If you want the kind of success Ryan Burke (above) is having on a modern superbike, you better get comfy with electronics. For the 2019 Motorcycle Roadracing Association (MRA) season, Burke went beyond learning the electronics, he started building it… And he’ll build it for you too. – Nick Ienatsch
The fact that Ryan Burke now builds ultra-trick motorcycle wiring harnesses has a wonderfully logical balance: When his team updated from Yamaha’s YEC electronics package to a MoTeC M130 on their R1 at the beginning of this season, the wiring harness was so custom that it had to be built per customer. Ryan, a journeyman electrician, didn’t hire it out; he built it himself.
He was hooked—and good at it. Ryan quit his electrician job and hung out a shingle. His Colorado-based The Collective Ltd. immediately picked up work from teams like Team Hammer M4 Suzuki, thanks to his friendship with Team Hammer M4 Suzuki supported rider Ben Fox. Fox mentored Burke through the first harness and then Burke whipped out three custom harnesses for M4, including the unit that fired Alex Dumas to the MotoAmerica Twins Cup Championship on his Suzuki SV650. The electrons running around that bike were put in place by Ryan Burke, and he wants to build a harness for your racebike too; contact him at (720) 297-4001.
I’ve always felt that if you want things done well, hire a successful roadracer. Ryan Burke has worn this number for five straight years in Colorado and teaches for me at YCRS. I’m thrilled to see this entrepreneur step into the business end of our industry with The Collective Ltd. | Photo: Luke Hummel – Luke Hummel
Meanwhile, he piloted his own self-wired Yamaha R1 to his fifth consecutive MRA number 1 plate. This championship, one in which he was such a player on the bike and in the shop, could count as his most precious. In many ways, building wiring harnesses and winning roadraces are extremely similar because thousands of things can go wrong, and the working combination must be precise.
I love this kind of stuff, men and women with huge motorcycle passion who find a niche in the industry and then kick ass in it. And Burke makes it look easy, even though we all know electricity is magic and it’s an act of Merlin that anything works when the key turns. (Hmm, I might be a bit too self-revealing in that last sentence.)
Who Needs Wire?
Ryan’s customers come from a variety of motorcycling tangents, but the majority are racers looking to simplify the wiring of a motorcycle that does permanent track duty, or racers who are moving to high-end engine-management and data-acquisition systems like Burke’s MoTeC.
Ryan estimates a weight loss of about 5 pounds on a typical production bike that gets rewired for track use. With that weight reduction comes the ability to improve everything from the quality of the wire and connectors, to the opportunity to add connectors to make servicing simpler. Burke’s knowledge as a racer and tuner gives him hands-on experience when assembling a custom harness, knowing that ease of use is almost as important as function.
My AHRMA racing friends are learning about Burke and The Collective Ltd too. Decades-old wiring and connectors are not always eager to work, so upgrading all electron-carrying systems makes sense when you know the work will be top-shelf. Even vintage bike owners who want the exact look with upgraded function find that Burke can almost always track down the old connectors and has had good luck reusing the stock hardware. “I’ve got some trick tools,” Burke claims.
Burke gets the party started with solid-core wiring laid in to the necessary components in the most efficient locations. But before this party, each system must be identified, and future systems must be planned for. Burke uses spreadsheets for each bike and scours the internet or reverse-engineers systems to find the necessary information well before the solid wire gets placed. – The Collective Ltd.Each wire is numbered to correspond with Burke’s key, and connector locations are marked. It’s noteworthy that Burke adds extra connectors based on his racing experience so cameras and additional data components can be added down the road. Burke uses Raychem and Deutsch Autosport products. – The Collective Ltd.After all components have wire running to them, the harness is pulled off, straightened, and mounted on its own 4-by-8-foot whiteboard. Once Burke has lengths and connectors figured out; the next step is working with the books, specifically Ohm’s law, to determine not just the type of wire that is best, but the lightest wire that will function without fail. Words like “ampacity” get thrown around and the differences in wiring for fuel pumps versus sensors. My eyes glaze over, but Burke loves it. – The Collective Ltd.With wiring lengths and gauges selected, the puzzle begins to take shape on the whiteboard. “Splices are never soldered,” Burke says, “because solder can become brittle and snap. Special crimps are used for splices then encapsulated in epoxy-lined heat shrink. The wire will break before the crimp fails.” – The Collective Ltd.Trick parts to do the heavy work of protecting splices against vibration, wear, and weather. Placing these Raychem products is all part of the puzzle when building wiring harnesses for a situation where failure can be catastrophic, such as a broken crimp on a traction control sensor. – The Collective Ltd.Wires are now heat-shrinked and wrapped, awaiting connectors. Wires are twisted unidirectionally to provide even tension on each wire inside the heat shrink. This helps create a harness that is round, less prone to breakage, and an overall more flexible harness that looks nice and forms to the motorcycle. – The Collective Ltd.Labeling is just a small part of the organization necessary to wire a modern superbike, and Burke uses heat-shrink labels with excellent durability. Burke wires in fuses and relays where necessary, and has done entire fuse panels for more-streetable motorcycles. – The Collective Ltd.Done and ready for war. High heat areas and wear areas get special attention. Even once installed, Burke can add connectors to ease maintenance: “We can add connectors to the throttle bodies, for instance, so they could be removed and worked on in record time. Speed is everything when a bike needs to get back on track.” – The Collective Ltd.Burke’s 22 years as an electrician included electrical system design, work on power distribution systems, motor controls, lighting controls, temperature controls, elevators, and building automation, equipping him with vast knowledge and some pretty cool tools. He’s added high-end crimpers and magnifying glasses for the fine work of motorcycle electronics. – The Collective Ltd.Burke builds his harnesses with an eye toward crash rebuilds as well, separating systems as much as possible with connectors that allow the team to swap components quickly. His attention to detail also extends to the appearance. “I want my work to look at home on a MotoAmerica Superbike grid,” Burke says. – The Collective Ltd.Burke’s words: “The main reason I started down this path was necessity. I was upgrading the electronics on my R1 to the MotoAmerica electronics package from MoTeC. That is basically a dash and an ECU. Nothing else. A wiring harness is not available as an off-the-shelf unit; it needs to be handmade by a pro and for top dollar. I thought that with my experience that I could tackle this project on my own with a little help and guidance from Ben Fox.” – The Collective Ltd.Many of you know my own passion for working in the shop. I sent The Collective Ltd. a résumé and some pictures of my best electrical work (above) in the hopes of landing a job in the mystical, magical, elusive, sometimes-it-works world of motorcycle electrons. Still waiting to hear back from Ryan… – Nick Ienatsch
New riders are often surprised by the amount of mental concentration necessary to survive and thrive on two wheels, and not just on the racetrack. Street riding requires as much or more focus and our first core Champions Habit asks everyone who decides to ride a motorcycle to be “all in” mentally. In fact, we encourage every rider to increase their mental focus in every aspect of their life so that their “focus muscle” will be ready when it really counts: on two wheels. The mental approach of champions instructs riders to get focused pre-ride, refocus during the ride and immediately get over any mistakes with a mantra and a “what’s next” attitude.
Umbrella of Direction Description
The first three Champions Habits focus each rider on the priorities of safe and fun motorcycle riding, and these three core approaches reside under an Umbrella of Direction. In other words, everything we do on our bikes serves to get the motorcycle pointed in the right direction prior to accelerating, whether we are leaving our neighborhoods on the way to work, enjoying a Rocky Mountain canyon, or competing on the track. The skills and approaches taught at ChampU will make life-long street riders and championship-winning roadracers, but all those mental and physical tips and lessons reside under this single main goal of every great rider: motorcycle direction.
100 Points of Grip Description
It’s easy to spin off into theoretic studies of tire hysteresis and asphalt compounding in an effort to understand traction, but before your eyes glaze over let us tell you that grip is much simpler to understand and manage while onboard your bike: welcome to our second core Champions Habit. Our tires have a finite amount of traction, a scale that slides based on understandable factors like pavement condition, tire temperature and wear, and rubber compound. We, the onboard engineers, manage traction by how we load and unload each tire via the bike’s controls. We are constantly trading throttle percentage points, brake points, and lean-angle points to retain traction during every ride on any bike.
R=MPH Description
Our third core Champions Habit examines the direct effect that our bike’s speed has on our cornering radius, and how each rider can exactly control speed during every inch of every corner with accessible techniques like trail-braking awesomeness and neutral throttle mastery. R=MPH examines the main safety issue that plagues our sport, running wide in corners, and draws a clear and understandable approach to any corner, from intersection left turns to backroad sweepers to racetrack hairpins. Understanding how speed affects radius plus learning how to apply these bike-control techniques in every corner is key to safe and enjoyable motorcycle riding.
Pointy End of the Cone Description
Crashes don’t happen on perfect days, riding slowly on roads we know on a bike we’ve owned for years, they happen when we are surprised by circumstances and don’t have the skills to adapt. Welcome to “Pointy End of the Cone Drill”, another of ChampSchool’s ever-changing real-world drills. In this challenging drill, instructors lay cones on the track and riders must place their bike to the pointy end of the cones. And they change every lap! We struggle in this drill when one (or more) of three failures arise: 1-We quit scanning out and back and out and back with our eyes 2-We quit using our brakes effectively, especially at lean angle 3-We quit moving our bodies to help direct the motorcycle. Eyes, Brakes, Body: The secret to thriving in challenging real-world circumstances…and our pointy-end drill.
100mm of Travel Description
“I just love this corner!” Some turns just feel right and this class provides solid science to help riders love every corner by creating “great” steering geometry. Yes, we are in charge of our steering geometry with brake or throttle use, so examining where our fork travel shoud be at the corner’s turn-in puts additional trail-braking information into our riding tool box. We rely on data acquisition for this class but riders don’t need a data system, they need to realize how a motorcycle turns best.
Rear Brake Description
We hear and read crazy things about a motorcycle’s rear brake, but since motorcycle designers attach them to every bike from MotoGP machines to scooters, it makes sense to learn to operate them effectively. This class looks at proper use of the rear brake and how that use differs depending upon bike wheelbase, front-brake use, bike load, and pavement conditions. It’s easy to think that “brakes slow me down”, and while that’s true, the rear brake is used by experts to slow the bike…and the weight transfer. Let us show you how and why.
Braking Practice Description
Want to ride really well for a long, long time? Master the brakes. “Sure,” you say, “that’s a great idea. But how and what do I practice?” We include this Braking Practice class for several reasons: 1-Poor braking practice can be painful and we’ve seen riders crash with poor technique 2-Our motorcycles stop really well when properly operated, better than most riders can believe 3-“Practice makes permanent” and following this braking-practice regimen will set you up for a life of confident and consistent brake use.
Downshifting Description
The primary reason to downshift is to put the bike in the gear we need for the future. That could be for a corner exit, to pass a car, to climb a hill or to get the bike back to first gear before leaving a stop. A secondary benefit of downshifting is to increase engine braking during deceleration, but for significant slowing the brakes are a much more efficient, repeatable, and affordable option. We are often downshifting while braking and this class walks you through the timing and process of this operation, an operation that includes a rev-match to smooth the clutch engagement in the lower gear. This “blip” of throttle prior to clutch-lever release is the mark of an expert rider and ChampU gives you the steps to expert downshifting.
Car Practice Description
Our car, truck, van? That’s a four-wheeled practice motorcycle that provides a relatively safe place to practice riding. Think of steering-wheel angle as lean angle and use every drive to focus on the blending of brakes, throttle and steering. We can practice great vision habits of scanning out and back, practice placing our “bike” safely in traffic, practice the smoothness of initial acceleration, braking and steering. Who would have thought that driving those silly cars could be so enlightening?
Body Position Description
We watch our racing heroes hanging radically off their bikes, but how does that pertain to us? What should we do on the street, on the track, and why? What’s more important, lower body or upper body? Where should our feet be? We’ve got questions! As we delve into the how and why, we also examine the when. When do we move our weight onto the footpeg, when do track riders sit up or tuck in, when should our heads be the lowest during track riding? Bring us your questions, we’ve got solid body position answers.
Ergonomics Description
Spend a few minutes in this class to learn how to fit our bikes to our bodies. Motorcycles come off the assembly line or out of the dealership with settings that could get in the way of our riding enjoyment; let’s take advantage of all these adjustments! That used bike we saved for and finally brought home might not “fit” us, but with a few tips from our Crew Chief Keith Culver, we’ll make it our own. We included this lesson because we adjust ergonomics for students at almost every school, making them more comfortable in just a few short minutes with basic hand tools.
