It's 70 degrees in Colorado and it's February. Go figure. Hoped to get the bike out on the track on Saturday - all we needed was 10 people to pre-register. Well that didn't happen so had to improvise. Kart / Supermoto Track on Sunday!!! Technically it's a track day, but it's not really possible to get a full speed test out of it, hence the "kind of". I did three sessions on the KTM and one on my CRF450R super moto. My friend Adam (who's a substantially better rider than I - Pikes Peak Hill Climb, training for the Isle of Mann, etc) also took it out for a session. Below is our combined notes (in no particular order).
For what it's worth, I was running the stock Metzlers. I have not had a chance to mount new tires. I've also mounted clip-ons under the stock triple. I also raised the bike about 5mm (the top of the forks are sitting slightly lower in the triple). ABS was switched off for all sessions. Also, this is a Kart / Supermoto track, so it's tighter than I would normally experience in many ways (Phillip Island it is not).
For what it's worth, I was running the stock Metzlers. I have not had a chance to mount new tires. I've also mounted clip-ons under the stock triple. I also raised the bike about 5mm (the top of the forks are sitting slightly lower in the triple). ABS was switched off for all sessions. Also, this is a Kart / Supermoto track, so it's tighter than I would normally experience in many ways (Phillip Island it is not).
- Bike wants to be ridden in a centered position.
- Adam noted that when he tried to shift his body and hang off the bike he was sliding, either the front or back
- If I got too far back, the rear wanted to slide
- Both of us felt bike had to be ridden with an aggressive, elbows up MX style.
- Brakes
- Getting fade on the one short straight (approx 80 MPH).
- Definitely need better pads.
- Maybe a brake bleeding as well.
- Bike never felt chattery or bad feedback when hard on brakes and fading.
- Need to figure a way to get the ABS module out and/or mount braided lines.
- Gearing
- Need to go up one, maybe two in the rear to get better drive out of corners. We were both bogging and down shifting would not work as the revs would be too high and you'd end up spinning the rear wheel (as Adam encountered......).
- Chassis
- As noted under Brakes, bike never felt sketchy even when sliding, hard braking etc. All the situations felt controlled, although it was not deliberate.
- Bike feels relatively neutral input wise.
- When staying more on the bike - scraping the begs.
- Suspension -
- Rear is undersprung. Bottoming out on the stiffest setting (based on the high tech zip tie method).
- Front - Never felt harsh or dove on braking, however, the addition of rebound and compression would be nice.
- Motor
- Smooth power delivery
- Not as abrupt as the supermoto
- When down shifting, remember, there's no slipper and smoothly release the clutch..... I experienced some wheel hop....