Rip Van Lockwire

What a lovely day off. . . slept in, a little time on the Nordic Track, looking out at a beautiful sunny day. . . hmmm, think I'll head down to the barn for a bit of lockwiring. . .

Lockwiring (aka "safety wiring") is one of those things that you've gotta do if you want to be a racer. Yeah, you can pay somebody to do it- if you're made of money, I guess- but you're still gonna have to redo some of the wiring at some point every race day, and, well, lockwiring is kind of a personal thing.

Lockwiring is a lot like scanning eBay for deals on obscure motorcycle parts, tools, Tony Lama cowboy boots (for which, I admit, I have a serious weakness), etc. You think you've been there a few minutes, and hours have passed. You think, "Oh, I'll just lockwire the new front end on my race bike, it'll only take a few minutes. . .", and when you're done, you discover that your family has given you up for lost, and moved away. Yep, you're Rip Van Lockwire. It's hard to see in the pic to the left, but the drilled-and-wired pieces from today include the four pinch bolts, the axle bolt, two fork drain plugs, four caliper bracket bolts, four caliper mounting bolts, and the brake line banjos, each having been torqued, marked, removed, drilled, reinstalled and torqued, and finally wired. The bike, my clothes, and I are covered with a liberal coating of anti-sieze mixed with WD-40.

At first glance, it's simple. You're wiring the bike's fasteners, brake banjos, oil filters, etc., to each other or to fixed parts of the bike to keep them from loosening or falling off, which could result in you falling off, or, in the case of fluid spillage, lots of other riders falling off as well. Why is this necessary, you ask? Parts don't fall off my bike. It's not like it's an old Harley, or something. Well, okay. As hard as you think you ride on the street, it's probably not necessary on a modern bike. Even when you start doing track days, it's still probably not going to be a big deal. Then you start doing more track days, and you're riding harder, feeling like you're finally getting it. . . and suddenly, one of the roving instructors rides up alongside, pats his bike's tail for you to follow, and pulls you into the pits. One of your mufflers is hanging off. Or your fairing is waving in the breeze. Congratulations, and time for an overall fastener check. At the beginning of last racing season, my first, I could give a quick turn of the fairing fasteners before each track session. At my third race, just after a couple of go-fast lessons, I lost half my fairing screws in the first practice session of the morning. Now the bolts are drilled on the inside, clipped, and the clips are attached with little wire keepers.

Today's lockwiring session was without doubt the most pleasant I've ever spent, for a number of reasons. First, a couple of weeks ago, while on vacation, I built a worktable to put the bike on. This means that I spent nearly all of today's four-hour work session either standing or sitting on the old office chair I pulled out of the dumpster at work. Not on my knees. Second, it wasn't two o'clock on race day morning. Third, at the end of last season, Mary and I made a solemn vow to never buy another pair of cheap safety wire pliers, and we each got a pair of 6" Milbars. Now, I figure that this alone is going to transform the coming racing season: not spending a couple of late-night hours, on my knees on the barn floor, swearing at a pair of cheap Chinese pliers that either won't hold onto the wire or keep breaking it, three hours before I need to load the bike in the trailer and head for the track.

If you're new at lockwiring, there are lots of things that you'll learn by trial and error. Hopefully, you won't "strike oil" too many times while learning! Here are a few things that may be helpful:

First, get good pliers. Yes, you can get a pair of 6" lockwire pliers on eBay for $9.99. That's what we started with. The 6" reversible Milbars we use now are available from lots of places, Snap-On sells them as Blue Point, Aircraft Spruce has them, natch, but I got mine from Miles at Street and Competition. Depending on the features you want, you'll pay between $80 and $100 for them. They're worth every dime.

Second, and maybe even more importantly, get good drill bits, and lots of them. You will break them. We've gotten bits from lots of places, but the 1/16" lockwiring bits from Street and Comp are the most durable, sharpest, and most forgiving I've tried. Some very expensive drill bits will crumble like peanut brittle, or go dull in seconds. You'll still break the good ones, mostly by bending them. Start out with 25 or so. Put them in a medicine bottle and spritz in some WD-40. Oh, yeah, and use WD-40 for lube when drilling.

Other things that are good to have: a nice, heavy pair of cutting pliers, round nose pliers for curling the tails over (twist, move back about 1/8", twist again), soft vise jaws for holding fasteners without marring the threads, and a small-mouthed plastic bottle, like a soda bottle, for holding wire clippings securely, even when it's knocked over (I've been told that lockwire clippings are the most common cause of race tire flats!). A small, old-school plug-in variable-speed electric drill, because a cordless drill just doesn't turn fast enough to drill metal. Oh, yeah, and an automatic center punch for marking where you want to drill.

That's enough for now, I guess. . . even though I haven't really said much about how to actually drill and wire your bike! Tell you what- if you want help and advice on lockwiring, email me.