How Many Bikes

 So, how many bikes is too many? In the cycling world the formula for the correct number of bikes is N+1 where N is the current number of bikes you own. The +1 bit is pretty self explanatory. I have this equation sorted and am somewhat stable with my bicycles.

 But what about motorcycles? If you run by the above formula you start to run out of shed space very quickly (well, if your shed is only 6x6 metres you do!)

Now, not all of the bikes are mine. Lucy owns two and Will has three so once they eventually leave home I will have more room but for the time being I spied a sliver of empty space between the DX and Will’s CBR500. 

Now for context, after the last track day where I rode Will’s Daytona and was blown away by how much fun it was, I decided I had better obtain a dedicated, more modern track bike and retire the R1 from that role. While driving home from that last track day Will spied a likely candidate on the Moore Track Toys FB page. As I was driving at the time I asked Will to message Ian and get him to hold the bike for me. I am glad I did because I beat several other potential purchasers by a mere twenty minutes.

I was away for a work trip but the following week I drove up to check it out and confirm that yes, indeed, I did want to buy it. After a few days thought, I gave Emily at Hawtt Decals a rough idea of the decal scheme I wanted (all included in the purchase price) then waited a week to see what turned up.

This is what turned up!

More bike than I need? CHECK! 

More bike than I can handle? ROGER!!

Moore Track Toys to the rescue.....

Here is the list of go fast bits installed.

The purchase price included a suspension setup session with Joe from Ride Dynamics. Joe did my Tuono as well as Will's Daytona and is a Gixxer man, so the right bloke to have look at my suspenders. He set me up for sag but as this bike had been someones wet training bike it is pretty softly sprung. This will necessitate a return visit soon to have that rectified and the shock valving upgraded. 

But first, off to the track we go!

As usual, Will and I went up the night before so as to be ready for the early start. Fuel is consistently 20 to 30 cents per litre cheaper in Warwick than in Brisbane......and they have to truck it 120km up here from the port.... #gettingshaftedonfuelpricesbrisbane

Scrutineering passed, setup and ready to go.

We have a pretty basic setup but it works (read just barely fits in the car)

We are trying to remember to limber up before and in between sessions. Climbing all over a hurtling bike takes some effort!

Will gave some tips to young Lachy who rode out from Brisbane on his KTM390 for the day.

Will is loving the track days and is bloody quick for a newby. Far faster than me in the corners and he is just managing to touch 200km/h down the short main straight. Not a bad effort on a 675.

I took it easy for the first few sessions. Not just because I was looking after the bike but because I was trying to re-wire my brain to change gears in the opposite direction to what I have done for the last ~ 35 years! Yep, GP or race shift pattern on this Gixxer and it did take some of my concentration budget not to fcuk it up. That said I did shift up a couple of times when meaning to shift down into a corner. I didn’t shift down (when at redline), meaning to shift up….thankfully. That would be fairly ugly.🫣

To say that the bike felt awesome would be an understatement!

Will followed me around for a few laps but soon got sick of my slow speed and blasted past.

He has much quicker corner speed than I do.  Something to work on as I get used to the bike. 

I gave the bike to Will for a session and was surprised at how different the GSXR felt from the Daytona. The Gixxer is very "sit in" and felt low and soft whereas the Triumph felt tall and "sit on" with quite stiff suspension.(the Gixxer is soft, which we will rectify)

Will looked good on the bike and was giggling like a school girl when he got off. 

Wrestling it back off him I finished the day with a big grin as well. 

Lachy's day didn't end so well, suffering a lowside that ground a hole in his engine case.

 Luckily he was ok and also luckily we had room on the trailer and so carted his bike back to Brisbane for him. A bent gear selector shaft might make for an expensive fix....

Anyway,  it was a great day out.  We had heaps of fun,  learnt a lot and can't wait for our next track day. 

Cheers.

Tracking Towards The Track

W.T.F. am I babbling about now I hear you ask?

 Well, as regular readers would know, both of my kids have been riding motorcycles for the last year or two. I can’t understand why because I certainly didn’t encourage it while they were young…… mountainbiking, yes but not motorcycles. I’d  like to think they are keen on the challenge of using a mode of transport that requires the use and the co-ordinated use of both feet and both hands - both of them seem to be interested in how to do it better, not just how to be “proficient” - and I think they have seen the fun and satisfaction that Steve and I have derived from riding over the years.

Will especially seems to like going fast (as any young bloke does) so I have encouraged him to take that pursuit away from our crowded and run down roads to the track where at least everyone is going the same way. We did another track day about a month ago and Will had a ball. In fact, so did I. 

Adding to the fun factor is the fact that everyone we have come into contact with in the pit area has been super friendly and helpful. Not something that we have encountered in all of our hobbies/pursuits unfortunately.

So, Will has been on the lookout for a dedicated track bike for the last few months. We have looked at a couple but thought they were a bit suspect, having been crashed and to our eyes, bodgily patched up. So when he initially showed me a Triumph Daytona 675R that was advertised with some crash damage, I dismissed it. Not to be deterred, Will phoned the seller and found it was an older gent who was getting out of track riding and so selling all of his track gear with the bike. Even better, he sounded genuine and honest about the bike.

We went to have a look, with a strategy to maybe talk him down on price. Once we looked at the bike, spoke to Ian, the owner, and saw all of the gear he was throwing in, all thought of trying to squeeze him on price evaporated. It was a steal as it was!

So, “we”* are now the owners of a 2014 Daytona 675R with a mere 29 000km on the clock!

It has had a low side but the damage is limited to a scuff of the right fairing panel and the tip of the exhaust pipe. 

The “R” version of the 675 comes standard with Ohlins suspension front and rear plus Brembo brakes. The 2013-onward model 675 is the 3rd generation Daytona and has fixes for earlier model issues like overheating and oil cooler failure, so we are hoping for a trouble free run.

As I said earlier, the previous owner threw in all of his track gear which included tyre warmers, a generator to power said tyre warmers, various extension cords and power boards, GB Racing engine covers, front and rear race stands, a front wheel chock for the trailer, two GoPros with tethered mounts and all of the road gear just in case “we” want to put it back on the road. All up, at least $3000 worth of extras.

We have ordered a set of race bodywork through  Ian Moore Track Toys and will get it decalled up by Hawtt Decals (his wife) who does some amazing work. I have it booked in for a suspension refresh at Ride Dynamics (who did my Tuono suspension refresh) next week. We will need to sort some tyres too as I don’t think either of us are up to doing justice to the Pirelli Corsa SC1 slicks that it is currently fitted with.🤨

It is a sexy looking bike that has the bark to match and Will can’t wait to ride it. In the mean time he can’t wipe the grin off of his face. 

This should be fun……

Cheers.

*Will really - but I’m hoping he will let me ride it.

Morgan Park Track Day

It has been a couple of years since I last did a track day here. So when I noticed that Champions had a Monday ride day AND that you could bring a "buddy" along for free, I decided to jump on it! That "buddy" would be my daughter, Lucy.

This led to some frantic hunting around for tyres on both of our bikes. Mine because I wanted something more track oriented than the Michelin Road 4 and 5 that I was running on the R1 and for Lucy because her tyres were the OEM hoops that came with the Z400. She also had a plug in her rear tyre which is a no-no for track days. 

Of course, I ripped the tyres out of the bikes as my local bike shop will work minor miracles to change your tyres if they just get the wheels. Book in weeks ahead if you want them to take the wheels out of your bike though. (No Andrew, I'm not going to do my own changes...yet.)

Lucy went for a Michelin Road 6 rear and as they only had a 5 in stock, she went a Road 5 front. They will be great all round tyres for her style of riding/commuting.

I went for some Michelin Power GPs. They are touted as 50/50 road track as opposed to the GP Cup track weapons that had a ridiculously steep profile on the rear tyre. I also had 90 degree valve stems installed which is something I have wanted to do for years but with so little use, I just don't change tyres on the R1 very often.

While we were at it we changed Will's CBR500R over to a Michelin Road 6 on the rear and he took my Road 5 front which had done under 1000km on my R1. This was due to the fact his OEM Dunlops felt like rubbish with no feel when I had a ride of it. Steve backed this up on a recent visit when we rode the R1, CBR and my Desert X back to back to back on a twisty bit of road near home. I saw it as a safety improvement for Will and hence helped cover some of the cost of the new Road 6 (have you seen how much Michelin tyres are these days?!!) 

So, the $200 track day with a free buddy had turned into an ~$1500 affair once new tyres, hiring of leathers, motels, food etc etc was carried out! 

Oh well.

Lucy and I were going to head up to Warwick the night before so we didn't have to be up at 3am to do the two and a bit hour drive out there on the Monday morning. This led to Will suffering major jealousy and him pleading to come along. He wanted to chuck a "sicky" but I told him being sick on a Monday as a 1st year apprentice wasn't a good look at all. Instead, I reminded him that most of his workmates and his boss all ride. I suggested he call his boss and ask for an annual leave day. He did and his boss said "yeah, sure!" so it was the three musketeers for the track day then. Bloody glad I got Will's tyres sorted while we were doing ours!

Not a great photo but the sunset coming into Warwick was spectacular.

We were up early but not as early as if we were coming from home. I filled the jerry can while the kids got some breakfast and coffees, then we headed out to the track. It was a cold morning with quite a brisk wind blowing. I didn't mind as most times I have been to Morgan park I have sweated my proverbial off!

We unloaded and set up, then headed around to scrutineering. That done it was back to the pit. When Lucy arrived she looked like someone had pinched her puppy. She had failed scrutineering because her throttle wouldn't spring closed. She normally has bar end mirrors and when we removed them we also removed a spacer that kept them from jamming the throttle tube. Now, the original bar ends that we had refitted were jamming it. Bugger!

I had no spares but some limited tools - what to do? I know, "hey kids, look around on the ground for washers" I suggested. After five minutes of doing this we had found two suitable washers that spaced out the bar end weight enough for her throttle to work properly. She took off to scrutineering again and was back two minutes later with the all clear. 

Crisis averted!

 

We were ready nice and early so I thought it prudent to give the kids a bit of a pep talk as I could see they were nervous. I reminded them that they only have to ride around at their own pace and you could use all of the road. If they ran off I told them to just ride straight and use a little bit of rear brake to slow down, then get back on the track. Don't panic as there is nothing to hit. I also put a bit of tape over their speedo readout so that they wouldn't be distracted by looking at their speed. They used their Strava cycling app on their phones to record the top speeds that they could then look at while sitting safely in the pit.

I was pleased that when we attended the riders briefing the Champions people emphasised exactly the same points as I had. They also had an extra briefing for the first timers too, which they kept low key and was very welcoming. 

Nice.

I was in the second slowest group so went out just before the kids. It was cold, only about 14 Celsius so I took a few laps to warm the tyres but our group was so small that by going last onto the track I didn't get passed all session and basically had a clear track in front at all times. Just like a private test day!

By the time I got off my bike the kids were out there, ripping it. Well, not quite - I was pleased to see that they were taking it easy and feeling their way into it. I had been especially concerned for Will as he has only had his provisional licence for about six weeks and hence doesn't have much experience.

Will.

Lucy

As they rode back into the pit after that first session, I think I actually teared up a little. I'm not sure if it was from pride or from relief that I was going to be able to go home that night. A little of both I guess?

Anyway, they both had huge grins on their faces and I was as proud as a Dad can be of them.

The day didn't warm up much. I think it got to 18C but that was great as it wasn't hot in the leathers which made for a more enjoyable day. 

As per usual, Champions had a photographer roaming around the track and I decided to fork out for some decent photos as a memento of the day. These are all by Motothing photography.

Just checking in - yes, still having fun here.......

I changed to the kids group for two session so that I could take some video of them and see how they were going. That was bloody good fun and I must say I was surprised at their mid corner speed on the tight corners. If I'm honest it was faster than mine!

Done and dusted! We had ridden every session and outstayed a lot of people as the last sessions were almost private track days. There were only three of us in my last session! The kids had had a great time and were still in one piece, as were the bikes. 

Hell yeah!

Lucy had uni the next day, so once loaded up we headed for home. 

The only downer for the whole day is that my bike and Will's bike had a bit of a coming together on the way home with his pillion footpeg coming into contact with my pristine Staintune exhaust can and scratching it up a bit. I will see if I can get it polished out but if that is the worst that happened on the day, then I am sort of ok with it...but I really do need to buy a proper motorcycle trailer.

Cheers.