Hell if I know. But here's a video of what I'm capable of doing on a GS500. My bike is #857, located on the #4 grid position on the front row, to the right of the camera bike.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mj1g2TgYmQU

Chase bike is a friend of mine #893, running a production legal Ninja 250, which basically means tires, suspension, and exhaust upgrades with no other modifications permitted. Dude is actually 3-5 seconds a lap faster than me on that bike, so I can only presume I'm slowing him way down.

I'm running 2:15s around Thunder Hill in this video. In it's current form, the GS should be good for a sub 2:10. Absolutely no engine mods to this bike - engine is stock from the filter to the exhaust tip. Suspension is emulators up front, and 2001 Katana 750 shock in the rear. BT003RS 110/70/17 front, 140/70/17 rear. Overall invested in the bike is about $1500, including purchase price.

.......................

So a ninja 250 is going faster than you?  Isn't that bike very unpowerful??

Nice.  You WAO on turns 7 and 8? Looked like the ninja was by the way the video was shaking just like at the start/finish line.

I used to have a 250, I'm pretty sure I rode that bike way faster than anything else I've had. topped out at 115 and i know accelertion wasnt the best but I could throw that thing around like a bicycle. Nice video by the way. I'm not too into racing but someday when I get a batman suit and a trailer I'll probably try to find a beginners day where I won't be holding anyone back. It would be nice to go out and ride as fast as I could someday without worrying about deer or getting pulled over.

Quote from: gsf500RR on October 31, 2010, 12:19:33 PM
So a ninja 250 is going faster than you?  Isn't that bike very unpowerful??

I used to think the same thing, and yes it is unpowerful, but they are much more nimble than you would think. They are absolutely amazing in terms of handling, and do 0-60 just as fast as a gs. My mom has a '01 model, bone stock, that is faster than my gs was even with intake/exhaust/jets.

You say unpowerful as if you are on a gixxer forum 

It's like a guy in a Civic calling a Corolla slow.

A Ninja 250 also post 4th place in this race.

My power advantage over the Ninja 250 isn't quite as big as you might expect. You can see clearly in this video that with a comparable drive out of a corner, I do pull away slightly Ninja 250, but it's not in the way some of the more heavily modified EX500s and SV500s are pulling on me (see how easily Mark pulls away down the front straight after blocking me in turn 11 in lap 2.)

The Ninja 250 is a hugely over-square engine. That plus water cooling means that as the 250 revs out, it closes the power gap somewhat. Mark's bike is bike is also modified (after-market exhaust for sure, probably fueling and filter as well.) Overall, the power difference is probably about 5 horsepower at the rear wheel (big on a lightweight bike, but not huge.)

Don't get me wrong... In the end, it's entirely about rider talent. Mark McKinney (#893) is a hugely skilled rider, who by all rights should have been ahead of me chasing Brian Bartlow (the other 250 guy.) As my riding skill improves next season, I should be posting lap-times closer to those of the pace leaders.

IMO, the GS500 has a big cornering advantage over the Ninja 250s: The Ninja's are built like wet noodles, and tend to twist a lot under cornering. In comparison, the GS500 has a much better frame.

Quote from: burning1 on November 02, 2010, 12:13:37 PM
A Ninja 250 also post 4th place in this race.

My power advantage over the Ninja 250 isn't quite as big as you might expect. You can see clearly in this video that with a comparable drive out of a corner, I do pull away slightly Ninja 250, but it's not in the way some of the more heavily modified EX500s and SV500s are pulling on me (see how easily Mark pulls away down the front straight after blocking me in turn 11 in lap 2.)

The Ninja 250 is a hugely over-square engine. That plus water cooling means that as the 250 revs out, it closes the power gap somewhat. Mark's bike is bike is also modified (after-market exhaust for sure, probably fueling and filter as well.) Overall, the power difference is probably about 5 horsepower at the rear wheel (big on a lightweight bike, but not huge.)

Don't get me wrong... In the end, it's entirely about rider talent. Mark McKinney (#893) is a hugely skilled rider, who by all rights should have been ahead of me chasing Brian Bartlow (the other 250 guy.) As my riding skill improves next season, I should be posting lap-times closer to those of the pace leaders.

IMO, the GS500 has a big cornering advantage over the Ninja 250s: The Ninja's are built like wet noodles, and tend to twist a lot under cornering. In comparison, the GS500 has a much better frame.

Over square?    Did you mean "under" square?

To me over square means long stroke and under square means short stroke........do I have it backwards?

Cookie

Quote from: twocool on November 03, 2010, 03:15:20 AM

Quote from: burning1 on November 02, 2010, 12:13:37 PM
A Ninja 250 also post 4th place in this race.

My power advantage over the Ninja 250 isn't quite as big as you might expect. You can see clearly in this video that with a comparable drive out of a corner, I do pull away slightly Ninja 250, but it's not in the way some of the more heavily modified EX500s and SV500s are pulling on me (see how easily Mark pulls away down the front straight after blocking me in turn 11 in lap 2.)

The Ninja 250 is a hugely over-square engine. That plus water cooling means that as the 250 revs out, it closes the power gap somewhat. Mark's bike is bike is also modified (after-market exhaust for sure, probably fueling and filter as well.) Overall, the power difference is probably about 5 horsepower at the rear wheel (big on a lightweight bike, but not huge.)

Don't get me wrong... In the end, it's entirely about rider talent. Mark McKinney (#893) is a hugely skilled rider, who by all rights should have been ahead of me chasing Brian Bartlow (the other 250 guy.) As my riding skill improves next season, I should be posting lap-times closer to those of the pace leaders.

IMO, the GS500 has a big cornering advantage over the Ninja 250s: The Ninja's are built like wet noodles, and tend to twist a lot under cornering. In comparison, the GS500 has a much better frame.

Over square?    Did you mean "under" square?

To me over square means long stroke and under square means short stroke........do I have it backwards?

Cookie

Never mind...I got it backwards........\\Cookie

Quote from: Paulcet on October 31, 2010, 12:31:34 PM
Nice.  You WAO on turns 7 and 8? Looked like the ninja was by the way the video was shaking just like at the start/finish line.

I'm actually WOT through most of the turns. Turns 1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, and 15 can be completed without applying the brakes or letting off the gas at all. Even with some relatively extreme lean angles, I'm usually WOT through most of turns 2, and 3.

In fact, I've found that when I start dragging pegs on the GS or pushing the front tire, getting hard on the gas usually fixes things.

More photos to come later.

Quote from: tt_four on October 31, 2010, 04:02:11 PM
I used to have a 250, I'm pretty sure I rode that bike way faster than anything else I've had. topped out at 115 and i know accelertion wasnt the best but I could throw that thing around like a bicycle. Nice video by the way. I'm not too into racing but someday when I get a batman suit and a trailer I'll probably try to find a beginners day where I won't be holding anyone back. It would be nice to go out and ride as fast as I could someday without worrying about deer or getting pulled over.

Thanks man. I've got to say that it's a whole other experience - your fastest street riding won't come close to the kind of speed you'll achieve on your first few track-days. I really wish more members of the GS community would get out there.

You might be surprised to hear it, but I actually keep a pretty big reserve on the track.

Quote from: redhenracing2 on November 05, 2010, 06:50:41 PM

Probably a catch can for either the carb vents, crank vent or head vent, all 3 maybe?

My first thought was 'overflow reservoir for radiator', but then it hit me 

It's there in case I have to pee. 

Seriously though, it's a catch can for the fuel tank vent and overflow lines. I originally also routed the carb breather vent into such a catch can, but discovered on track that the length and position of the breather line was critical for proper performance of the carbs. Now I just vent it to atmosphere. Not ideal from a safety standpoint, but having the carbs cut out is even worse.

My first catch bottle was a baby bottle. After I lost the cap on track, I switched to a Dasini bottle. It worked, so I haven't messed with it.

Here's a picture of a pretty epic pass on a Honda 959 through turn 2 at the beginning of Clubman Lightweight.

One thing I noticed this weekend is that I wasn't being very good at getting my upper body to the inside of the corner. You can see in that picture that my head is in the wrong place, and that my spine isn't parallel with the centerline of the bike.

What does WAO and WOT mean when going through a turn?


"You might be surprised to hear it, but I actually keep a pretty big reserve on the track."

And also what did you mean by keeping a reserve?

also those are some fantastic pics

Thats a top shot of your move on the Honda.

WOT - Wide Open Throttle

What uninhibited said.

I'm not entirely sure what WAO means, but I took it to mean the same as WOT, since it made sense in context.

By keeping a reserve... I meant in terms of cornering clearance and track space. Cornering on the GS500 is a little different than on a bigger bike like a Gixxer 600. On a 600, you enter a corner a little slower than you would on the GS. Mid corner, you use maintenance throttle, and try to stand the bike up as early as possible to get to wide open throttle. This approach is faster than keeping the bike leaned over as long as possible, even though you tend to be slower through the middle of the corner.

The GS can easily get to wide open throttle at pretty extreme lean angles, so the approach isn't as effective here. In some cases, the fastest line will tend to push me all the way to the outside edge of the track (E.g. up onto the curbing.) So, there are a lot of places where I enter a little slower than necessary, so that I can hold some track in reserve in case I misjudge. Likewise, through a lot of corners I'm not leaning the bike over nearly as far as it's capable of (in fact, I sincerely believe I could get an elbow down with the current mods on the bike.) So... I have both a lean angle reserve, and a space reserve.

I'm still fairly new to racing, and not quite as consistent as I would like. As my consistency improves, I should be able to run sub 2:10 laptimes around this track, which is well into the A group territory by time (meaning, I would be running my GS500 against with the fastest riders on the fast bikes.)

Thanks for the compliments on the pictures, BTW.