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Rusty360 and I know each other from Sportbike West last summer and he popped my a couple of personal Emails to be sure it was me. He finished up with the following quote that I asked if I could share. I felt that his questions about mods and gear had a general apeal so I thought we could let the rest of you drop in on this and lend your own suggestions or just learn from the exchange. Take it away rusty;
First of all I just hope Adam's and Jim's heads don't swell up so much that their helmets don't fit
Leathers. Having just gone through buying some for the track I feel that I can help a little. First off don't get them too loose. If the arms and legs can swivel around to easily then you stand a real risk of the armour swinging out of position during the impact which can twist the joints that the armour in supposed to protect and result in damage that should not occur. You also run the risk of the liner grabbing the skin and tearing it painfully. But of course you want it loose enough that you don't have trouble breathing or crouchng either. My new suit lets me crouch to a fully closed knee position but there is a little pressure from the armour on the knee cap. Nothing that causes immediate pain but enough that 10 minutes or so would have me grimacing. In the riding position it's quite tolerable and the leather should break in with some stretching just fine. But for street touring you also want room for a set of ski underwear for warmth so try them on with some full length undies and a sweater or sweatshirt. For the summer a good set of vents or, better yet, perforations is tops. If you go for the perforated leather then a rain jacket over top will cover you off for the cooler days. This last option is actually my recomendation. You'll thank me when it gets hot. Nothing succeeds for beating the heat like extensive perforations in the leather.
As for the bike. The full system is the foundation for the rest of the work I'm planning on. The rest will be bigger main jets and some needle shimming if required, a variable ignition advancer, blocking off the air injection into the exhaust and removing the anti-resonance stubs in the ram air ducts. I can't take credit for all this. I'm just following in the well trodden foot steps of a couple of the SBN guys. There's no reason the 6R shouldn't respond to the same treatment but first you got to pop for the full system. After that the rest is just a couple of hundred more.
Any sort of rear stand is a great accessory for home work on the bike. The biggest reason is to clean and lube the chain. But it's great for those wash and detail days as well. And any of them are just fine. I think the guys liked the Anaconda becuase it's cheaper than the rest or something. Guys????? I actually made a stand that plugs into the hollow swingarm. I like it because it's totally out of the way and I can work on the suspension without the systems being loaded. And it's a snap to just lift the front end up with a second little car scissor jack under the front of the engine cases. Think of it as a giant external center stand.
Frame sliders is a big bugaboo for Kawi's. The usual little ones that fit into the little pockets and use the way too small fairing mount screws are pretty much useless except in a parking lot or at very low parking lot speeds. The problem is the little mounting screw that is just not up to the task. In any sort of serious drop it bends or snaps and the protector can actually cause more damage from being wedged in there than the bike along would do. The only good ones for our bikes require holes be drilled in the side panels and the sliders be mounted using a couple of the much larger mounting bolts that hold the head of the engine to the frame. But this also requires the coolant reservoir tank to either be relocated or replaced with a special one that has a hole through it to clear the slider. Besides, apparently our Kawis "crash well" :eek according to BK. They say the bikes get all scratched up sure enough but the important stuff seems to usually survive so at least you can ride the wreck home and down to the dealer. A big comfort that is :rolleyes It seems to work though. When I went down last fall there was nothing other than cosmetic damage........ which one of my riding buddies was nice enough to cover up with a BANDAID
I think I've covered everything. Any comments from the peanut gallery?
First of all I just hope Adam's and Jim's heads don't swell up so much that their helmets don't fit
Leathers. Having just gone through buying some for the track I feel that I can help a little. First off don't get them too loose. If the arms and legs can swivel around to easily then you stand a real risk of the armour swinging out of position during the impact which can twist the joints that the armour in supposed to protect and result in damage that should not occur. You also run the risk of the liner grabbing the skin and tearing it painfully. But of course you want it loose enough that you don't have trouble breathing or crouchng either. My new suit lets me crouch to a fully closed knee position but there is a little pressure from the armour on the knee cap. Nothing that causes immediate pain but enough that 10 minutes or so would have me grimacing. In the riding position it's quite tolerable and the leather should break in with some stretching just fine. But for street touring you also want room for a set of ski underwear for warmth so try them on with some full length undies and a sweater or sweatshirt. For the summer a good set of vents or, better yet, perforations is tops. If you go for the perforated leather then a rain jacket over top will cover you off for the cooler days. This last option is actually my recomendation. You'll thank me when it gets hot. Nothing succeeds for beating the heat like extensive perforations in the leather.
As for the bike. The full system is the foundation for the rest of the work I'm planning on. The rest will be bigger main jets and some needle shimming if required, a variable ignition advancer, blocking off the air injection into the exhaust and removing the anti-resonance stubs in the ram air ducts. I can't take credit for all this. I'm just following in the well trodden foot steps of a couple of the SBN guys. There's no reason the 6R shouldn't respond to the same treatment but first you got to pop for the full system. After that the rest is just a couple of hundred more.
Any sort of rear stand is a great accessory for home work on the bike. The biggest reason is to clean and lube the chain. But it's great for those wash and detail days as well. And any of them are just fine. I think the guys liked the Anaconda becuase it's cheaper than the rest or something. Guys????? I actually made a stand that plugs into the hollow swingarm. I like it because it's totally out of the way and I can work on the suspension without the systems being loaded. And it's a snap to just lift the front end up with a second little car scissor jack under the front of the engine cases. Think of it as a giant external center stand.
Frame sliders is a big bugaboo for Kawi's. The usual little ones that fit into the little pockets and use the way too small fairing mount screws are pretty much useless except in a parking lot or at very low parking lot speeds. The problem is the little mounting screw that is just not up to the task. In any sort of serious drop it bends or snaps and the protector can actually cause more damage from being wedged in there than the bike along would do. The only good ones for our bikes require holes be drilled in the side panels and the sliders be mounted using a couple of the much larger mounting bolts that hold the head of the engine to the frame. But this also requires the coolant reservoir tank to either be relocated or replaced with a special one that has a hole through it to clear the slider. Besides, apparently our Kawis "crash well" :eek according to BK. They say the bikes get all scratched up sure enough but the important stuff seems to usually survive so at least you can ride the wreck home and down to the dealer. A big comfort that is :rolleyes It seems to work though. When I went down last fall there was nothing other than cosmetic damage........ which one of my riding buddies was nice enough to cover up with a BANDAID
I think I've covered everything. Any comments from the peanut gallery?
