New 5th Gen owner (1 month) and slower than a small truck?

Hi,

This is my 3rd bike. Learnt on a CB400 then on a DL650. I've been riding
4 years and covered approx 60,000 Kilometres in that time. I've also passed
2 learner courses, an intermediate course and Advanced Level 1 through
StayUpright. I'm 40 so the right age for a VFR800 also?:eagerness:

Bike is standard apart from Staintune exhaust and rack. The bike has done
just shy of 20,000 Kilometres - still has the original? Michelin Pilot Roads on.
These are barely legal, about to replace them with Pilot Road 2's.

Anyway I could not keep up with a little Toyota truck\utility around corners today
they were mostly 40 Kilometre per hour corners. He was determined that
I wasn't going to pass him. So much that he covered half the other lane to
swing into the corners. He was right, I could not. He must have been thrashing
that thing.

Hoping new tyres will help. I just don't think I'm that bad a rider. Maybe I'm
dilutional?

Richard

 

Welcome. Nice ride, very low K's.
Where in Oz are you?

 

Say what?

 

You need new tires badly. Other then that rack, that bike is real pretty! If the rack has a use for you then keep it I guess.
Dont ever try to pass a truck or car that doesnt want you to pass. You cant win that one unless you plan carefully! I stay away from crazy people. Sometimes I AM a crazy people though..but I try to limit that.

 

Tires aren't the problem.

Perhaps you've not pushed yourself.

At any rate, as stated--bad idea to pass someone driving like that.

 

It's not a matter of HP, but one of risk. The guy in the truck can push it a lot harder than you are willing too. He doesn't have to worry about losing it and ruining all your fairings and more. Best not to play games with cagers, worst thing you want is to have him riding your ass if you did get past. Enjoy your riding, keep away from idiots and practice your skills.

 

Welcome aboard, growler. Great looking bike - we don't get those purty blue ones over here.

The pilot road were not stock. Stock was some piece of shit Dunlop.

Clarify what you mean by slower than a small truck and couldn't keep up with him. Are you saying you were running at 9000rpm and couldn't catch him and your bike feels wrong, or are you saying, as others have alluded to, that you just couldn't ride hard enough to keep up with him in the corners? If its the latter, who cares. Aside from the guy in the truck being an idiot, you got nothing to prove. As the old saying goes, ride your own ride. Whether you get smoked by a truck or CBR doesn't matter. Those things will come in time.

Another thing to consider discussing is your size and suspension, by the way. If you're one of us bigger guys, you'll soon find the suspension on these bikes is way undersprung. It won't matter what tires you put on it if the suspension is inadequate, you'll never be able to ride the bike to its potential.

Talk to us, man. Give us some more details!

 

Welcome aboard. As others have said, the guy you are racing isn't going to fix your bike or pay your hospital bills. Having said that, before my latest front tyre change, my bike was handling horribly! New tyres and a bit of time with the bike and you will feel much more confident.

 

The guys are being nice. I'm not. Maybe you could text the guy in the truck and ask real nice if you can pass him.

 

Here's how (just in case u haven't seen this vid, which u pr'olly have, but anyway) :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbTZkZTYkaM

 

I'm assuming these were 40 KPH suggested corners? What speed were you and truck boy carrying through the corners?

 

The racks really useful for pulling a bag on and off so I'll keep it on.

The bike has a number of fairing scratches from previous owner drop so
I guess I'll have to get the lower cowls resprayed eventually.

I think new tyres will at least give me more confidence in the corners i.e.
perception. I know on the Vstrom a new set did.

I decided I wouldn't overtake that freak. Just wanted to keep up. I seemed
to gain ground on him towards the end of the encounter but peeled off to
climb a really nice road.

Probably wasn't running at 9000 rpm, more like averaging 5000. I could catch
him on the straights but couldn't carry his speed around tight corners. Or
perhaps I was just not willing to. I probably just need more than 1000 kilometres
on the VFR to learn how to ride it properly.

I'm 87 Kilograms and plan on going with the Jamie Daugherty 929 shock when funds permit. Also
plan on doing the advanced 2 course cornering and braking on a track if I can find one
down here. Can anything be done with stock suspension?

Not sure what speed I was carrying but often more than
advised depending on my perception of how fast I could safely get through the corner.

 

Any chicken strips on your rear tire from this last ride? Or is the wear all the way to the edge.

 

There are strips. Was told that the whole chicken strip thing is rubbish by my first instructor. It can mean that you are not keeping
the bike upright enough while leaning? I doubt I'd go down that far on most of our Tasmanian roads. On a track I would probably
give it a crack.

 

Basically the chicken strip is saying that your bike IS more upright when turning. Which translates to "too chicken to lean the bike over", hence chicken strips. Personally I wouldn't pay attention to that as much as how comfortable you feel while turning. Are you "pencing" your turns? i.e. making small turns within the curve like the edge of a 1P coin (Hence the term pencing). Are you smooth and steady through the entire corner? Are you looking through the turn or looking right in front of you? Once you get the basics down, and gain confidence, you'll find that you'll be able to go faster and therefore have to lean more, eventually losing those chicken strips.

 

Probably am pencing at times. I rarely get it perfect so sometimes make adjustments mid corner.

I look through turns but have to rescan surface also due to poor roads\road kills etc. I enter corners as
wide as possible.

I think I'm still adjusting to the relatively small space (compared to vstrom) that I have between brake/gears
and pegs. Also pegs are further back.

So it's the norm on a VFR800 to not have chicken strips from sufficient leaning on imperfect country roads?

 

Uncle daddy, dumb ass red neck. That video was insane, lucky he didn't take out those oncoming bikes.
Don't even stay around ass hats like what you were explaining . Pull over and relax for a bit, deffinatley not worth your life.

 

"cannot keep the bike upright enough while leaning?" wha... :crazy:

ok. the fact that there's chicken strips means you aren't taking the corners at speed. the more you lean the bike, the smaller the strips, the faster you can take corners. This isn't rocket science.

Oh, and scrubbing the rear tire clean of KFC on a 5th gen isn't hard. even on public roads.

so to answer you're original question, the pickup wasn't fast and the bike isn't slow. You are.

but please don't rush out and try and up the ante on account of us. You'll most likely end up as a roadside treat for some screamin devil

 

I would also suggest "Stop and Drop: Mixing Oil Viscosities and Cat Piss" by SOW.