OV9

Actually I'm wrong, I saw the little intercom nubbin and jumped to conclusions. NXR is smart, I'm still looking at GTAir2 myself.

Got my new tyres fitted finally. But, me being me, it couldn’t go smoothly, could it? They managed to destroy the rear tyre pressure sensor. I had the choice of taking it back to them for repair, or taking it to a dealer and they’d reimburse me. Given that a new sensor will needing coding in properly anyway, and I’ve got a service booked in the next few weeks, I’ve opted for option B.

“I’m thinking of putting up a sign asking people to tell us if they have sensors fitted”, they said. Or, you could just fucking ask, if it’s a problem?

Tyres really shouldn't be so difficult

JLv3.0 wrote: Sun Apr 21, 2019 10:28 am Tyres really shouldn't be so difficult

I was having a moan at Barry over a bacon butty and a brew. I bought a Hörmann garage door because “they don’t go wrong” and a Rock Door front door because they’re “the best”. The garage door needs loads of bits replacing after 4 years and we’re waiting to have our 3rd front door fitted under warranty. Why me?!

Poor Dave

No Limits are running a Snetterton 300 bike track evening tomorrow (tuesday). £45!! There's a slowsters group - come on Marv! I'm in.

New tyres are ace. No more following ruts in the road, no more weird weaving going over potholes and white lines. Need to go for a proper ride to get rid of the pussy strips, though, they're ridiculous right now.

I'm too much of a pussy on a bike to do a trackday, but thanks for the heads up Tim!

Enjoy Snetterton, mate

For shames!

There a fewer knobs in the slow groups on bike days than car days, definitely. I've usually opted for a slower group than I could probably ride in mostly because my 748 runs out of puff quite quickly, and I prefer not to tangle with racers doing a cheap test. Will be interesting to see what the S1000R is like though. I reckon 140+ easy by the end of the straight.

They're running two slow/medium & medium/fast groups tonight, I'm staying in the former hopefully.

I keep meaning to ask, Tim. What's the S1000R like on the motorway? Is the wind protection any good? i.e. is it relatively comfortable sat at 90 in the pissing rain?

When I bought the KTM, I discounted the Beemer it on the grounds of needing a fairing, but part of me is wondering if I made the right choice. They keep looking at me funny.

Mine has the optional taller screen, which is better than it looks. I've never ridden it in the pissing rain (although my trip up to Gainsborough tomorrow afternoon looks like it's going to change that) but it's not uncomfortable when pushing on.

If this fabled EVO bike meet ever happens you can have a go!

Aprilia Tuono V4 1100 Factorys are currently "looking at me funny".

tim wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2019 1:16 pm Mine has the optional taller screen, which is better than it looks. I've never ridden it in the pissing rain (although my trip up to Gainsborough tomorrow afternoon looks like it's going to change that) but it's not uncomfortable when pushing on.

If this fabled EVO bike meet ever happens you can have a go!

Aprilia Tuono V4 1100 Factorys are currently "looking at me funny".

Yeah, I really like them, but they look tiny in real and I'm not sure it would like the abuse of daily riding. I don't have room for a 3rd bike.

Popped up on my Twatter feed:

Well those M7RR tyres were the best £280 I've spent in a while - confidence off the scale compared to the bridgestones that came off. Really good fun evening sessions at Snetterton tonight.

The S1000R really is a class act - 151 mph along the pit straight and 150 along the back straight, lap after lap, not a single grumble from the brakes and the lever as solid at the end as at the start. Absolutely tremendous fun.



No more virgin sliders either!



I packed it in one session from the end of the night. I could feel it cooling off and I was starting to question whether to do another, and that is always IMO the point at which you should bow out of proceedings.

Similar to my findings last year (except I didn’t get my knee down):

tim wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2019 8:34 pm Stuff about trackday

Marv wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2019 9:23 pm

tim wrote: Tue Apr 23, 2019 8:34 pm Stuff about trackday

Like!

Dammit, now I want to do a trackday.

Yesterday me and some friends from my RoSPA group went to Blyton Park to take part in the British Superbike School. Me and Peter (our Training Officer) did the Level 2 track course and the others did the more road oriented track riding.

I've never been to Blyton Park before so didn't really know what to expect, and looking at the track map you'd be forgiven for thinking it looks a bit of a dull layout. But, I was pleasantly surprised to find it's anything but once you're out there and on it! Really fast in places and quite technical in others, it's a good mix, and a fairly short lap. Quite narrow though - not sure i'd want to do a busy car day there.

The format of the day was split into five 20 minute track sessions followed by a debrief, a 10-15 min classroom discussion and a short break before the next go, with Lunch between sessions 3 and 4. They had a load of instructors on hand so there were only 2 riders per instructor. Ours was a no-nonsense Yorkshireman called Ian, who was riding a Speed Triple with a very fruity exhaust and very chewed up track tyres. He was the gem of the day really, a good laugh and very good at explaining why you were shit.

We ended the day a lot less shit as a result.

It fairly quickly became apparent that the 3 of us were much quicker than everyone else, as we kept catching up to slower groups. The other instructors were pretty good at keeping them out of our way, and when they didn't, Ian would point at his tail (up here lads) and fire us through - good fun just doing that.

Session 1 was... sedate Basically a slow 15 mins round so you can see where the track goes, the instructors can point out the basic lines and they can figure out if you're a complete numpty or not.

Session 2 was brisk, we did 3 laps behind Ian to warm up the tyres, then he waved us through in turn and followed and/or passed to lead for a few corners. Some really good feedback from this faster session set us up for the next one.

Session 3 was quick. I did my fastest laps of the day for reasons I'll come to, but was getting a bit ragged in places. Ian said to me after "Aye that were quick, but yer lines were a bit shit"

Lunch was a very tasty steak pie chips n mussy peas. Better than any track cafe food I've ever had! Unfortunately the weather we were expecting to arrive early on turned up, and it pissed down for an hour. Balls.

Session 4 was on a fully wet track and the 1st lap out was comical. Ian didn't have any wets and was massively struggling for grip (whilst still being massively quicker than us!) but we got into a bit of a rhythm and I enjoyed using some of the techniques for smooth riding to go round at a fair pace in the end. Towards the end the wind was starting to dry out the track in places.

Session 5 the last of the day was on a patchy damp track. This was the most fun of all, and some of the earlier bits I'd kept fluffing I managed to nail nicely. Peter by this time was fatigued and said he was just going to circulate at his own pace and Ian and I should fook off. So we did. Mindful of some of the damper bits I was having the time of my life chasing Ian down (whilst he did massive wheelies up the straight) and carving our way through some slower riders. I think if it had been dry like Session 3 I'd have blitzed my earlier lap times, but came pretty close considering the conditions.

At one point, Ian lost the front but heroically managed to kick it back upright with his knee - I thought he was off for sure, but at the end of the session he came over to me laughing his head off "Marquez fooking who lad - did you see that?!". Brilliant.

All in, it was a superb day. It's a pity Blyton is a 3 hour ride away really else I'd go there more often. Our ride home was a bit crap because the rain came back with vengeance, with added hail and horrendous traffic through Lincoln, and I was knackered from the days riding. What a buzz though!

I had attached my Garmin Virb to the rear of the bike, but on the wrong side! Blyton is a left hand circuit whereas most others go the other way, but the video footage isn't too bad. Herewith for your amusement/abuse.

Dry Laps



Wet Laps



Damp madness at the end of the day

The circuit pics from Snetterton on Tuesday evening are finally up. Pretty pleased with this one!



Official pics from Blyton were crap, no sense of speed at all.