With a little help from my friends...

Lennon and McCartney finished writing the song With a little help from my friends in mid-March 1967, written specifically as Starr's track for the album. It was briefly called Bad Finger Boogie, supposedly because Lennon composed the melody on a piano using his middle finger after having hurt his forefinger; but in his 1980 Playboy interview Lennon said: "This is Paul, with a little help from me."

Now, while I personally like the Joe Cocker version better than the Beatles' version, the point of the story is that success in music is much like success in racing; it can not happen without some help from others.



During the off-season, I have allocated my self a very small budget to fix some problems with the bike and to tighten up the performance. The first thing I had to do was fix a failure which the bike experienced during the last race weekend of last year. During the morning practice sessions, the engine suddenly began cutting out. The bike's powerplant is totally stock, so there wasn't many things suspect of the cause. However, it was something too obscure to figure out and fix trackside. A circuit board which controls the throttle bodies had broken its solder connections, and my weekend was done.

During the last few months I have attempted to find time to fix this, but just flat out couldn't. The other problem was my soldering tools were slightly too large to fit into the small cavity on the board to fix the problem. Fortunately, one night while visiting my Mom, in conversion with everyone I described the problem and her boyfriend, Paul, offered to have it fixed. He has access to micro-soldering equipment and this piece came back better than new, thanks again Paul.

With the engine now working, i needed to make it a little better for the track. These motorcycles come set up for the street and for putting around town, and often need to have the have the balance of performance adjusted  for proper track use.

After doing months of research, I decided on taking my bike to BRG racing in Pacheco, CA. They have a solid reputation for performance, and I really appreciated the honesty I received over the phone from shop owner KC. I always prefer someone to say how it is, then try and make me feel better about myself. I talked to KC on the phone for a while and we were able to work out a time in my incredibly tight schedule to come down and get set up.

Pacheco is about an 1.5 hours each way for me, plus the couple hours needed to do the dyno tuning. The only way I was able to make this work was to have my boss give me the day off so I can do the tuning before driving back home, so that I can make it to my 2pm class. KC told me to come in first thing in the morning and we would get it going right away.

Within 10 minutes after the doors of BRG being open, KC had my bike on the dyno and ready to rock. I sat down to do my school work in the waiting area ( loaded with AFM trophies by the way ) but couldn't help but be intrigued by the sound of my bike warming up on the dyno.

After warming up the bike, and getting the initial power numbers, KC called me into the dyno room. He told me what I already kind of knew, my bike is running like crap. He pulled up Chris Siglin's (very fast guy) dyno read out from when he had a 04 gsxr 600, mine was worse everywhere and in every way. Then he began the tuning.

Knowing I was in a rush, KC never left my bike and constantly worked on it. He never did what most tuners are known for doing, vacillating between working a little on the bike and doing other shop things. Before I knew it, the bike was off the dyno and KC told me to go rev the bike a little. Grabbing that throttle and even lightly opening up the engine, I was able to feel a difference without even riding it. The throttle was sharp, the engine felt smooth, and wound up consistently. I knew there was definite improvement. KC then confirmed this with me by showing me the dyno chart; everything was better everywhere.

KC did tell me though that my bike wasn't making the power it should and I probably have some soft rings, basically the engine needs a rebuild. It is amazing to see how much more he was able to get out of the engine, considering it is a worn out engine with over 40,000 miles on it, but after seeing Siglin's bike numbers, I know it is capable of a little more.

I would recommend BRG to anyone looking to get a dyno tune (http://www.brgracing.com/). KC and company are a personable and competent bunch. The fact that KC was able to get me tuned and on the road with enough time to make it to school spoke volumes to me. I was treated like a #1 plate champion rider despite I am just a newbie. When I rebuild the motor (hopefully in the near future) I will, without question, be having BRG do my tuning again.

UPDATE: Took the bike out for a little test run this weekend. DAMN! The smoothness of the engine is so much better than it used to me. The power balance has shifted towards the top end, where it belongs. It is like riding a whole new bike. Now I just need to learn how to ride it better. :)