Maintenance, Tuning & Racing Logbook - Honda CR250R 2004 Owner's Manual

10. MAINTENANCE, TUNING & RACING LOGBOOK
Any serious racing effort relies heavily on knowledge
gained and compiled from previous racing events. Infor-
mation such as what gearing was used, weather/
altitude & jetting, which tire worked best and what
suspension settings you used during the day may all be
valuable factors next time you race at that particular
track or one that is similar.
The best way to organize the many bits of information
that led to your best competition effort at a given circuit
under specific conditions, is to record your component
settings, adjustments and comments in a Maintenance,
Tuning & Racing Logbook.
A logbook can remind you when necessary mainte-
nance was performed, when it will be necessary again,
and when and specifically what adjustments were
made for particular tracks. Also and most important,
whether or not those specific adjustments or compo-
nent selections were successful. A logbook can remind
you to change suspension, gearing, tires and jetting to
the settings that worked well in the past at any given
race track. It can even remind you where on the course
your competition was nearly able to pass you on the
final lap, so you'II be forewarned.
Timekeeping
This Manual lists maintenance intervals for every-so-
many races or every-so-many hours of running.
Because all races are not the same, the most effective
way to schedule maintenance is by the hours you have
run your CR.
An official "guestimate" is close enough for our
timekeeping purposes. You may choose to record your
time the same way aircraft operators do (but without
the benefit of an electrical hourmeter). All running time
is broken down into hours and tenths of an hour (each
six minutes represents one tenth of an hour).
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Maintenance Records
Regular Maintenance items you'll want to record in your
logbook should include:
•
Dates and Results of Cylinder, Piston and Ring
Examinations
•
Patterns for Frequency of Need for Decarbonization
With a Particular Oil
•
When you Last Performed Shock Linkage and
Swingarm Pivot Bearing Maintenance
•
Transmission, Fork and Shock Oil Changes
•
Chain, Sprocket, Chain Guide and Slider Re-
placements
•
Coolant Changes and Related Component
Replacements
•
Spark Plug, Brake Pad and Control Cable
Replacements.
In addition, you should record any irregularities noted in
component wear so you'll remember to keep a close
eye on these areas in the future.
Tuning Records
Some of the Tuning Information you'll want to keep
track of in your logbook should include which combination
of settings or components worked best at a par-
ticular location and may again under similar conditions.
Items such as:
•
Basic Track Conditions, Altitude of the event, and
Temperature for practice and each moto
•
Suspension Settings and Chassis Adjustments that
were tested and selected
•
Alternate Gearing choices and which was most
suitable
•
Tire Selection and Air Pressure
•
Carburetion Changes
Racing Records
Information worth recording for this section of your
logbook may include:
•
Your Placing in Each Moto and Overall Finishing
Position.
•
Thoughts on what you could do to Improve Your
Performance next time.
•
Notes on any Patterns noted In Choice of Starting
Gate Positions or In Riding Portions of the Course as
the day progresses that may prove helpful in future
events.
•
Any Places on the course where you Chose the
Wrong Line and were passed too easily.
•
Notes on Strategy used by your competition or by
riders in another event that are worth remembering.
This is an example of how to keep track of the running
time on the engine and suspension components, your
racing results, what adjustments and maintenance
items were performed and what components are
replaced on that particular day.
Consider using different color ink pens or pencils to
record specific, important information on specific sub-
jects. For instance, running time could be recorded in
black, racing results in blue, jetting changes could be in
red, and suspension/chassis settings and gearing selec-
tions in green. This will help you identify these items at
a glance.
Resale Value
Although your racing log can be critically important in
the development of your racing endeavors, accurate
maintenance records may also be the deciding sales
point to the next owner, especially if the market is full
of many other used race motorcycles.