Brands Hatch shake down 11.3.10

[Kenoir]

I decided to do Brands Hatch as a test/shake-down ride because I haven't ridden there before and as the first race (my first ever race) is there in 3 weeks, it seemed like a good idea. Also, a few others were there and I wanted a sneaky peek at their riding to see what we're up against!

So, booked the Thistle Hotel and have a cheeky beer before bed. Get a message from Alan (Sorted) and Summer as they'd managed to bag a garage and parked the MotoGP motorhome in front of it to create a little Ducati area for us all to join them in the morning.

It's a cold one at 7:00am. No frost on the ground though but still very cold.

A few other DDers turn up;

Bradders, Craig Fisher, Jason Boswell, Harriett Riddley, Rattler and even Mr Bushell himself. Also had a visit from Nutty Nick

So, fire the bikes up and there's a problem with bike 'A'. It's never really fired well but this was the worst it had been. I won't go into too much detail as I need to get a move on down to see Rich at LouigiMoto. But in essence it's popping, banging and backfiring like a 12 bore. Vert cylinder exhaust is glowing bright orange so it's left to cool down and then ignored for the rest of the day. I'm hoping it's just timing but could be exhaust valve?

So, bike 'B'. This is as sweet as a nut! One MASSIVE problem with it though, the rear shock! It's the standard 600SS shock with a Maxton spring! So there's no clearance between the underside of the end can and the back wheel!

I know before we went that this was a problem but I'm running out of time and the new (much longer, adjustable) shock isn't here yet (OK, I only ordered it on Monday!). So we run it anyway and it's lovely! I can't tell you how nice this little bike is, picks up really well and around corners it's just great. I hope we don't loose all of that when the new rear shock goes in. But at the moment it's a drag (drag...) I can feel it rubbing at the bottom of Paddock Hill as it drags against the tyre when the shock is most compressed but the rest of the time you don't really notice . But back in the garage and you can see the rear shock, exhaust and all the underside just coated in melted rubber

So I thought the handling would be shocking (shocking... )! Aaaaanyway, the point was to run the motor up to speed and shake down any other issues (of which there weren't any). So, a 50/50 day for me. One bike is great, the other has issues but I'm off to Bristol in 5 mins to hopefully get that fixed.

Great to catch up with others. Sorted's bike was looking and running beautiful. Craig was going very well on his Monster. Bradders was having a few technical problems but I'm sure he'll be sorted for the first race and we all went home in one piece!

[Nuttynick]

Great to see everyone If you look at pictures 2 and 3 you can see the tyre wasn't just rubbing at the bottom of Paddock!

[ells64]

Looks like you had a good day out. Bike looks really good. I think I should have sneaked in an extra bit of practice. Looks like theres going to be some serious compettion!

Mark.

[Ghost]

The only reason thats rubbing is because tooooo many pies have been consumed.

Nice style Paul, looks really good.

[bradders]

we all said how smooth you looked out there...novice group my ass