to me as there are several Chinese suppliers that sell them for about the same price as steel bolts from Suzuki. But the aftermarket sellers were applying huge markups that made them so expensive. There was a chance that a bigger demand might result in significantly lower prices.
 
#17 ·
That Rear cover is the carbon one. On Mat's bikes especially, they had to overbuild things like controls and touchpoints as he was just so physical. Ben was also known to be very physical on these things.
The chain adjusters are basically the same from 1993- 2008, when they stopped using the quick change stuff. And you are correct, that the dropouts are billet pieces machined to work with those chain adjusters...and caliper hanger...and axle...and nut, etc.
The aluminum nut isnt holding the axle- its holding the threaded spacer which holds the axle. Its hard to tell from the pic- but it doesnt hold the axle in place.
Suzuki has used a few different contractors to build swingarms over the years. All of them are in Japan, and Heat Magic was used in the early and mid 2000's

DMG and MotoAmerica rules for the last 5-6 years have been tough to understand. They allowed full electronics packages, but banned aftermarket swingarms...unless you were racing a Ducati, in which case you could run the $5k Corse arm. They limited engine mods, banned aftermarket forks, and a few other things.
The electronics were the biggest "problem", imo. And it was Yamaha that threatened to pull out if they restricted it- not Yosh.

This year, Yosh is using JB Power wheels. IDK is they are mag or alum- but they are using them for sure. In fact, this year the bikes are more trick than in the DMG era for sure.
Next year, the Motoamerica rules will mimic WSBK rules, which allows almost all of the trick bits that you could imagine. I think we may see more kit bikes entered in MotoAmerica in 2017.

The Titanium is a different story. Id be cautious of the Chinese Titanium, unless you are very sure of the purity. There is a reason why Mettec and the others charge so much, and they are not making a killing. Notice that Yoyodyne stopped selling Ti years ago when the Chinese started flooding the market. Of course for some things it wont matter- engine cover bolts, etc...but for structural stuff Id be careful indeed.
 
#18 ·
I think that this is what led me to think that it was Yoshimura that threatened to withdraw. See the paragraph about 40% of the was down that begins "Meetings held as recently..". No guarantee but, as far as I knew, the only winning team that was currently using the Marelli Marvel 4 on their bikes was Yoshimura.

I don't pay that close attention but I think last year I noticed that Yoshimura was using OZ wheels. I asked what happened to the JB Power wheels and they said that the rules now required them to use the same material as that on the stock bike and that the aluminum OZ's were lighter. Perhaps JB Power has since lightened theirs. At that same event I came upon a Dymag display by Orient Express. They claimed that the new aluminum Dymag was a light as a magnesium Marchesini. But that could have just been hype.

You need to pay attention but some quality titanium fasteners are available from China for very little money. It was T.R.E who first pointed this out in his "K7 1000 built from scratch" thread.
 
#19 ·
Yeah, I thought it was clear who that "one winning team" was, since in 2013 there was exactly one winning team. In that article, Don points out that he would be fine with an immediate switch to kit (EM Pro) boxes for the "health of the paddock".
It was also pointed out that Yamaha was using the Marvel 4 on the superbikes (the only bikes that won races that year, iirc), and the DSB bikes were running the less expensive SRT systems. If Suzuki had gone home for the year...not that big of a deal. If Yamaha walked away, half the paddock would go with it.

Here is a picture from VIR this year.
 

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