Near Death Experiences in Wales

Ben says...

My Gixer is definitely quicker off the mark and up to 130 than my 9R
was, and my 9R wasn't slow.

 

Ben says...

My Gixer is definitely quicker off the mark and up to 130 than my 9R
was, and my 9R wasn't slow.

 

heh. The countryside's like that. I had a livestock truck pull out of a
sideroad ... coupled to a huge livestock trailer. Then found it
couldn't get round. So stopped and reversed :-0

Certainly made the front discs a bit toasty

P.

 

Have a beer or two then switch to wine, like the french do.

 

I did 717 in a day, coming back from Annecy a few weeks ago.

It was lush.

 

Unfortunately not. I was doing the parental thing watching my little
girl try and kill herself on a bouncy castle.

I've done about 800 miles on the K5 now and I still haven't pinned it
to the stop. I've got 3/4 through the rev range and decided that was
more than enough! I also went for a ride out towards Craven Arms with
some mates the other week. I usually head off on my own at the front
but I really enjoyed just sitting in the middle of the group at a much
more leisurely pace. FFS I think I may aswell sell it and get a
Harley!

 

<genuine laughhter>

 

This was a rolling start from about 40 and he got the jump on me.
Still, it's the first time I've redlined it in every gear apart from
6th. Quite quick.

And no Skoda on the planet would have kept up.

 

That's the first time I've run it to the redline in all the gears bar
6th. It' more than quick enough for me.

Nice area that.

I thought the same on Sunday. Was knackered after cycling in the
morning so thought I'd just go for a potter. Hit the curvey bit of
the Wariwck road and that all went to pot, then this 9R came along
and... etc.

 

On the way back from our French trip, Black Mike and me came off a
roundabout leading onto a long dual carriageway side by side. Somehow
we both had the same thought, and accelrated together (probably in 2nd
gear), and kept it pinned through the gears. He got an initial jump
on me of a couple of yards (which I put down to him gassing it first)
but slowly but surely I reeled him in and went past. I'd like to
believe that my 28k mile K1 makes more power than his 2k mile K4.
Mike reckons it's cos he's fatter than me.

heh.

 

I suspect that it's more down to the weight and aerodynamics. I reckon
he must have been carrying, overall, about 60kg more than you, and his
panniers, plus the tail pack, combined with his much bigger initial
profile, must have been making quite a difference.

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, Ace

I suspect Champ was only ahead by a nose anyway.

--
Wicked Uncle Nigel - Manufacturer of the "Champion-105" range of rearsets
and Ducati Race Engineer.

WS* GHPOTHUF#24 APOSTLE#14 DLC#1 COFF#20 BOTAFOT#150 HYPO#0(KoTL) IbW#41
Enfield 500 Curry House Racer "The Basmati Rice Burner",
Honda GL1000K2 (On its hols) Kawasaki ZN1300 Voyager "Oh, Oh, It's so big"
Suzuki TS250 "The Africa Single" Yamaha GTS1000

 

Were you right behind him? Could have been in his slip-stream.

 

We were side by side, with a lane each on the dual carriageway.

 

You possibly have a bit more of an aerodynamic profile than Mike...

 

60kg?!

Well, we both had panniers, so the sticky-out-ness was rougly the
same. He had a tailpack, but there's every possibility that helped
his aerodynamics as much as hindered it. Anyway, I'm 78kg[1], and I
doubt Mike is much more than 100kg, and I really don't think he'd have
had more than 10kg more luggage than me. So, I'll allow a 30kg
difference.

Now, assuming a 'wet' gixxer with luggage is 200kg (as a nice round
number), then that means my 280kg plays his 310kg, ie about a 10%
difference. Which seems quite a lot. However, we were doing approx
60mph in 2nd gear as we left the roundabout, and accelerated to 170+
in top, so I *think* aerodynamics would have had more of an affect (of
course, Mike is physically bigger than me, so would have been at a
disadvantage there.) What I'm saying is that a 10% lighter bike won't
accelerate 10% faster if is is subject to the same, increasing,
aerodynamic drag as the heavier bike - the weight difference will
become less and less significant as speeds increase.

But, I've just falled off the edge of my knowledge cliff, so flip
wibble doo.


[1] got professionally weighed at the doctors this morning, and was a
couple of kilos lighter than I thought.

 

Like he said - he's fatter than me

 

He's got a big nose?

 

"Here ends lesson one in proving a point with numbers. Next week
we'll look at the psycology of the need."

 

Same as me and this 9R then.