Happy new bike day.... WTF, what do you mean it's a Yamaha ???

[weeksy]

I have to admit, the Ebay seller in France has been exceptionally nice about all of this, offering basically to sort whatever i need/want.

He's offered me 80E back in refund and i get to keep the kit. This would cover some of the MSG Racing cost and a new set of stainless bolts (As i don't trust his bolts after this) or option 2 is a full refund including postage each way. (it wouldn't surprise me if he throws something in for repair costs too).

I'm a bit torn on this one as i'm a bit wary now about taking bolts out/in on the cover, so unsure how to progress with it.

I'm just about to go out for 15-20 mins to check it's all good and oil tight along with testing the suspension changed made by Greedy, although there were not a lot he said as it's quite a basic setup, hence why many people change fork internals on the MT09 and XSR.

[weeksy]

2020-07-16_06-22-59 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Up and out early for some testing. Obviously the somewhat leafy back lanes of west berks are nothing like Silverstone, but it's all good to test the changes and i'm more than happy with them, bike feels great i have to say. Handling is excellent and precise. Really looking forward to riding it in anger on Saturday now.

Got back into the garage and stuck it on the vinyl type gym mat and happy to report there's no drips/leaks etc. Not that i was expecting any, but it's nice to check so i know it's 100% for weekend.

[Beancounter]

I have to admit, the Ebay seller in France has been exceptionally nice about all of this, offering basically to sort whatever i need/want.

He's offered me 80E back in refund and i get to keep the kit. This would cover some of the MSG Racing cost and a new set of stainless bolts (As i don't trust his bolts after this) or option 2 is a full refund including postage each way. (it wouldn't surprise me if he throws something in for repair costs too).

I've got a set of GB Racing covers to put on to my MT-09. Thought it looked straightforward but will now be uber-cautious given what happened to you.

I'm just about to go out for 15-20 mins to check it's all good and oil tight along with testing the suspension changed made by Greedy, although there were not a lot he said as it's quite a basic setup, hence why many people change fork internals on the MT09 and XSR.

I've already spoken to MCT about sorting out the suspension on mine. I'm looking at £895 plus VAT (£250 of that is for a hydraulic preload adjuster on the shock) but having felt the difference on my 1150GSA I think it will be worth it.

[IOU0]

I have to admit, the Ebay seller in France has been exceptionally nice about all of this, offering basically to sort whatever i need/want.

He's offered me 80E back in refund and i get to keep the kit. This would cover some of the MSG Racing cost and a new set of stainless bolts (As i don't trust his bolts after this) or option 2 is a full refund including postage each way. (it wouldn't surprise me if he throws something in for repair costs too).

I've got a set of GB Racing covers to put on to my MT-09. Thought it looked straightforward but will now be uber-cautious given what happened to you.

I've already spoken to MCT about sorting out the suspension on mine. I'm looking at £895 plus VAT (£250 of that is for a hydraulic preload adjuster on the shock) but having felt the difference on my 1150GSA I think it will be worth it.

You don't need to be uber cautious, just not use a hulking great torque wrench on a tiny bolt.
Like i said, 1/4" drive and 2 white knuckles.
As for your suspension, what are you getting for your £1100. Brooks are selling Andreani inserts for £395 and they take 260mm springs (nearly all 600s size)
There was a nitron tracer shock on ebay with HPA that didnt sell for £300.

[weeksy]

I have to admit, the Ebay seller in France has been exceptionally nice about all of this, offering basically to sort whatever i need/want.

He's offered me 80E back in refund and i get to keep the kit. This would cover some of the MSG Racing cost and a new set of stainless bolts (As i don't trust his bolts after this) or option 2 is a full refund including postage each way. (it wouldn't surprise me if he throws something in for repair costs too).

I've got a set of GB Racing covers to put on to my MT-09. Thought it looked straightforward but will now be uber-cautious given what happened to you.

I've already spoken to MCT about sorting out the suspension on mine. I'm looking at £895 plus VAT (£250 of that is for a hydraulic preload adjuster on the shock) but having felt the difference on my 1150GSA I think it will be worth it.

You don't need to be uber cautious, just not use a hulking great torque wrench on a tiny bolt.
Like i said, 1/4" drive and 2 white knuckles.
As for your suspension, what are you getting for your £1100. Brooks are selling Andreani inserts for £395 and they take 260mm springs (nearly all 600s size)
There was a nitron tracer shock on ebay with HPA that didnt sell for £300.

Well, 10Nm is 10Nm whether it's a 1/4" or a 3/8" ? It's still 10Nm.

The handling on these seems to bring good and bad thoughts, with the XSR seemingly a lot nicer handling than the MT09. I certainly haven't noticed any issues at all since swapping the shock, it was far from bad even before the shock. But i've not ridden an MT09 enough to give much of an opinion.

Saturday will bring an interesting view on handling, but in reality it barely matters, i've only got 2 trackdays this year to MRs Weeksys 6. So the track context is a really small part of my riding. As long as it doesn't try to kill me and gives me some fun, i'll be more than happy

[IOU0]

Well, 10Nm is 10Nm whether it's a 1/4" or a 3/8" ? It's still 10Nm.

And the manual states chain slack should be 5-15mm, but you just know that is wrong!
It's just an experience thing, I'd have no idea how to configure a network as it's not my sphere of expertise, however spanner wanking is second nature to me.

[weeksy]

Well, 10Nm is 10Nm whether it's a 1/4" or a 3/8" ? It's still 10Nm.

And the manual states chain slack should be 5-15mm, but you just know that is wrong!
It's just an experience thing, I'd have no idea how to configure a network as it's not my sphere of expertise, however spanner wanking is second nature to me.

I'm not exactly a novice, i've done my share of spannering and as far as i recall this is the first bolt i've ever snapped, i've never stripped a thread.

[Rockburner]

You don't need to be uber cautious, just not use a hulking great torque wrench on a tiny bolt.
Like i said, 1/4" drive and 2 white knuckles.
As for your suspension, what are you getting for your £1100. Brooks are selling Andreani inserts for £395 and they take 260mm springs (nearly all 600s size)
There was a nitron tracer shock on ebay with HPA that didnt sell for £300.

Well, 10Nm is 10Nm whether it's a 1/4" or a 3/8" ? It's still 10Nm.

On My BM the cam-cover bolts are 8nm, very narrow steel bolt into ally so very easy to strip the threads - I've never even thought about picking up the torque wrench for them - do up finger tight, then lightly tighten with two fingers on the allen-wrench about half-way up, then a little push, again, half-way up the allen wrench and that's good. 8 or 10Nm is NOT a lot of torque and it's very easy to over do it, especially with a heavier tool where your judgement of the torque going into the bolt can be clouded.

I'm assuming though that you're assuming it was a weak bolt?

Hope you got it sorted easily, sound like you did.

[Beancounter]

As for your suspension, what are you getting for your £1100. Brooks are selling Andreani inserts for £395 and they take 260mm springs (nearly all 600s size)
There was a nitron tracer shock on ebay with HPA that didnt sell for £300.

New Nitron R1 shock sprung to suit rider/ride style and set up - £385 + VAT
Hydraulic preload adjuster - £250 + VAT
New fork springs, fork oil, re-valve and set up - £260 + VAT

I didn't see the shock on Ebay but then I doubt I'd have bid for it even if had seen it.

[Supermofo]

So as Weeksy mentioned in the 690 thread we met up and he very kindly fitted the heated grips he gave me. Cheers again mate, you're a star.

Afterwards he also gave me a go on the XSR. First impressions were what a saucy looking bike! Fit and finish is good and much nicer than the MT07s I've seen.

To sit on compared to the Duke the pegs are much higher and the bars a fair bit lower whilst obviously not being clip on low. The seat is hard compared to the Duke and the suspension much firmer, not sure how much of that is the Nitron shock. To me after 4 years on a bouncy tractor it felt a bit like a flat barred sportsbike although the pegs aren't that extreme, I thought my bad knee might ache riding it and it didn't so don't think they are that bad. The weight whilst heavier than mine all feels compacted in a ball between your knees so it feels really agile and easy to chuck about. I really liked the handling. Helped by having some round tyres we were on some reasonably bumpy roads at times but the bike behaved really well and it all felt nice and tight compared to the twitchy loose feeling 690 which as Weeksy said isn't helped at the moment by a fubar rear tyre.

The engine is interesting. I found the fueling really abrupt, not enough to cause issues and you'd get used to it but its noticeable in its twitchyness. Power wise its obviously way more powerful then the 690 but it didn't feel batshit fast so nice and easy to ride and you don't need to worry too much about finding yourself doing 150mph without really noticing. It took me until a couple of hours later to realise its most noticeable feature which is that the power delivery is quite flat. There wasn't a powerband type step anywhere it just has lots of shunt at all revs at anytime. Its a really easy engine to use and soooo smooth after the KTM. I loved the midrange, really useable and even when I hooked 5th and pootled it just pulls when you wind it on. You could probably just leave it in a couple of gears and get away with 80% of roads. Having said that I did miss a bit of the work hard nature of the 690 engine which I find quite characterful but for a lot of people the single is probably too much hard work.

Brakes were pretty sharp, Weeksy mentioned they might be a bit too sharp but once you were used to them they were fine. After a couple of minutes I was 1 finger braking and even then they only needed a brush. But better that than bad brakes.

So is an XSR900 on my next bike list?

It definitely is, but I'd wanna try the Tracer first. Ideally I'd prefer a comfier seat, higher bars and lower pegs. Mainly as on longer rides I wanna feel as comfortable as possible. BUT that will depend on how it handles etc. If its a comfier XSR900 feeling bike then that'll probably nudge it. And I also want to test the 1090.

But interestingly whilst I really liked it, I didn't feel so blown away i wanted one right away. Its better than the 690 objectively, but I was still happy jumping back on the Duke afterwards...which is good as I don't think I'll buy a new bike until next year at the earliest. The XSR is nicer and easier but there's something about the 690 I still love.

Thanks again Weeksy for everything today

[weeksy]

You've got to have the matching t-shirt

2020-07-18_10-30-22 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Session 1 completed and happy!

2020-07-18_10-30-03 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[IOU0]

That's a nice wear pattern.
What's the front look like?

[weeksy]

2020-07-18_12-50-34 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

Hero blobs going down so they needed to come off

[weeksy]

2020-07-18_01-04-01 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

[IOU0]

Show us the 'chicken' strips!
They're a good indication if you need to change your preload/ride height.
If you're to the edge of the rear but an inch off the front you can increase rear preload or reduce front (if there is enough travel) or drop the forks to work the front harder.
Looks like you're having fun anyway

[weeksy]

6mm on the front roughly

1mm on the back.

Have a great time yeah.

[Yorick]

6mm on the front roughly

1mm on the back.

Have a great time yeah.

That's good. Only BSB riders will get the front near the edge.

[weeksy]

Well as you may have gathered, today was great fun. I was arguably more nervous than usual, because i've barely ridden anything on track for many years other than 690s, the XSR900 is very very different to it and i was curious to see how it went.

Straight out the pits in inters i was behind Mrs Weeksy for the warm up laps, which were great as it gave me time to warm my tyres, not having warmers i'm weak on lap1.
But when we set off on the proper laps she pinned it !!! BOOM ! eeek. I had to get on the pace quick smart and the XSR didn't get me down at all, through the box with the quickshifter, gear gear gear, closing the gap, until we get to the right hander that leads to a coned chicane onto the hangar straight and Mrs Weeksy is carrying epic speed in the right, more than i can carry, so i then grabbed the throttle and wide open down the straight, the clocks showing 136mph and Mrs Weeksy came back to me as she was letting off a bit early into the right hander. This was a pattern that would follow for the large majority of the day, her with the corner speed and me with the throttle and braking. It was brilliant to actually be able to be out with her in a session and follow her closely for the full session so i could see her strength and weakness. Due to bikes and not being able to keep up with her for years, i've not actually been able to do that. The sessions continued to follow this format for the day, with me passing her near the end of the session each time.
"Your cornering is rubbish, you're all over the place" was her favourite saying of the day, which i'm certainly not going to argue with for a second, but i know my weakness, turning in too early to corners, it's what i've always done and arguably will do.

Into session 2 i was getting my knee down lots but also the hero blobs on the pegs and my boot, so they had to come off and sorted my foot position which helped. THe bike was stable and easy to ride, but harder to drag the brakes into the corners, giving you a feeling of going straight on unless you can get off the brakes fully, which after a while i was trying to do so. I had a few 'wide' corners trying to get this correct and it wasn't easy.

After lunch it was me, Mrs Weeksy and another one of the guys on a 636, who was a very similar pace as us two, but that gave us more laughs, especially when he overtook me on the 'new' start finish and i laughed as he was weak all day into the 90deg right, so i repassed him into there and stayed ahead to the line, proper little battle as i knew he was right with me all session.

All the boys were on top form with banter, laughs and a bit of piss taking all round.

All in all, it goes down as a day to remember and certainly cemented my love of the XSR900, sure, it's not a track bike as such, but it's far from bad out there

[scottyuk]

Only BSB riders will get the front near the edge.

Today was the closest I've ever had. It all clicked for me today. Top day of play. Weeksy had it pinned which is always entertaining

[weeksy]

Show us the 'chicken' strips!

MRs Weeksys rear
2020-07-19_09-46-44 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

XSR900 front
2020-07-19_09-46-54 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr

XSR900 rear
2020-07-19_09-47-03 by Steve Weeks, on Flickr