[15R1]

Did a recent track day and thought I'd give you my quick opinion on the bike.
Took it to my local track with the standard Bridgestone R10 tyres, stock suspension settings and everything thing else stock.
So first off the electronics are amazing, Everything works awesome. The oem tyres do the job but after around 35 laps started to loose some grip. I found the seat very slippery under heavy braking and under brakes I was bottoming the forks which required me to put a few more clicks of front compression in and that's with my 70kg body weight.
Heaps of power, coming from a 2011 zx10 this thing is so much smoother and has lots more traction. It needs gearing at my track but still found it really nice with oem gearing. It flicked side to side very fast and the only moments I had was under brakes where it was sliding heaps.
It really needs the engine braking dialled back. I was riding in pwr 1 mode and I didn't find it Jerky like I do on the street. With some more seat time I think this bike will be amazing.

 

[superfly999]

Great to hear. Looking good. They didn't make u remove the mirrors or tape lights. Any thoughts on the abs qs scs tcs lif etc?

 

[15R1]

Well my local track has probably the most hardest breaking circuit in Australia and I didn't even feel the abs once although the lever did get soft but I was still running the oem fluid. My zx10 was that intrusive it was terrible.
The lift control worked perfectly, each setting got the bike a little higher under power. The quickshifter is perfect, not one miss shift and just silky smooth. The zx had a $900 Hm gp shifter and the r1 is mike's better. Everything just worked so seamless it was amazing.

 

[superfly999]

nice! get up some video next time!

 

[15R1]

If you can believe it, we are not allowed any camera's on our bikes on a ride day. We are not allowed any timing equipment too but that's an easy one to get around. They say having a camera will make you ride dangerously haha.

 

[superfly999]

hmmm not sure about the extra dangerous part with a camera. But then again I was getting a bit distracted one time trying to stay tight to the rear of a buddy while filming on track. I don't do that anymore...

 

[Scotman623]

Looking good, I take my M to the track this coming Saturday, what psi did you run on the stock tires? I am going to start 31frt and 29rear cold.

 

[15R1]

Hot off the warmers I ran 32 front 30 rear. But I dropped the rear down to 28psi and it started squirming heaps. Next time out I'll go 33psi front and 31psi rear.

 

[Scotman623]

Hot off the warmers I ran 32 front 30 rear. But I dropped the rear down to 28psi and it started squirming heaps. Next time out I'll go 33psi front and 31psi rear.

THANKS...That will give me a starting point, I will also mess around with my tire warmers and PSI.

 

[Lauzza]

15R1,
Are you experiencing a flat spot at about 7000rpm like the American bikes?
I don't have my bike yet but am trying to work out if their problems stem from their restricted ecu's and/or crap fuel that they have over there.
Thanks

 

[tigerhours]

I ran 32 front and 26 rear on cold, no warmers.

 

[Ckempf]

What are your thoughts on suspension settings comp and rebound.

And curious about riding modes and power modes that u used?
I'll be in barber this coming weekend and would appreciate you advise!

 

[15R1]

15R1,
Are you experiencing a flat spot at about 7000rpm like the American bikes?
I don't have my bike yet but am trying to work out if their problems stem from their restricted ecu's and/or crap fuel that they have over there.
Thanks

Yep there is a massive flat spot between 5 to 7 but on the track I didn't really feel it. The flat spot is definitely ecu related though.

 

[15R1]

What are your thoughts on suspension settings comp and rebound.

And curious about riding modes and power modes that u used?
I'll be in barber this coming weekend and would appreciate you advise!

My track is extremely hard braking with 3 areas of 200kmh plus to around 50kmh in a very short distance so I had to increase front preload a few turns. I also had to increase front comp as the front dove down very fast. I reckon the stock settings are pretty good for 80% of tracks around the place. I weigh 70kg plus gear and the sags on stock settings are in the ball park. The rear is quite soft and it does start but it doesn't under steer much at all.
I did speed up the rebound a few clicks and that made the bike feel more settled and gave more traction but that was Street testing.
Next time out I may put a turn of rear preload on to see it it helps even more with corner exit.
I used power 1 TCS 3 scs3 and lif 3, next time I'll go less slide and less lift. With pwr1 at the track I noticed no Jerky throttle but I do notice it on the street.
I reckon a - 1 front sprocket would get the bike out the corners better and give some more wheel base. I notice a lot of the r1s are running a lot of wheel base.

 

[Ckempf]

Great info, in mode a pwr1 my bike is very jerky on the street. Good to hear on track that's not a problem.

 

[ussprinceton]

I love that Marquez helmet, but I want the one with the Red Bull logos, just like the actual helmet Marquez wears

 

[superfly999]

I did my first track day last week and I'm pretty much inline with everything 15R1 said. I ran 32F 30R hot off warmers and the track being 47C in the afternoon - I got some hot tearing on the rear. Next time if the track heats up I'll try 34F 32R. It wasn't a lot of tearing but there was some overheating of the tire for sure. And I could smell the tires melting like a weird burning plastic smell. Strange.

I only played with the front rebound and ended up -17 clicks out. Strange cause the book says -14 is max fast rebound but I left it at -17 cause at the time I didn't realize what the book values were. This track is very bumpy and the rear felt good over all the ruts. Fork was a bit stiff but the reduced rebound damping helped.

Under braking the bike had lots of dive and I think at 15mm left of travel I was bottoming out the fork. I will try more preload and also more compression next time. Don't think it will be much. I'm 175 naked btw. Other than that it seemed ok under braking. Just some light wagging of the tail on a hard 250KM/hr to 110Km/hr zone.

Used the PWR 2 mostly with the TCS 7, SCS 3, LIF 3, QS 1,

Next time I'll try PWR 1 and leave everything else the same. I love all the electronics so far.

 

[15R1]

Good stuff Superfly!
I hear they run light fork Springs but a lot of oil in the fork. Hence the stiffness. I felt that if I put more comp on it upset mid corner.
I reckon some stiffer front Springs and take out 5 to 10ml of fork oil and I'll try it again.
Even though the rear is very soft and had minimal pump/wheel spin it didn't really run wide. I will try some more rear preload for high speed turns.

 

[superfly999]

15R1 I checked the service manual and it's just over .9 kg/mm front spring rate from what I can tell. I was thinking next fork service I would add 10cc per leg of oil during the flush. The idea being as the fork compresses it gets progressively harder near the end of travel as the air gap is smaller.
Your observations on mid turn compression was why I was reluctant to add any comp as the track I was on is seriously bumpy.
I'm going to use preload first next time and then increase comp.
All in all I'm super happy with this bike. I think I was on the knee after one lap after a whole winter off. That's confidence inspiring in my book. And it's way to pretty to ball up!!

 

[Jason P.]

Great shots!