Setting a street 1125R up to drag race

This is a cross post that I was asked to post here on BuellXb so the times and dates will be a little off as the original thread is close to a year old.

The bars, air bottle clamp, shift light (Dyna Shift Minder) and Engine Kill Module. Air over electric shifter has to be picked up still.

With the shock still in place loosely mocked up.

For whatever reason I was sent an 18" strut! That would not work as it is entirely way to long and has the wrong ends on top of that. I grabbed a piece of stainless and threaded both ends (left and right hand threads). Added a notch in the middle for a 1/2" wrench. This will allow me to adjust the strut without having to remove it from the bike.

For the top and bottom of the strut I used rod ends. Because of this I had to make up the extra space between the shock mount up top.

The left side bottom bar as you could see made contact with the swing arm "as is".

I machined a couple of spacers for the top strut mount and for the left lower wheelie bar mounting point.

Finishing up the spacers. Plenty of clearance now.

The front end limiting straps did not show up so I don't have the bars adjusted exactly where I want them yet. This is close. My target measurement will be 1 1/2" with the font end straped down. As they are now, they work. I tried a few soft 3-4k launches and the bike just wanted to squirt out from under me. I got tire shake a few time as I wasn't heating up the tire at all.

Shock length compared to strut length.

I may cut my DHM sliders down so they mount directly to the wheelie bar mounts. This would save on the changeover time.

I have the bars on and the front end strapped....and it works. It has been said that living in my area you can Drag Race everyday but Monday if your willing to travel and that is true. I made it to the track for some test runs.

Let me start by saying I'm no pro on a bike nor in car however I have a lot more experience in the car and zero on the bike. I am rusty for sure! I made 10 passes on the bike and honestly could have made more, I was hot in my leathers. I went to the track solo so I have no pics but I do have a stack of time slips.

The numbers and some info.

1st pass, 2nd slowest of the night. Front end strapped a little to tight for my liking. Left at 6k or close. With no one watching I could not tell what the bike was doing so I just had fun! Stock street tire pressure.
60' 1.795
330 4.684
1/8 7.082
MPH 100.94
1000 9.186
1/4 11.001
MPH 124.81

Best pass of the night. Loosened strap, air the tire down some, launched at 8K.
60' 1.689
330 4.544
1/8 6.902
MPH 102.60
1000 8.941
1/4 10.716
MPH 122.22

Best 1/8 MPH 105.55
1/4 10.718
MPH 125.79

Best 60' and MPH
60' 1.676
1/4 10.777
MPH 133.09

The numbers tell me I left A LOT on the track. Between hitting the limiter more times than not and clutch shifting tells me I need to get the air shifter installed! My best MPH tells me I should be a hi 9. I definitely need to leave harder. I can't tell if I'm spinning or riding the clutch. I'll take my buddy John with me to help me get a idea what is going on.

The light is on the left side of the fairing. During mockup it fit fine, during final installation it is placing a little pressure on the fairing. I'm going to look and see if I can flip the light and still use the same mounting holes. If not I'll just lower it a 1/4". The light is bright for sure!

The GSD mirror block offs I sell on Ebay.

Made it to the track again on Friday. The humidity was hi to say the least. It is tough burning water over air! I did not best my ET however I was very close to my PB and my MPH picked up. I'm still foot shifting and still grabbing the clutch running down the track, hard habit to break. I ran my buddy on a 06 GSXR 1000 11 times! I'm 10-1.
We both were launching at 8k plus. If I hesitated at all he was all over me with that 1000. He regularly "treed" me on the Pro tree but I'd make it up within 60' and hold the lead from there on out. Needless to say we had a blast as there was hardly anyone at the track so it was like a $25 private track rental.

Best run of the night.
RT .247
60' 1.722
330 4.572
1/8 6.921
MPH 104.270
1000 8.964
1/4 10.726
MPH 127.220

Best of the night.
60' 1.689
1/8 6.921
MPH 128.550

I worked on the bike a little last night. I spent some time mounting the piston for the air shifter. Currently there isn't an off the shelf mounting kit for these bikes. What I came up with I feel should work just fine, we'll see.

I made a paper template first than transfered it over to my piece of 1/2" aluminum. If I had something thinner here I probably would have used that instead as 1/2" is overkill.

Next up was cutting the aluminum. I started with my horizontal band saw just to get a smaller work piece.

I used a metal skill saw to make the rest of the cuts. (This saw kicks ass!)

Next up was fitting the piston to the shifter arm. The arm is slightly wider than the clevis opening. I quick trip to the table sander knocked the finish off of the shifter and allowed the clevis to slide over.

The bolt hole through the shifter arm had to be opened up slightly to allow the pin to pass through the clevis.

The assembly ready to go back on the bike.

A quick mock up shows where I need to trim my bracket some, more for aesthetics than anything else. I'm going to machine a small pocket in the bracket for the piston to sit in. This will help with the angle at which the piston sits. I gave a little pull on the shifter arm to pull it away from the bike to also help with alignment. The range of motion feels smooth.