'02 GSX-R Track bike Q's

[derby]

30/30 on the tire pressure.  The bike frickin' rocks. The handling is nutts.  I'm still noticing that it's down a bit of power from what I'm expecting.  It pulls really well if nobody is in my way, but if I get hung up behind a slower rider I get worked down the straights.  I really need to get this bike on the dyno and see how it looks.  I'm not sure if it's lost bottom end because of the way it's tuned or if it's because it's not running right.  Running with my buddies '05 600rr street bike he'd pull me pretty good.  Maybe 3 bike lengths on a straight.

Such an improvement over my Monster on the track, though.  Way more comfortable and much faster.  My second session in intermediate I got stopped by a instructor and was told to move up to advanced.  I told him it was my second motorcycle trackday, first at that track and first on this bike.  He cut me some slack, but I'll be riding A group at my next outing. 

Weee... Yay suzuki.   Ha, ha, ha.

are you riding the gsxr like your monster? all the power is in the upper 30% of the rev range. rev the piss out of it. you're gonna have to shift a lot more to keep it in the power than you did on your monster.

that said, a "new" 600 vs an "old" 750 is probably more of an even match than you'd expect.

[darylbowden]

  It pulls really well if nobody is in my way, but if I get hung up behind a slower rider I get worked down the straights. 

I'm not quite sure I'm understanding this, but are you basically saying that if you get a shitty drive off the corner, you lose speed on the straight?

If so, nothing's wrong with the bike, that's just how it goes.  Shitty drive = crappy top speed on the following straight.

[CIE]

Nope.... Reving the snot out of it.  Rev limiter is at 15k.  Found it a couple times right before the entrance of the bus stop and on the exit of two.

Daryl... yup, exactly.... Shitty drive off the corner and it's got not grunt.  If I got bunched up going into a corner before a straight and couldn't get a good drive it feels like a dog.  On a couple occasions we'd get bunched up and I'd notice the other 600's would pull me with the same crappy drive off the corners.  Older 600's.  Same-ish era R6's and such.  It made working through packs hard.  I could easily pick off the litre bikes if I could slow my corner entrance and get a killer drive off the apex and onto the straights.   When I did that in groups though all it did was open the door for someone else to come around me on the brakes and kill my drive, again.  Out by myself it seems to run really strong.  I was having a blast with the instructor that told me I should move up.  He was on a new R1, though and worked through the big groups with a lot more ease when we ran up on them.

With a good drive off the corner it feels like a rocket and pulls very hard from 11k- or there abouts.  I'm just curious if bigger headers, and cams would take away the bottom end like that.  I think the bike should pull really strong from around 8-9k.

Oh well,  I think I'll opt to run in A group next time.  There's nothing I hate more than people coasting into corners on their 1k's, holding you up, then blasting down the straights.  People just park their bikes in the corners. 

[derby]

With a good drive off the corner it feels like a rocket and pulls very hard from 11k- or there abouts.  I'm just curious if bigger headers, and cams would take away the bottom end like that.  I think the bike should pull really strong from around 8-9k.

that really doens't sound too out of the ordinary to me. i'd either rethink my shifting or alter my gearing to keep it over 11k on corner exits.

[darylbowden]

Nope.... Reving the snot out of it.  Rev limiter is at 15k.  Found it a couple times right before the entrance of the bus stop and on the exit of two.

Daryl... yup, exactly....

Hmm, well that's strange, but if you're keeping a 750 of that era over 10k, you should have plenty of power at your disposal.  If you have a chance to get it on a dyno it might not be a bad idea (might want to tune it for pump gas while you're at it too).

Oh well,  I think I'll opt to run in A group next time.  There's nothing I hate more than people coasting into corners on their 1k's, holding you up, then blasting down the straights.  People just park their bikes in the corners. 

That's kinda how a 1000 has to be ridden.  They're very much point and shoot bikes, corner speed ain't their thing.  You'll still run into that in the A group a bit, but given your bike's weight and suspension, you shouldn't be able to corner any better than they can really, so it might be better when you're dealing with better riders in that scenario.

[Speeddog]

Did you ever get any specific info on *which* race gas to run?

'Cause if you're running a lot more octane than you need, some of your power is disappearing there.

[CIE]

Yeah, I guess you can get away with the point and shoot thing with the big bikes, but if you ride a 1k like it's a momentum bike you'll be straight hauling.  I guess I shouldn't expect track day intermediates to be pushing their bikes around like that, but IMO, if you can't corner a bike and learn to get a good drive off a corner then you shouldn't be riding a 1k.  To each their own I guess.  I'm intimidated by running in the A group since I've got so few track days on a bike, but the more time I get the more I realize it's all the same game as running a car on the track (I've been racing/tracking/teaching in cars since I was 16 so I'm kind of a sandbagger in the B groups, but I didn't want to get over my head).  I probably should just nut up and ride with the big boys.  At the very least hopefully I'll learn something following faster riders around.

Speeddog and Derby... You guys are right on with the gas.  I'm really just not sure what's going on inside the motor.  I don't know what the compression is or what the motor really needs in terms of octane. I definitely wouldn't mind tuning it to run on pump gas.  I spent close to a hundred dollars on gas on monday alone.  I'm running 110 right now which is probably overkill.  I think I need to spend some time finding a shop that can dyno and set up the fuel/spark curve.

Thanks for the input guys.  I know you can't give me much over the internet.  Pretty hard to tell if a bike is running right without throwing a leg over it.

[darylbowden]

Yeah, I guess you can get away with the point and shoot thing with the big bikes, but if you ride a 1k like it's a momentum bike you'll be straight hauling. 

That's just the thing, you wouldn't be.  You can't get on the gas nearly early enough to make a 1000 act like a 600.  If you do, you'll be orbiting the planet in short course.  The basic formula is this: brake late as make the beast with two backs, turn, hammer the gas when you've got enough of a contact patch.

[gm2]

sidenoteish: they claim that new ktm rc8 can be ridden like a 600 in the corners.

[derby]

sidenoteish: they claim that new ktm rc8 can be ridden like a 600 in the corners.

you carry 600cc cornerspeed on any of the current 1000s. it's the getting on the throttle that's the scary part. 

[CIE]

I don't see why you can't carry momentum on a 1k the same as a 600. You just have to be more careful about putting down the power on the exit.  Only think I didn't like with my 1k bikes was that there was a ton of motor inertia.  I'm sure the newer 1k's with slipper clutches are much easier to ride fast.

[darylbowden]

sidenoteish: they claim that new ktm rc8 can be ridden like a 600 in the corners.

complete threadjack.  My Husky got a little work done at my local husky/ktm shop and I rode a superduke.   Man, I want one of those - that thing is illegal fun!

[gm2]

...my local husky/ktm shop...

oh really...

[darylbowden]

oh really...

Yeah dude, the Husky is alive and kicking (ass).  It ain't glamorous, but it's fun (and LOUD as hell). 

There's a place in Pasadena called Eric's M/C shop.  He's got a bit of a rep for being an asshole, but he's nice as hell to me and they do good, quick, honest work so I like them.  Anyhow, that superduke is oh so cool.

[Speeddog]

I've known Eric for over 30 years... you don't have a shop for that long doing shoddy work.