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February 2003 |
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1st February A well spent day at Dent Engineering has resulted in the seat being raised to allow more clearance for the pipes, and the filters and grose valves being fitted. We now have a bike that works, and I rode it (albeit around an industrial estate!!) ... as usual there's photos to look at! Cheers to Mark Dent, thanks for everything! The day started ominously when I had to dig the trailer out of a snow drift. needless to say the day started slowly, and I did not arrive until midday. This looked like it would be a late one. We jacked up the rear seat unit and pipes by extending the lower subframe arm to give more swing arm clearance. Personally I like it, but it did cause some compromises!! Like the riding postion feels a tad more cramped, but in fact as you can imagine I have more leg room .. weird! Certainly it feels like there will be a little more weight on my wrists ... but hey - specials are all about compromises. We installed grose valves and ITG filters, and eventiually decided to junk the fuel pump when after lots of head scratching it was decided it was too powerful a pump. Mark Dent and Mark Drysdale will no doubt be talking shortly about this, but in the inetrim, the R6 pump appears too powerful and the floats will not shut off the fuel - so it's ditched. After lots of effort from Mark, and yet again Kev Cordina helping out, we rolled the bike sans afiring out onto the industrail estate complex outside Dent Engineering. Clive Baker,who had turned up in the afternoon was gagging to hear the biek run. he has a very similar spec tune on his soon to be complete bike - though it's never run. We all had to have a go. I stick my hand up and say that [excuses start here] I was tired and intimidated and without helemt and concious of the amount of effort that's gone into this bike ... so .... ahem .. I barely hit the power in second before sense replaced any growing valour!! As short rides go I still discovered things that need doing - like new brake pads and lines!! BUT OOOOO EEEEE, wahey I can't wait to spend some time learning how to use this bike on the track. You can tell straight away it carries it's weight well, and the the engine is incredibly tractable considering it's a two stroke! Mark D. wins the near miss award, spinning the rear wheel up in first and leaving a long black line. A really enjoyable day all in all ... marred only by the fact that I lost a wheel on the trailer heading home - bounce bounce goodbye! The other three appeared to suffice, but the last 5 miles at 10mph were painful! Well it's been a long time on the list of things to do, but I finally swapped over the standard brake master cylinder for the Brembo Radial item and mated it to braided hoses. I've added a pressure switch into the set up so the brake set up can be used road or race and still have the option of running a brake light! The radial master cylinder just fits, clearing the clocks by .5mm on left lock, and not following on the pul against the throttle play adjuster. We ended up using an RGV250 splitter to allow the pressure switch to be added - it couldn't be used up top on the master cylinder because the banjo bolt sits vertically down from the cylinder - looked untidy and potentially fouled on wiring under there. A number of people had mailed me asking for weights and measures associated with the project. So I wandered into the garage with some scales this morning. First thing to say is that trying to weigh a bike front and rear without help is quite difficult. So take some of the following with a pinch of salt - at best it's indicative. There will be errors as the front was weighed with the bike on a paddock stand, and the rear was simply lowered onto the scales. Weights were taken separately with the same scales. So don't flame me about accuracy - I know already! Bike has full road fairing, and 1/2 tank of premix, contains all other fluids. Weight % Predicted racing set up, assuming 10Kgs lost in lights indicators, race fairing weight difference, and marvic wheels/stock wheel difference. Most of that will come off the front half of the bike (I assume) .. so allowing for that (real guess work here) predicted weight of 142 kgs would be split as follows: Weight % So .. there you have it ... assumptions all over the place, but 53/47 split in racing setup sounds good to me, and something to aim for. 0.95 bhp/kg is rather scary ... Certainly ISTR that the 500 V-twin GP bike that ran in Bemsee a couple of years back was 135kgs and 125 bhp (0.93bhp/kg) in club racing tune. Anyway I don't care ... I've ridden the 152kg 118hp version and let me tell you that it rips faster than anything (and I mean that) I've ridden before, so the prospect of 142kgs and 135 bhp is positively pant wetting! My brother popped over today with his GSE Rep Ducati 996. I couldn't resist taking the RS out for a quick blat. Literally out the village, opened her up, turned around and came back. I had to do it .. I needed more of the same. I went straight into the house phoned up the isurance company, and insurance was arranged.
Carole Nash yet again came up trumps. I was gob smacked when they told me the bike, given it's road legal, even though modified would only cost £420 quid fully comp! It was all I could do not to laugh down the phone! Result! I had my leathers on before the phone was cooling down. The bike started first kick ... I'm just pulling out of the drive and neighbour pops over. "Maiden voyage, Sol?" "yup ... just got insured, need to go, speak later, bye!" Out of the village and I short-shift first to second, and then second to third and just nail the throttle. All the bike magazine superlatives hit me all at once. Horizon swallowing. Rocket powered. Glorious music as the pipes come on song. The rear view is filled with a blue haze, but all too soon I have to shut off as I click smoothly into fourth, as a rapidly approaching corner threatens. Two blips down as I touch the brakes, and drop into the corner, quick burst of second gear and flick it back over for the right hander. Bloody hell the bike doesn't half turn quickly. There's a 30 approaching so I ease back on the throttle and scrub some speed taking in a huge breath to counter-act the oxygen starvation threatening - I'd been holding my breath for the last set of corners! "Well! It's certainly quick enough.", I think, "How will it do in a 30 mph limit?". I check the Speedo and can't believe I'm doing 50 as I come off the brakes into the 30 limit. Scrub some more speed off, and just burble in second. It's not entirely happy .. but first impressions suggest the bike will cope with bimbling, but I can't help pulling the clutch and blipping the throttle to keep the bike cleared as I imagine the plugs fouling up. 1st gear is preferable in the 30's, but not inconspicuous enough for me, so I leave it in 2nd instead. Less happy, but quieter. I roll up to some traffic lights, and can't help noticing the BMW Z3 peering in his mirror to try and see what bike is sat behind him, or the two kids gawping as I blip the throttle. The bike splurts momentarily, and the kids go wide-eyed as I nail the throttle to try and clear her out. I guess the pipes are quite loud then! Certainly there's loads of induction noise on the bike - a pair of ITG filters sticking out each side in plain view inside the fairing probably helps. I spend the next 15 mins dealing with traffic, but finally get out onto the open road again, away from everyone. Acceleration in 3rd is outstanding. Far quicker than anything I've ridden before. I just can't bring myself to twist the throttle quick enough for the engine to use all the available throttle before I change up. A quick twist and go in third is enough to scream past cars doing 60, and as I change into 4th, wind the throttle again to keep that acceleration going, I'm stunned to find the Speedo showing a rather large number - ahem - allegedly. The bike is simply and plainly phenomenally quick 3rd and 4th. It's still leaving loads of blue haze behind me, and I assume it will be a while before the cases clear themselves out of all the excess oil down there. RG's come in for some gearbox and clutch criticism ... but with the modifications on the bike (shift shaft support, and aftermarket clutch cover, there is not discernable issue with changing gear up or down, or in the feel from the clutch lever. The suspension seems to be working pretty well ... the ride is amazingly compliant, and the extra weight of the engine doesn't seem to screw the bike up at all. In fact the bike feels very planted, carries it's weight well, and if anything is less flighty than you would imagine. I'm sure there will be improvements to make, but the sag and damping settings I've chosen seem pretty fine for a first ride. We'll see when I get an opportunity, with the new stickier rubber, to lean and throw the bike about over some of the Fenland's less than smooth surfaces. OK back to the ride. A14 ... lets really try and scare myself. I come off the roundabout onto the slip road, tyres are nice and warm by now, and I wind the throttle open driving hard off the closing ratio slip road and wind her fully open in second and have to abort the WFO as the front doesn't so much paw the air and leaps off the ground in unison with the bike straightening up off the curve. Third, fourth, fifth, brrrrraaaaakkkke! oops forgot about that speed camera. the bike jsut makes pace so rapildy I'm lost for words. Again I check the surprisingly good view in the mirrors to see the A14 is smog central. I snick up into 6th, and at an indicated 80mph the bike is well out of the power in top. So much so I end up dropping it down to 5th just because the engine sounds so much happier with a few revs. Better adjust the sprockets again! I reckon I need 3 teeth on the back at least .. or stick with the 40 tooth rear and put a 16 (currently 17) back on the front. The rest of the journey is uneventful, and I'm happy to report that the standard RS250 radiator kept the temperature at an indicated 65 degrees on a 12 degree day. Looks like cooling won't be an issue anytime soon until either I race the bike or the weather significantly improves. I pull into home absolutely buzzing with adrenalin, even after 5 mins bimbling along in a 30 thorugh the village - the bike doesn't like 30's - but I don't care! I'm bouncing. I'm a bouncing bouncey thing that bounces lots! Do you get the impression I'm a bit smitten? Happy? Not half!! |
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