So we booked up a last minute track day at brands hatch for £65, bargain. The idea being to give the Harris YPVS a good run before the winter strip-down and a chance for me to see what its like on track....... Unfortunately, despite good weather all week leading up, the torrential rain when we arrived at the circuit meant it was going to be a difficult day even before we started.
My first outing on the new machine was an interesting experience, the pouring rain and cold track temperatures didn't help admittedly, but the handling of the bike felt worryingly unstable to me and I had several rear end slides in the first session - not a good start and time to look a bit deeper. We measured the front and rear suspension sag and found the front sag probably a little low and the rear extremely high. Having spoken to the suspension expert at the circuit the suggestion was to increase the pre-load on the rear to try and balance the suspension sag up a little and then re-try on circuit, (lots to learn on the set-up front with this chassis). After whipping the tank off I found the pre-load adjustment on the shock had a knackered thread and could not be altered, Oh dear.
I decided to go out for another session after lunch but still had the same handling issue's as expected and so no improvements made. Upon coming off the circuit a quick feel of the tyres points towards the fact that the front is getting some heat into the tyre but the rear is not at all! Admittedly the poor conditions don't help as obviously when the rear slides once, you back off into corners and compound the cold tyre issue further. So a disappointing day overall, but glad I've picked up the issue with the shock sooner rather than later...!
My first outing on the new machine was an interesting experience, the pouring rain and cold track temperatures didn't help admittedly, but the handling of the bike felt worryingly unstable to me and I had several rear end slides in the first session - not a good start and time to look a bit deeper. We measured the front and rear suspension sag and found the front sag probably a little low and the rear extremely high. Having spoken to the suspension expert at the circuit the suggestion was to increase the pre-load on the rear to try and balance the suspension sag up a little and then re-try on circuit, (lots to learn on the set-up front with this chassis). After whipping the tank off I found the pre-load adjustment on the shock had a knackered thread and could not be altered, Oh dear.
I decided to go out for another session after lunch but still had the same handling issue's as expected and so no improvements made. Upon coming off the circuit a quick feel of the tyres points towards the fact that the front is getting some heat into the tyre but the rear is not at all! Admittedly the poor conditions don't help as obviously when the rear slides once, you back off into corners and compound the cold tyre issue further. So a disappointing day overall, but glad I've picked up the issue with the shock sooner rather than later...!
Test day in the rain @ Brands Hatch
So what's the plan now? Firstly Falcon shock absorbers are going to look at the shock for me, carry out a repair if possible, overhaul the unit at the same time and also replace the spring with a suitable rating for my race weight. If not however - I have contacted Nitron with the spec's to make a replacement unit for me, but lets hope this ones repairable first though! I have picked up and 18'' Asralite wheel for the rear so that should rule out any further tyre related issue's and then it's engine strip to swap the crank and fit the straight cut primary gears. Going to be busy with this bike over winter...
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