Second Race

This last weekend I entered my second-ever race - at the same track in Black Creek (Comox) on Vancouver Island. A couple of minor changes to the bike set-up and some major changes to my riding style and my performance was notably improved.

I raised the forks in the triples by about 5mm - I had 6mm to the top of the fork caps initially and I'm now at 11. I also turned up the preload at the back a bit more - a bit of a compromise until I get a new rear spring. Tire pressure is now at 21/23 on the stock DOT Pilots.

The bike now seems to hold it's line better in the faster corners - in this case the slightly banked turn at the end of the modified-oval (D-shaped really with an extra hairpin tacked onto the top of the D & not used by the cars).

By far the largest improvements came from my riding style though. I'm coming from about 17 years of riding sportbikes -so getting used to doing everything the opposite (a bit like "Opposite George" from Seinfeld) of what had become habit and instinct is a bit of a struggle. Never-the-less it sorta clicked on Saturday eve.

I botched my qualifying run -2 timed laps - when I did something stupid and tried a knee-down for turns 1 & 2 (the banked turn). I know I can ride like this and I'm comfortable and fast through the corner once I'm in position, but not having practised it on this bike much I upset it a bit in the transition to hanging off. I went off my line and into the bumpy bit of the track, had to really crank it over to *try* and get back on line and nearly lowsided. That blew my concentration and confidence on my 2nd lap as well.

Back to leg-out for the first race -a 4 lap dash. I took to heart something I'd read about being really aggressive with the body position. I got that extra bit farther forward up the tank, head out over the bars, elbows high and wide, lots of pressure ont he outside peg and really pushed the bars towards the ground... whaddya know, it worked!

Something else I had done was bump up my idle which helped smooth the on-off-on of the throttle at the hairpin. Where I had previously parked the bike (stop, turn, go) I could now (with the aggro-cornering technique and faster idle) carry a bit of speed and get on the gas much harder out of the exit.

By the end of the last race (20 laps) I had one of the 600cc sportbike guys (a CBR F3 I think) mention that he was unable to pull me down the straight.

He did end up going by me - the last couple of laps I think I must have boiled the brake fluid - despite grabbing a fist-full of front brake at the hairpin I ended up going straight at the hairpin for a good deal more distance than I expected - and well off the line.

Without the benefit of a lap timer and despite some of the errors I still made during the races I think I can confidently say that ALL of my race laps were much quicker than my qualifying laps, and no doubt quicker than any of my laps from the previous session.

Practise at the local speedway (we have a dirt section for the bikes) is this Weds night so I'll have a chance to further work on technique before entering the Motard race here on Saturday (hopefully, if I can find someone to cover my pager for a few hours).

Cheers,
-Mike

Thanks for taking the time to write your report Mike. It's nice to read about guys using the bikes, and allows those of us who may not use the bike to their full potential(what, I'm the only one?) a chance to live vicariously through you.

Send me your pager, I'll take care of it for you.

thanks,
json

Sportbikes will have an edge on longer tracks with long straight sections but supermoto bikes will eat their lunch in the tight sections. It makes for an interesting matchup.

Most SM riders use the foot out technique in the corners but I've seen some veteran riders run a blistering pace keeping their feet on the pegs and leaning way off roadrace style. To each their own.

Cheers and enjoy.

schwim said:

Send me your pager, I'll take care of it for you.

Click to expand...

I'd love to but it'd mean you have to also hang out at/near the marina (Sea Rescue)

supertireguy said:

Most SM riders use the foot out technique in the corners but I've seen some veteran riders run a blistering pace keeping their feet on the pegs and leaning way off roadrace style. To each their own.

Click to expand...

At the local speedway I've tried knee down and I might actually be faster -at least on the longer/faster corners. I fell flat in the transition to hanging off though, and put the bike off balance - not having practised it enough on this bike. I'm not sure what posessed me to think experimenting with it would be a good idea during qualifying

Some of the really fast local guys are hanging off on these corners as well. One I spoke to had to learn to hang off (dirt background) because he was running out of clearance under his pegs.

I agree though -to each their own and in fast corners I don't think it can be easily argued that one style is clearly superior. For me I'm going to stick to foot-out for now as I'm probably better to keep it as simple as possible rather than mixing styles.

Just thought I'd update the thread with a couple of pics from the race (just got them yesterday):

Gawd If it wasn't for that dam ferry I'd come up more often....
sounds like you have a handle on the set up 8) couple tidbits of info that helped me...get your total rear sag to 80-85 mm, you may want to put the triples back to 6 mm as when the sag is set at above setting you will find the turn in a little much, it will feel like it wants to fall just before the apex.....You will know when you have enough preload as the front tire will settle down at full throttle past 60 (thats a 100 clicks for you) as well the front tire will hook up better when late braking.....I left the springs stock in my forks as I like the compression (transfers the bias better) as it lightens up the back end alittle less for smoother back ins....Heres a biggy make sure the crack of you butt is on the highside edge of the seat and you have as much weight on that outer peg as you can muster.....lowside arm almost fully extended with higside arm pointed up...
Oh yea, I'm down to 240 with gear and my rear spring is a KTM part number 92-250 the rear spring upgrade was most noticable in the rain and the dirt section.....a little better on the dry pavement.....I'm by no means an expert and don't want to come off as one but I am lucky in that "I have good friends who are always at the front" ...get my drift...ooops pardon the pun...so really jusyt passing on advice from the experts...you will have to come down here...at least in the winter, bring your rain set up and get on the clay indoor track with us....it really helps your game....I don't crash anywhere near as much :roll: Thanks for great post !! great reading !!

BTW just looked at your rear spring...looks to me like you have a ways to go before it loses its effectiveness...go another 6-8 full turns :idea:
I think I read somewhere your laden sag should'nt exceed 25 % of your total travel with static sag being about 15 % I'll have to double check I maybe mistakin....

The clay track thing sounds like wicked fun -and I'm sure awesome experience. I'm still working to undo the years-of-street-riding habit of not wanting to turn in loose surfaces -but I'm getting there.

Had an awesome, yet incredibly simple bit of advise at last night's practise. I was told I was looking right down in front of my tire through the dirt. I know better than this of course, but didn't realise I was doing it -at least not that bad. Forced myself to look not at the turn I was in, but the next turn and I definitely pciked up some speed. I think it's partly learning to trust the bike in the dirt and not worry about every little bump, rock or loose section I'm about to ride over.

Anyhow I can't complain too bad as long as I'm progressing. Riding with guys whith years if not decades of offroad/MX experience and 3 or so seasons of racing at this track- I can't expect to be as fast as them -this year

Off to a clinic/track session on Saturday at Abbotsford's Tradex. Run by the Westcoast Superbike School. The guy instructing - Troy -is supposed to be wicked fast on the motard at Mission. It's an informal session, but for $50 if I learn something and have some fun I can't lose.

I look ahead at the next corner .....used to look down.... now, when it comes to big ruts its really hard not to look down to pick a line when the ruts are rubbing the front axel sliders....I look down and ahead now in the rutty corners.....its easier said than done...I can totally understand.....I love the comment made to me "hey quit lookin down, relax and look ahead, let the bike do what ever it wants" riiiight....those deep ruts are tuff....... the clay really helps you to push the front tire and spin up the back to change direction....helps you practice NOT LOOKING DOWN ! :roll:
No arm Pump ??

I get huge arm-pump, but just in the dirt sections when I have a death grip on the bars

Tradex was a blast - lots of fast and close riding. Had one lowside (too much gas too soon), but no real damage other than a dented footpeg.

On about my 6th or 7th session the bike stopped running though. My first thought was "I'm out of gas" but I had just filled up. I think I may have got some dirty fuel (from Shell) and clogged the carb -idle jet maybe? It smooths out some under WOT, but stumbles bad up till then and won't idle (instantly stalls). I'll find out soon I guess as it's going into the shop today or tomorrow for diagnosis - still under warranty so might as well make sure it's not something more serious.

it's suddenly decided to run rich. drop the needle once if not twice, clean the carb. huseys get a lot of crud in the carbs unfortunately. new plug as well.

regards

taffy

OK excuse me while I expose my ignorance Why, if crud was clogging things up, would it run rich? Not saying you're wrong, I just don't understand.

the crud goes into the front face jets of the carb. unfortunately they are at the lowest point of the carb and facing into the 'sock'. any kind of water from a wash or, as in my case, a slightly dodgy fitting boot, means that dust accumalates at the bottom and eventually feeds into the two jets.

i'm sure you are aware that if you block the air you get a rich mixture and that if you block the fuel you get a lean mixture. with me?

the two jets are called:
THE PILOT AIR JET
THE MAIN AIR JET

anymore help please ask....

regards

Taffy

Cheers Told you I'd be exposing my ignorance -this is why I haven't torn the carb apart myself. I'd always ASSumed that jets were for flowing fuel.

So -it seems the case may be worse - the shop has called and reports the bike lacks compression. Head will come off tomorrow to see what's happening. Warranty will hopefully cover whatever is wrong...

A brief update (this should probably be in another thread as it has nothing to do with my 2nd race anymore, but whatever). After the shop said there was no compression - I thought about it for a bit (ok a long bit as I was pretty stressed about it) and it seemed to me that it might be the auto-decomp sticking, at least intermitently. Got the call from the shop this morning and sure enough one of the lock nuts from the tappet has gone AWOL. Fingers crossed that this is stuck in the auto-decomp and not floating around elsewhere in the motor.

As I do my own valve adjustments, I'm reasonably certain I'll be footing the bill for the exploratory surgery. Still better than a rebuild however.

I'm suprised one came loose - I tend to go pretty slow while doing the valves and always recheck that I've tightened the nuts back down before closing things up. I go pretty firm without really cranking on it -maybe it's time to start using a torque wrench to be certain, but I'm not really sure if a) there's space to get one in there or b) a way to ensure the tappet remains in place while torquing the nut down.

I will for certain err on the side of too-snug after this.

after i had the same thing happen my locknut can now best be described as locked TIGHT!!!

regards

Taffy

Taf -just curious -where was your travel-happy locknut located? The shop is still looking for mine but I'm betting (ok, maybe more hoping) that it's still up top.

As an aside -there was apparently a fair bit of water in the carb float bowls. Might not have been the source of my misery in this case, but I won't be buyinmg gas from Shell again.

The verdict - broken valve spring, nut was found on the ledge in the cam chain tunnel. Fortunately there was no valve-piston contact. Unfortunately it's still gonna cost me in the ballpark of $500 -looks like the new rear spring and tall seat will be waiting until next season.

A lesson hard learned, but a mistake I will not repeat.

obviously you'll know how lucky you are despite being unlucky!

that nut made an amazing stop on a ledge!

mine went into the camchain, went back and smashed the rocker cover around the outside of the chain as neat as you like. like it was done with scissors!

$500 that's a lot! so what are they saying: 4 new springs, one set of collets, one valve? surely that's a lot?

regards

Taffy

Ya $500 isn't cheap - labour is what I'm paying for though. I'm pretty sure I could have bumbled my way through the repair, but time right now is even more rare than cash (hard to imagine, but true) and with the warranty I figured it best for the shop to do the inspection/repair.

I think only the broken valve spring is slated for replacement (altho that may change if any other damaged bits are found along the way), lap the valve and labour for disassembly & reassembly. Maybe it helps to think of it as $240GBP - a much smaller number

EDIT - went and had a chat with the shop - apparently all valve springs and seals are being replaced as they're sold as a kit or something -good peace of mind anyhow.