My 2008 Superduke

Or, how I learned to live with and love the bomb.

Pardon my rant. It will get better towards the end. I promise . . . or Klink can ban me.

After a long hiatus, I finally got my bike back from the suspension guru. I really don't know what I was expecting, a miracle?

November 11, 2011. What a magical day. 11/11/11. Fook me. That's a once in a lifetime event now isn't it? And it was a great day spent at the track with some of the good folks from this very site. (Oh, and KenScottPhoto, I found your bottle opener today.) Chuckwalla is fairly new and smooth, and by maxing out compression and removing any semblance of rebound, the aforementioned guru made the bike so I began to feel the front end of the SD. Life was good.

But alas, that's a racetrack. And, for the most part, I ride the SD in the real world, with bumps and rough pavement and all the other crap on the roads. I've lost some bulk too, so, off she went for a bit of a suspension tune. New, stiffer springs, yielded a new feeling in that wooden front. Now I feel everything, but its too much. I still have no feel for what the front is doing - traction wise. It reminds me of my uncle's Honda ST90. I could feel every bit of gravel, every rough patch and every bump, but I had no feeling for what that front tyre was doing traction wise. I'd lose the front end on that little fooker constantly. Meh, at least it crashed well - a property I tested well and often.

So, yesterday I met Oafboy187 and crew for a jaunt up Hwy 33. It was a good ride. But, I've learned some things about myself and the SD. The bad stuff: 1) I'm not alone in belief that the front end of the SD lacks feel. Oafboy said he has no feeling either - he says he just trusts it. 2) Trust. I have none. Maybe I could "just trust it" if I hadn't had my ST90 experiences. I don't crash as well as I did when I was a teen, and certainly won't do as well at double or triple the speeds of my ST90 offs. 3) I may never get over my apprehension of blind corners and that combined with my fear of tucking the front has me putting along through the twisty stuff. I've lost my nerve. I thought a day at the track would help, but it didn't. I'm officially a pussy. [I really don't know what happened. The front never felt loose to me until I changed the front tyre and wheel. Maybe I need to go back to the heavier stock wheel?]

The good stuff: 4) I am absofuckinglutely in love with the way the bike tracks with the heavier, i.e. proper, springs. The steering is much more lithe and nimble. Its so different, I actually need to spend some more miles on it to get used to it. I found myself over steering a lot yesterday. Now I probably need to drop the cash and get the suspension revalved to complete the package and get rid of that wooden feeling. (I hope?) I told you this would get better. I've said it a million times now, but I just wish there was a drop in Ohlins cartridge kit. I'd have it installed and be done. 4) Finally, I really have to give props to the Bazzaz FI system. It has really transformed the bike. Power delivery is so much smoother and more instantaneous now. She'll pull from 35 to 100 mph in 3rd or 4th (I can't remember which) without hesitation. Awesome. [That last bit was for fakujac - a bit off high speed hooliganism.] Before, I was running the Akra map and it just didn't pull as hard or respond as quickly. Now, she pounces forward. If anyone is sitting on the fence about this type of mod, don't. You will not regret it. 5) The SD will still draw attention. Near the end of my ride yesterday, a 20 something year old pulled along side me in an SUV at a stop light. He wanted to know what kind of bike it was, how many HP and how fast it was. I could see he was a bit disappointed when I said 110 hp, but his eyes lit up when I told him I've had her up to 135 and she'd go 150.

I think this goes for everyone....when you do a track day, your first day back on public asphalt is a mixed bag. Every corner looks unsafe and you end up tip-toeing around...no shame in that. You've basically convinced yourself riding on the road at anything over 70% is just plain stupid. And, nowhere near as fun.

Happens to me every time.

Good luck with getting your suspension sorted (hint - try a little more rebound on the street (especially at the rear). The road is obviously a lot bumpier than most tracks and the suspension tends to unload quickly once compressed causing at best a slight wallowy feeling and at worst the back end coming around at the exit of a corner I think once you get that under control the front end will feel much better.

John

CR,

Congrats on getting the bike back. I am waiting for Ed to call me to the shop to get my front end and rear end sorted.

Lets figure out what to do about the bottle opener and the red bike tie-down (I got a dirty email from my mate the other day).

I've only been out 1 time on the duke since the track day in the Santa Monica range, I was riding alone trying to slide off the bike a tad leading with my shoulder. Scared the sh-t out of myself more than once .

I went to bed pondering your post. I thought of the statement of front end feel.
I thought about the times that I had front end movement of the uncomfortable type.
I pictures in my minds eye a triangle. One point was the front tyre, one the rear and the third, a semi variable point, the center of gravity of you and the bike combined.
When we were kids we would ryde as fast as we could and slam on the rear coaster brake. We would skid, mostly toward the side that we felt comfortable. We would let the rear kick out as much as we could and control the kick out with front wheel inputs.
It was not the case that we rode fast grabbed a fist full of front brake and slid under control with rear tyre modifications to input.
The steering head is the place that lets the gravity center change from varying its input we modify the others and from varying the others we modify the steering input. This is all to keep a equalibrium in the triangle.
When you witness the front point changing its nature into a corner, the inputs required are less famiiliar to us and seem to be needed in a much more hurried moment in tyme before doom is knocking on you rib cage that we want as much feel (warning) as possible. On the other side of the triangle is where we play. I do believe that trusting the front is really a learned thing and that you are not simply, blindly giving faith to a friction god, you are relying on all the miles that you hav journeyed on two wheels and all the knowledge of amounts of grip that have passed under you and trust that you are using that knowledge correctly in the circumstance you find yourself in at the moment.
If you never trusted the front, you never let the back go away either and they both must leave you from tyme to tyme, for you to know which point in the triangle needs attention at the moment.

I was talking in generals. Every corner we make at even a slight speed, asks that we trust the front. You do not know how much more to trust it and the how much more trust is what will propel you throught tyme and space more rapido.
I will ask. Have you ever set out on a ride-learning lesson to see how far you can push the front before it talks back?
Have you ever said " Im going to tuck the front at this apex or at least try to really hard"?
I find myself constantly monitering rear grip by grabbing fist fulls, only to find i can actually grab even more. Or times when you thought that you were being rather lacsidazicle of punching out and boom the rear slips. The rear slips and we go about our merry riding bussiness trying to force it out just a little bit more next time around. The front chatters and leaves its plane and the sky is falling we had better knock the shit off.
Lets all make a pact to tuck the front at least once this week.