So took Nelli to Brands for the evening as I was fedup of not using it, and they perform great on track so took her back to the natural habitat.
Put new pads in, bedded them in en-route to the track, or so I thought. Went out for the first session got, all was going ok. Then what was to be my last lap of that session I got a false N into Druids, then coming into Surtee's, I lost brakes completely. I wasn't planning on over-taking the chap I'd caught in front of me, but he went in slower than I thought so grabbed the front lever, and nothing. As in the lever came back to the bar and I had no brakes at all. I stamped on the utterly useless rear brake, and it just scrubbed enough speed off and I missed the guy in front of me by inches (video doesn't show how close it really was). I've had a lot of rear end out moments on my track CBR, out-braked myself etc, but I've never had such a "omi****inggod im going to hit/crash". Needless to say I came in and only lost a lap. (Video sounds quiet as I had to put the standard can on just in case for noise testing :bawl: )
[video=youtube;RDkWIloJ5XQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDkWIloJ5XQ[/video]
Came back in and the brakes were boiling, even the calipers were scolding hot. Calipers were cooled with a cold rag, calipers off, pushed the pads out, put it all back in, took off the front mudguard to aid some cooling. Seems the new pads were not as bedded in as I thought and had simply got too hot. I missed half the session, but got out for a few laps just to make sure the brakes still worked. Adjusted the riding style, didn't use the brakes as hard and it seemed ok. I think its the first ever trackday where the first session was my fastest session though :rolling:
[video=youtube;uWPJlKHjL3g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWPJlKHjL3g"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWPJlKHjL3g [/video]
All seemed fine, and had another session but mounted the camera towards my face, as I'd not done it before and wanted to see if my eyes popped out my head when riding :rolling: That vid is only availalbe upon request, its pretty boring. Bike ran fine again though.
Went out for the last session, but due to the light fading, we only got 10 minutes. There was only 3 of us out, and I was in no rush so plodded around even slower. Didn't help that I had a tinted visor in so viewing was quite hard. Plodded around, still enjoyed myself, better to enjoy and go home in one piece. A few people had crashed their road bikes and I didn't want to be in that position (hence why I have a trackbike!). On the first lap though coming into Paddock Hill I got another false neutral and the bike spat its dummy at me. Got round, got back into gear, off I went again.
[video=youtube;sLNM5_XT_-0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLNM5_XT_-0[/video]
For anyone thats not been on track, do it. You'll need to wind the front/rear suspension a bit harder (front ends still whey to soft), but the bikes are capable and perform great. You'll learn your bike more than you ever will on the road. Nelli hasn't been on track for several years so to get back out on it was great. Doesn't help the hankering to want to turn it into a trackbike though, I really would love to do it full time.
Oh fastest lap was a 58 ish in the first session, on the CBR im doing 54/55 with only 95bhp so I think I could get Nelli to that region, but not with those pads (GOLD, fine for road, pants for track). Think I'll re-invest in some Brembo pads again.
Put new pads in, bedded them in en-route to the track, or so I thought. Went out for the first session got, all was going ok. Then what was to be my last lap of that session I got a false N into Druids, then coming into Surtee's, I lost brakes completely. I wasn't planning on over-taking the chap I'd caught in front of me, but he went in slower than I thought so grabbed the front lever, and nothing. As in the lever came back to the bar and I had no brakes at all. I stamped on the utterly useless rear brake, and it just scrubbed enough speed off and I missed the guy in front of me by inches (video doesn't show how close it really was). I've had a lot of rear end out moments on my track CBR, out-braked myself etc, but I've never had such a "omi****inggod im going to hit/crash". Needless to say I came in and only lost a lap. (Video sounds quiet as I had to put the standard can on just in case for noise testing :bawl: )
[video=youtube;RDkWIloJ5XQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDkWIloJ5XQ[/video]
Came back in and the brakes were boiling, even the calipers were scolding hot. Calipers were cooled with a cold rag, calipers off, pushed the pads out, put it all back in, took off the front mudguard to aid some cooling. Seems the new pads were not as bedded in as I thought and had simply got too hot. I missed half the session, but got out for a few laps just to make sure the brakes still worked. Adjusted the riding style, didn't use the brakes as hard and it seemed ok. I think its the first ever trackday where the first session was my fastest session though :rolling:
[video=youtube;uWPJlKHjL3g]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWPJlKHjL3g"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWPJlKHjL3g [/video]
All seemed fine, and had another session but mounted the camera towards my face, as I'd not done it before and wanted to see if my eyes popped out my head when riding :rolling: That vid is only availalbe upon request, its pretty boring. Bike ran fine again though.
Went out for the last session, but due to the light fading, we only got 10 minutes. There was only 3 of us out, and I was in no rush so plodded around even slower. Didn't help that I had a tinted visor in so viewing was quite hard. Plodded around, still enjoyed myself, better to enjoy and go home in one piece. A few people had crashed their road bikes and I didn't want to be in that position (hence why I have a trackbike!). On the first lap though coming into Paddock Hill I got another false neutral and the bike spat its dummy at me. Got round, got back into gear, off I went again.
[video=youtube;sLNM5_XT_-0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLNM5_XT_-0[/video]
For anyone thats not been on track, do it. You'll need to wind the front/rear suspension a bit harder (front ends still whey to soft), but the bikes are capable and perform great. You'll learn your bike more than you ever will on the road. Nelli hasn't been on track for several years so to get back out on it was great. Doesn't help the hankering to want to turn it into a trackbike though, I really would love to do it full time.
Oh fastest lap was a 58 ish in the first session, on the CBR im doing 54/55 with only 95bhp so I think I could get Nelli to that region, but not with those pads (GOLD, fine for road, pants for track). Think I'll re-invest in some Brembo pads again.
