Hi everyone, Not sure how popular these forums still are but as the title says I am a proud Across owner. I have been on my L's for quite a few months now and had the Across for that period also. Its been a pretty clean run so far, I have changed the air filter, spark plugs, radiator fluid, oil filter and oil, throttle slide holders, 1 tooth down on sprocket on the front, set the needles to #2 and drilled some holes in the baffle. The tyres where previously done and everything else seems to be in okay nick. Keeping things on subject without going into "help me!" or "Does anyone know?" mode. I live in Sydney NSW and im 28, I have every intention of racing and I can't believe I didn't get into bikes sooner. I guess I was always into cars.... (but am now completely over cars because.... bikes bikes bikes bikes) I have watched some great movies/doco's on bikes including: Twist of the wrist II, Road 2014, Fastest 2011. All great films and always looking for more. My goal will be to squeeze as much performance I can out of the across as possible. Future thoughts are suspension and hopefully somehow twin front disks, there was also a new set of radials released by michelin called pilot street radials which look pretty good for the commuter/track day goer that fit the 110/140 combo. I'm also scratching my head about how to pump out a few extra HP out of this thing, but just cant seem to figure out a game plan. Thank you, Damus
Welcome. For extra power (or restoring what has been lost over the years) you can do a polish & hone, and new piston rings, or bore out the cylinders and get oversized pistons. You'll have to do other stuff with that and it's not my forte so I'll leave it to the experts. Would recommend practicing for your MOST test as well and doing it ASAP to get it out of the way. Most race courses won't allow L platers
welcome mate, I tried my hand at racing earlier on in the year and there was an Across being raced, to be honest the Across is a sports tourer and comes with a weight penalty of about 30 kgs over the CBR's, FZR's and ZXR's. But in saying that, it can be done, once of the biggest challanges will be getting it complied for racing, ie race glass because its such a unique bike with the fuel tank position etc Cheers Chris
Cbr all the way mate easy to get parts and race glass u can check out my fb page pat Mclaren bulldog racing see how things work and what's involved although I'm up in qld but should be same rules either way racing is fun and addictive do what you can afford to and give it a crack mate
welcome mate and happy posting! good on ya for wanting to get into racing.....be warned its bloody addictive! My suggestion would be to go to do a ride days track day at your local track and get a feel for your bike out there. don't worry about getting more power from your bike just yet, worry about learning body position, corner speed, lines ect. power is not everything when racing. piffffftttt you'd be very surprised how many racers don't have a road licence at all......i don't have an Aussie road licence most of the level one ride day's are geared towards L platers or folks that want to get into racing, its all about the fundamentals of riding, riding at speed and cornering at speed. @Linkin mate you should jump on one of those ride days, you'd love it!!
@Moo That was a really refreshing post. To tell you the truth I am actually really happy with the current power, I think I have tuned it really well thus far apart from carb balance. I have been reading around the forum and found some interesting information on shocks and breaks so I might focus my energy there instead. I just get carried away with the power thing because at the end of the day someone who has spent more money on a bike is going to go on about how your bike is **** and slow and I am sick of people hating on the across!!!!!! >= |
no worries you will always have people hate on bikes, big and small don't matter, its never going to be to everyone taste, normally the small bikes take the bashing the most....unless you own a duke, thats just a different ball game all together haha, but its always fun wiping the smile of the folks with R1's and big ego's when there on the brakes coming up to a bend and your throttle is still pinned wide open, this is the best part of group one's!! if the bike is spot on mechanically then just book in at start your journey. once you have done your first track day look at things to improve your bike. tyres are a great start. depending on your weight, re-valving your forks are a cheap way of getting more from your suspension if you can afford heavier springs. better brake pads, braided lines all these little tings can help dramatically. yep you might have a mate with a faster across down a straight but if you have a better understanding of cornering, body position, lines and simple set up I've just mentioned well you'll smash him time and time again as even though his bike is faster on a straight the reality is that you'll pull more ground on him as you'll be later on the brakes and quicker through the corners. the joys of a 250 is learning how to ride them fast through corners........and once you have learned how to do that you leave how to ride them even faster through corners
Moo is spot on in class I race in Simon and Glenn who are members here we all ride same bike so does everyone else 250 bikes arnt about top speed they are about carrying corner speed and body position get ya bum off the bike and get confident is what I have learnt so far main thing is to take your time and be patient!!!
Have a slightly belated Damus! I've been lurking for a while and finally come out of the woodwork again...
