Maiden Voyage:

by Jeff Kufalk
Thurs 6/19/03 - Blackhawk Farms, Rockton, IL

Alas, after having the bike for well over a month, I get to actually ride it. To date, there were 9 miles put on the bike, 8 and a few tenths of which were from the dyno, and the other mile is me pushing it into/out of the trailer, etc. I missed a few races which were meant to be the first ride, so the first ride instead took place at the Lake Country PowerSports track day.

We arrived at the track around 9:00 Wed night, unloaded everything, and with the help of Kent & Mike (a few friends up from Cedar Rapids, IA), we set the sag front & rear. I made it to bed around 11:30, but couldn't sleep. Aside from the raging wails of a couple dozen drunkards, I had my mind on the bike. A bit of nervous tension I guess...

Thurs AM came slowly, and the sun shone bright. The temps for the day were to hit in the 75 range with sun shining all day.

I went out in the first group which was the expert group. I spent the first two laps bedding in the brakes and reviewing the track (which I can run in my sleep since I have spent about 7000 miles on it). Things started coming in and I began riding a bit harder.

The transmission shifts like butter. Much finer than the ragged transmission of the F4 that I had been on (which once upon a time was fine as well). I encountered a problem within a few laps, that I could not downshift since the lever was so far down. I have shifting reversed GP style, and the lever was so low that after 1 downshift, I wouldn't return the lever full down to be able to drop another gear. A quick pit-stop to adjust the lever and I'm back out.

The first few items of note on the bike:
Strength - it is INCREDIBLY strong. This is a good thing... Hopefully the days are gone of being walked on power alone.

Power Delivery - Instant. No lag, no wait, no joke. You twist, it's THERE. Fuel-injection is a new thing to me, so this is great.

Seating - The seating is VERY high and forward. It's good, but will take a while to get used to. The F4 seating was much lower. Being on the RR forces more throttle use through the corners to transfer weight. Again, a good thing but will require a lot of getting used to.

Brakes - I replaced the stock lines with a set of Goodridge Stainless Steel lines, and refilled fluid with Silkolene Pro-Race 2000. This is a must do for people. The stock pads are excellent, but they simply won't grab the way you need them to unless you have SS or Kevlar lines.

Suspension - I can't comment on the stock suspension of the bike since none of my components are stock. However, to comment to the tuning of Trackside Engineering - "Suspension-Ed Kwaterski", I will say that the bike felt incredible. We ended up getting it dialed in pretty close using the stock geometry, setting the race sag for 25mm, static sag at 5mm and working the rest out with damping. This bike was very easy to dial in.

I had heard of some issues with ground clearance, but I experienced none. However, again, I didn't push the bike all that hard.

In the sessions I ran, I was using a ragged out rear D208GPa tire from last year, and it began to take its toll in the afternoon, sliding out on a few turns the harder I pushed. Since I didn't have a desire to wad it up on my first day, I backed off a touch and kept traction for the most part.

It felt great to be back out, and even better to finally be on the new bike. I burned through the first tank of gas in 58 miles, and the second tank made it slightly further. I'm up a bit over 100 miles now.

The day went very well, I didn't have any barn-burner laps, but was within a few seconds of my race pace. I'm confident that it'll come in pretty quickly. It'll just take a few sessions to get used to everything, and build the relationship between rider and bike.

So what do I think of the bike?

A picture is worth a thousand words....