With the Great Danton still needing much attention it seemed only right that I take something else to the track, and the more I ride and get comfortable on the bike the more I am curious about what it would be like to race a bit at a faster pace. Being in Switzerland there isn’t anything local for me to stretch the bikes legs, so I’ll be going to Circuit de Bresse in France. This is a small amateur track, but should be perfect to start off with.
Servicing
First things first was to perform a basic service on the Honda; oil and filter change and give it a reasonable once over.
The brake pads still have a few mm left but I have no idea how much is enough for a bike, so I’ll be bringing along a spare set just incase.
I changed the tires a few weeks back as I had the opportunity to buy some Dunlop Sportmaxx for cheap, so they’ve been nicely scrubbed in. I was looking for some more sport/track oriented tires and was also looking at Dunlops. They really have changed the character of the bike a lot compared to the Pirelli Angel GTs mounted on previously. The bike leans over effortlessly and wants to turn. It’s much sharper and more stable, which gives me a lot more confidence than before; very pleased with the change.
While I replaced all the tires I decided to take some weights of the wheel and tires packages just to see how they compare to modern standards, and I wasn’t too surprised to find out just how heavy they are.
Front wheel and tire (with discs): 12.1kg
Front wheel (with discs): 7.95kg
Rear wheel and tire (with disc and sprocket): 18.7kg
Rear wheel (with disc and sprocket): 12.xkg
There is some serious weight reduction potential here, with modern wheels weighing little more than 4kg each. The problem will be finding ones that fit.
Initial Weight Reduction
With the weight of the bike being quite high (256.5kg KERB) I’ve made it my goal to try and reduce this as much as possible over time. The first step was to remove the centre-stand which is quite useless to me, for a 1.85kg reduction.
The next step was to replace the dying original battery so I decided to opt for a Lithium unit, and also much smaller. A Shido LTX4L-BS is now in the place of the YTX12-BS battery. With only 1.6Ah and 95CCA it should be much weaker than the original 10Ah 180CCA unit, but because its new and due to Lithium batteries’ ability to hold constant power output it turns the engine over much faster and has no problem doing it repeatedly with no charge.
The original unit weighed 4.15kg, while the Lithium one is just 0.4kg!
The total weight reduction is now: 1.85 + 3.75 = 5.6kg
KERB bike weight should be: 251.0kg
Packed and ready to go:
