Donington 4-5 June

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alex

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Bananaman and I are at Donny today tomorrow.
Let us know if you are too.

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Time for the DS1/DS2 combo after my Z04's gave up the ghost

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Was fortunate enough to be given a session and a half on b-man's Gen4 yesterday.
Raised seat. Comp K slicks. Standard otherwise. In Race Pro Mode. M-Sport w/ Carbon wheels.

Jumping off my tricked up Gen3, it felt tiny, bars seem close and you're over the nose much more. Pretty much wobbled the first two laps trying to get a feel for how 'on its toes' it feels. Craners is the best place to understand the differences in the bikes. At my pace, its less effort to move from side to side. It allows you to correct the line mid corner using the throttle or a press of the bar.

The Hayes brakes are absolutely fine (for me) with OEM pads. Donny has 4 hard stops, no fade, no concerns.

After 9000rpm it goes on a rampage. It doesn't feel as linear as the Gen3 because of Shiftcam. But I guess the idea is to keep it buzzing on track.

I think the light weight meant it was disturbed by the defects in the tarmac more than the Gen 3. It got a little wobbly coming out of Starkeys and into Shwantz.

The TC was set to 0. Saw 30% intervention. It didn't like me wanting to develop the throttle thru Coppice so I had to change line compared to my RS2E mapped Gen3. The Gen4 definitely wants to be stopped, turned and fired with the std TC.

The hardest part for me was the hairpins. It felt so slow, with the cat fitted everything goes quiet at low rpm in a turn like the Melbourne loop. And it bogs a bit out of the corner as the TC intervention is too high (and I didn't want to use 1st).

To call one bike Gen3 and the next Gen4 doesn't convey the changes that are evident when you ride one in anger. Its revolution not evolution.

Getting back on my Gen3 this AM. Damn craners felt hard work...but its does feel trustworthy and stable.

The experience has left a mixed impression. The Gen4 is decent out of the box, being easy to flick, but its not imo track ready. If it had my map and 16t in the front it would be transformed. Plus maybe some suspension I can understand.

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The Hayes brakes are absolutely fine (for me) with OEM pads. Donny has 4 hard stops, no fade, no concerns.

Totally. Right pads and breaks are strong.

I think the light weight meant it was disturbed by the defects in the tarmac more than the Gen 3. It got a little wobbly coming out of Starkeys and into Shwantz.

You really need to hold the body with your legs, relax the arms and accept any movements of motorbike as normal.

The TC was set to 0. Saw 30% intervention. It didn't like me wanting to develop the throttle thru Coppice so I had to change line compared to my RS2E mapped Gen3. The Gen4 definitely wants to be stopped, turned and fired with the std TC.

You normally ride it stock with TC -7, same as Gen3.

The hardest part for me was the hairpins. It felt so slow, with the cat fitted everything goes quiet at low rpm in a turn like the Melbourne loop. And it bogs a bit out of the corner as the TC intervention is too high (and I didn't want to use 1st).

Lean off more in hairpins.

To call one bike Gen3 and the next Gen4 doesn't convey the changes that are evident when you ride one in anger. Its revolution not evolution.

Getting back on my Gen3 this AM. Damn craners felt hard work...but its does feel trustworthy and stable.

The experience has left a mixed impression. The Gen4 is decent out of the box, being easy to flick, but its not imo track ready. If it had my map and 16t in the front it would be transformed. Plus maybe some suspension I can understand.

None of them a track ready out of the box. Duc is the same. You really need to tweak stuff to make it enjoyable experience, especially if you are not Guintoli, Salvadori or Redding.
 
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Having had time to run the Gen3 again today I was feeling the heft of it. The Gen4 closes the gap on the R1 on its telepathic ability. I do think I would try the bars lower (clipons)

The bit I said it wobbled, it was the same for both riders and you're hanging off largely. You can drive through it...but it was a nuence of that corner with SW suspension settings (who set it at the track).

Overall, my riding ability deficits aside I would have the Gen4 over the Gen3 for what I use the bike for. All in good time. My Gen3 just passed 10000 miles...

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Up until Friday I really wasn't feeling the love from this Gen4 to the point that if I couldn't get it together in the 2 days at Donny we would be parting company ... To be fair, I'd only ridden it probably 8 times since purchase but in that time there was no wow factor apart from looking at it. How different could it be from my previous Gen1 and Gen 3 let alone the RSV4rf as my last bike? Didn't road test one, just bought it on the back of the 1&3 thinking it would be just a better 'all round bike' I'm not a fast road rider having done a lot of track, cons wayyyy outweigh the pros even so I couldn't get comfortable with my feet (shift lever) due to my tidy length (6'2") and non flexible joints nowadays. 30mm seat foam was added which made a helluva lot of difference but even that was border line for shifting action. It didn't help with 2 wet days at Snett worrying about going past 8g and hitting the big boys revs lol which demoralised me even more not being able to 'get on it'.
Changed to slicks for the 1st day at Donny, Comp k scrubs which in hindsight probably wasn't the best thing to do as I'm an avid vo2 fan and just didn't want to use a new one at walking pace . Alex and I are, (were) a similar pace but he was dancing all over me all day but none the less, confidence was coming back getting some feeling with the bike and it really wasn't going to kill me lol ! Enjoyed the evening barbie, chewing the cud, bottle of wine (each?) and generally discussing the positives and negatives of the day . We (actually me I think) decided that I was being a wuss and needed to grow some :drunk: That's ok but telling a pensioner that is like saying give me 25 press ups in 25 seconds, it ain't 'appening :grief: Anyway, I digress ....
Day 2, tyre warmers off, the feeling you get pressing your thumb into the front tyre gives confidence of front end grip so decided that today was success or sale . The day went well, not saying I was billy big balls but ended up somewhere the same as last years ending, low 50's. Doesn't feel as good as the ape but the potential is there, more seat time (track) will be a bonus.

Conclusions ....

Older you get, longer it takes to adjust
More time in the saddle makes for more confidence
Old school will never rely on electronics
Old school will never appreciate the grip on modern tyres
New school can pull their brain out easier
I was born 40 years too early :bananahuge:
 
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