TT600

[Paul Master <masterps@xxxxxxxx>]

What fun! Went to Sears Point on Friday, bright and early, to make sure
I could ride the 600. Asked if I could strap on my camera. Greg, our
demo ride leader said no problem, could he get a copy. I had made some
new straps that should allow it to work on almost anything, but it
didn't turn out quite as well as I'd hoped. Unfortunately, the view is
more tach than road, but you definitely get the idea. I'll have to ask
the local dealer if I can try it again, and this time get to some
twisties. The demo route had a couple of fun things, two acceleration
blasts, and perhaps two sets of corners where we got to wick it up a bit.

The bike? Feels tiny, and very light. I suppose I should try and ride an
F4 or an R6 for comparison, but I probably won't. The drive train didn't
feel as tight as the ST, and the shift throw seemed quite a bit longer.
Getting on the gas doesn't do much at first, but as the revs climb,
whoooosh, off you go. Above 10K rpm, this engine really sings. I found
myself burbling along in 6th at about 5-6K most of the time (you know
how demo rides go). Probably too low down the range, but it felt very
comfortable there (I guess my ST habits aren't easy to shake, I usually
cruise around at about 4K). I guess I should be surprised how much
torque this little guy has (need that comparo probably). After all those
pistons are half the size of the STs (let's see, ~900/3 = 600/4*2) close enough.

But man does this thing track a corner. I had asked to ride the 00 Blue
ST with the taller windscreen, just to compare the fairing. No thanks.
The wind blast hits my about mid face shield, and helmet roar and
buffetting is far more intrusive than the stock windscreen. It also
seemed to get pushed around more by the wind, noticeably! But those BT57s?*&^?!!
Having ridden 207s for the last 4K+, I won't ever go back. It didn't
take long to remind me that once you tip into a turn (which is
easier),they just want to keep tipping! Back toi the TT. Up on the rev
range, sweep into a corner, track on rails, flip over for the next one
.. Yeeehaaa!

So it's back to Sears through the drizzle this morning. Actually, this
might make for some great racing, as the guesswork really messes up
teams trying to figure it all out. I was hoping for a Mladdin, Hayden
scrap (picking up where they left off in Daytona). We'll see,
provisional qualifying on Friday had Bayliss on the Ducati first,
Mladdin 2nd, Eric Bostrom, Aaron Yates, and Duhamel in some mix which I
don't wuite recall, with Tommy Hayden out qualifying his younger
brother. The Hondas are weird, in that it doesn't seem like they are
working very hard (although by the headshake they and most everyone else
gets out of the carousel at the next shift point, they obviously are
working hard). They just don't rev as high as the Ducs, and the
Kawasaki, Suzuki, and Yamaha fours are positively shrieking.

Well, time to find the umbrella and rain gear. More later!

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