Talladega GP trackday on the NC!

[TacomaJD]

Got one vid uploaded as well. About 4-5 min in, I got behind a slow rider. Followed for a few turns, prepared to pull a little Ricky Bobby slingshot move on him exiting a turn and he kinda slowed down and I got really close to him LOL, not supposed to do that in Novice group. I was expecting to get my hand slapped over it but I guess nobody saw it. Also, if you get bored with the video, fast forward to the end where I get off track and go back to my pit area, you get an idea of what the paddock looks like there.

YouTube

 

[Junkie]

That track surface looks really strange.

 

[NuckaMan]

This is so awesome. Has me thinking, maybe leave the Super Duke or R1 at home and take the NC to my next trackday!!!

Also, I am enamored by your super clean and extremely well lit garage. I need that in my life.

 

[Juan_Banjovy]

Looks like fun. I'd love to do a track day but nearest track is 250 miles. Those Dunlop Q3+ are probably my next set of tires.

 

[TacomaJD]

That track surface looks really strange.

It is the roughest track on tires around, was like that when I rode there 10 years ago. Worse now. They let cars run on it and they tear the asphalt up, so it has a lot more patches now than it used to have. But I will say this, you can't hardly feel the patches, and they serve as good reference points to help hit apex's correctly. Especially on the only right hand turn, its a decreasing radius turn so you swing wide, then cut in at the top of the large patch and exit on the outside of it where it kinda fingers out.

It's in severe need of repaving though, but I don't think they want to drop that kind of money. The fast guys say it is nothing to completely smoke a brand new tire there in one day now if they ride hard during the summer.

This is so awesome. Has me thinking, maybe leave the Super Duke or R1 at home and take the NC to my next trackday!!!

Also, I am enamored by your super clean and extremely well lit garage. I need that in my life.

If I had my pick between those, the NC would be last on the list unless you like getting passed in the straights and having trouble passing noobs in the straights lol.

Looks like fun. I'd love to do a track day but nearest track is 250 miles. Those Dunlop Q3+ are probably my next set of tires.

I am completely impressed with them, very solid tire. Supposed to last pretty well on the highway too. 250 miles isn't that big of a deal if you make a weekend out of it, even if you just ride one day. That track I was at (Tally) was 1 hr 40 min from my house and I drove down, rode, and drove back in one day. Barber Motorsports Park is around 1 hr 20 min from my house, will do the same there at least one time this Fall, hopefully. It's a lot nicer place, they have big races there. They just repaved it too, but it costs more than double to go there as opposed to Tally. But it is not as rough on tires, so counting the tires you shred at Tally probably makes it about the same cost-wise. Lol

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[spads25]

Completely irrelevant, but did you happen to kee up with mpg on track day? Wonder how low it gets being thrashed in around a track.


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[TacomaJD]

Nah but I brought a little over 5 gallons of gas in jugs and filled the NC up the night before, rode 5 of the 7 20 minute sessions available to me that day, and still had 2 bars of fuel left when I loaded up. Lol. I would guestimate it still got around 30ish mpg's. Which would be similar to what it got on a tank riding like a demon a month or so ago trying to keep up with my buddy on his multistrada on a half day trip we went on.

The track is 1.35 miles long I think, and judging by videos, I was turning lap times around 1:20, whereas back in the day I was turning 1:08 lap times on a 2007 ZX10R on dot race tires. 1:20 is average on a slow bike. I was talking to some guys that race 300cc bikes and the record on a small bike was either 1:04 or 1:05 on an R3. But that is a race ready bike coupled with a very accomplished rider. That is smoking through the corners to get that kind of lap time out of a 300cc bike.

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[Junkie]

That's also on a much lighter bike. The NC700 makes significantly more power than a N300, in fact more than a N400 or CBR500 or R3 or RC390. But given all the weight, and the long wheelbase and large frontal area, I can't imagine it being anywhere near as fast.

 

[TacomaJD]

That's also on a much lighter bike. The NC700 makes significantly more power than a N300, in fact more than a N400 or CBR500 or R3 or RC390. But given all the weight, and the long wheelbase and large frontal area, I can't imagine it being anywhere near as fast.

And there's definitely an advantage to having a high rev range. The NC needs about 3 or 4k more rpms to manage entry and exit speeds better through corners. Going into some turns around 5-5500 rpms and exiting around 4k where it has a lot less pulling power. That's why it was so difficult to get around the R3's, they were able to exit turns in high rpms where they make the most power and I was exiting at a more sluggish rpm. The gear below would have been 2nd and was going way too fast to get it into 2nd gear before the turn.

Either way, it was just all about the fun. I am not gonna try to make the NC something that it is not. It has served its purpose in getting me back on track and that is a big deal in itself.

I have been studying on adapting a manual shift bike, but Im not sure it will be worth it. It's just not easy or cheap to do. Would have to either go full electric shifter setup or fabricate a linkage system and move the foot shifter to the right side of the bike, then do something with the rear brake like make a thumb lever for it.

I was looking at the FJ-09 or FZ-09's but they have some major speed wobble problems, likely from steering geometry, but that's how I wrecked in my big crash so I aint messing with any bike known for that. The CB1000R naked bike has potential. Same seat height as the NC. Still studying on it. May try to experiment with something else one day. But I keep hoping Honda will make a badass version of the NC one day with something around 100 hp and available with the DCT trans.

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[Junkie]

I wonder how hard it would be to adapt an electric shifter. You'd still want to clutch to shift rather than being full auto, but a solenoid to push/pull the lever might work.

A linkage to get over to the right side would be tricky in comparison.

http://www.pingelonline.com/prodcat/electric-speed-shifters.asp they aren't cheap and have limited fitment options but I imagine they could be adapted to something newer.

 

[TacomaJD]

They sell a universal kit with a blank bracket. Would be fairly simple to mount to most any bike. And I would afford the pingel system in a heart beat if it had better reliability reports. Seems as if their customer service is fairly good when it fails, but when a component of the system fails and I am a couple hundred miles away from home in the mountains around deals gap, or it fails during the 2nd session of a $100-250 trackday, it's gonna piss me off to the max.

There's a couple more manufacturers, most of which are in the UK I think, that make comparable products with better reviews. Kliktronic, Flatshifter, and the extra most bestest - Proshift. I think the Kliktronic and Flatshifter systems are priced similarly to the Pingel system, but unless I read wrong regarding the Proshift system, it's like $4500!

Seems the Proshift system is used by pro car and motorcycle racers, cup cars, Isle of Man etc. So it's supposed to be of the best quality and reliability, but no way in hell I am paying that.

I've been staring at the CB1000R's quite a bit. There's a tubular frame rail behind the radiator that could be used to mount a highway peg, or make a bracket that mounts on the engine mount bolt. Tall seat height, plenty power, good brakes, decent tunable suspension, perfect tire sizes, single side swingarm, upright comfortable seating position. And there's one for sale brand new in Georgia that was inside a dealership when they suffered a fire and has extremely minor smoke/soot damage for $9900 out the door.

They are badass to me. Remind me of the Confederate Motorcycle builds if any of you are familiar with their motorcycle art.

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[TacomaJD]

I wonder how hard it would be to adapt an electric shifter. You'd still want to clutch to shift rather than being full auto, but a solenoid to push/pull the lever might work.

A linkage to get over to the right side would be tricky in comparison.

http://www.pingelonline.com/prodcat/electric-speed-shifters.asp they aren't cheap and have limited fitment options but I imagine they could be adapted to something newer.

Also as for clutching to shift and all that, it really depends on how much you wanna spend as for what shift options you can get. So there are 3 main components that make up a top teir electric shift system. A quickshifter module that interrupts the ignition to unload the engine/tranny for clutchless upshifts via foot shifter, but this only works for upshifts. In order to do clutchless downshifts, an autoblipper module has to be installed as well that blips the throttle when downshifting as a way of unloading the engine/trans for harmless downshifts without using the clutch. Then of course the electronically activated shifter solenoid attached to the footshifter that is operated by 2 buttons mounted near the left handlebar. One button for up shifts and one button for downshifts.

A system like this would not have built in safety parameters to regulate shifts like the DCT trans, which would be what I need. I just can't feel comfortable investing that kind of money in a system that doesn't have a very reliable track record. Maybe if it was the only way I could ride period, it would be worth it, but that's not the case.

There's also a possibility I could extend the oem footshifter out to where it is easier to snag with the back of my prosthetic foot shell, to where I could shift up and down like that. That's how I shift on my cruiser. Throw my foot over the shifter and yank up, then kick it for downshifts. But the foot position is quite different on the cruiser. I think since my knee won't bend like it's supposed to, that would be a very inconvenient way of shifting something like the CB1000R. BUT.....if I installed a Pingel system, and it did fail, maybe I could have the shifter modified just in case, that way I could manage to shift with the heal of my fake foot in order to make it back home. Idk, it's just a lot to figure out. Would be easier if it didn't require so much initial investment just to experiment to see how it works.

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[Rapturee]

Hey Taco-Man, throw on your track suit and grab the next game of "TAG"...!!! You'da Man! :{P

 

[TacomaJD]

Too much work to get it on! I probably wont put it on again until mid-September Lol

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