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Old August 14th, 2018, 09:41 AM   #184
Ducati999
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Name: Ant
Location: Wooster
Join Date: Dec 2013

Motorcycle(s): Ducati 999 2012 Ninja 250r Ducati748 Yellow finally running 2003 SV650 S (SOLD)

Posts: A lot.
Guess who's back-Back again---just me. I actually never left I have just been in the background.

I have been busy as usual and have not been able to ride since Memorial day at the Palmer track! I did make an attempt to get out on a nice bright, sunny day but I found the answer to a mystery which ended my riding that day. While at the track this past May, I could not get really comfortable on my bike and had little confidence in the tires. I attributed this to me not having much seat time the year before, the cold rainy weather and not having ridden on my current tires in the rain before. Even as the track dried out I was still not "feeling" it with the bike and no matter how hard I tried I could not get my knee down even-though I was riding/turning fast enough where this should have happened. I also noticed that my front brakes were extra sensitive and the slightest pressure would give a "stronger than I remembered" response. I had replaced the fork seals and oil and rebuilt/cleaned the front calipers along with new pads, so I again attributed this to not having ridden her in quite a while.

I must tell you all a little story so the next part of my story makes sense.
Last year the only track trip I took was 2 days at NYST. The story for that trip is in the above posts but there is an important detail which I did not mention. On the last day at NYST, Claudio, a friend to everyone and a really nice guy, crashed his 848 Ducati in turn 3. This was just before lunch and he was desperate to get it back on the track for the rest of the day. He managed to correct all the damage except that his brake lever was damaged. I was headed home since I had to work early the next day. I gave him my brake lever and he promised to mail it back to me after he got home. Once I received the lever back from Claudio, I reinstalled it onto my bike and did not ride again till this spring. I felt the front brakes dragging so I rebuilt the calipers and replaced the pads. Turns out that Claudio must have slightly adjusted the pin that puts pressure on the plunger for the master cyl! This caused the brakes to work normally until you really use them aggressively. When the cylinder is compressed under hard braking, some of the brake fluid takes a long time to return to the cyl and reservoir leaving residual pressure in the lines/caliper causing the brakes to drag. The harder you use the brakes the more drag there is on rotor until it can slowly bleed back past the partially blocked return hole! I am so lucky I did not wash out the front wheel on the cold wet track. There is no wonder why I did not have feel from the front and could not get my knee down. By the time I got back to the paddock all the pressure was able to bleed back past the restricted port and the bike was fine so I could not figure this out. All it took was just a half turn in (moves the pin further from the cylinder) and all was well again.

Since I found this issue I am now looking back on my last track day in a different light. I was able to run at a fairly good pace while hitting all my marks but with the brakes partially on the entire lap! I also feel much better about the "bad feeling" I got from the bike while trying to get comfortable riding on the Dunlop tires in the rain/cold for the first time. The symptoms of this issue include: Heavy steering, Bike does not want to lean in/ wants to stand up the tighter the turn becomes, quicker deceleration when off the gas/roll off, severly reduced feedback/feeling from the front tire and slower turn in/ response to steering input. I have resurfaced the pads and rotor and bleed out all the fluid (must have gotten very hot and possible boiling) and the bike feels so much better!

I am planning on going back to the Palmer track (forward direction this time) on Labor Day weekend and I cant wait to see how much better things go this time!
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