Back in the shop

Steven31371 said:

Back at Big Willow this Saturday, pretty excited about that.

Doing some sports visualization excersizes this week.


Also, probably a ‘Too Much Information Share” here, but riding this bike is making me younger again, working out, losing weight, and getting in shape so I can ride this thing better.

52 years old and it’s getting me in shape a bit, Before tracking the Ducati and after tracking the Ducati for a year:

Does wonders when you figure out that the best upgrade you can do to go faster is to upgrade yourself

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DANG! Good job!

Did you run SC2 front on the previous time at Big Willow?

With those hotter temps, might be worth considering SC1 front with higher pressure to keep the stability. The SC2 might have better sidewall feel but the compound isn’t ideal for hot weather. Though, with hotter track temps you’ll be burning through tires rather quickly especially with your size. I’d anticipate getting just a day out of an SC1 set when it’s super hot out.

Then again, if I were running slicks I’d go w the SC3 with the aim of going slower for longer. Less hassle with tire warmers and will last multiple days. For me, trackdays are about focusing on learning the bike/oneself rather than lap times/outright performance.

If you’re racing, then throw the kitchen sink at it.

Steven31371 said:

Okay night and day difference on turn in and mid corner feel with the rear hub back where it should be, bike is going exactly where I want it to and holding the line better.

Also even on this very fast track 15/41 gearing seems to deliver the power just right.

One of these days I’m going to learn to stop experimenting when the bike already feels good lol




Any thoughts on my tire wear?

More tire pressure, less tire pressure, keep it as is?

Full disclosure, this track has a pretty rough surface that’s known for eating tires.

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You need to measure your ride height Steven!

A ride height tool is best, but two, fixed, reference points, will also do.

You'd be surprised what big differences come, from very small adjustments.

baggerman said:

You move the back down a little bit and the bike doesn't turn as well or hold a line. You're in a fast sweeper and the front runs wide. I'll try this again. Raise the fork tubes a little or move the clip-ons down the fork tubes a bit. Needs more load on the front IMHO.

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Are you sure about this? Depends, a lot, on where the starting point is. And, we don't know which way, the rear ride height went.

If it's on its nose, and you lift the rear further, it will be harder to turn.

Moving the clip-ons down puts more body weight on the front. I'd raise the fork tubes a bit. Rick I'm just reading the tires. But part of that is my riding style that's what i'd do. I can't see where his set up is. You're right i could be way off base.

RickD996 said:

Are you sure about this? Depends, a lot, on where the starting point is. And, we don't know which way, the rear ride height went.

If it's on its nose, and you lift the rear further, it will be harder to turn.

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Might not even be ride height that’s an issue. 5 mm either way on a street bike setup is probably imperceptible. Steven, are you running the 60 or 65 AR rear? Could be as bp pointed out that the understeer could be coming from an overheated front tire

baggerman said:

Moving the clip-ons down puts more body weight on the front.

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A rider shouldn't be putting that much weight on the bars though. The whole idea is to be light on the bars.

Moving the clip-ons down moves your mass down and forward a little. Regardless of your grip on the bars. Sometimes changing the droop of the bars changes the feel of the bike (Troy Corser). I don't hang on much and i don't run a steering damper (kills feel). If the head goes off I let the bars slap my palms. Steven take a couple of pictures of your set up. The question becomes does the bike push only in high speed corners and does it do that consistently? Does it push in mid speed corners?

baggerman said:

Moving the clip-ons down moves your mass down and forward a little. Regardless of your grip on the bars. Sometimes changing the droop of the bars changes the feel of the bike (Troy Corser). I don't hang on much and i don't run a steering damper (kills feel). If the head goes off I let the bars slap my palms. Steven take a couple of pictures of your set up. The question becomes does the bike push only in high speed corners and does it do that consistently? Does it push in mid speed corners?

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No steering damper?!?! Oy vey

I knew that would freak you out. Damper kills feel. I don't set the front down crooked. If the bars wag when the fronts skimming the pavement who cares. I haven't owned a ducati that would amplify the head since I raced a 2 valve (front dropped 3/4 inch, rear raised 1 or so inch, pretty steep). That wouldn't amplify without being really stupid even on crap pavement. And you could catch it by letting it slap your palms. But even the cast mags were pretty heavy then. Raced a 916 without a damper for years. Steep and still rock solid. CF wheels might change that.

I've never seen the reason for upgraded steering dampers. The stock ones are always way more than enough. Have the damper as low as possible, or as Baggerman has it, completely off.
My damper bracket came loose in my last race. Didn't affect me. Although, I do feel it benefits, so have the stock base one.

RickD996 said:

My damper bracket came loose in my last race. Didn't affect me. Although, I do feel it benefits, so have the stock base one.

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Gotta stop putting washers behind your damper and it won’t come loose, duh…

SuperDomestique said:

Gotta stop putting washers behind your damper and it won’t come loose, duh…

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I love those beautiful washers!

Dampers, washers just excess weight. They developed this stuff in WWII. Gluelike. Comes in different strengths and colors...

Good report @Steven31371 I'm glad you got some reps in. I didn't hit this track day, but a buddy of mine posted this video. Check out some poor chap glancing off the inside curb of T9, around 0:30 in. For those that don't know, there are no good visual markers in this turn and its fast enough to amplify any position/direction errors. Too fast, offline, new geometry, or have a brain fart and it can bite you. As for tires, I don't think I've ever seen a fast guy there who didn't have a strange looking front tire---hot tear, geometry tear---whathave you. At this track, you're hard on the right side, dragging a knee for 1/3 of the lap, all day, and it's an abrasive track. Most people have a good base setup and Big Willow throws a monkey wrench into that, haha. I ran 37 PSI for an SC1 front last time out and only had slight front tearing by the end of the day.

RickD996 said:

You need to measure your ride height Steven!

A ride height tool is best, but two, fixed, reference points, will also do.

You'd be surprised what big differences come, from very small adjustments.

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Steven this is the most relevant comment of the day. Take notes. Since you're a big guy you may want to try moving the cg down. Small changes can make big differences. When the set ups right you'll know because the bike will be easy to ride fast and won't wear you out as much.

All good advice thank you

It is actually set up well and easy to ride fast, but I made some small changes that messed it up, then put everything back to where it’s in it’s sweet spot after the 1st two sessions…

Steven31371 said:

All good advice thank you

It is actually set up well and easy to ride fast, but I made some small changes that messed it up, then put everything back to where it’s in it’s sweet spot after the 1st two sessions…

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It could be wise to measure the height in its current configuration, so that you can set it to the same height when you change sprockets etc. That way you’ll be able to tell the effects of just the gearing change.

Was at Big Willow for a coaching day, went backward on time but that’s okay because I was learning. RoadracerX is a brilliant line coach, was funny, we were in the fast group and taking a different line in Turn 8/9 and crossing people up frankly in an unsafe way, though we were trying to signal it and stay clear to be as safe as possible…but by mid day all the faster riders switched to RoadracerX’s line, which IS faster. He did a 1:29 flat on that line. Which I think was fastest lap on the day. Not bad considering he rarely goes to Big Willow.

The one negative was that the track just got repaved and I was very excited about that, but on turns 3 and 5 there were some places on the freshly repaved sections that were so rough they jogged your front tire sideways if you hit them. I called Willow Springs about it today and they said they knew about it and the paving company was coming out 1st week of October to fix it and apologized in a very nice way for the track condition, they seem to be on top of trying to get Big Willow set up right.

In other news, my mega build bike is probably going up for sale soon, new project in mind.

As a relatively new rider whose a bit old to be learning to track ride, I’ve finally come to the conclusion that this bike is hurting my progress more than helping it. It turns like riding on a fly’s back, is INSANELY fast, and grips far beyond my ability, but it’s also a very savage bike…all of which makes it fun as hell and fast as hell, but also harder to learn on. I’ve kinda hit a plateau on it.

So I think I’m going to sell it, let somebody faster than me ride it faster than me, and I’ll do the whole next season on a Kramer or an 8C RC. Then look for a new V4 to play with in 2025.

On another note, tire wear is night and day different on the new track surface. 1st pic new surface, 2nd pic old surface.