Basics of going faster/more power

[F5 Dave]

Well I mentioned the 1100 barrels, but a bit optimistic on the 1100 motor price. GSXR motors are sort after & $3k would be a bargain.

[ManDownUnder]

Ahem, at the risk of being rude...why don't you just learn to ride it faster? I've met plenty of guys with more horsepower than brains...

That ain't rude - it's a bloody good question.

The answer is a simple one - I've just spent a bit of money on the bike and got it going quite nicewly - which made me wonder... what else is out there, make it go better?

Timing tweaks, air in/out tweaks, fuel tweak, compression tweaks etc.

I used to work on jet engines so I could tune one of those for you (ok, I'd need to hit the books again but the principles are there) but never spent much time around these piston based things with a spanner in hand.

For me the answer to "why" is simply why not - what can I learn and what fun could I have tweaking and playing with it.

As for me being the limiting factor on my bike... HELL YES! I took it out to a pukekohe raceday and proceeded to be the backmarker all day (and loved it I might add). I don't pretend to be anything more than a road rider with a few years under my belt... cautious as hell (apparently falling off at great speed hurts - no?)

MDU

[James Deuce]

That ain't rude - it's a bloody good question.

The answer is a simple one - I've just spent a bit of money on the bike and got it going quite nicewly - which made me wonder... what else is out there, make it go better?

Timing tweaks, air in/out tweaks, fuel tweak, compression tweaks etc.

I used to work on jet engines so I could tune one of those for you (ok, I'd need to hit the books again but the principles are there) but never spent much time around these piston based things with a spanner in hand.

For me the answer to "why" is simply why not - what can I learn and what fun could I have tweaking and playing with it.

As for me being the limiting factor on my bike... HELL YES! I took it out to a pukekohe raceday and proceeded to be the backmarker all day (and loved it I might add). I don't pretend to be anything more than a road rider with a few years under my belt... cautious as hell (apparently falling off at great speed hurts - no?)

MDU

I've always been hurt worse in low speed accidents. The times I've fallen off over 160km/hr on the track I've barely scuffed my leathers.

On reflection I reckon suspension upgrades would give you more reward for the amount of money spent. You'll be able to brake harder and later, and get on the gas sooner. You'll probably get better value out of your tyres as well, as you'll use more rubber across the surfaceof the tyre

[Oscar]

That ain't rude - it's a bloody good question.

The answer is a simple one - I've just spent a bit of money on the bike and got it going quite nicewly - which made me wonder... what else is out there, make it go better?

Timing tweaks, air in/out tweaks, fuel tweak, compression tweaks etc.

I used to work on jet engines so I could tune one of those for you (ok, I'd need to hit the books again but the principles are there) but never spent much time around these piston based things with a spanner in hand.

For me the answer to "why" is simply why not - what can I learn and what fun could I have tweaking and playing with it.

As for me being the limiting factor on my bike... HELL YES! I took it out to a pukekohe raceday and proceeded to be the backmarker all day (and loved it I might add). I don't pretend to be anything more than a road rider with a few years under my belt... cautious as hell (apparently falling off at great speed hurts - no?)

MDU

That's a very honest appraisal, and I gotta say that there is something to having a few trick bits on yer bike, especially ones that help it sound good (I have a SXC muffler on my KTM), but I can show you scars where I learnt that too much power can be a bad thing.

I spent years riding off-road with mates who were a bunch of enduro hotshots (Motu will attest to what a bunch of lunatics they are). In this rarified atmosphere I used to figure that my own riding skills were pretty duff - I spent a lot of time following the pack. What actually happened was as I got better, they got better, so I still ended up as the rabbit of the bunch, but of a bunch with very high standards.

Recently I started riding on the road and adventure riding, and I am now constantly appalled at the lack of basic riding skills shown by a large percentage of the people I see. Young and old guys with all the fruit on expensive motorcycles (on & off road) who are an accident looking to happen.

My advice to you (and to any other road riders), is if you wanna hone yer skills - go off-road. This is not a new or radical thought, the Kenny Roberts School in Spain uses XR70's to teach pupils the finer points of braking and traction.

Get yourself a cheap trail bike and find a piece of land, a trial ride or whatever. The lessons happen at lower speeds and mistakes are neither as expensive or as painful as road racing..,.

[Motu]

The other extreme happens too - you can be a better rider than your peers,spend your whole time showing off,but have never been pushed - when you get to ride with better riders you find out you are a no body - you could even over reach yourself.Trials was and still is a big shake up for me - no matter how good you think you are - you start at the very bottom,those who can't be humble quickly disapear.

I'll back up Oscar on the dirt skills as the best foundation blocks,it will only improve your riding.But I'm sure that KTM could really fly if it didn't have to haul so much un necessary weight.

[MacD]

might be teaching gramma to suck eggs here but I understand that rf900's vary in engine specifications depending on where it was soposed to go.

Does anybody know how to tell which country model a particular RF900 is? I have the RF900 PDF manual with the country codes, but I've yet to work out how to tell from the bike (without pulling it apart and checking cam markings etc). Supposedly there's meant to be a code marking on the carbs (as jet sizes and settings differ) but I couldn't find one...I think I have an Australian model?

:confused2

[ManDownUnder]

Does anybody know how to tell which country model a particular RF900 is? I have the RF900 PDF manual with the country codes, but I've yet to work out how to tell from the bike (without pulling it apart and checking cam markings etc). Supposedly there's meant to be a code marking on the carbs (as jet sizes and settings differ) but I couldn't find one...I think I have an Australian model?

:confused2

I can't directly answer your question but looking through the manual I see there is a difference in a couple of areas. One of them is the lock nut on the back wheel, some regions require a split pin and castlatted (sp?) nut, other regions were fine with doing the bastard up tight (mine is the no split pin variety).

Likewise in the light swtichblock, some regions have a headlight light on/off switch, some don't (mine doesn't - just the dip switch...).

Looking in the manual I see there is a list of codes indicating which country/model it is...

E-02 = England
E-03 = USA (except California)
E-04 = France
E-15 = Finland
E-16 = Norway
E-17 = Sweden
E-18 = Switzerland
E-21 = Belgium
E-22 = Germany
E-24 = Australia
E-25 = Netherlands
E-28 = Canada
E-33 = California (US of A)
E-34 = Italy
E-39 = Austria
E-53 = Spain

I couldn't find it on the bike (parked downstairs in the dark... which really didn't help..) but I assume it's going to be on one of the frame tags up around the steering head?

A big giveaway for me is the fact there is a Noise label on the LHS of the steering head - upon re-inspection of the bike and manual... if you have this longish label (rectangluar, white on mine) mentioning noise levels, then you have either the E-21 or E-24 bike (Belgium or Oz).

I'm picking mine is Oz...
MDU

[Oscar]

The other extreme happens too - you can be a better rider than your peers,spend your whole time showing off,but have never been pushed - when you get to ride with better riders you find out you are a no body - you could even over reach yourself.Trials was and still is a big shake up for me - no matter how good you think you are - you start at the very bottom,those who can't be humble quickly disapear.

I'll back up Oscar on the dirt skills as the best foundation blocks,it will only improve your riding.But I'm sure that KTM could really fly if it didn't have to haul so much un necessary weight.

You can be so hurtful sometimes...http://www.advrider.com/forums/images/smilies/bncry.gif

I'll pick out a special hill fer you on LWII...

[DEATH_INC.]

Pretty sure a higher octane fuel actually burns slower,that's why they can take more timing/compression without pre-ignition.
Use the lowest octane fuel you can without pre-ignition for most hp .
The GSXR1100 engine won't work,the rf has downdraft carbs,the gixx's stick out the rear :disapint: .
One other option is nos.....good fun and fairly easy to fit if you just want the odd blast....

[F5 Dave]

Thanks MDU, I think I’ve seen that label, I’ll go check mine tonight. I noticed something written in some wog language (read; anything us ignorant mono-linguistic folk don’t understand) so I’m guessing mine is French, but to confuse things I was told the engine was replaced when a boat ran into it in the garage or some other crazy thing.

Hey I wonder if they change the headlights for LHS from Euro?

Seems to go pretty damn well top end (it would give my 750 a go) & the carbs are not tamper proofed.

Who cares if they are as ugly as sin? Most bike for least money award I reckon

[James Deuce]

Pretty sure a higher octane fuel actually burns slower,that's why they can take more timing/compression without pre-ignition.
Use the lowest octane fuel you can without pre-ignition for most hp .
The GSXR1100 engine won't work,the rf has downdraft carbs,the gixx's stick out the rear :disapint: .
One other option is nos.....good fun and fairly easy to fit if you just want the odd blast....

You are correct, however I should have said that it burns more evenly at higher compression ratios. The only reason you need high octane fuel is to control the burn process at higher compression ratios to avoid preignition. However it does burn faster in high compression engines because the act of compression helps ignition.

Sorry.

[merv]

But I'm sure that KTM could really fly if it didn't have to haul so much un necessary weight.

I've got a funny feeling now I've bought a lighter dirt bike that the gross weight combo of me and machine won't be much different than when I bought my DR250 five years ago. Luckily I haven't kept record of the statistics - but my quack probably has.

[Oscar]

I've got a funny feeling now I've bought a lighter dirt bike that the gross weight combo of me and machine won't be much different than when I bought my DR250 five years ago. Luckily I haven't kept record of the statistics - but my quack probably has.

Don't worry about Motu - he's a grumpy shortarse...

[MacD]

I can't directly answer your question but looking through the manual I see there is a difference in a couple of areas.
Likewise in the light swtichblock, some regions have a headlight light on/off switch, some don't (mine doesn't - just the dip switch...).

[snip]

I'm picking mine is Oz...
MDU

Yeah, I followed the same process of elimination and came up with the E-24 Oz model too.

For some reason Suzuki doesn't seem to stamp the country code on the ID/VIN plate along with all the other info. The dealer claimed it was the "full horsepower model" and it seems to have plenty enough for me anyhow

Also I'm not sure they're that ugly anyhow, I know they had that rep, but I quite like the look of them!

[pete376403]

Pretty sure a higher octane fuel actually burns slower,that's why they can take more timing/compression without pre-ignition.

Thats correct. When Honda were running the extremely high (for the day) revving 5s and 6s back in the 60's, they had to run regular grade petrol as the high octane stuff burned too slowly - by the time the fire got going it was on the way down the pipe.
Methanol is even slower burning (and burns cooler than petrol, too, ie less energy released) but can take very high comp - my old cast iron JAP speedway motor ran about 16.5:1, yet never really got hot. IIRC the old iron XR harleys ran about 8:1 yet melted on race petrol (hence the later alloy XR)