going to '04+ frame

i sent DCR an e-mail requesting an " '04+ frame" if one ever came up and he has just told me that he'll be shipping a used one down later this week for me.

this is a great opportunity to keep the handling development of my ol' girl going. i'll let you all know how i get on. the tall seat won't fit the standard frame so i'll have to get summink somehow (ebay seems a good idea - again).

i could of course do my many mods before i even shoehorn the ol' engine in. lower subframe. welded and blanked spine frame at breather and if i keep this air filter system, i can blank off the frame from the top 'n bottom!

make it a fuel cell? it's worth 2 litres if i go there.

just the paintwork being spot on will save me the stove enamel job that has been imminent.

regards

Taffy

regards

Taffy

you're on about an older model than mine. i'll never forget going over to Moab in the USA last year and meeting the lads from this site. i met a huge man named coronaberg and he took two old bikes up. one was a FE600 and the other i think was a 500. anyway, those 600's have a really low seat don't they? you sit right in them. coronaberg went with the A-grade riders and was absolutely on it all the way till the last afternoon.

that 600 would go anywhere. he would get stuck halfway up a rockface and then, using his 6' 4" - 6' 6" frame just paddle it out. he made my weekend. BTW there is a picture in the gallery, in the moab section of coronaberg paddling his way up a rockface.

anyway, that kind of flickability is hard to beat but luckily for me - not always required either! in england you get knackered on the braking bumps on the way in abd the stutter bumps on the way out.

people don't realise that it's that last bit when you go to sit or that first bit coming out the corner when you go to stand that buggers you up.

quads, thighs and that bit just above the patellas. boy they used to SCREAM! at me! so i went for a tall seat and found i lasted a lot longer.

at the same time i'd noticed that i was always getting walloped by the seat on downhills etc. so i lowered the rear subframe. that was a success in that going up slopes i could still put both sets of toes down behind me.

to lowering the subframe there are no losses just gains. i guess aesthetically it looks strange with a tail at the same height as the headstock and to not have that high tail. that's all i can think of.

i've transformed the bikes handling over this last year. it's twice as good as it was. my race reports used to say "and i lost all that ground in the woods" now it says that "i caught them in the woods".

if i do get this other frame i'm going back to a low seat height to experiment with a low C of G. i'll balance that v getting knackered.

looking at your bike i think you need a taller middle and a lower tail like i have.

sometimes i wish i'd left a dip right near the front of about 1" for my arse to slide into and 'hook up'. sometimes i sit too far back but you'll find on the later models that the tank is so wide that unless you want to look like a marsielle whore displaying her 'wares' in a window: you gotta sit back to straighten yer leg.

i often corner like a flat tracker with my knee right up near my ears. forced there by the wide tank....

regards

Taffy

RE: Re: going to

another ride yesterday in woods, woods and nothing but woods. the bike is easier to turn hard as the front wheel can be felt to be a lot nearer to you the rider. i no longer have to let the front wheel go around the top of a rut while the rear sits in it - both now track in the rut.

i did notice myself getting too close to the handlebars and trying to steer sharp whilst being right at the front. i was cracking my wrists it was that hard from that close!

i really need to lay back fangio style. still can't do it without thinking about it and the moment i do it the bike sters better! this confirms a point someone made in an english mag, they said that the PDS system worked better wth the rider in the middle of the bike....

did notice it was very heavy to turn at a crawl when i tried to get between two trees from an entrance angle of 45 degrees. still haven't had the tyre rub the headers so maybe i'll drop the forks through a tad next time out!

regards

Taffy

RE: Re: going to

this above ride was done with the original 2mm offset TCs back in. when you read about the 14mm offset TCs it shows that they were brill at really low speeds, so i take the above 'loss' not to be the frame but the fact that i went back to standard TCs at the same time.

i will shortly be in a position to test the 17s i have here and the 14s i still hold.

regards

Taffy