The preseason approaches

In one week I'll be heading south for the long trek to the Mid-America Motoplex.  This trip is always a great start to the racing season.  Trackaddix put on a very professional event, and the low-key mood allows one to get up to speed after the long winter, without the pressure of racing "the first day back".  The incredible weather has allowed a few hundred km of riding on the 636, but aside from a quick illegal blast around the block, no time on the 650, which I will be bringing south.  All things being equal, there have been some considerable changes made to the bike since last season, some visible, some not.

I think the machine looks great.  The bored throttle bodies have not been installed.  A few mistakes on my end as to what needed to be done prior to installation had me lose some time, and so the machine never got to the dyno.  Playing it safe, it has the stock throttle bodies on the bike.  The full fairing is the most apparent change from the 2011 version of the bike.

This is the new fat rear tire.  A 180 slick from MotoRace, who is now officially "out" of pure GP slicks in the 160 size.  Continental still adverties slicks in the 160 profile, but I think the majority of pure race tires in the 160 size (at a reasonable price) might become supermoto tires.  Bridgestone will still make them, but at a premium, and how much development will take place?  Still plenty of chain clearance, as you can see.  Kit came from TWF racing -- some machining to the cush drive, and some cool spacers that end up being captured, so rear wheel changes should be somewhat quicker.  We'll see.

Never seems enough room to put everything on the busy dash.  Thats a 636 set of guages.  Will tape over the speedo section, and note the redline for the 650 engine is a bit optimistic... 15, 500?  Not likely.  TPS trouble light, oil pressure light, and low fuel light all still work.

There has been a major development with the supermono.  By process of elimination I deduced that the 43.5mm carb was the problem that was causing the backfire issues.  I sold it on eBay and bought a proper 41mm keihin, with the correct TPS plug as well.  Needed a bit of cleanup, but inserting some jets (pilot, main, needle) that I though would be close, I fired it up.  The machine finally runs as it should!  Hooray.  However, my joy was a bit short lived, as I noticed that the carb was weeping fuel from the float bowl and fuel inlet elbow.  Luckily fcr-MX carbs are completely rebuildable, although I needed to order a gasket kit from JD jetting... another 80 bucks on top of the substantial purchase cost.  Hopefully the seller comes forward with some refund, as the unit certainly did not operate as advertised!  That being said, I spent some time doing some safety-wiring of the supermono, as well as spooning on the dunlop 155/125 slicks I bought last year for the tigcraft.  I also set the sag in the front.  It's set up soft, as the mono likely weighs 100 lbs less than the gsxr600 the front end is taken from.  Rear seems OK.

Hard to image I'll be on the track in a week!  Can't wait.