CLUNK! And along with the forks, the penny drops…….
I’m at the entry to turn 1 at Ruapuna, Friday unofficial practice, first session, start of lap 2……and the forks have just slammed to the bottom of their travel. I’ve just toured through the first lap, re-acquainting myself with the circuit after the prior weekend’s Lady Wigram event. I’ve only just started to wick it up a lil’ bit but am nowhere near even my race pace. Just as I’m telling myself to let go of the front brake the front tyre as chirped across a coupla bumps and I’m down.
The weekend before I had some real problems with the bike seeming to suffer major changes in front suspension action in the course of just a couple of races. From having 25mm of front static sag prior to leaving home it had blown out to 35mm after race 2, with my fork travel indicator going from 20mm spare travel to absolutely nothing. I wound on all the pre-load I had left (3 turns) and added 3 more clicks of compression damping for race 3 and it felt much better and at least stayed consistent.
I arranged with Ray Clee to bring some heavier WP springs for the following weekend. I was just going to do one session before changing them to give me something to compare the change to. I’d also decided the bike was too low, feeling cumbersome and slow to turn so went to raise it up a tad, no problem at the rear but the triple clamp pinch bolts were extremely tight, and I struggled to get leverage on ‘em with the fairings etc in place. I finally managed to loosen ‘em off, but the clip-on pinch bolts are a lil’ awkward as well so I just nipped everything back up, afraid I’d run out of time and miss the session.
Soon enough I’m hearing the dreaded “CLUNK!” as the forks bottom out and I’m executing a tumbling routine worthy of the Olympics…….along with the bike which slides, catches the edge of the grass, flips, and slams into the deck upside down. The entry to Turn 1 isn’t a slow place to crash.
So almost before I’ve come to a halt I’ve realized the only change I made was to loosen off the pinch bolts, and I recalled being at an Ohlins /Peter Goddard seminar where Robert Taylor and Peter Goddard mentioned how critical it was not to over tighten the pinch bolts as it could bind up the piston/bush. I hadn’t touched that area of the bike since I picked it up late last year, but that’s neither here nor there, ultimately the responsibility for bike prep lies with me.
So, the bike is pretty much trashed, with both front and rear subframes smashed, tank munted, most of fairings obliterated, damaged frame, along with sundry smaller bits and bobs. Which pretty much brings my NZSBK campaign to a grinding halt before it’s even started. I’ve already got a lead on a fair amount of those parts but getting them here from the State’s is the tricky part, with such large boxes……..just waiting on a call back regards shipping.
So while I’m full of “if’s, but’s and maybe’s” over the whole abortion I’m also well aware I could have been the shattered wreck and the bike could have got off with just a few bumps and bruises. The only thing that really grinds my gears is I’ve been riding so conservatively at the trackdays and Lady Wigram event leading up to this, not wanting to jeopardise this series, and I still haven’t hit the “GO!” button on the (not so) new bike, which I was so looking forward to.
But such is life. A dear old friend who was basically our surrogate Mum while we were in Oz for many years, passed away last week. At 73 Sylvia nursed an angry/frustrated husband through a series of strokes, then battled cancer on her own, enduring injections into her bloody eye, chemo etc etc. Compared to what she went through this is small beans.
If things fall into place then I might enter the Superbike class at Manfeild, failing that be prepared to see an extremely ugly GSXR "Superlight" streetfighter in Clubman’s.
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Originally Posted by White trash
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