Morgan Park Raceway With A Daytona 675R

 

Following on from the last post, we managed to track down some Metzeler TD Slicks from Motorcycle Tyre Warehouse - where I got a 1 hour lecture on all things tyres from the owner - and got those fitted up.

I also managed to get the new bike trailer better set up with a tool box, new spare tyre mount and deleted the silly centre channel and replaced it with the tyre chock we were given with the purchase of the Daytona. Not as awesome as my preferred enclosed trailer but a much more affordable and quite adequately usable setup!

I had to work the weekend of Will's first track day, so couldn't stay but I managed to ride out to Warwick for the Saturday to lend a hand with him settling in. The bike passed scrutineering straight up, so it was on with the tyre warmers and waiting for his first session. We were very glad of the warmers as well because the weekend only topped out at about 16C.

He decided on doing the Red Group which is the slowest group, just to get a feel for it.

It seemed to be going well and as he felt more comfortable he moved himself to the Green Group (second slowest). His lap times were getting better, initially being in the high 1:40s then slowly dropping to the low 1:30s according to his SpeedAngle.

He got down to 1:28 for the weekend. ASBK SuperSports do 1:15 around here.

He was having such a good time that he decided to stay for the Sunday session! I had to go home for work so left him to it. By all accounts he had a great day and learnt a lot from the other riders around him in the pits. He moved up a level again to Blue Group (2nd fastest) on the advice of those around him. 

He did have some trouble with the generator for the tyre warmers. It cut out randomly a few times on the Saturday then wouldn't start at all on the Sunday.** Luckily those awesome folks around him sorted him out with power for his warmers! 

Thanks Mike!

I must say, I have found everyone at these track days to be super friendly and helpful, which makes for a great day out. 

Here are some of the photos from the pro photographers over the weekend.

They certainly make him look fast.....and he probably is for his experience level. 

It must nearly be my turn to have a go on it?

Cheers.

** The following week I went to work on the generator, draining the tank to find lots of small rust particles in the fuel. More particles came from the fuel tap strainer so I bit the bullet and pulled the carby off, pulling all of the jets and cleaning them with a wire, then blowing the whole carby out. I finished it off with a new spark plug and a fuel filter. Thankfully, she fired straight up and ran sweetly.

Rusty crap.

Little filter.

New spark.

Pre - clean up.

Almost Ready For Some Track Time

 

I picked the Daytona up from its bodywork makeover yesterday. We gave Emily a vague idea of what we wanted as a scheme on the bodywork and left it up to her creative talents to fill in the blanks. It took a little longer than planned at about three weeks but it was worth the wait.

Before it went to Hawtt Decals I took it down to Joe at Ride Dynamics for a suspension rebuild/revalve and re-spring with K-Tech fork and Eibach shock springs. Joe set the sag for our weight (luckily Will and I are about the same weight) and gave me fork preload settings for the three racetracks we are likely to ride it on here in south east QLD.

Now we just need to get those Pirelli slicks off and some more beginner friendly rubber fitted before next weekend. I was keen on Bridgestone S23 or R11s but I have been recommended to try the Metzeler TD slick. They are meant to be a cheaper option than road legal tyres that still warm up and stay warm for the aahhemm…..newer (read slower) track day rider. 

Thanks to a mate, Mike who donated a head lift stand last week. It fits and works a treat and will make getting that front wheel out so much easier.

This will have to be done this week as Will is keen on attending a track day this weekend. It will be COLD up at Morgan Park this weekend, so lucky he has tyre warmers.

I just have to get through another licence renewal at work this week first, then I can look at getting the new rubber fitted. 

Giddy up!

Cheers.

NRRT Again

A good mate was back from Singapore for a few weeks holiday and true to form,  not wanting to waste a minute,  Dan took me up on the offer to ride the Northern Rivers Rail Trail on his first day back in Oz!

It is a bit of a drive down to Murwillumbah so we set off at 6am to be in the bikes by 0730. 

It was a bit cool until we spun the legs and warmed up a bit....but not much.😁

When I rode this trail late last year with Owen I had been struck by how similar it felt to the Singapore rail trail I had ridden with Dan in November. Today it would be interesting if Dan felt the same.

Tunnel time!

And he did agree that the tree covered, green lane that the trail wended its way through was very similar to Singapore. There were even some huge bamboo clumps.

The Burringbar range tunnel is a 524metre (1718ft) wonder that is almost pitch dark toward the centre with just a pinprick of light in the distance. Lights are a necessity.

We rode to the end of the “current” rail trail which ends at Crabbes Creek, then up onto a bridge to look further along the trail.

Did I mention it was cold? Think our faces were a bit frozen. 😆

Turning around, we pedalled the short few kilometres back to Moobal’s Moo Moo cafe’. I think I’ve posted about this cafe’ in a few moto ride blogs. 

After a very nice cooked breakfast we began the roll back down the trail to Murwillumbah.

The trail was much busier now, being filled with walkers, riders and runners. Pretty much everything except horses. I struggled to get a photo or two without other meat bags (bar Dan of course!) in the shot.

We were soon back at the Murwillumbah station having a look around. They are getting the place well organised these days with the value of the trail to the community becoming evident to even the most recalcitrant opponent.

So, a quick 50 kilometre pedal and we were home by midday. Thanks for the ride Dan and it definitely won’t be the last time I’m down here to ride this trail.

Cheers.

SWM RS300R Oil And Filter Change

 While almost two years has passed since we bought the SWM RS300R, it doesn’t feel like we have done much riding with it. But with a ride day coming up next week and the “we have had this bike almost two years” in mind, I decided it was time to do an oil and filter change on her.

I took her for a quick spin along some power line easement near home to get her nicely warmed up (and to have some fun) before I dropped the oil. 

Pulling the sump plug saw the hot and very black slippery stuff dump into my catch pan. 

Hmmmm…..that is very dirty looking oil. How many kilometres has this bike actually done? Checking the odometer I was surprised to see exactly 1300km indicated!! We bought the bike with just 560km on the clock and I must say I was surprised to see so many kilometres. Thinking about it though, Will brought the bike down to Forbes last year when Dad passed away. At the time I thought it would be a way for him to stay in a good head space while dealing with such an upsetting situation. I know he rode it a lot at the time but never actually checked the odometer. It does hold a healthy (for a dirt bike) 1.8 litres of oil but if I had checked, I would have done this oil and filter change 12 months ago!

The bike has a couple of mesh filter screens on the left side of the engine. I carefully fished them out taking care not to damage or lose the O rings in the process. 

The screens looked completely clean but I washed them in petrol, hosed them off and dried them in the sun as per the manual.

Next came the cartridge oil filter. It was easily done but I was a bit dismayed at the colour of the filter that I removed!

Yes, these are actually the same size, just a bit of perspective error.

Draining the oil pan I was a bit concerned to see quite a few metal flakes in the bottom.

 Fcuk, not good! 🫤

Many of the shiny bits in the photo below are just the way the light is reflecting off the oil covered clutch/gasket particles but there are quite a few bits of metal in the top centre of the pan. I’d didn’t get a photo of the magnetic sump plug but it also had quite a bit of very fine metal filings stuck to it.

I have moved to Maxima synthetic oil as my go to these days which might be overkill this time around as I will give the bike another oil and filter change in the next five hours or so of operation to try cleaning this crud out of the system.

Clean and clear….. for now. Let see how it looks after Tuesday next week. 🫣

I did tip a little more oil in after this photo was taken to take it to the top mark.

While I was at it she got a precautionary air filter clean too. Not because it was dirty but because it had sat since last October or November and I didn't want to find out the hard way that the filter oil had dried out.

Now she really is ready to go again!

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.