Track day

[pwillikers]

Just back from a track day at Texas World Speedway. I took two bikes, the S and an MuZ Skorpion. I swapped back and forth between the two. It's a big, fast track. On the Skorp, everyone who wanted to passed me on the straight but, by the end of the day, I had my corner speed up and was reeling most of them back in in the turns - until the next straight. More hp is in the offing. The S felt big, heavy and slow handling but fast in comparison. I was able to see an indicated 150mph on the loooong straight. Also saw a boxer cup and a new K12R and about a million SV650's.

Props to Roger who got his racing license and who is now ready to kick some A next year.

[roger albert]

Thanks, but not before a lot of work.
My SV felt funny the last two sessions.
Just tight and weak. But sounded normal, so I blamed it on nerves, and end of day fatigue, maybe some bad gas, and the fact that in the mock race, my little 65hp marvel was the only putter. In fact, there were only 3 600s. The other 8 were all literbikes, except a 750 or two.
Anyway, the SV started really misbehaving and backfiring on the way to wrok this morn. Put her in street trim for just such a test. During the commute was stupid though. Started choking half way to the office. Limped her in on an average of about 1-1/4 cylinder. She his not happy.
I'm hoping a valve just tightened up if it is mechanical, and not something easier like spark. We shall see. Looks like the last trackday of the year will be the 11s, as I doubt I'll have the SV sorted by then. My right hand mechanic/helper was badly burned in his dayjob over the weekend, so I"ll be doing good to keep up with customers, much less fix the trackbike. Guess I'll finally experience the S on the track like many of you have. Damn glad I sprung for the PVMs now. And glad it will be TWS instead of Cresson. Time to raise the pegs and lower the bars too, I suppose.

Black bike and Yellow shirtedly yours
Roger

p.s.
Props to Paul too, for buzzing the little MZ around the track. Looked good to me. Reminded me so much of my old trackhawk. Nice contrast with the S, eh? Paul, I need your travel mate's contact info so I can schedule some suspension tuning with him.

thanks
roger

[wswartzwel]

Roger,
Have seen the wiring harness come unplugged from the black boxes on that model.. They run real erratic when that happens..Un plug it, and plug it back in.. make sure it clicks.

[roger albert]

I'll check that out as well. The tail was modified by the P.O. and the mounting job on the box is not stellar, so it's very worth looking at.
Thanks Much!
Roger

[dmccardle]

Hey Texans
There will be another Texas Ducati Track Day at TWS on December 5th. These are the best track days I have ever been to. They are less crowded, and those that do attend are far less squidly than those who attend "standard" track days. You tend to get a more serious "sport vs. hooby" rider at these events. It is open to European brands only. You can go to the Ducati Austin website to register. It is not (last time I checked) listed on their calendar, but if you go to register it is one of the available dates. Last year Eric Bostrom was there all day; pretty cool.

[ExarKunONe]

Sounds kinda like the SV is running in limp mode, like it does when the intake air pressure sensor gets disconnected. Do you have a dealer switch (or a paperclip)? if you do we can troubleshoot your fuel injection with that, see if it brings up any codes.

[roger albert]

Thanks for the input, but she's first gen, and thus carb'd.
One cylinder is running well, The other one varies between weak and extremely weak to off. Backed up with customers so I don't knwo when I'll get to it as this point. May miss the last trackday.
Grrr.

[gigantic]

Take your S, Rog. it'll be fine.

[roger albert]

I've not ruled it out. Just hate to dump an expensive one.
And I'd need to get new sport rubber vs my normal sport touring, very fast.

[gigantic]

well, fwiw, from personal experience, the S crashes really well...
Lance

[wswartzwel]

Originally posted by roger albert
I've not ruled it out. Just hate to dump an expensive one.
And I'd need to get new sport rubber vs my normal sport touring, very fast.

so it wasn't the connections on the little black box...hmm intermittant... kinda rules out a mechanical problem... maybe a coil going bad...

[roger albert]

Yeah, black box didn't do it. It was secure. And when I checked it, I was reminded that I'd already improved the halfassed mounting job from the previous owner.

Coils are a probability. The problem is worse with increased temp.
I'm trying to dig up some extra coils now. for troubleshooting purposes.
They're a bite to get to, so I'd rather swap a spare for the front, rather than Front vs rear (which in any event aren't quite the same and are a poor mechanical fit, swap-wise)

My other concern is that the cutting-out has just begun to happen, but it was pulling poorly even before that. Spark is usually there or not (or at least strong enough to ignite, or not) so I'm a bit worried something more insidious is going on. Time will tell.

Grrrr.

[gigantic]

have you done a compression leak-down test? what do the spark plugs look like? it may be as simple as bad plug wires, or a bad ground connection. electrical gremlins suck...
L
what tires are you currently using on yr. S? I've been using Pilot powers & i can't say enough great things about them both as a sport touring and track tire. fantastic! great deal on them here.

[roger albert]

Not yet. Things are kinda buried on that bike, vs our boxers, and my shop is buried in work with my right hand guy hospitalized. I have to knock out all of my work, and his, before I can touch my bike. Naturally, that's when I get a failure. I think I'll take Monday off to work on mine.

[roger albert]

Oh, the tires?

Pilot Road's on there right now. Though I may have to slap on some BT14s if I take the beast to the track, since that's what I usually keep around for sport rubber for drop-ins, and my own track bike. Got About 3000 miles out of them on the SV, with the majority of them being track miles. Left side is shagged, but center and right have a lot of life left. In the future, I'm pulling track tires off sooner and slapping them on a streetbike to use up the middle.

I might also leave the pilot roads on there, since I'm thinking of dropping down to the slow group while adjusting to a much heavier bike on the track.

[pwillikers]

Our own fearless Roger



Me on the S


Me on the MZ

[roger albert]

Fearful is more like it.

Ugh, that's a right turn with my typical right-turn stiffness and high inside shoulder. On rights, I only get my behind over about half as far, and my shoulder/upper torso even worse. Getting rights up to speed is the number one problem I have right now. Grrrr. I MUST pull my head out of my hind on them.

[gigantic]

I've got that same problem. try tucking in more with your chest on the tank. keeps yr shoulder low and forces you to move your torso more. I've also found that using my legs to move around the bike by weighting the pegs has enabled me to be smoother and less jerky and my upperbody is more relaxed as a result. i'd previously been riding from the waist up, so to speak.
Lance

[roger albert]

Yeah, I"m working on that. I've found it harder with high bars vs clipons. With a shoulder injury this year, I've been glad to have the bars, but they do sort of hose the riding position. On borrowed bikes (with clipons), I sort of just more or less naturally fall into position (still better L vs R, but not much diff) I have to look at left photos to remind myself it's achievable and then just starting making it happen on the right too. My left puck is worn completely through on one side, and my right could probably be returned as new if I caught the counter guy in that lazy, post-lunch digestion phase. All easier said than done. See, lefts work. Rights=