front paddock stand or whatever

remember: the engine's the metal-coloured bit in the middle.

 

Suuuuuuure it is.

 

what do you guys use during a race?

 

have I got it wrong again?

 

We'll work it out.

 

Changeable weather conditions before the start of a race mean you do
want to be able to change wheels relatively quickly. Maybe not in 90
seconds, but perhaps within 5 minutes, say.

You can't use slicks in most club races, tho they have started
allowing them in the big class at some places (on grounds of cost and
safety i.e. slicks are cheaper and work better). I'm fairly sure that
a) there isn't a club that will allow slicks on a proddy 250 anywhere
and b) you'd struggle to get slicks to fit those rims.

 

Regular paddock stand for the rear, and a fancy special lever/jack
that locates in front of the engine, from the side, for the front.

But really, all you need for the RGV is a regular stand that fits
under the forks.

 

really? I mean, on a short race, you wouldn't just go on what the
weather looked like 30 minutes before the race and decide what to run?
I've said this before - I'm really not of a competitive frame of mind
- I probably need to work on this.

fair enough - I like Pilot Race anyway - if anything, they're stickier
than Rennsports, though they're fucking shit in the wet (well, they
were on my TRX).

 

yeah, I've seen those - they look like they shouldn't work, to me.

there's a certain assumption going on here that I'm going to race the
RGV - although it's probably the most race-y bike I currently own, I'm
not convinced racing a 2-stroke is the way forward, for several
reasons, including:

* it'll blow up
* even on the RGV forums, there's a certain amount of despair that the
4T 400s are faster by far, in this class.
* it'll blow up

 

Quite.

You're in the paddock, with you're lovely Michelin Pilot Race tyres on
the bike. Your race is due in 15 minutes. It's cloudy, but the track
is dry. Then it starts to rain. Hard. The options to put the wets
in would be good at this point

See above

 

Well, it may blow up. Use of top quality two stroke oil, careful
warming, and not over-revving it should minimise this risk, really.

And, to start out racing, don't worry about how fast everybody else's
bike is. The first few races are really about getting used to
procedure, scrutineering, starts, riding competetively etc etc. A
relatively slow, cheap bike that you already own could be considered
ideal for this.

 

I'm sure I can manage it - I can manage extreme competitiveness in
multi-player video-gaming, so I imagine I can do it in bike racing -
at the very least, I can just pretend I'm in a video game...

sure, understand completely - but I was going on the "if it's sunny,
with forecast for sun, go with the race tyres" and "if it's raining,
go with the wets" and "if it might rain, go with the intermediates".

 

Tron?

 

"not over-revving it". Well, given that it redlines at 12,000rpm, and
the torque/power peaks are ~10,500rpm, that might be an "issue".

fair enough. This thread has been interesting/disturbing for me, as
it's finally convinved me in my own mind that I am genuinely up for
going racing next year.

 

Do they not have limiters?

Excellent.

 

Not really. I just mean don't regularly rev it well into the redline.

Another tip - when I first started, I did a few meetings right at the
end of the season (a couple in September, and one in October). This
gave me a feel for the thing, let me know what I was letting myself in
for, and some basis for knowing what to get/how to prepare for the
next season.

 

ah, ok.

unfortunately, I'm really bloody busy at work. Not least, because I've
just had official word of my promotion (but not how much they're going
to pay me for it yet) and so I now have to

a) do my current job
b) do some planning for my new role
c) recruit a replacement

 

Filtering at 50mph through stationary traffic in the Limehouse Link
tunnel with a black visor on always struck me as being like a
high-thrills, hish-stakes video game.