Quote:
Originally Posted by Mohawk
Good progress there. Can I offer a gem of wisdom here "Power is nothing without control" never a truer word said when it comes to bikes. In this last post you mentioned "sprung for yur weight" & adjustable suspension. If you get the first one right & get the damping set for your weight too, with the correct sag settings, you should see an improvement in times. When targeting a bike for the track I'd use this basic setup guide;-
1. Best Tyres available
2. Best suspension available & correctly setup
3. Best braking obtainable
4. More power to improve on the parts of the track that those above do not make the difference.
So a bike that sticks, steers & brakes as well as possible for that model, will be better than a stock bike with 20% more power. Quality suspension setup will allow the bike to ride higher in the corners & utilise maximum lean. Bikes can pull up to 1.3-1.4G in a corner, so if the suspension can't hold you & the bike up in a straight line at 1G how will it fair when loaded to 1.2G+ ? To put that in perspective, if the bike weighs 140KG wet & you weight 60Kg (for simple numbers) that gives 200Kg race weight on the straight, in a corner pulling 1.2G your race weight is now 240Kg & the to soft suspension has to hold that extra 40Kg up, try adding 40Kg to your bike when upright & see how far the suspension sags, now throw in a bump in a corner & take it to 1.4G oops you h=just added another 40Kg of weight hitting that bump 
So Tyres & suspension are better than HP especially on a track with small straights & mostly corners.
Good luck, I no it all costs money, but there are ways to short cut that. Later or other model bikes have cartridge forks, replacing damper rods with cartridges, allows a lot more adjustment just using oil viscosity & far better control, correct springs for your weight are cheap. |
Definitely agreed and thanks for the thoughts. Previously, I was more focused on getting my riding abilities closer to the realm where I would really "need" the improved suspension. In photos, it was definitely clear that my bike had a nose-up attitude due to my weight and the rear suspension, thereby probably slowing turn-in slightly due to the increased rake. But the increased rake definitely wasn't the primary cause of my lap times.
As you say though, everything costs money. It's why I bought an R6 for next season instead of pouring more money into the 300. The R6 has fully adjustable gas charged front forks and a fully adjustable rear shock, and is actually sprung for a rider of my weight. Now, there will be no excuses next season as the bike will have the best tires, best suspension, and strong braking. Now it is all on the rider to improve. Haha.