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Re: ST on the track (longish)



     Jim,
     
     On a recent track day I found the brakes to be excellent, as ever, for 
     the entire 5 hour session. There wasn't a hint of mushiness or fade. 
     As for acceleration, I had a great dice with a Fireblade for a few 
     laps and found that the ST was matching the Honda for acceleration out 
     of the slower corners. There just wasn't enough power to haul past. I 
     eventually got around his ouside on a sweeping bend and was feeling 
     rather good about it until a guy on a Husky supermotard went around my 
     ouside, leg oustretched and rear wheel spinning sideways. Madddd!

Jim wrote:
2. But I did have an interesting wear pattern: at the very edge of
the rear tyre (both sides) there was a thin wavy line of torn-up rubber - the 
tyres were worn right to the edge and then there was this extra wear in a wavy 
line at most 3mm wide all the way around the edge of the tyre.  Any ideas?

     It sounds like you were running off the edge of the tyre in the 
     corners but I would have expected the pegs and perhaps the bellypan to 
     touch down first. I was scraping the pegs on the track and still had a 
     few mils of thread left on the the Avon RZR. However the avon has a 
     less V shaped profile than the Metzler which may make a difference.
     
Jim wrote:
3. The forks dive a lot under braking.

     This is the weakest point of the bike for me. The front gets all out 
     of shape under hard braking which costs in corner speed. I had to 
     adopt a less aggressive style than normal to get some decent lap 
     times. I too am 'seriously considering' new springs and emulators for 
     the front. Strangely, I found the rear shock to be perfectly 
     satisfactory, if not outstanding, for track use.
     

Jim wrote:
5. Pushing the engine hard causes some oil to blow past the clutch
rod seal.  I've noticed this before on the road, but it was worse on the 
track.  Is this just something I'll have to live with, or can it be fixedp
 roperly?
     
     I've thrashed the living daylights out of the ST on the track and have 
     never seen this happen. I suspect the seal may be on the way out and 
     replacement should cure the issue. Then again, perhaps I wasn't going 
     as hard as I thought.
     
     If there is anyone out there who still cares about tyres, I've had the 
     Avon RZR on for over 1100 miles, 300 on track and 800 everyday 
     commuting and astoundingly there is still some life left in them. I'm 
     expecting the rear to last nigh on 2000 miles at this stage. They are 
     excellent in the wet and astounding on the track, although the pilot 
     sports seem to be slightly stickier.
     
     Also, after seeing the recent mail about track days in England, 
     Mondello raceway, 1 hour from Dublin port, run track days. These 
     usually consist of four to five hours of open track time, without a 
     briefing or instruction and cost IR£45. Even when you include the cost 
     of a ferry this seems like a cheap alterneative to Cadwell or Brands. 
     I've no affiliation with the circuit, just thought I'd let the 
     scratchers know about the bargains to be had.
     
     I'll shut up now shall I.
     
     Martin,
     Dublin, Ireland



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