Technical Update

Ok back from holidays now, and the bike needs some work! 

I have received new piston rings for the RD 350, and some stiffer fork springs and gold valves, this in preparation for the endurance in September at Croix-en-Ternois, so these all need to be fitted.

For the RG500, after my experiences with no filters, I have decided to leave it without the filter foam, but the big question is still which jets? I ended up with 240's in the last race at Pau and I think I was still too rich, which means I could have probably done better with 230's. The temperature at Pau was around 30 degrees C, and the weather forecast for Carole at the end of the month is currently around 20 degrees C, which means we will lose 10 degrees, which is roughly equivalent to richening by one size, so the game plan is to start with 240's at Carole - and see.

I bought a ZXR 750 radiator off evil bay during the summer, and wanted to fit it, however it is really dirty and difficult to clean (despite 3 hot cycles in the dishwasher!), so this will probably wait until I have more time. I found some nice flexible silicon water hoses (SAMCO) which will enable me to fit it, if I can find the space in the fairing! In the mean time I removed the RG radiator and spent a few sunny afternoons straightening all the fins on the rad to ensure it works as well as designed, about 25% of the fins were bent over, which must have an impact on it's cooling capacity. Again, first test is Carole on the 29th August.

I will need to bleed the brakes again this weekend, and finish off bits and bobs before racing in 2 weeks.