In search of more traction

In March, I made a post about attending a suspension clinic by internationally-renowned guru Dave Moss.  It involved riding about 150 km and tweaking the suspension every time we stopped.  The improvement was a significant step change but Dave remarked at the time that there's only so much you can do with a Suzuki OEM rear shock.  Having fitted high end units to my previous two bikes, I was aware that despite the improvement, there was more to come.

The Suzuki has now covered getting on for 45,000 km and the decline in compression and rebound damping was becoming noticeable, even to this old codger.  Keeping contact with the road in even moderately adverse conditions is a safety issue as well as a performance one.  Time to look at a replacement, especially with a 71st birthday coming up in mid October.  That's Jennie's present to me solved, haha!

On the Blackbird, I fitted a US-made Penske shock and new fork internals.  On the Street Triple, it  was a UK-made Nitron shock.  The NZ supplier was KSS in New Plymouth who have a second to none reputation for service so it was a no-brainer to go back to them.  A couple of emails back and forth to establish my type of riding, loaded bike weight and so on and an order was placed for another Nitron, custom made to my requirements.  I didn't need to go for a separate remote as my riding loads and conditions don't vary by much.

This beauty turned up a few days ago:

Yumm.... bike porn

I have an ABBA stand (link HERE ) which makes working on the bike a piece of cake.  A fellow IAM member and GSX-S owner (thanks Blair!) gave me some time-saving tips and the old shock was removed, the new one bolted in and sag measurements taken in under 2 hours.  The only minor annoyance was having a retaining shim drop out of the rear brake caliper during disassembly and not seeing where it came from!  However, it became obvious during reassembly so not too much damage to the ego.

Goes nicely with the matte grey of the bike

Seriously nice engineering

Static and loaded sag came nicely within tolerance so no preload adjustment required.  Next step was to check compression and rebound on the road.  A quick trip over the Coromandel Range was just the job as I know every hollow, bump and truck ripple on that road. 

Western side of the Coromandel Range- riding heaven!

Even though I was expecting a better performance from the new shock compared with the OEM one, it still came as a surprise as to just how good it was.  The degeneration of old suspension and tyres come to that is imperceptible so that just adds to the surprise.  Leaned over whilst riding over truck ripples on corners was almost like they weren't there.  In adverse conditions such as wet roads, that's got to be a major safety improvement by maintaining good road contact.  In addition to better handling, an increase in tyre life can be expected based on past experience.  Less fatigue on a long haul too.

If there is any downside, it's drawn my attention to the front forks.  The standard forks aren't too bad, especially after Dave Moss set them up.  However, some RaceTech internals would be a further nice improvement if I decide to keep the bike long term.  Just coming up for 3 years of ownership.  The low throttle fuelling was so bad from new that it nearly got sold in the first 3 months of ownership.  However, Suzuki NZ came to the party by fitting a different ECM at their cost and that solved the problem.  Since then, I've grown to really like the bike, but still don't have the emotional attachment that I had with the Street Triple.

Thanks KSS for your great service and a product which really delivers.  You might see me for some new fork internals in due course!

Parked up at the Whangapoua Harbour boat ramp on the test ride

Finally, on a loosely connected note, the Michelin Road 5's are working out just fine in both dry and wet conditions.  In the photo below, the band of soft compound rubber out towards the edge of the tyre can be clearly seen,  Initially, the lack of tread towards the edge worried me with respect to how effective they would be when leaned over in wet conditions.  I needn't have worried!  A few weeks ago, I was examining an IAM Trainee Observer (instructor) for his full test in near-biblical rainfall.  He's a quick rider, racing and road riding in all conditions and I was concerned about how the Road 5's would fare in those conditions.  As it happened, they stuck like glue - not an anxious moment even when "making progress".  Totally sold on their overall performance and I'll do a full review in due course.

Soft compound band of outer tyre can be clearly seen

A most excellent week!

Definitely one of the busier weeks for this old geezer!

Last weekend was the Institute of Advanced Motorists annual conference and AGM being held at Lake Taupo in the central north island of NZ, about 270 km from where I live.  For members who fancied a bit of speed without red and blues and sirens behind them, there was also a trackday on offer on the Friday at the nearby Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park - the full international circuit no less!  I was certainly up for that!

Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park - 3.3km international circuit (stock photo)

Riding down the previous afternoon, it was wet with lots of roadworks but the morning of the trackday dawned sunny and warm - wonderful!  After scrutineering, we set up in a pit garage, dropped tyre pressures from road settings, taped the mirrors and waited for the briefing and first session.

The Suzuki ready to rock, with Alan's BMW 1200GT in the background

Terry's Aprilia Tuono and Graham's RSV 4 - yumm.....

The first session was taken relatively easy whilst riders learned the track, sorted out braking markers and so on.  All accomplished with no dramas.  From then on, it was all go, with progressively larger throttle openings held open for longer!  My road-going fuel consumption is generally between 5 - 5.3lt per 100 km and on the track it was between 8-9 lt per 100 km!

Alan on the 1200 GT and I were pretty evenly matched.  He'd been to the California Superbike School and was really impressive in the tight infield whereas I was faster on the sweepers and straights.  At 230 km/hr down the back straight, neither of us wanted to give an inch and all I'll say is thank goodness for ABS whilst scrubbing off enough speed to make the next turn!

 70 year old hooligan having the time of his life! (official photo)

Working hard to stay on the right line! (photo: Barry Holland)

Sticking it to a Gixxer rider who is on the wrong line!  (photo: Barry Holland)

Over 160km/hr down the short pit straight (photo: Barry Holland)

The Metzler Roadtec 01's stood up pretty well considering......

The following morning, there was a presentation on electric vehicles which completely changed my ill-informed views!  IAM member Wendy brought along her recently purchased Tesla Model S which has a 0-100km/hr time of about 4 seconds and was beautifully appointed.

Wendy's Tesla - get the number plate?

A local dealer brought along a Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe.  Both were surprisingly quick off the line and handled brilliantly.  The lack of noise made them even more impressive.  Running and maintenance costs were incredibly low and with ever-decreasing battery costs and increasing range, they're now a serious consideration, particularly as a commuting or round town vehicle.  A mate of mine has one for commuting and saves $100 per week on gas!

Lloyd hammering a Nissan Leaf off the start line

As enjoyable as the cars were, the real fun were the pedal-assisted e-bikes which were there for us to try out!  The Giant model I tried was a real buzz and as fast as heck in "turbo" mode.  One of our members has one for commuting to work in Auckland, a round trip of 38 km and absolutely loves it.  Methinks that one would be handy to replace my 2 decades old mountain bike with all the hills where we live!

 Alan on the Scott e-bike

We also had a presentation by an engineer from Helite, the people who manufacture airbag clothing for motorcyclists.  Everything from inflating hi-vis vests through to adventure riding jackets.  Externally, they looked like a normal jacket and it was an impressive presentation.  Prices were similar to normal higher end motorcycle jackets.

In the afternoon,  it was off to Rotorua, some 90km away to play on the luge.  This is a concrete track  winding down the side of Mt Ngongotaha, hurtling downhill on an unsprung plastic cart.  The more competitive of us kept our leathers on in case of wipeouts, haha!

Lee and I queuing in full leathers - no quarter given or expected!

A long way down....  (file photo)

Stunning views over Lake Rotorua from the top of the luge

Lee's magnificent MV F3 675 triple in the luge car park

After the excitement of the afternoon, it was a brisk ride back to Taupo for a delightful buffet dinner.  The following morning, there was a superb session on accident scene protocols and rendering immediate assistance by an ex-military paramedic and fellow biker.  He was down to earth and debunked a few myths - a great learning experience.  I'll also be doing a re-think on the medical kit I carry and will certainly be adding Celox gel packs to safely stop bleeding.

Mike Nicolle explaining an aspect of scene management

After a mercifully short AGM (IAM does not thrive on bureaucracy!), it was time to head home.  It was in the delightful company of Street Triple owner Joanne, who is the IAM co-ordinator from Christchurch in NZ's South Island.  Jo hadn't previously visited the Coromandel Peninsula so it was a good opportunity to show her the sights by bike and car.  Jo is dual-qualified as an IAM Observer for both bikes and cars and I'm not!  Found it vaguely unsettling driving her around by car, despite her protestations that she was off duty!

Dr. Jo and her Street Triple R on the western side of the Coromandel Peninsula

On the fantastic Driving Creek pottery railway in Coromandel

The day after Jo began her long trek back to Christchurch, and in the company of some other IAM members from our region, I attended a suspension clinic in the Auckland area with Dave Moss, one of the world's authorities on how to set up motorcycle suspension. (His website HERE and his YouTube masterclass HERE , among many others). I thought I was "reasonably" ok on the basics of suspension adjustment but just how wrong can you be???  The clinic was a trial initiative between an Auckland-based riding instructor Chris Smith of Passmasters , Dave Moss and amazingly, our regional council authority.  The rationale was that properly adjusted suspension has the potential to save lives from a bike which handles better with improved grip, less fatigue plus all sorts of peripheral benefits.  The Waikato Regional Council has long championed motorcycle safety with a range of motorcycle training courses but this was the first foray into suspension as a safety initiative.

Arriving in Auckland, Dave checked all the initial settings of the bikes and made some preliminary adjustments based on rider weight.  He then explained what he was doing and why in easy to understand terms and made sure that everyone was comfortable to ask questions, no matter how dumb they thought they were - Dave is a patient and natural communicator.

He then explained that we would be going for a ride of some 150 km covering all sorts of conditions with several stops to make adjustments whist the bikes were at normal operating temperature - the only way to do it properly.  

Dave adjusting my rebound at the first stop (photo: Tony Knight)

Dave holding a Q&A on the ride

Adjusting IAM member Goose's Honda Crosstourer

Bike porn on a GSX-R 600

To cut a long story short, the improvement to my GSX-S was massive, which was a bit of a shock (no pun intended!) and all the attendees felt the same way.  No longer did it wander about over surface irregularities and the effort required to countersteer through a tight series of bends had diminished by a large amount - far less fatiguing.  In fact, I initially tended to over-correct with far more effort than now required, thanks to muscle memory kicking in! All this from fairly tired suspension.  On the way home, the last 50 km was in heavy rain and an indifferent road surface from the recent storm.  I've never previously felt so much confidence in riding in less than optimum conditions whilst still able to make good progress.  Massive thanks to Dave Moss, Chris Smith and the Waikato Regional Council for the enlightened attitude of making this genuine safety-related opportunity available to a wide range of riders!

What a day, what a week!