NotoriousREV wrote: ↑Wed May 09, 2018 11:27 amI'm amazed no one has invented cooled suits for use out there. It's not like there's a shortage of money.
I've seen various devices that purport to do this - cooling vests, skull caps, etc.
All of them are equally useless, frankly - at the end of the day, cooling is difficult and requires a lot of energy and equipment.
I wore a compression top and tights under my leathers. Tights.
They're called leggings like that's better. But without them the knee boxes on the track pants got all hurty. Not from any contact with tarmac, admittedly.
Last edited by JLv3.0 on Wed May 09, 2018 4:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
My elder cousins in Edinburgh were bike daft. Always read Bike mags and Ogri annuals at their place.
I still remember how stoopid I felt (must have been about 10) when I causally mentioned a la-ver-ah-der, and there was a confused pause, before they fell around laughing.
So last Saturday I had my BMW K1200R booked in for its MOT, which expired the following Wednesday.
I’m always late getting my MOTs done on every vehicle. I’m pretty sure I’ve never actually done one before it’s due, so I was pretty pleased with myself for getting booked in.
On the day, I was working on my other bike in the morning, and planned to pop in to see a mate whilst my bike was at the shop as he lives just around the corner. About 12 he texts me to say I should drop into his first as they had to go out later, so by the time I’d finished tinkering, having a shower etc. I got to his about 1. We had a natter and a brew and I ended leaving his at 1:40, a little late but figured it would be OK. And it might have been if I’d got the time of the appointment right in the first place; 1pm, not 1:30. Oops.
Sadly, they couldn’t fit me in (it’s only a little family run place), so I had to get it done yesterday instead, only a few days late. My record stands.
JLv3.0 wrote: ↑Fri May 18, 2018 6:08 pm
Updates Dave? When's the first track day? Clocks fixed?
Track day is Tuesday. Haven’t looked at the clocks but I’ll give them a go on Sunday, if it’s not a loose plug I’ll just buy a new set of clocks off eBay. They only fail in 6th so it’ll be fine on the trackday. I need to undo the sump plug to try and fit a new washer as it’s dripping a bit of oil. I’m going to try not to lose too much lovely, red Motul 300V.
As mentioned in the Weekend thread, I’m test riding a KTM Superduke GT on Saturday.
I took the Superduke GT out yesterday and loved it!
At first, in the car park, it felt a little tall. Colwyn Bay KTM’s car park is all slopey and I had flashbacks to dropping the MT10 demonstrator at my local dealer, but the minute I started rolling a realised how light the GT is, and the centre of gravity is really low too, so it’s remarkably easy to manoeuvre slowly on.
It’s been a while since I last rode a v-twin, the last being my TL1000R at least 8 years ago, so had forgotten about the low down lumpiness and the vibes, which at first were a bit distracting. In fact, in the first few minutes on the A55 at 80mph I was thinking I couldn’t live with the vibration at all, especially in the very tingly left peg.
The dealer is very lucky in that they have a perfect test route available to them on their doorstep, that they reckon takes roughly an hour. You basically hit the A55 for a couple of junctions (so you can test the motorway abilities), then you head off on the A470 towards Betws-y-coed (a lovely, fast flowing A-road), then at Llanrwst you take the A548 to Abergele, up and over the mountains on tighter, twistier roads.
Once I got onto the A470, I didn’t notice or care about the vibes, I was too busy having fun. This is the first bike I’ve ridden with a quickshifter so was loving that, but the best part was just how easy this bike is to ride. For a 177bhp twin, it felt very controllable and docile most of the time. Where the MT10 was intimidating everywhere, the KTM was just encouraging. On roads I didn’t know well (I’ve ridden that section of the A470 in the opposite direction plenty of times, I’d never been on the A548 before), and on a bike I didn’t know at all, I was making decent progress. I only put brakes myself once, into a sharp left hander, where suddenly it felt like a big crosser: handful of front brake, then almost a stop-turn to get round. No fuss and I didn’t shit myself. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more confident on an unknown bike on unknown roads.
About halfway round, I was thinking it didn’t feel like it had the full 177 ponies, but then I realised I wasn’t using full throttle, it need another bit of a turn. Fucking hell, it tried to rip my arms off. It definitely has the power.
I tried the “Street” and “Sport” engine and suspension settings. Not a huge difference between the 2 to my mind, Sport just felt a bit edgier. I can see me only ever really using the standard mode if I’m honest.
The kids loved it, the wife loved it, they all insisted that I have to have the Akrapovic exhaust on mine. So we’re just waiting on the salesman to come up with a deal. The only possible fly in the ointment is the £750 a year insurance (vs £300 on my current 170bhp BMW).
