World Superbikes 2013

**raziel1983** · 5th April 2013, 16:54

Originally Posted by Robert Taylor

Yep, hes a caveman and the idiocy has already started. Aftermarket ie proper race spec forks are prohibited 2014 onwards

Guess we'll be seeing better stock suspenders on our road(super)bikes after that then??

**Mental Trousers** · 5th April 2013, 17:03

Originally Posted by raziel1983

Guess we'll be seeing better stock suspenders on our road(super)bikes after that then??

Nope. Just better ways of fiddling what's there.

**Robert Taylor** · 5th April 2013, 19:31

Originally Posted by raziel1983

Guess we'll be seeing better stock suspenders on our road(super)bikes after that then??

That, if it ever happened would be a very positive by product yes. But, given that most of the showroom bikes are engineered or rather bastardised by accountants I wouldnt hold your breath for too long!
It is no small mercy that the new proposed rules will still allow the fitment of aftermarket cartridges, which in themselves make a huge improvement. But to not put too fine a point on it the issues with especially all the Japanese stock outers are huge. They are incredibly flimsy because there is so little metal in them and the publicity wa...rs pass it off as weight reduction.Cynically, much of this will in fact be cost reduction because there is less material! Even any low friction coatings are a very thin ''veneer'', rather than the 16 step coat and polish, coat and polish process on true racing forks. Because of this inherent flimsiness they distort / flex and bind up under deflective loads. They also wear out rather fast and will bend a LOT more readily with even the smaller accidents.
Evidence also the issues Craig Shirriffs had with aftermarket handlebar clamps binding up the forks. Sure the tolerancing and therefore the pressure points the clamps were placing upon the fork outers wasnt ''ideal'' but also consider that there is an abysmal amount of rigidity in the outer tubes. This demonstrates very clearly the amount of under engineering that is being passed off to a largely ( Im sorry ) gullible clientele.
Proper racing forks that are made for the job are in fact quite a lot heavier because they have metal in all the right places to make them more rigid and a whole lot less prone to binding under deflective loads
Its a sure bet that the engineers working on these bikes will be tearing their hair out, in going from working on properly engineered stuff to working with cheaply produced shite. This is the stuff we work with in NZ Superbike and if anyone thinks its a walk in the park I invite them to come along to our workshop when we are working with this stuff .
Compared to the 4 Japanese brands the forks on the BMW S1000RR stay in shape a lot better because of their bigger size, albeit there is more friction to contend with given that theres more bushing and seal area. Bikes such as the Panigale with the Ohlins road and track forks fitted ( albeit still a far cry from true race forks ) will theoretically have a technical advantage because the fork outers are a lot stronger.
Thankfully bikes that already have electronic controls standard are allowed to run with same and at least in theory that gives the Panigale another technical advantage ( maybe the rule changes are an Italian conspiracy .......) Likely this will drive more manufacturers to produce sportbikes with more electronic controls standard.

**tail_end_charlie** · 8th April 2013, 14:40

Evidently Effenbert Liberty are making another go at WSBK this year with Mark Atichison and the Ducati 1098R.

Be curious to know if they still have the 6kg weight penelty that they had to run last year??

**Geeen** · 8th April 2013, 15:33

Originally Posted by tail_end_charlie

Evidently Effenbert Liberty are making another go at WSBK this year with Mark Atichison and the Ducati 1098R.

Be curious to know if they still have the 6kg weight penelty that they had to run last year??

Linky no go, try this this

**tail_end_charlie** · 8th April 2013, 16:32

Originally Posted by Geeen

Linky no go, try this this

Doh! Left out one freaking set of quotation marks and shit don't work. Fixed now....

**Geeen** · 8th April 2013, 18:11

No worries, at least I can watch this on TV

unlike the GP

**tail_end_charlie** · 8th April 2013, 18:44

Originally Posted by Geeen

No worries, at least I can watch this on TV

unlike the GP

Ha ha, funny, I'm the opposite. I can watch MotoGP online, but don't have Sky, so I can't watch WSBK.

**Geeen** · 8th April 2013, 19:36

Originally Posted by tail_end_charlie

Ha ha, funny, I'm the opposite. I can watch MotoGP online, but don't have Sky, so I can't watch WSBK.

If you aren't too worried about live check out THIS link, all sorts of racing including WSBK.

**trev** · 10th April 2013, 07:33

Originally Posted by Geeen

If you aren't too worried about live check out THIS link, all sorts of racing including WSBK.

or www.racingfor.me/index.rfm?cls=32

**Mental Trousers** · 10th April 2013, 08:56

Originally Posted by trev

or www.racingfor.me/index.rfm?cls=32

You'll probably find he's not a member so can't get to that.

**tail_end_charlie** · 10th April 2013, 18:54

Originally Posted by Mental Trousers

You'll probably find he's not a member so can't get to that.

Correct-a-mondo!

**trev** · 11th April 2013, 07:21

Originally Posted by Mental Trousers

You'll probably find he's not a member so can't get to that.

I just emailed them & said my old "racing-underground" password wasn't working so they gave me a new one. If you chuck them 5quid as a donation it will probably get you in. I chucked €10 to xspeeds & that got me into their site. They do bike racing, but RFM are quicker & have far more torrents so I've donated to them as well & will stay with them. X-speeds you have to keep donating but once you are in RFM donating is optional.