It’s been nearly 2 months since my last track day and my family hasn’t kicked me out of the house yet so I must be doing okay. I did have to make a trip to Montana to help my Mom with some things and I occupied much of my thoughts and garage energy with getting my bike off for its annual suspension service and tuning work which has also involved ordering miscellaneous bits and parts. The biggest surprise was the lower engine mount bolt that apparently is a somewhat known thing on these bikes that needs to be checked fairly frequently. Mine had apparently broken and come out, though who knows when, it goes all the way through the engine case and it’s located in front of the rider’s feet so you’d think I’d have noticed it. It’s kind o a funky arrangement because you’ve got that bolt and then an engine tensioner that the bolt goes through. Apparently it’s when that tensioner gets loose that the bolt is prone to breaking so that will be a semi-regular check going forward. The new exhaust didn’t come with the gasket to the heads so those needed to be ordered up. I’d shipped the new Bodis silencer off to Jay Murray for an insert but the USPS lost it somewhere along the way so I had to order a new one, which has been stuck in customs for the past 2+ weeks. I did finally get reimbursed by the USPS for the missing one but it required 2 appeals.
The more exciting bit though is that I traded in my Street Triple 765 RS on an Aprilia Tuono V4 Factory, the new model with the upgraded electronics and semi-active suspension. I’ve done the break-in miles and the first service at the dealership (I’ll do the rest myself other than valve inspections). I do miss the Triumph’s superior engineering and fit and finish but the Tuono is a lusty bike. Though it weights ~50lbs more, it wears its weight well. The power is astounding, and the sounds it makes. The handling is amazing and I love having the ability to firm up or soften the suspension from the handlebars. I’m hoping to be able to use that to help me further get my head around suspension adjustments and how different settings affect the handling. You can adjust everything but preload through it and run it in semi-active mode or manual mode and it has customizable presets. The headlights aren’t as impressive as my other bike with LED OEM headlights. The ergonomics are probably my favorite thing–it’s set up so well for me. I did still install the obligatory StompGrip tank grips and some protection stuff. I also got a set of forged Aluminum wheels as spares and that’s where I’ll keep the track tires and use the original wheels for road use. I did swap out the original SuperCorsa tires with Angel GT tires since I’ll be riding in cooler and damper weather over the winter. I installed a Powerbronze windscreen for a bit more wind protection (road and track). The current project is to try to get more ECU data into the AiM Solo 2 DL. Apparently Aprilia changed the data feed with the 2021+ V4 bikes so the existing V4 profile for those bikes is missing considerable data, including TC/WC intervention, brake pressure, etc. I’m again working with Mitch Minton to reverse-engineer the CAN data to bring that back in. I did confirm it’s there by using the Aprilia app with the MIA module so those data points are collected so I know they exist, I just want to get them into the S2DL. I’ve also pinged AiM and Aprilia corporate about it but no word back yet. As of now, I’m working with Mitch Minton to try to reverse-engineer the ECU to capture the data.
Another project is some editing and content creation for a neat upcoming project. More to come on that as I’m able to share those details. I’m also catching up on some reading that’s been backlogged and hoping to re-read some of my usual motorcycle riding technique books. I am finding myself perusing the Chuckwalla site, considering the monster drive and inconvenience of the drive to get down there. The TV4F would be a good candidate for that track though…
2022-12-15 – Daytona
Just a quick shot of the initial baseline start of the Daytona on the drum…
