Quote:
Originally Posted by JacRyann
Well, they feel similar, yet behave like two completely different bikes. The race-bike is rock-solid steady at 80mph-ave around a track. Yet at street speeds, it's a lazy turd. Feels like driving a dump truck where you have to muscle and force it to do things. The street-bike at street speeds is much more responsive; I can do U-turns in one lane with just 2-fingers on bars. But at track-speeds, it feels very nervous and too responsive.
Note, you cannot have both "more stable" and "more responsive" change in behavior. It's like being pregnant and not-pregnant at the same time. Handling is on a continuum, like a ruler with 100% lightness on one end, and 0% darkness on the other. You can only pick ONE point in between. You cannot have both extremes at the same time.
I think you want to quantify bolded part with numbers. That way, you have a target to shoot for. How will you know if your upgrades had any effect whatsoever without some sort of tangible, measurable and comparable metric? For example, if you can currently go from full-upright to 60-degree lean in 0.832s, and after upgrades, that time shortens to 0.511s, then you know it worked.
THIS is what I'm talking about. You can exactly measure how much twist it takes from factory 1/4" turn throttle to upgraded 1/5" turn. The number of teeth on sprocket can be counted and change in engine-RPMs at highway-speeds is exactly known. However, like the flickability spectrum, you can't have both. Taller-gearing for less shifting will result in lower-torque at low-RPMs, so you'll have to run the bike into the higher-RPMs for same acceleration.
That's what suspensions are supposed to do, compress to absorb bumps and keep your tyres in contact with road. Stiffer is not better because you'll skip off tops of bumps in corners and end up sliding front and/or rear tyres. You'll want to measure with numbers exactly how much of your suspension-travel you're using (zip-tie on fork tube). In the beginning, I was bottoming out my suspension on both track & street bikes with my hefty 90kg. I bumped up spring-rate and pre-load on the track bike with thicker oil and cranked up the damping adjustment. But I still got pogo-stick bouncing under braking.
This points out something you're not quantifying above, and that is handling is combination of bike-hardware and user-control. I was too abrupt with my control-inputs and not smooth enough. That caused the bike to use up more suspension-travel than necessary. Now after 48-days this year of trackdays and racing, I'm much, much smoother and faster... on exact same bikes. I never bottom suspension on the street-bike any more. And it's more responsive and flickable than ever because I've learned to apply firm steering-inputs (countre-steering) without hesitation and conflicting motions. Learn to relax shoulders and not have both arms fighting each other. I like the Jackie Stewart method, put a plate between bars with an egg on it. Then ride around being so smooth, you never roll egg off plate...
As others mentioned, more time riding will give you better results than any amount of upgrades can do. Save your money for trackdays. Used suit, boots, gloves and helmet can be had for U$400 or less.
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whoa thanks for the thoughtful reply!
The quantifying method when upgrading seems like a great practice before doing any mods on the bike.
Man.. this forum is the best.. haha
Something I wouldn't have learned if I didn't ask.
Just to apply the practice to what I want to achive..
Throttle tube mod - help me avoid arthritis by reducing the turn
Steel brake line - help me stop faster in shorter distance. (hopefully.. with some practice)
Tires - Well.. I have to change the front soon anyway and hopefully sticker tire can help with acceleration/stopping. Not sure if I can measure it but maybe it can at least boost some pseudo confidence while cornering.
Suspension - this... I might hold off while I learn to ride more but once I start getting a sense that I want the bike to be set up properly.. I'll start looking for sale online.
Gear over skill is something I do understand completely.. I used to have a hobby and that turned into a career.. took away some of that joy when buying new gears. It's just a business expense now. Hence, it's fun to get that feeling again with motorcycle looking at revzilla website haha.
Thanks alot guys!