| Author | Message | ||
     Race_pirate |
I got back last night from Pocono. The 2.5 mile FUSA layout has a bit of everything, high speed banking, long straight, sweepers, tight hairpin, flowing esses. The XB"Niner" was awesome, Trojan's chain conversion works flawlessly. I should have a few pic's up on my website later today. | ||
| Trojan |
Cooool, That's what we like to hear  | ||
| Race_pirate |
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| Race_pirate |
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| Race_pirate |
Heres the skinny... This was my first track outing or the season. This was the first time on the track with the Buell, I have ridden the bike to a total of 2481 miles on the street which was just to get acclaimated with the Buell. The changes I made to the XB"Niner" all went well, my plan is to keep it as simple as possible, focus on riding as smooth and as FAST as possible. This is by far the most comfortable sportbike I have ever spent the day on!!! The bike didnt twitch it went exactly where I was looking and braked extremely well. Hats off to Erik and the guys that build this bike!!! Shifting was fine, but riding her is like riding a Wild Mustang!!! I am used to a refined 250 stroke that its all about being in the powerband and corner speed. The Buell XB9R is all about pure grunt, getting your arms yanked and the front wheel to hop with EVERY gear change. I had the engine singing between 4000 & redline all day, but for the hairpin COULD get away with leaving her in 2nd and just twisting the throttle and motoring towards the exit. Big Fun, no problem against SV's even had fun taking real tight inside lines under the liter bikes. I have the Trojan chain conversion, and must say NO ISSUES there, it is a total quality set up and worked perfect. Total confidence in the parts!!! The Pirelli Super Corsa's come in quick and I REALLY tested trying to break the rear loose with no success, the front would just get light and the bike was connected!!! the XB"Niner" is ready for Battle!!! | ||
| Danvetc |
Buzz, Glad for your success with the chain conversion. Best of luck with the racing this season! Charlie | ||
| Elff |
very very nice | ||
| Shawn_9r |
race_pirate OK... here is my stupid question for this evening. In the last picture your left hand is real close to the end of the bar, and I see shinny stuff...is that normal or do you have some different type of grip? Shawn | ||
| Trojan |
I think it looks further than it is because the switchgear is missing. | ||
| Ingemar |
Race Pirate, Have you done any suspension upgrades, or are you running stock suspension? | ||
| Blake |
Nice photos.  | ||
| Race_pirate |
Shawn9r - I have removed the turn signal switch and harness, so all thats left is the bar. Or if you are seeing silver between my fingers it could be safety wire, I safety wire the grips to the bar so they dont slip. Ingemar- Suspension is stock and works very well. I dont see the factory rear shock making it past one season, but it works extremely well for a stocker. The real cylinder is going to cook the shock. The front end is awesome, I spent a bunch of money on my Aprilia set up and the Buell feels that good stock. I have to look at my notes and Ill post my settings. Thanks!! | ||
| Ingemar |
Cool, thanks! I'd love to see your settings. | ||
| Doitindark |
Nice pictures. I'm going to the track for the first time next week. I'd love to see how you set the bike up. | ||
| Race_pirate |
I weigh @ 180lbs with full gear. I armed myself with the "Aggressive" suspension settings from this list(spreadsheet version) and headed for Pocono. I set the sag at Front 3.5 lines Rear 4th ramp. That remained the same throughout. I raised the front ride height, I have 14mm from upper triple clamp to top of the fork tube. I am a fan of a softer suspension, Loudon and Pocono have rippled and bumpy sections. This is where I felt the bike behaved best. front forks rebound: 1 1/2 front forks compression: 1 1/8 rear rebound: 1 1/4 rear compression: 1 use 1/8's as the suspension is extremely sensative. Dont be confused by stiffer equals faster, the ultimate goal of a tuning your suspension is to keep the tire on the ground over the most critical sections of the track. Its a balance of getting the weight transfer to the tires, and not upsetting the bike, and then having the bike return to a neutral position to do it again for the next section. The other BIG thing is comfort, a bike that is comfortable can be ridden harder longer, you are then able to concentrate much better with out being all beat up. All of the above is only my opinion and what Ive learned from racing. One thing is standard - SMOOTH IS FAST...... | ||
| Eeeeek |
Have you taken it to race pace? Also, have you modified the Fuel pump? Reports I've gotten tell me the pickup is in the left side of the frame which means you can loose fuel delivery when you have less than a gallon of gas and are in a right hander. Vik | ||
| Race_pirate |
To me, the only time you really get to race pace is when the green flag drops!!! As I said this was the first time on the track with the XB, I had no problem with the SV650 and was on par with my buddies modified Ducati. I pushed the Niner but was more interested in finding out what she can and cant do as well as a baseline for suspension set up. I ran 1/2 tank of fuel with no problems in left or right turns. I have no mods to the fuel pump. | ||
| Eeeeek |
You may want to send an email to Henry Duga about the fuel pump. I believe they have a new one now that takes care of some of the pickup issue. The lone XB in our club would cut out due to fuel starvation in turns 4, 7 and 11 at Sears. He now has the "new" fuel pump and did not experience this issue last weekend. If you run a full tank of gas in a sprint race, you would probably never encounter the issue. He was running around 1.5 gallons and the problem was very bad for the last 4 of 8 laps. Vik | ||
| Trojan |
We encountered the same problem on our race bike. Even after putting foam in the tank it still didn't remedy it completely. It is most noticeable when trying to accelerate out of slow corners when it has been hard on thebrakes and the fuel has sloshed to the front of the frame. We ended up just filling the tank every race and that cured it completely. | ||
| Ingemar |
Thanks race_pirate. Apart from preload your settings are very identical to my own. Trojan, Isn't it worthwhile to solve the fuel problem and run a race with minimum fuel (less weight) ? I know the fuel sits relatively low but it can still save 8 kilos or so. I would think that's a lot of weight for a racebike, no? | ||
| Race_pirate |
The tank is 3.7 gallons, at @ 8lbs per gallon is around 29 lbs. I filled up until I could see the fuel just over the bottom of the frame/tank. Maybe 2 to 2.5 gallons. I keep it the same each session. I didnt have any problems but thanks for the heads up, Ill touch base with Henry. |
