Yep, this was on Monday. Thanks for the bike compliment! Hopefully I wasn't too in your guys' way early on. I got it in my head this winter that I was going to take this thing to the track, so I circled what I thought would be the least attended day based on last year's experience. So, so much different than riding the SV650 I'm used to! Hope the day (and weekend if you did more than Monday) went well for you. I know it was hot, but that's a hell of a lot better than some of the alternatives!

@@matttriestodothings No man you were great, not in the way at all for me! I just got bumped from orange on Sunday so it was only my 2nd day in Green. But it felt great. Finally found my pace in a group. I was there all weekend, it was definitely a long, hot weekend, but i wouldn't have changed a thing haha. I bailed out after the Farrell Performance tire giveaway contest finished up. I was beat! You gonna be at RA on Monday? If so, let's hope the rain that's in the forecast clears up. I'm sick of rainy road america days haha.

@@delusional_methods5172 Congrats on the bump! It definitely helps accelerate your learning when you're around faster riders--I know it has done so for me. I just bought a spot at Road America this morning. Didn't even look at the weather... it better not do the R-Word again. Last time there was the most rain I'd ever tried to ride in. It was stupid on the back part of the track between T11 and T12. I'll be back on my SV650 for this one. Probably trying to make the switch from standard to GP shift, so I'm sure it'll be another adventure. Can never just have an easy day, right? hah. I'll see you there!

Thanks man! Its an awesome track. It's great to be there and you can walk around the whole infield and spectate from anywhere.

Thanks man. I think I'm ready to get back to the SV 😅

Thanks dude. You too!

Now I need to figure out how to lean it less, get off of it more, and drop some more seconds! It was fun tho. Scary, but fun, hah.

Thanks Charles. The thing over my leathers is a Helite mechanical airbag vest. If I get separated from the bike in a crash, the tether should pull the pin on the co2 cartridge and inflate the vest and (ideally) lock my helmet in place.

It was definitely fun--after the first two sessions. That 16" front with so much less front weight bias compared to my SV650 setup felt so twitchy it was unnerving. I pulled almost all of the front end preload out and made a cognizant effort to try to stay up over the tank as much as possible in the turns afterward, and it felt more comfortable. I have no doubt that I could knock a few more seconds off, but I don't know if I would try it again until I figured out a solution to the folding footpegs. You can see it between turn 4 and 5--I am constantly flipping the footpegs up on accident and having to put them back down. I also need to work on getting way further off the bike because the profile of the bias ply BT45 is so different than a 120/70 radial front. It was 93°F, and I'd seen plenty of bikes already doing some landscaping. I was hoping not to join them. So it was fun. More so it was just a cool experience to do it on this bike. It was way more nerve-racking than riding the SV because I really really didn't want to toss this one to the ground, but I also wanted to make give it a real go. I'm glad I did it, but I'm not in a hurry to do it right away again.

The only "engine work" was changing the oil pump. I'm not sure there's much you can do for power here--or at least it doesn't seem common. It's a claimed 68hp, but that's at the crank. There was a magazine article with dyno charts comparing the 84/5 model to the 86. Difference of 32vs30mm carbs I believe. The 84 was about 53hp and the 86 about 51hp, but the 86 had more torque thru a wider band which made it better for street use.

That's one of three items on my list for the practice day before the ASRA event at blackhawk later this month. I'm at a point where my body position is starting to limit me by increasing lean when I shouldn't be. The problem is exaggerated on this bike though. You sit so far down in it I was pulling myself forward with the bars to keep weight on the front. Probably due to nerves. I just have trust issues. You're absolutely right though. I'll work on it.

@@matttriestodothings parking lot and a camera so you see what you look like from the outside will help a bunch