2005 600cc Sport production results

[Dafe]

Hey Robert, Since you've got so much experience, I guess you must be the go to man. What enhancements can you recommend to improve my ride?

[Robert Taylor]

Hey Robert, Since you've got so much experience, I guess you must be the go to man. What enhancements can you recommend to improve my ride?

When you tell me for what make and model?

[CHOPPA]

The standard bike class would have been a great idea about 2 months ago haha

Im all for keeping down the costs so i really like the idea of standard bikes. Im feely new to road racing and I have had a bike with standard suspension on the track and now one with full ohlins from robert.

I felt safe enough riding on standard suspension and if everyone else had been on the same i would have been more competitive now i have the good stuff i can really notice the diff and im extemely happy with what robert has done and i will be alot more competitive.

Pretty much what im sayin is that i was forced into buying good suspension due to the class i race and i am very happy i did considering the improvement but if there were a stock class i would have saved myself some money and still been happy with the handling of my bike

[Robert Taylor]

A little word about sponsorship as I was asked how many riders I sponsored with Ohlins suspension. For this last year actually none. The years have taught me some hard lessons about sponsorship, if you give give give you very seldom actually recieve back its a very moot point what you in real terms recieve back relevant to your investment and you certainly dont always recieve loyalty. I can in fact name some very longstanding loyal riders but by default that then effectively exposes those who havent been so, even though you may have ''loyally'' moved mountains for them.

Coinciding with my tory philosophy I now rather favour a hand up rather than a handout mentality. Over the last race season our first responsibility was to our contracted riders but we still found plenty of time to assist other riders including where neccessary full suspension repairs / revalves at no charge at meetings. If riders are using our product ( purchased from us ) they are comforted to know that at major meetings we are able to access help of that nature. That is our ''sponsorship'' and I believe it is a whole load more valuable than the traditional means. Sponsorship is not a right, it has to be earned.
Thankfully, road racing is a more mature discipline than motocross where a lot or riders almost expect sponsorship as of right.
Incidentally Ohlins AB Sweden dont sponsor anyone. Most of the MotoGP and WSBK fields use Ohlins because they want the best product and they also know that Ohlins has a full and proper race service infrastructure available.

[Robert Taylor]

When you tell me for what make and model?

The standard bike class would have been a great idea about 2 months ago haha

Im all for keeping down the costs so i really like the idea of standard bikes. Im feely new to road racing and I have had a bike with standard suspension on the track and now one with full ohlins from robert.

I felt safe enough riding on standard suspension and if everyone else had been on the same i would have been more competitive now i have the good stuff i can really notice the diff and im extemely happy with what robert has done and i will be alot more competitive.

Pretty much what im sayin is that i was forced into buying good suspension due to the class i race and i am very happy i did considering the improvement but if there were a stock class i would have saved myself some money and still been happy with the handling of my bike

To be brutally honest I think that it is a very debatable point just how much it would keep the costs down. Its no good having a stock suspension rule without at least allowing for alternative springs for rider weights at the opposite ends of the scale, and therefore the cost of purchasing. If you purchase a set of top shelf suspension you can be assured ( at least from me ) that they will be supplied with the appropriate springing at no extra cost relative to your personal stats.

Stock rear shocks have rubber bladders that seperate the gas from the oil, but by nature nitrogen ( at 10 - 12 bar pressure ) quickly migrates through the rubber bladder and areates the oil. That means the shock will fade fast and NEEDS rebuilding a whole lot more often. Cost.

A major upwards or downwards change in spring rate to accomodate varying rider weights will need a corresponding recalibration of primarily the high speed rebound valving stack so that the damping is suitable to the spring. Cost. Otherwise these riders will be disadvantaged. So how do you police this?.

More rapid tyre wear, heck we see it on track day bikes that are not ridden at 10 / 10ths Cost

Time precludes laboriously detailing myriad other reasons but suffice to say it is not an automatic bed of roses.

[roadracingoldfart]

10 ) I do happen to love the English language but I think it is unfair to judge people by their speech either written or one to one. Given that our standards of speech and etiquette have declined over the years I guess its a matter of biting ones tongue. I think patience and a calm demeanour are also desirable qualities, as is restraint with expletives.

.

Ohh i say old chap, it is extremely comforting in a hetorosexual manor to hear such a statement of claim from a gentleman like yourself. My deepest and most heartfelt contrafibulations to you good sir. Top stuff, brilliant.

[Cleve]

but what I find VERY perplexing is a dredge of posts over the last few months would reveal some very contradictory and mixed messages.

You know I have wondered the very same thing. Very perplexing indeed.

ps that is "accommodate" Mr Taylor. Apart from that I greatly admire your writing (and spelling...) and errr as a business man in his 40's your philosophy... but that is a different matter.

[CHOPPA]

To be brutally honest I think that it is a very debatable point just how much it would keep the costs down. Its no good having a stock suspension rule without at least allowing for alternative springs for rider weights at the opposite ends of the scale, and therefore the cost of purchasing. If you purchase a set of top shelf suspension you can be assured ( at least from me ) that they will be supplied with the appropriate springing at no extra cost relative to your personal stats.

Stock rear shocks have rubber bladders that seperate the gas from the oil, but by nature nitrogen ( at 10 - 12 bar pressure ) quickly migrates through the rubber bladder and areates the oil. That means the shock will fade fast and NEEDS rebuilding a whole lot more often. Cost.

A major upwards or downwards change in spring rate to accomodate varying rider weights will need a corresponding recalibration of primarily the high speed rebound valving stack so that the damping is suitable to the spring. Cost. Otherwise these riders will be disadvantaged. So how do you police this?.

More rapid tyre wear, heck we see it on track day bikes that are not ridden at 10 / 10ths Cost

Time precludes laboriously detailing myriad other reasons but suffice to say it is not an automatic bed of roses.

Well now i have the good stuff i certainly wouldnt go back! money well spent, suspension has made me faster then my titanium exhaust that looks pretty haha

[Bren_chch]

how much is a superbike to buy and then build to top NZ race spec? 40k?

How much is a gsxr1000 stock, with slipon? 16k?

how can it not be cheaper?

[Robert Taylor]

how much is a superbike to buy and then build to top NZ race spec? 40k?

How much is a gsxr1000 stock, with slipon? 16k?

how can it not be cheaper?

Try racing a GSXR1000 at top level with stock suspension and just see how fast you are going to screw tyres and how much they will understeer off turns under power because the squat control is woefully inadequate, etc etc. The questions and answers are unfortunately not a simple black and white open and shut case. As someone else effectively eluded we are no longer in the 70s. That means we no longer have ( in relative terms ) low horsepower and torque, spindly chassis and tyres and much much less load fed into the suspension. The simple fact of the matter ( whether you like it or not ) is the suspension has become much much more of a key tuning component in getting the bike around the track.
We either go back to the past and all the problems it WILL entail or we continue to embrace the technology available, as most other first world countries do. Although that in itself is a moot point as actions from several sectors of society is condemning us to lose any status as a first world country.

[Robert Taylor]

You know I have wondered the very same thing. Very perplexing indeed.

ps that is "accommodate" Mr Taylor. Apart from that I greatly admire your writing (and spelling...) and errr as a business man in his 40's your philosophy... but that is a different matter.

Please excuse the spelling as I dont use spell check and am in a hurry...

[Bren_chch]

ok so its still not hard to work out is it... u allow suspension mods, whats that for an ok front and rear setup... 5k?? so all up you could be competitive in a superstock class on a 16k bike??

You say and I qoute:

"To be brutally honest I think that it is a very debatable point just how much it would keep the costs down."

So again how much is it to buy then build a top superbike to nz spec?

Answer that and tell me its a debatable point on how much would be saved!

[HDTboy]

I saw $35000 get poured into a 600SP bike this past season, and I didn't charge for labour on it.

[Bren_chch]

I saw $35000 get poured into a 600SP bike this past season, and I didn't charge for labour on it.

Did it win?

[Robert Taylor]

ok so its still not hard to work out is it... u allow suspension mods, whats that for an ok front and rear setup... 5k?? so all up you could be competitive in a superstock class on a 16k bike??

You say and I qoute:

"To be brutally honest I think that it is a very debatable point just how much it would keep the costs down."

So again how much is it to buy then build a top superbike to nz spec?

Answer that and tell me its a debatable point on how much would be saved!

I honestly do not know the end cost but know the absolute technical neccessity for having well set up suspension commensurate with the performance potential of the bike. Robbie Bugdens bike and his competitors a little over 6k for top shelf suspension and a steering damper that doesnt cavitate. Endless backup at in real terms very low cost, compared at least to the contract prices that Ohlins charge WSBK and MotoGp teams. That is one cost of racing at that level but in real terms its still a whole load less than auto racing.
It is extreme in NZ terms, I have one auto racing customer that has now spent 3 million on his car over the years.
But another flipside is that when such distributor bikes get sold off to privateers the upspec components almost always stay on them and the bikes are sold at prices well under the odds to their true cost. As there is a very strong market for upspec components second hand they are not ''once only dead money'' So while we may grizzle a lot here in the Siberia of the Pacific we have it pretty good in many plausible ways.