Post by drat on Jun 29, 2011 23:23:14 GMT -5
Well I went from being a million seconds ahead of the next finisher in round one winning 5 races to getting a 3rd (heat) and a 4th for round 2....
Certainly the auto bike (twist and go) I run is down on power to the Vespas, our last Dyno run was 17hp, and I think we may be at 19 or so now, compared to the Vespas at 25 to 30HP roughly, but the Big People Scooters bike I am running steers quicker so its a trade off. On PIR however, its not a trade off... its just scary, and bouncy enough that I went about 70%fast with 110% effort.
Scooter racing is far more dangerous and spookier than muscling a 450-500 pound liter bike around at a buck 50. I found this out last year, which was my first year racing in the PSRA championship.
One really small amount of input on the bars and they are now living in your stomach, diving into your bowels like a ... well , like a pair of handle bars being thrust into your abdomen, as you slide down the track at 80mph...
One little miscue and you will find your head on the ground and your ass in the air, and I have more than once thought for sure I was gonna get a navel piercing from those bars....
I crashed a bunch in practice last year on my first race scooter.. I fell a lot learning the limits, however silly they are from the theoretical limits, they just wont let you do certain stuff you want to...you have to ride around all the problems, while prioritizing how many of them you can reasonably, or literally be able to fix before race time.
I knew we were gonna need some suspension love on my scooter on the big track if I wanted to keep it pinned in all the corners but the chicane and turn 4.
I know i can, the big question was if the bike would let me, If i could do so, I would destroy the field, my competitors would be shaking their heads and I would have a hefty lead in the championship. As it stands I believe I am Tied for 1st with Patrick.
it was hard to get the bike to Barry before the races, so i tried to sneak in the cue race day... Barry was just too buzy understandably, so my shock didn't get looked at till after my races at the end of the day.. but , as he found out.. it only had a half inch or so of travel and half explained my wobbly bouncy problems...
I couldn't stay in the throttle or keep it on line. It fought me the whole way...
we didnt have time to get the rear shock rebuilt, but there was one thing we over looked.
the RACE...
i got an ok start, we are still messing with the transmission and the rollers to find my balance of top end and off the line grunt... and we are pretty close, but what really got me was the skipping.. i stayed in second, and bounced around until I was over taken by the lazy cornering but high speed Vespa of Patrick. Brian was able to put a little bit of a gap down early, which i know i could do, but we had gremlins...
1 a rear shock with a half inch of travel, bouncing me to the moon,
2 we either lost wheel weights on the front or some other significant problem with the stability.
at times i was holding the front down with all my strength...
The video speaks for itself... i gave it as much gas as i could and kept it on track to salvage what points I could..
You can see how bad the front was acting. I had chatter, weave, bouncing, hopping, skipping, pretty much everything you dont want in a front end..
I recommend you watch it at 480 as I accidentally uploaded it at a low res....
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWYbo...yer_detailpage
thanks to Victor Voris at Big People Scooters, Daric Cheshire, Barry and April at KFG, Jason Merrit at Summa Real Estate, SPeedy Moto, The Bonfire Lounge, The Hilt Lounge, Stark naked Pizza, OmRRa, Patrick and the PSRA, and of course my beautiful wife and son. good times!
Certainly the auto bike (twist and go) I run is down on power to the Vespas, our last Dyno run was 17hp, and I think we may be at 19 or so now, compared to the Vespas at 25 to 30HP roughly, but the Big People Scooters bike I am running steers quicker so its a trade off. On PIR however, its not a trade off... its just scary, and bouncy enough that I went about 70%fast with 110% effort.
Scooter racing is far more dangerous and spookier than muscling a 450-500 pound liter bike around at a buck 50. I found this out last year, which was my first year racing in the PSRA championship.
One really small amount of input on the bars and they are now living in your stomach, diving into your bowels like a ... well , like a pair of handle bars being thrust into your abdomen, as you slide down the track at 80mph...
One little miscue and you will find your head on the ground and your ass in the air, and I have more than once thought for sure I was gonna get a navel piercing from those bars....
I crashed a bunch in practice last year on my first race scooter.. I fell a lot learning the limits, however silly they are from the theoretical limits, they just wont let you do certain stuff you want to...you have to ride around all the problems, while prioritizing how many of them you can reasonably, or literally be able to fix before race time.
I knew we were gonna need some suspension love on my scooter on the big track if I wanted to keep it pinned in all the corners but the chicane and turn 4.
I know i can, the big question was if the bike would let me, If i could do so, I would destroy the field, my competitors would be shaking their heads and I would have a hefty lead in the championship. As it stands I believe I am Tied for 1st with Patrick.
it was hard to get the bike to Barry before the races, so i tried to sneak in the cue race day... Barry was just too buzy understandably, so my shock didn't get looked at till after my races at the end of the day.. but , as he found out.. it only had a half inch or so of travel and half explained my wobbly bouncy problems...
I couldn't stay in the throttle or keep it on line. It fought me the whole way...
we didnt have time to get the rear shock rebuilt, but there was one thing we over looked.
the RACE...
i got an ok start, we are still messing with the transmission and the rollers to find my balance of top end and off the line grunt... and we are pretty close, but what really got me was the skipping.. i stayed in second, and bounced around until I was over taken by the lazy cornering but high speed Vespa of Patrick. Brian was able to put a little bit of a gap down early, which i know i could do, but we had gremlins...
1 a rear shock with a half inch of travel, bouncing me to the moon,
2 we either lost wheel weights on the front or some other significant problem with the stability.
at times i was holding the front down with all my strength...
The video speaks for itself... i gave it as much gas as i could and kept it on track to salvage what points I could..
You can see how bad the front was acting. I had chatter, weave, bouncing, hopping, skipping, pretty much everything you dont want in a front end..
I recommend you watch it at 480 as I accidentally uploaded it at a low res....
www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWYbo...yer_detailpage
thanks to Victor Voris at Big People Scooters, Daric Cheshire, Barry and April at KFG, Jason Merrit at Summa Real Estate, SPeedy Moto, The Bonfire Lounge, The Hilt Lounge, Stark naked Pizza, OmRRa, Patrick and the PSRA, and of course my beautiful wife and son. good times!