Ledenon - Track day

Hi All,
Back from the training day at Ledenon. Had a fantastic day, and the bike behaved great!
On Saturday I had to move the fixing brackets in the trailer as although built for three bikes, I could not fit the RD and RG side by side, but this was easily done, I now need to plug a few holes in the panel floor. The RG actually slid over in the trailer after descending my mountain road, so we had to change the attachment points and after that we didn't have any problems. Ended up getting to the circuit at around 9:00 am Sunday.

While Oliver mixed up some fuel (I am using A747 Castrol and 98 octane Super), I went to buy some sessions. The track is in the South of France near Nimes, and on Sunday they were running alternate bike and car sessions. I bought 3 morning sessions, after queuing for about 30 minutes (they are just so disorganised!).

The first session I was really just getting used to the bike, the tyres and brakes are fantastic very confidence inspiring, the front fork a little hard, the rear end great, and the engine seems to pull very cleanly once getting to about 7K, it does seem to struggle a bit to get up to 7, and some very loud induction whine at about 6-7 as it gathers revs. At about 7k the whole thing takes off, very nicely pulling to about 11K, I say about 11K because the Alfano, is somewhat approximate in measuring and as it is displayed as a number it was difficult to read. Anyway my homemade footrests and rearsets were loosening off after 20 or so minutes so I stopped just before the end to tighten up all the bits!

Had the same kind of issues in the second session, I had lock tightened the bolts and stuff, but I think a redesign is necessary. The third session went well, although the bike started to misfire, lose a little power intermitently.

During the lunch break, we decided to change the plugs, I have no spares for the bike, so if that didn't cure the misfire, I would have to complete the day on the RD 350. What a job, good thing Oliver has smaller hands than I do, we tried to get at the plugs from the top under the tank, it is easy to remove the tank, so I thought this would be relatively easy compared with taking the fairing off. Well I think it took a concerted 30 minutes of messing about to change the plugs - phew! I must find a better way to do this.

I bought 2 sessions in the PM, and although the bike started with a slight intermitent problem it soon cleared, and I was back to full power again. The last 2 sessions I was really getting used to it, and having some fun with some 600's and a guy on a TZ. Great fun.

The fairing touches down on the right hand side, but at least it is protecting the exhaust (they are more expensive to replace!) - I must learn to hang off more. Although saying that I was having to lift my knee considerably on one right hand bend off camber bend I was over so far! Anyway the bike went great to the end, so really quite a successful day.

The trip home was against the wind the whole way, so slow, and expensive!

List of things to do before first race :-
Fix bolting down the petrol tank bracket (the thread is knackered)
Look at modifiying the rearsets, footrests.
Fix brackets (that broke - the pop rivets didn't hold I need to bolt them on).
Fix carb. overflow bottles.
Try and change control positions (my wrists ache!)

finished... (for the moment)

Well after having made sure all the bolts are tight it's ready for it's first outing on Sunday. It looks OK, although the lower fiaring panels don't line up correctly with the top which is a bit of a shame. Anyway should have a story to tell Sunday night!

Got my tyres - huh!

Hi All, So exciting ! my tyres came through at last.... hmmmm nice shiny and black as you would expect really! Also got around to taking some photos of the weekends work :-

7 days and counting

Hi All, a quick update as I haven't taken any pictures as yet. I finished bleeding the brakes, made a bracket to hold the master cylinder reservoir, and another bracket to hold the rear brake master cylinder and the mudguard steady. After much struggling I managed to get 7/8 screws attached on the fairing - it is really a tight fit. I was obliged to remove the lower fairing brackets which means the fairing really wraps around the engine and pipes, which is fine, if it doesn't crack with the vibration of the engine! We will see!

I fitted the expansion chambers with high temperature sealant, and put back in my air filter (yes I will initially run filtered air!), and put back the snorkel tubes.

I plan to run 33:1 petrol/oil mixture, and I made up a couple of litres and filled the tank, which promptly leaked from the petrol tap. I turned over the rubber gasket, and that seemed to fix the leak, so on went the tank.

I had previously charged the battery, and all that was left was to start her up! It took 5 kicks which I was pleased with, the engine sounded nice. The clutch needed some adjustment, but that's normal. The gear lever definately needs playing with, my rearsets are a bit wobbley, and it doesn't give a very precise feel to gearchanges, although it works!

The riding position is much more racey which is good. The Alfano works, temperature, RPM etc.. although the display for the RPM is hardly readable - just figures changing the whole time.... never mind it will do to start with.

Next Sunday I will down at Ledenon for a day, and Libby just told me my Michelin's have just turned up - so I now have some race rubber!

Next Saturday I near to clear out the trailer and see if I can fit both bikes in - I won't leave the RD behind!

Speak soon,

Dave

Continued....

Well this weekend, I managed to get the rear plastic on, although I had to cut it down to incorporate space for the rearsets, and the fact that I'd moved the rear brake master cylinder - but honestly I think it looks more modern, I also finished (yes somethings get done!), the rear brake lever and the gear lever, and they work. Just for info, I was worried that I might have to learn an upside down gear linkage, but it turns out that it remains standard.

Final piece of work this weekend was trying out the RG500 front brake master cylinder, which does indeed give me much more room to play with as opposed to the GSXR master cylinder. I will of course have to ensure that it operates the brakes as efficiently, but as yet, I have not yet bled the system.

Starting to look like a bike again!!