What does that spring do the the exhaust?

 

My rear brake pedal is ground and the fairing up by the clutch cover has been kissed. That was with the pipe covers removed and at the track.

On the street I ocasionally hit the pegs and have kissed the pipe covers at the lowest point, the corner just ahead of where they start the upsweep.

That said, only use the tire strip as indication that there is moreavailable if you get panicked in a corner, but stay at whatever your comfort level is and practice your lines, throttle apply,and looking deep through the corner. The speed comes from technique.

It's also possible to lean the bike more than is necessary by not using proper body position. Some track time might be a good idea if you're planning on pushing it.

 

Removing my centerstand and exhaust shields to gain a little clearance beofere my next gap run. That undertail DIY exhaust system the guy in Europe posted up before would solve a lot of clearance issues....except for the pegs.

 

I almost hit my pegs once. I keep it pretty tame as I'm a newbie.

 

One of the problems I have with the bike is that it wants to oversteer, I not comfortable with it when it leans.

I have just adjusted the Preload (Shock adjustment on the bottom of the shock) and the bike now handles so much differently.
It was adjusted all the way clockwise, now it's halfway. the oversteer is gone and it feels like a different bike, feels a bit heavy and slower to change direction, but is now more ‘one with the rider’.

I feel that I can get it down more - we may see an end to the chicken strips yet.

 

Isn't the adjuster on the bottom of the shock the rebound damping? It should be adjusted so the bike returns to the unloaded position in about one second after it has been pressed down. If it returns to quick, the bike will bounce on bumps, to slow and the spring will pack up in compressed position.The preload (coil depression)is adjusted on the right side above the foot peg thru a side panel hole if I remember correct.

The bike will oversteer if the preload or the rebound dampingis too high. The rear preload should be set so the bike is depressed 25 to 40 mm's at the rear axle,with you on the bike, compared to when the rear is fully extended.

 

In case it helps, here's exactly what my bike is set at and ridden street and track, as well as cross-country touring, near 100,000 miles at these settings. (Bike has 122,000 miles, these changes made around 27,000.)

My post from above was with the stock exhaust, stock springs, rear raised to 7/8" - 1" static sag, front raised from 2 1/8" static sag to 1 1/4" - 1 3/8" with new spacers. Front fork oil level was raised to 4 3/4" instead of stock 6 7/8" (? or was that 6 1/8", don't recall stock spec for sure) to be more progressive for anti-dive, not bottoming out too easily on hard braking. All of that with a 200# rider. BTW, the rear static sag of 1" was accomplished with a free sag (bike alone, no rider)near zero, no more than 1/8", from memory.

I'll be setting my new one (new to me) up the same way. I may look harder at the front springs, starting with a rig and measuring the front spring rate. Depending on what I find there I may play with new springs but the stiffest commonly available are 1.0'snot as high as what would be considered optimum. The stockers' rate is unknown (to me)but they are progressive wound and may do better than linear replacements that aren't quite stiff enough either. That is why I left them alone and just set the sag and raised the fork oil level. With the additional data of knowing the stock rates a different decision might be made. But either way, the set-up I described is very rideable and at a pretty aggressive, impressive rate.

Also worth note, the rear spring rate for a 200# rider is really pretty good as it comes, riding solo. The difference between static and free sag is about 7/8" which isn't bad for street riding. I don't know its actual rate but that differential is what's telling and at 7/8" suggests the spring's just about right, whatever its rate. Around 3/4" would be very decent track (stiff street),and less than 5/8" would start to be considered too stiff even for the track.

It was not optimum race bike qualitybut a nice improvement over stock and very rideable at major speed while maintaining the all around sport-tour capabilities of the bike. It's still my favorite all around bike.

 

I will get a tape measure out this weekend R1000,
I still think there is some tweaking to be done, but now I know I can get it close to perfect.

One of my new handling problems is the new Bag on the back causing minor buffeting, It takes the smoothness off the ride.
The guy at the bike shop said to put the bag on backwards as well as the rack (so it covers the seat), this will remove the void that is between me and the bag. I will let you know how that works out.

My last problem with the bike is the Alt. chain and oil leak. - then life could be perfect.