Help! I picked up a track-ready 1988 Franken-Hawk track bike along with one complete 1989 parts bike, 3 tubs of parts. and a stack of tires from a buddy. He said the bike had been setting for 3 years but was stored properly. Told me to take it and see if I could get it to run and we'd talk about a selling price if it did.
Bike reportedly has a 700 Wiseco kit w/ about 25 hours (10 or 12 races). Tank was shiny inside so I added fuel and put a battery tendor on it. Fired right off the next day. Idled great and sounded great so what the hell . . . I haul off down the road. This thing is a beast. BEAST. Low-end grunt like I've never felt. Handles really well - has a F-2 or F-3 CBR front end w/ dual disks and braded lines. Has a steering stabilizer as well. Turn radius is almost zero. Also has a fox shock on the rear. No lights whatsoever. Has a battery and electrical but no key - just an on / off toggle. Has a very rough shark skinz RC body kit. The bike starts every time and runs really well for about 25 - 30 minutes.
Problems . . . seems like it might be overheating a bit after 30 minutes of riding. Starts popping and backfiring at 7K RPM. Almost like detonation or a rev limiter or something. Not sure it was meant to run 30 minutes or for anything more than sprint events?? It has a temp gauge and tach (redline shows 9k). No other gauges. Temp doesn't come up til it's run for 10 minutes or so. After 30 minutes, the carbs seem sluggish and not as responsive as at cooler temps and the idle takes on a different personality. Tends to die without throttle and no longer idles well. Heat guage never indicates hot but seems to fluctuate a lot between low-middle and high-middle range temps. Fluid level in overflow looks fine. Added a little water and water wetter to make sure it had coolant. The bike leaks a little fuel - 1 drop every 30 seconds. Appears to be coming from carb on right side.
Do I need to rebuild the Keihin carbs? Does it need a bigger radiator? Could I be having some thermostat issues? I'd like to ride this thing at some track days but will mostly do illegal and infrequent 1 hour rides on curvy isolated roads here in Arkansas. Would appreciate any feedback as to how to make this a good realiable bike for local rides and the ocasional track day. I have some limited mechanical experience and can probably handle some / most of the work myself.
Any advice is much appreciated.
Thanks
Zim
Bike reportedly has a 700 Wiseco kit w/ about 25 hours (10 or 12 races). Tank was shiny inside so I added fuel and put a battery tendor on it. Fired right off the next day. Idled great and sounded great so what the hell . . . I haul off down the road. This thing is a beast. BEAST. Low-end grunt like I've never felt. Handles really well - has a F-2 or F-3 CBR front end w/ dual disks and braded lines. Has a steering stabilizer as well. Turn radius is almost zero. Also has a fox shock on the rear. No lights whatsoever. Has a battery and electrical but no key - just an on / off toggle. Has a very rough shark skinz RC body kit. The bike starts every time and runs really well for about 25 - 30 minutes.
Problems . . . seems like it might be overheating a bit after 30 minutes of riding. Starts popping and backfiring at 7K RPM. Almost like detonation or a rev limiter or something. Not sure it was meant to run 30 minutes or for anything more than sprint events?? It has a temp gauge and tach (redline shows 9k). No other gauges. Temp doesn't come up til it's run for 10 minutes or so. After 30 minutes, the carbs seem sluggish and not as responsive as at cooler temps and the idle takes on a different personality. Tends to die without throttle and no longer idles well. Heat guage never indicates hot but seems to fluctuate a lot between low-middle and high-middle range temps. Fluid level in overflow looks fine. Added a little water and water wetter to make sure it had coolant. The bike leaks a little fuel - 1 drop every 30 seconds. Appears to be coming from carb on right side.
Do I need to rebuild the Keihin carbs? Does it need a bigger radiator? Could I be having some thermostat issues? I'd like to ride this thing at some track days but will mostly do illegal and infrequent 1 hour rides on curvy isolated roads here in Arkansas. Would appreciate any feedback as to how to make this a good realiable bike for local rides and the ocasional track day. I have some limited mechanical experience and can probably handle some / most of the work myself.
Any advice is much appreciated.
Thanks
Zim
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