Joined Dec 2011
380 Posts | 84+
Navarre, Fl
After the bike sitting in pieces since December, I finally got it back together and made it to NOLA on May 3-4 with STT.
The Track
NOLA was an awesome track, 16 turns with 11 right/5 left and a 1/2 mile straight. The exact opposite of my previous track days at Jennings GP with 9 left/4 right and a short straight. The surface at Jennings is harder on tires but the benefit is fewer imperfections. There are some pretty rough sections at NOLA especially right before the Start/Finish where there is a nasty bump when you're traveling 150+ mph. Between 6-7 and 13 are the other rough sections.
I spent the first day working mostly on body position, learning the track and making sure the bike wasn't falling apart after I put it together. DiSalvo speed academy was also there that weekend which helps learning the track. They have yellow dots painted on entry, apex, and exit...you just have to look for them. Riding in novice helped when it came to picking up the dots since we were at a slower pace in the earlier sessions. One lap into the 1st session ANOTHER bolt came loose (more on that in the rant/rave) on the shift linkage. I pitted in, tightened it back up and went back out on the next session. During the next section I had to catch back up on learning the track. I was in group 1 so the pace wasn't too bad and there were only 11 in novice, broke up into 3 groups. I was having difficulty when it came to BP on the right handers and I just couldn't get comfortable and maintain good throttle control. I worked with the control riders and found out I was kicking my left heel out without even realizing it. Once I had my feet sorted out it felt much better but I was still having issues with throttle control. Thanks to Brett for helping me sort out some of my other issues. I also wasn't getting my head down low enough when hanging off the bike which was contributing to the uncomfortable feel on the right. The second day went much, much better especially throttle control. Once again, more on that below. My times weren't fast by any means, 2:25's-35's the first day and 2:19's the second day.
I ran the first 2 sessions on 120 hp DTC 4 ABS 1 and EBC 1. 120 hp wasn't all that bad everywhere but the straight. The bike felt plenty fast, but when I couldn't run down an FZ1 that I had passed in the esses I thought my bike was broken or he was running a damn supercharger. After that I bumped it back up to 195hi between turns 2-3. The difference on the straight? 155 mph and 172 mph and the rest of the track felt nearly the same other than an extremely twitchy throttle. The bike felt the same at Jennings in December so I assumed it was just the nature of the beast since it'd been months since riding it.
Parts
During my rebuild I installed Galfer superbike save rotors, Galfer 1375 compound pads, Oz Piega forged aluminum wheels with Supercorsa SC2s, Bitubo ECH-29 carts, XXF-61 Shock, and DDA+.
DDA+: Awesome. If you track the bike it's a must have. The GPS works with or without the DDA plugged in. You hit the lap timer at the start/finish and it takes over after that so it's one less thing you have to think about. The ability to see what you did and where after a session is awesome. You can overlay 2 laps and compare lines, speed, etc. You can also narrow it down to specific sections and work on the track one area at a time. I found that my bike was running an average of 5 degrees higher on Saturday than Sunday and ran cooler longer despite being hotter on Sunday. Annnnddd...more on that below.
Brakes: The wave rotors with the 1375s are sweet setup. The initial bite is stronger than the stock rotors without being too aggressive and I never felt any fade. They just kept shaving off the speed consistently and gave me huge confidence in braking...even though I alway brake early.
Wheels/Tires: Massive difference over the base stockers. It took a lot less effort to change directions which I didn't even notice until I thought about my last ride with the stock wheels and remembered having to "man-handle" the bike for left/right transitions. The SC2s were amazing compared to the SPs. Front end feel and traction were top notch. I wish I'd had DDA when I ran the SPs to see the difference in DTC intervention.
Bitubo: Another bit I'm extremely happy with. The forks felt great and the adjustment controls require no tools. If you wanted, you could make adjustments in the middle of a session. The front end felt sketchy during one transition so we took out 3 clicks of comp and the issue never re-appeared. The shock is the same. The hi-speed compression is a nice addition. My buddy said it looked like I was about to fly off the bike coming down the straight when I caught that nasty bump. Took 3 clicks out of the hi-speed comp and the bike just soaked it right up. I just need a lighter spring as the .90 gave me only 18mm sag with 0 preload.
Rant/Rave
I'll start with the rant. Back in December I had my dash replaced, 41t sprocket and Ducabike rearsets installed by a dealership here on the Florida panhandle. I sent the bike up with the upmap so the software could be updated for the 41t sprocket. Initially the service department said there was no software to go with the install so I sent them the letter from DNA and they installed the update. At Jennings I had a bolt back out of the linkage and a different bolt backed out of the linkage at NOLA. After that I pulled them all and broke out the loctite. On Thursday my bike was still in pieces so I drove my truck to the dealership to schedule an appointment to have the bike hooked up to DDS and have my TPS calibrated since I installed a new throttle. The service manager said I would have to leave it there and waved his arm around the service area at all the bikes and said they were too busy to spend 15 min to hook it up to the computer. Thanks.
Now for the good stuff! I had my tires mounted and cartridges installed at Turn One Performance in Milton, Fl. John is a great guy and runs an awesome shop. I had rains mounted on my stock wheels and the SC2s on the Oz wheels. I think it's the first time I picked up wheels that were clean after having tires mounted. When it came time for the forks we were waiting on fresh seals to come in. He also didn't have the tool to remove the cap from the Marzocchis so he ordered one. With the nasty weather we had I wasn't sure if it would make it in time so I picked up a spanner wrench and ran it up there. When got to the forks he realized he didn't have a 50mm seal driver and drove to said dealership above to borrow their driver. When I arrived at the shop he was finishing them up right before closing and apologized for them not being done yet. Something I am not used to after working with other service shops. For those that do want to know the Marzocchi's bottom out with 1 3/8" still showing.
At NOLA, TTRNO runs trackside support. They also happen to be a Ducati dealership. I went in and had my suspension tweaked with them and asked if they had DDS at the trackside shop. Unfortunately they didn't BUT they would bring it out on Sunday. So on Sunday I went to the garage before the first session and helped out the process by removing the upmap before hooking up to DDS. Oh, guess what!? When my bike was worked on before, they never re-installed the upmap. Are you kidding me? Now I know why the bike was so damn twitchy. After installing the upmap when trying to remove it I plugged the drive back in and removed the map. We hooked it up and yes, there is a software update. After the update, I installed the upmap and headed out on the track. Suddenly the bike was easier to ride. Hmmm, wonder if that had anything to do with the fact the fueling was terrible without the upmap? Yes, I know I should have noticed that it didn't say "RACING EVO" when keyed on but I never noticed. Looking at the engine temps you can tell the bike was running very lean.
The Track
NOLA was an awesome track, 16 turns with 11 right/5 left and a 1/2 mile straight. The exact opposite of my previous track days at Jennings GP with 9 left/4 right and a short straight. The surface at Jennings is harder on tires but the benefit is fewer imperfections. There are some pretty rough sections at NOLA especially right before the Start/Finish where there is a nasty bump when you're traveling 150+ mph. Between 6-7 and 13 are the other rough sections.
I spent the first day working mostly on body position, learning the track and making sure the bike wasn't falling apart after I put it together. DiSalvo speed academy was also there that weekend which helps learning the track. They have yellow dots painted on entry, apex, and exit...you just have to look for them. Riding in novice helped when it came to picking up the dots since we were at a slower pace in the earlier sessions. One lap into the 1st session ANOTHER bolt came loose (more on that in the rant/rave) on the shift linkage. I pitted in, tightened it back up and went back out on the next session. During the next section I had to catch back up on learning the track. I was in group 1 so the pace wasn't too bad and there were only 11 in novice, broke up into 3 groups. I was having difficulty when it came to BP on the right handers and I just couldn't get comfortable and maintain good throttle control. I worked with the control riders and found out I was kicking my left heel out without even realizing it. Once I had my feet sorted out it felt much better but I was still having issues with throttle control. Thanks to Brett for helping me sort out some of my other issues. I also wasn't getting my head down low enough when hanging off the bike which was contributing to the uncomfortable feel on the right. The second day went much, much better especially throttle control. Once again, more on that below. My times weren't fast by any means, 2:25's-35's the first day and 2:19's the second day.
I ran the first 2 sessions on 120 hp DTC 4 ABS 1 and EBC 1. 120 hp wasn't all that bad everywhere but the straight. The bike felt plenty fast, but when I couldn't run down an FZ1 that I had passed in the esses I thought my bike was broken or he was running a damn supercharger. After that I bumped it back up to 195hi between turns 2-3. The difference on the straight? 155 mph and 172 mph and the rest of the track felt nearly the same other than an extremely twitchy throttle. The bike felt the same at Jennings in December so I assumed it was just the nature of the beast since it'd been months since riding it.
Parts
During my rebuild I installed Galfer superbike save rotors, Galfer 1375 compound pads, Oz Piega forged aluminum wheels with Supercorsa SC2s, Bitubo ECH-29 carts, XXF-61 Shock, and DDA+.
DDA+: Awesome. If you track the bike it's a must have. The GPS works with or without the DDA plugged in. You hit the lap timer at the start/finish and it takes over after that so it's one less thing you have to think about. The ability to see what you did and where after a session is awesome. You can overlay 2 laps and compare lines, speed, etc. You can also narrow it down to specific sections and work on the track one area at a time. I found that my bike was running an average of 5 degrees higher on Saturday than Sunday and ran cooler longer despite being hotter on Sunday. Annnnddd...more on that below.
Brakes: The wave rotors with the 1375s are sweet setup. The initial bite is stronger than the stock rotors without being too aggressive and I never felt any fade. They just kept shaving off the speed consistently and gave me huge confidence in braking...even though I alway brake early.
Wheels/Tires: Massive difference over the base stockers. It took a lot less effort to change directions which I didn't even notice until I thought about my last ride with the stock wheels and remembered having to "man-handle" the bike for left/right transitions. The SC2s were amazing compared to the SPs. Front end feel and traction were top notch. I wish I'd had DDA when I ran the SPs to see the difference in DTC intervention.
Bitubo: Another bit I'm extremely happy with. The forks felt great and the adjustment controls require no tools. If you wanted, you could make adjustments in the middle of a session. The front end felt sketchy during one transition so we took out 3 clicks of comp and the issue never re-appeared. The shock is the same. The hi-speed compression is a nice addition. My buddy said it looked like I was about to fly off the bike coming down the straight when I caught that nasty bump. Took 3 clicks out of the hi-speed comp and the bike just soaked it right up. I just need a lighter spring as the .90 gave me only 18mm sag with 0 preload.
Rant/Rave
I'll start with the rant. Back in December I had my dash replaced, 41t sprocket and Ducabike rearsets installed by a dealership here on the Florida panhandle. I sent the bike up with the upmap so the software could be updated for the 41t sprocket. Initially the service department said there was no software to go with the install so I sent them the letter from DNA and they installed the update. At Jennings I had a bolt back out of the linkage and a different bolt backed out of the linkage at NOLA. After that I pulled them all and broke out the loctite. On Thursday my bike was still in pieces so I drove my truck to the dealership to schedule an appointment to have the bike hooked up to DDS and have my TPS calibrated since I installed a new throttle. The service manager said I would have to leave it there and waved his arm around the service area at all the bikes and said they were too busy to spend 15 min to hook it up to the computer. Thanks.
Now for the good stuff! I had my tires mounted and cartridges installed at Turn One Performance in Milton, Fl. John is a great guy and runs an awesome shop. I had rains mounted on my stock wheels and the SC2s on the Oz wheels. I think it's the first time I picked up wheels that were clean after having tires mounted. When it came time for the forks we were waiting on fresh seals to come in. He also didn't have the tool to remove the cap from the Marzocchis so he ordered one. With the nasty weather we had I wasn't sure if it would make it in time so I picked up a spanner wrench and ran it up there. When got to the forks he realized he didn't have a 50mm seal driver and drove to said dealership above to borrow their driver. When I arrived at the shop he was finishing them up right before closing and apologized for them not being done yet. Something I am not used to after working with other service shops. For those that do want to know the Marzocchi's bottom out with 1 3/8" still showing.
At NOLA, TTRNO runs trackside support. They also happen to be a Ducati dealership. I went in and had my suspension tweaked with them and asked if they had DDS at the trackside shop. Unfortunately they didn't BUT they would bring it out on Sunday. So on Sunday I went to the garage before the first session and helped out the process by removing the upmap before hooking up to DDS. Oh, guess what!? When my bike was worked on before, they never re-installed the upmap. Are you kidding me? Now I know why the bike was so damn twitchy. After installing the upmap when trying to remove it I plugged the drive back in and removed the map. We hooked it up and yes, there is a software update. After the update, I installed the upmap and headed out on the track. Suddenly the bike was easier to ride. Hmmm, wonder if that had anything to do with the fact the fueling was terrible without the upmap? Yes, I know I should have noticed that it didn't say "RACING EVO" when keyed on but I never noticed. Looking at the engine temps you can tell the bike was running very lean.
