Any Motorcycle Riders Here? Post Your Ride(s)

[Long Haired Git]

Can always replace the shock. By memory RVF's are popular at Ilse of Man and I doubt racers will accept non-adjustability given the islands deserved reputation.

In my head was wondering about a VFR400 swingarm transplant to my Cagivo Mito CR500 hybrid in order to have single-sided swingarm like 916 big brother, and also to get a larger rear tyre for the power. No engineering analysis done beyond knowing its a single sided and the Cagiva has a "swept" (gull?) but otherwise normal swinger.

[Cathar]

Today I did a 300km round-trip of the local twisties to properly familiarise myself with the R1. Man, am I sore!

The R1 handles and provides feedback like a dream. Man, the VTR was "numb" in comparison. Talk about confidence inspiring. Every little interaction with a bump, stone, twig, whatever, is broadcast back through the chassis to let the rider know exactly what's going on. Wow, I never knew that bikes could feel this good. Absolutely visceral road-rider interaction.

Any line through a corner I wanted to take, the bike did it. It did exactly what I told it to. A patch of stringy bark mid-corner, with a few bits of gravel, those damn white reflectors in the middle, and a nasty ripple? Yep, happy to make 4 mid-corner line adjustments to thread through it all and keep tyre happily in contact with bitumen, all while cranked over hard. Enter a corner a little too hot? (Something that's somewhat easy to do with the R1's monster engine). No problem, just feather the front brake and the front wheel suspension feedback is there telling you exactly what's going on, and all of a sudden I'm feeling like I'm a pro-racer (yeah, in my dreams!), braking deep into corners with nary a concern about the front wheel's traction because it's telling me exactly how hard I'm pushing it, which to be honest, wasn't really that hard but the difference is now I can tell that I'm not pushing it hard, unlike the VTR where in comparison the VTR's feedback is something akin to attempting to assemble a technical lego kit with boxing gloves on. Heck, I literally used to sleep at night and a recurring nightmare about riding the VTR, and losing the front-end for no adequately explained reason.

What a monster engine! Almost a total waste really, but then somehow, it's not a waste. Despite the 11750rpm redline, I kept the engine toodling along in the 3000-6000rpm range throughout most of the ride, especially in the tighter stuff (e.g. the famous Reefton Spur which is 24km of 50-80kph non-stop gruelling swervery) purely because the engine makes stupid power otherwise and the last thing you want is to exit one 60kph semi-hairpin, and accelerate hard over the next 80m to hit 140kph as you enter the next 75kph semi-hairpin, braking like an idiot. The bike purely has too much top-end power to be used sensibly on the road, but despite that, the engine is absolutely fantastic for lazy 2nd/3rd gear up-down transitions through the swervery just using the ample luscious low-end grunt to smoothly drive through the corners and on to the next, rather than dancing on the gear-lever trying to keep a small engine on song. Sure, the engine has all this top-end power that's next to useless on the road, but that doesn't matter, because it has all this ample low-end drive which perfectly suits the tight stuff just as well.

Yep, the R1 is almost as light and flickable as a 250, as visceral as a surgeon with a scalpel, and an engine which is every bit as "lazy" and grunty as a big V-twin, but with the monster top-end should you ever feel the need to show off. I tell ya, I'm in love with motorcycling all over again, but even moreso than before. I never in my dreams thought that bikes could be this good.

I am sore. I can barely walk from hanging off the bike for 2.5hrs straight flicking from side-to-side transitioning my bulk with muscles that have long since forgotten that they had a purpose in life.

But I am happy!

[FuRi0]

i currently ride a 2002 NSR 125-RR with an Arrow full race exhaust, nsr250 powervalve, carbon reeds, larger jets,1 tooth smaller back sprocket, twin plate clutch, lighter flywheel, dyno ket, and a port polish
she puts out roughfly 48 at the flywheel and 39 at the back wheel,
she weighs 135 kgs and has recently recived new tires 130 back 110 front


yup that is my ugly mug
i used to ride a TZR 50 which i absolty thrashed the life out offor 9 months till i near exploded (no thanks to the guys at RAF thievale you can guse what they did)


my guardien if you are wondering rides a stock (and i mean compleatly stock)
CBR125R which is not a bad bike i even manged to squeese 80 out of the glorafied CG

im still on a provisional license (soon to change)

[FuRi0]

will post more picks if you want (weather permiting)

[Cathar]

Sweet bikes FuRi0. Nice to see there are some sweet small capacity bikes out there. They'd be great fun at the track too I reckon. Betcha can't wait until the weather gets a little better there.

I've been making my way down to Phillip Island GP circuit a bit of late. Visited 3 times in the last month, but one of those times was a Superbike School training session. Managed to get my lap times down to high 1m53s. For comparison someone of the skill level of one of the present Australian Superbike Championship winners should be able to punt my exact bike around the track in around a flat 1m40s if really trying hard. So I've got a fair way to go. I can see myself getting to 1m49s fairly easily based on all the mistakes I'm presently making (lots). Give me 3 more track days to practise and hone the basic essential skills and I should get there. My long term (2yr) goal is to reach 1m45s with this bike in stock road-going trim, and once I achieve that I'll look towards modifying it.

Here's some action shots:

[FuRi0]

i want that r1 m8 *drools*
am picking up a slightly damaged GSX-R 750 SRAD soon so once thats up and running i will get some pics (permiting the git dont get a better offer)
your right i cant w8 untill some better weather
picked up some "sparkeys" so cant w8 to get them into use my last pair of leathers discovered what consentrated asfault tastes like if you know what i mean
i had her out on a track once but was getten anihalated by the bigger bikes
managed to keep pace with a stock rs250 though setting 3s faster laps than the aprillia rs125s but in saying that i know most of the riders on them and well i can take them on normal roads so why not on a track comes to mid

[Long Haired Git]

Don't have to tape the lights up Cathar?
Very generous.

I used to take my little FZR around Lakeside (QLD) and it was a case of keeping up around the back, and having everyone fly by on the straights. EXCEPT for the superbike guys. They anniliated me everywhere, everycorner, like I was driving-miss-daisy on some early-english velocoped. eg: end of the straight is a 180 degree corner and I've got my knee down, gently scraping the right-peg and thinking "I AM MICK DOOHAN" and this guy comes on his GSX750RRRRRRRRRRR and rides around me mid-corner and then just F***'s off into the distance through the twisty bits and I'm like "I AM SHITE!".
Mind you, I went like 5 times ever and he probably goes a couple of times a week.
Better skilled, and know's every bump etc.

Don't know about you, but it knackers me. Riding on the roads I can do for hours at a time, but at the track after 10 or so laps I'm ready for a break, and on track days by the time it gets to the sixth sessione I need a nap.

[Cathar]

Originally Posted by Long Haired Git

Don't know about you, but it knackers me. Riding on the roads I can do for hours at a time, but at the track after 10 or so laps I'm ready for a break, and on track days by the time it gets to the sixth sessione I need a nap.

You're holding on too tight. Relax more.

A good check to do is you should be able to do the chicken dance with your elbows, even when under braking so heavy that the rear wheel is starting to lift from the road.

If you can't do that at any/all points of the track, then you're holding on too tight.

Aside from gripping onto the tank with your thighs/knees under heavy acceleration/braking, you should just be a loose lump of jelly resting on the bike in whatever way is most comfortable for you to do so.

Also caused by not dropping the inside elbow enough, and not getting low enough to provide steering input perpedicular to the steering head axis. When entering corners you should be relaxed, low, almost slung across the tank like you're a rag doll just draped there.

Steering inputs should just be a quick sharp jab to put the bike onto its side, and after that you shouldn't be doing anything else other than not falling off and winding the throttle on. If you find yourself holding on tight onto the handlebars through the corners, holding pressure either on the inside or outside bars, the problem is you. You're not relaxed enough on the bike and you're not letting it just do its thing with you merely as a dead weight on it. The more you fight it, the more it'll fight back, and the harder the work is.

It's something I'm still working on too. The faster you try to go, the more you tend to tense up and fight the bike. It's a natural human instinct. It affects everyone, and you HAVE TO do your best to fight the instinct to hold on tight, and just relax.

Always remember, the bike is happier without you than with you. It's your job to gets yourself in a way that the bike's geometry doesn't really notice that you're there.

[Long Haired Git]

Yeah, all good in theory and at the high-performance courses I did at Mt Cotton we had exercises on this. My lap times and tiredness prove it was something I needed to work more on. Anyway, all history now: no bikes for eight years and counting.
I miss the uncontrollable smiling and giggling after being very, very naughty on public roads. Given what I see driving in Sydney I wouldn't ride here anyway: people are idiots. Saw another "wrong-way-around-a-round-about" incident just this week.
Track-day-bike for Eastern Creek is financially un-obtainable for near future, but you need to have dreams...

[FuRi0]

track days are never "financialy unobtainable" you just have to know the person that runs it
in my case jeremy mcwiliams

[Cathar]

I think that the main expense of track days is the tyres.

A track day at Phillip Island will set you back around £79 equivalent, £75 if you're a regular. At Eastern Creek, around £70. That gets you 6 x 20min sessions.

Problem with a track day is that if you're a quick rider, you'll chew through a set of sticky sports tyres about every two or three track days, or about £70-105 per day in tyres. Throw in fuel, food, and transport, and you're looking at about an extra £50 on top of that.

So all up, a track day here costs around the £210 mark, or about $500 Aussie dollars. Even if the track itself was free, it'd still be around the £140 mark at best, or about $310 Aussie.

That's the sort of thing which the average Aussie could afford every 2 months.

[Marci]

This is where it helps to know someone in GP... we get rather spunky Dunlop 208GPs for £65 a pair straight off their team truck with monotonous regularity

[Cathar]

Hmmm, 1/3rd price Dunlop 208GP's, or full price Pirelli/Metzeler's.

That'd actually be a hard choice for me, given that the Dunlops chew themselves apart about 3x as fast as the Pirelli Corsa's/Metzeler M1's. On Tuesday I went from 25% worn Dunlops to no tread left at all on the rear in spots by day's end, and the front chewed to crap. Basically ~$370 in tyre life gone in the space of 2hrs riding.

I like the way the Dunlop's stick. Don't like the way they feel - front end got uncomfortably vague on me at times at high lean - almost like it was about to push - whereas the Powers/Corsas/M1's don't have that vagueness at any time, and feel planted (well, at lean angles up until the footpegs sans feelers start scraping anyway). Hate that the Dunlops really do need to be 1/3'rd the price of anything else to resemble value for money. Only thing I don't like about the Pilot Powers is that they have this "dippy" feeling at about 70% lean unless you put highish pressure in them.

Still, if the Dunlop's are available for cheap enough, like you're getting them for, then I wouldn't complain.

Just my 2c on tyres I've experienced so far.

[Marci]

Wish I could find a cheap source for tyres for the NS125... Missin' my baby...

[Long Haired Git]

For the record, I meant the bike itself. Tyres + maintenance + repairs + fuel I didn't even consider.

[Cathar]

Originally Posted by Long Haired Git

For the record, I meant the bike itself. Tyres + maintenance + repairs + fuel I didn't even consider.

Sounds to me like you need a mid-life crisis.

I liked this definition I saw at another web-site.

Mid-life Crisis - It's what boring, jealous people call it when somebody makes a positive change in their life and starts doing things they enjoy instead of spending all their days fulfilling society's obligations.

[FuRi0]

perielli diablos
or dunlop gp20s are whats on my nsr normaly depending on financhal status

[Marci]

Life may be about to improve - the 7gear Mito125 ex-works race bike is being retired to life as a road bike... I've watched it cruise down motorways at 120mph under a friend of mine who happens to weigh near on 19 stone... wonder how it'll go with a l'il 10stone wiry runt like me strapped to it!? Going quietly mad since the NS got taken off the road... 27 days to go til the start of the 06 season tho... better start doin' me botty bounces

[Cathar]

10 stone eh? You are a lithe lad. Tipping the scales at about bang on 15 stone here. Wouldn't mind being 12.5 stone again one day. Slowly working my way there. Any less than that at my height and build (fairly broad) and I have to start sacrificing significant muscle mass.

[Marci]

Typical brit - all skin n' bones n' legs n' feet... (and hair)

[Long Haired Git]

Marci, is it the older Mito or the super-yummy cagi-mito-evolution (916 lookalike)

[Marci]

Older one....



`cept all in red...

[FuRi0]

tires for the NS shouldn't be hard to find i get mine for 70 each

[Cathar]

Was back at Phillip Island on Thursday. Slowly cranking up the pace to a reasonable level. Now hitting ~1:51 lap-times.

Here's an action pic, taken in about the exact same location as the one above. Even just looking at me then, and now, I can see why my lap times are coming down quickly.



Gotta break into the sub-1:50's, and then I'll be a happy boy. Was booked into the medium-fast group on Thursday, and was passing everyone. Only guy who got past me was the track-day organiser who's an ex-racer and even he reckoned I wasn't that easy to get past. He certainly wasn't pulling away from me with any great speed once he did get past. He typically laps in the 1:46-47's on tuned up-specced 600cc bikes. If I ever get this street-trim R1 down to 1:44-45's, I'll know that I'm starting to get decent at this gig.

Time to book myself into the fastest track grouping and start picking up some ideas and lines from the guys who are going quicker than I.

[Marci]

tires for the NS shouldn't be hard to find i get mine for 70 each

70 each is more cash than I have right now... like I said... need a CHEAPER source - and I can get em for £49 each (Bridgestone BT45) from my regular supplier... however, I need even cheaper than that...

S'up for sale for £250 now anyways...