Track day on standard NX4

[Racer-unk]

I find when i am having fun, i feel like I am going at my fastest. Trying too hard, one can end up fighting the bike all the time. That's why they say "consistancy pays off. Guess I need more time in the saddle.

[Racer-unk]

I find when i am having fun, i feel like I am going at my fastest. Trying too hard, one can end up fighting the bike all the time. That's why they say "consistancy pays off. Guess I need more time in the saddle.

[cobbadiggabuddyblooo]

Are your forks bottoming out on hard braking at the end of the straight???
Lift the front end of the ground on the side stand and while in the air measure up to the bottom tree from the fork seal dust cover..
Your fork travel is 120mm from the fork seal dust cap up towards the bottom tree so work out the difference and then place a small cable tie around the fork leg.
Push the cable tie down to the dust seal , go for a ride with some heavy braking and see how close the cable tie moves up the fork and you can work out how much travel your using.
Ultimately you want about 10 mm from full travel so you have just a little headroom incase you hit a few bumps under heavy braking.
A fork brace may be needed too as I've had the std front end twist and flex under heavy braking a few times especially while trail braking into corners.

[Racer-unk]

no they dont bottom out...and i do have a little headroom, but I think a brace will help as it feels very much like flex.
I think if i brake even harder, I might end up looking like Dovi and Marc at the end of the straight, but soiling oneself at the track is not very manly.
Will put brace on my to-do list. Dropped seat off to be recovered in red today, ......seeing I am going for the Yamacati look.
By the way...who do I have to ask for the Yamacati Sticker file? (for lack of the fancy word)

[dandywarhol]

How does it compare to the front end wibble on mine before the hairpin here? Need to get to around 4 minutes in to get a look at what's happening
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKnD1b14f7g. Turn your speakers low - crap sound quality - more Blutack need on the mic!

[cobbadiggabuddyblooo]

One of my favourite battles posted ..
Well done Al and a great battle with may be a GSXR????
Really amplifies the corner speed and braking capabilities of the TRX. Annoying isn't it when your just that little bit faster everywhere apart from the straight and someone slows you.. makes for a good challenge.

[Rod.s]

When I first started watching it I had thought that your speedo was in KPH, I was thinking it's a slow old track Looks like there were a few fast bike being ridden by slow riders, great footage

[dandywarhol]

When I first started watching it I had thought that your speedo was in KPH, I was thinking it's a slow old track Looks like there were a few fast bike being ridden by slow riders, great footage

Thanks. The guy with the kicked up arse KTM wasn't too happy with the 9.02 maneuver - my mate on the red/white CBR600 said he was shaking his head a few times but he really was getting in the way a bit
It was a GSXR Cobba but I don't know what size - guessing a 600. There's a funny bit @14.48 where he sticks his nose up my inside but a little bit of brake testing helps

With hindsight, I was revving it a bit hard, would have been better letting it pull lower down. It would be nice to have an extra 15 bhp to make a pass stick

[Racer-unk]

How does it compare to the front end wibble on mine before the hairpin here? Need to get to around 4 minutes in to get a look at what's happening
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKnD1b14f7g. Turn your speakers low - crap sound quality - more Blutack need on the mic!

for the record: Does TRX riders just HAVE more balls or do they just NEED more balls?
One thing for sure....from the clips I have seen, it seems they all having fun!

[coxylaad]

I think the answer is that its how easy the bike is to ride, and rider confidence.

The best attribute of the bike is how user friendly and disarming it is. Makes it very easy to start to explore its limits.
I could blast around in the inters group looking like a hero, overtaking bikes I really shouldn't have had any right to do on the TRX. That for me is down the ability of the rider to extract the performance out of the bike he is riding. I am not the fastest rider in the world but i do sit comfortably at the top of the inters group now, and the bike has helped me get there. Alan is an ex racer and clearly knows his craft. Put him on a scooter and he would probably still be snapping at the heels of 600s etc.

when I moved up to the fast group I found a huge gulf of a gap in ability between the 2. Those guys were capable of extracting the higher performance of the more modern machinery and the ease of use of the TRX (for want of a better word) was negated.

That's not to say if you want to ride in the fast group you have to have a modern litre sports bike however. at croft last year some club racer on a beat up old pre 2000 600 SRAD made me look pretty stupid on my 175bhp fireblade by riding round the outside of me (and everyone else) at some of the fastest corners on the track. Incredible.

Whats more incredible is that a BSB rider would probably do the same to him.

[Racer-unk]

Saterday was official practice for the first race of the year (next week)
Although I decided not to race next week (my budget cant afford new Radial brakes and new wheels along with race entry and a new set of Supercorsas)
I went for the practice anyway as it is free for Club members.

Three weekends ago, I rode the bike for the first time this year, at a track day. Road Riders were a bit slow and I buggered around at 80-90% pace. Only venture out onto the track twice if I recall......no problem....all OK.

The point I am getting to, is that this Saturday there were only racers and riding was at 100% pace most of the time.
My Quads are stiff, sore and buggered and I can feel my core muscles had worked. I was a warm day and each time I stopped, i was totally knackered.
Waiting for somebody to put the bike on the track-stand. Usually I just do it myself.
I would like to hear from the serious riders if they experience the same when pushing race pace the whole time. I can do a hard 40 Km cycle no problem, but find that I am not motorcycle racing fit at all.

There were some new entrants on older R6, R1 and GSXR bikes (up to 1998 allowed in my class) and the usual RVF400s and SVs. It was nice to beat a R6 and R1 around the circuit. Both guys know the track quite well but have laid off for a year or so and don't have my confidence level yet.
That said....My bike destroys tyres when pushed hard. Time to sort out the rear shock. (still not serviced)
I am going to install the BMW Sachs shock in first and just give it a try.....with all the knowledge I obtained from Cobba's teachings.
If that does not work well enough.....I will sent my standard unit off to Cape Town for service.
But plenty to do in terms of modifying and prettyfying in the meantime.
so long.............

[coxylaad]

nice work.

I look forward to reading the track reports as and when they come.

riding wise I don't normally feel like I have done a hard workout, but to be fair I to a lot of crossfit so I am used to jumping and climbing about all over the place.
Others in my group suffer as the day goes on.

another thing to note is that I don't really try and push to my maximum, as I am just doing track days and not racing, so I tend to stay within my comfort zone. When I start to push hard I just miss all my apexes anyway

If all you do is cycling I would recommend some other activity to compliment it. the analogy for a cyclist is fitting a 400bhp Chevy LS3 engine into a ford Fiesta. massive engine but the chassis cant cope!

[cobbadiggabuddyblooo]

Core strength is No1 and all flows around it from there.
Quite a number of the over 45's bracket in society have a Sedentary lifestyle sitting on our arses on a computer through the day then TV at night is not really what the body was originally designed for so it's good to make time for exersice a discipline as we mature over the years.
Coxylaad summed it up perfectly. A little bit of everything goes a long way to keep a balance than just a lot of 1.
Chewing tyres is a geometry and suspension issue but a referbished rear shock sprung to your weight and 10-12mm shorter dogbones will help the rear.
This will only show the short comings of the front end . .. It's that balance thing again so a little attention to the front end will keep things compeditave.
Emulators work quite fine for the track on the front end compared to std fork set up and with slicks I could push things really hard quite comfortably although hard under brakes sometimes the front end would flex but still quite manageable. Then I changed riding style from a late braking- point and shoot to braking a little earlier and carrying more corner speed which suited the TRX more so anyhow.
I found I could catch the bike in front braking later but didn't quite have the drive out of the corners. So the slightly earlier braking , settle the bike and hold more corner speed worked so much better because I still caught the bike infront and By the time I exited and had the drive to stay with or overtake.
Lighter wheels are a blessing though and make the job just so much easier and no need to wrestle the bike from side to side.

[coxylaad]

interesting to hear you say that about the wheels cobba.

I have tried various wheels on various bikes, and I struggle to really feel much of a difference.
the biggest thing that got me thinking was the difference in weight of wet tyre. they are massively heavy compared to pirelli supercorsa. with all that weight rotating on the outside of the wheel that should make a huge difference. Never noticed a much at all.

Maybe its my riding style that hides the weight, my transitions into a corner are very smooth, I never snap the bike on its side. Its actually a bit of a limitation of mine. I know I need to drop the bike into the corner harder, i just dont seem to be able to.

[PrfctChaos]

That said....My bike destroys tyres when pushed hard. Time to sort out the rear shock. (still not serviced)
I am going to install the BMW Sachs shock in first and just give it a try.....with all the knowledge I obtained from Cobba's teachings.
If that does not work well enough.....I will sent my standard unit off to Cape Town for service.
But plenty to do in terms of modifying and prettyfying in the meantime.
so long.............

Kyalami or Red star? I always found Kyalami to be a very unfriendly surface to tyres in anycase. (Although I believe it was resurfaced 3-4 years ago, so might be a moot point).

My TRX has stock rear shock and tyres last really well, but then again I also prefer earlier braking and higher corner speed (no problems if the suspension has had a moment to settle after braking).