Cor, well Silverstone was a right laugh, though the build-up was a bit of a nightmare. I'd had some new tyres (Metzler Racetecs, which performed brilliantly) fitted the afternoon before, and it turns out that the shop that fitted them, who shall remain anonymous, didn't put the rear brake caliper back on the guide-rail. This meant the caliper rotated on the spindle, stretching the brake hose, spewing brake fluid all over the back of the bike, very nearly causing an accident. This meant I had to ride to my buddies house, Rod where he very helpfully put it right. Then it came to light I'd forgotten my ratchet-straps so I couldn't put the bike on the trailer, doh.
Rod and I rode to Silverstone which wasn't that far, met up with a whole load of friends and proceeded to hoon around the track at silly speeds. Rod lost his rear seat cowl very early in the day, which pissed him off no end as it's a new bike.
The video setup worked really well this time, after putting in some time on coming up with a safe/reliable solution. There's a new video up in the videos section from the day, check it out!
Quite a few people came off, a number infront of me (including a friend, doh), so I'll edit up the footage soon. I can't wait for the next trackday, maybe one in a couple of weeks if I'm lucky, else it'll be Croix in France at the end of the month.
Friday, July 30, 2004
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Fun & Frolics
Friday night was a laugh, a brilliant summers evening was like a calling signal for all the bikers in London. I needed to test my new video setup, so a blast up to the Ace Cafe proved a success and captured some fun, though I can't publish it, for obvious reasons :) Chelsea Bridge and Soho were packed out with revelers and bikers alike. Chelsea saw more standup wheelies than you can shake a big stick at, and Soho saw more drunk women trying to hitch lifts on bikes than you could fit into ten double-decker buses.
My new Gilles rearsets turned up the day before on Thursday as well, they are amazing, a real item of quality, you certainly get what you pay for. They finish the look of the bike off really well, being black. The standard ones look so ugly in comparison, I don't know what Suzuki were thinking. The rearsets have smoothed out the gearshift very well, and the ergnomics of the ride are better, giving more leverage to flick the bike about as the pegs are higher, and further back, for a race position. Check out the gallery for some pictures.
Tuesday sees what's expected to be a mind-blowing trackday at Silverstone's GP circuit. There's about 20 friends of mine going, from four different groups. The bike is well sorted for this track now with the gearing lowered, the brakes uprated, and the handling improved. I'll be making use of the pro suspesion setup service as well, to try and get a bit more from the bike. I'll be filming it all on the video system, so should have some good footage from scraps that are no doubt likely to take place between so many friends on track at once.
Rossi wins the British GP at Donnington as well, wonderful, is there no limit to the talent of this guy? Great to see Shakey and Hodgeson mixing it up as well. Edwards put in a firing ride, and could be a bit of a surprise over the next few rounds. Shame Suzuki couldn't get in the top-five, but the top-ten is still good.
My new Gilles rearsets turned up the day before on Thursday as well, they are amazing, a real item of quality, you certainly get what you pay for. They finish the look of the bike off really well, being black. The standard ones look so ugly in comparison, I don't know what Suzuki were thinking. The rearsets have smoothed out the gearshift very well, and the ergnomics of the ride are better, giving more leverage to flick the bike about as the pegs are higher, and further back, for a race position. Check out the gallery for some pictures.
Tuesday sees what's expected to be a mind-blowing trackday at Silverstone's GP circuit. There's about 20 friends of mine going, from four different groups. The bike is well sorted for this track now with the gearing lowered, the brakes uprated, and the handling improved. I'll be making use of the pro suspesion setup service as well, to try and get a bit more from the bike. I'll be filming it all on the video system, so should have some good footage from scraps that are no doubt likely to take place between so many friends on track at once.
Rossi wins the British GP at Donnington as well, wonderful, is there no limit to the talent of this guy? Great to see Shakey and Hodgeson mixing it up as well. Edwards put in a firing ride, and could be a bit of a surprise over the next few rounds. Shame Suzuki couldn't get in the top-five, but the top-ten is still good.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
July Jollies
July, typically a month of sunshine, heatwaves and much fun. This year July is more like a rather drab March, with rain, cloud, chilly winds and people getting ill all over the shop (including me). It's all too easy to moan about the weather, but a little maxim of mine helps me ignore it 'it could always be worse', hehe.
This sunday, it's my 25th Birthday, and to celebrate I'll be heading down to Farringdon's Turnmills, some come along if you've nothing to do, and buy me a drink :) It'll be raining anyhow, so there's little else to do.
This sunday, it's my 25th Birthday, and to celebrate I'll be heading down to Farringdon's Turnmills, some come along if you've nothing to do, and buy me a drink :) It'll be raining anyhow, so there's little else to do.
Monday, July 12, 2004
Bolt-on fever
Well that didn't last long, I've given in to temptation and bought a couple of carbon-fiber bits for the bike, pictures to come soon. I backed it up though with a purchase that will improve the performance as well as looking good, a set of Gilles rear sets in anodised black finish.
I spent a good week researching all of the popular and rare rearsets that are out there, looking over eBay and emailing obscure Italian and Japanese manufacturers, trying to find something that was functional and looked a little bit special. The end result was that there's not that many really good ones out there, it seems that most of what's on offer is overpriced and under-designed. Harris and Gilles are the most popular, due to their excellent functionality and their ease replacing parts. Harris didn't feel as good value for money compared to the Gilles and didn't really look the part, so I've opted for the Gilles, in a rarer black finish (everyone else goes for the brushed bronze look). Now if only I can find some time to fit all these new bits, I might actually be able to enjoy it all!
I spent a good week researching all of the popular and rare rearsets that are out there, looking over eBay and emailing obscure Italian and Japanese manufacturers, trying to find something that was functional and looked a little bit special. The end result was that there's not that many really good ones out there, it seems that most of what's on offer is overpriced and under-designed. Harris and Gilles are the most popular, due to their excellent functionality and their ease replacing parts. Harris didn't feel as good value for money compared to the Gilles and didn't really look the part, so I've opted for the Gilles, in a rarer black finish (everyone else goes for the brushed bronze look). Now if only I can find some time to fit all these new bits, I might actually be able to enjoy it all!
Wednesday, July 07, 2004
The six P's
If anybody knows anything that I can do that will help pay for my trackday addiction that's legal and allows for year-round (abroad out of season), then PLEASE let me know, I'd very much like to find out what can be done to make life easier in this regard.
Since I took ownership of the new bike, I promised myself I wouldn't spend money on cosmetic modifications, which are so tempting and oh so easy to spend money on, instead I told myself that I'd only fit items that would aid performance or increase my enjoyment of the machine. I've kept to my ideal so far, with only one minor detraction from this (a pair of carbon fiber heel guards). Since my last trackday I've been falling in love with this bike big-time, which if you're a biker, will understand this isn't a sad thing, it's a very good thing as it means you'll keep it for longer and hopefully end up spending less money trying to change things. The mods I've done so far to the bike have been fairly light, just the essentials, but now I have a clear idea of what I want from the bike, and I have to admit, it's damn near nearly perfect as it is.
I recently got the suspension seutp how I wanted, and the bike feels like an extended part of me on the track, which is an amazing feeling, but there's a couple of areas I wanted improving, and so I've gone spoken to the BSB engineer boys at Crescent Suzuki and got a new gearing setup; 520 AFAM race chain in blue (for flair, naturally) and Renthal front & rear sprockets in a one down on the front configuration to give me drive out of the corners (not that it was lacking, but it'll help against the really fast boys on litre bikes). Also on the way are some Goodridge race braided hoses for the brakes. Crescent reckon the new Radial master-cylinder on the K4 is good enough and no Brembo race unit is required, just a good bleeding session is all that's needed to get it rock solid, allowing me to dive into corners later and harder.
Check out the gallery for some snaps of a recent trackday last weekend at Brands Hatch GP circuit, it was awesome and I can't wait to get back out there. I may try and get a trackday in before Silverstone GP on the 27th, we'll see, perhaps an evening session at Brands.
The six P's; if you don't know they stand for 'Proper Preperation Prevents Piss Poor Performance'. I have to give credit to my track buddy Rod for this, but it's such a great mantra for trackdays, and hence my recent spending spree :)
Since I took ownership of the new bike, I promised myself I wouldn't spend money on cosmetic modifications, which are so tempting and oh so easy to spend money on, instead I told myself that I'd only fit items that would aid performance or increase my enjoyment of the machine. I've kept to my ideal so far, with only one minor detraction from this (a pair of carbon fiber heel guards). Since my last trackday I've been falling in love with this bike big-time, which if you're a biker, will understand this isn't a sad thing, it's a very good thing as it means you'll keep it for longer and hopefully end up spending less money trying to change things. The mods I've done so far to the bike have been fairly light, just the essentials, but now I have a clear idea of what I want from the bike, and I have to admit, it's damn near nearly perfect as it is.
I recently got the suspension seutp how I wanted, and the bike feels like an extended part of me on the track, which is an amazing feeling, but there's a couple of areas I wanted improving, and so I've gone spoken to the BSB engineer boys at Crescent Suzuki and got a new gearing setup; 520 AFAM race chain in blue (for flair, naturally) and Renthal front & rear sprockets in a one down on the front configuration to give me drive out of the corners (not that it was lacking, but it'll help against the really fast boys on litre bikes). Also on the way are some Goodridge race braided hoses for the brakes. Crescent reckon the new Radial master-cylinder on the K4 is good enough and no Brembo race unit is required, just a good bleeding session is all that's needed to get it rock solid, allowing me to dive into corners later and harder.
Check out the gallery for some snaps of a recent trackday last weekend at Brands Hatch GP circuit, it was awesome and I can't wait to get back out there. I may try and get a trackday in before Silverstone GP on the 27th, we'll see, perhaps an evening session at Brands.
The six P's; if you don't know they stand for 'Proper Preperation Prevents Piss Poor Performance'. I have to give credit to my track buddy Rod for this, but it's such a great mantra for trackdays, and hence my recent spending spree :)
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