Mallory Testing

On Wednesday I took some time off work and got up to Mallory Park to test the Manx weapons. Because of work (so much for taking time off), I arrived late and missed the first hour :-(







Sure beats the hell out of work! 

All set to get out on track and the noise tester comes around, that's when I find the Aprilia RSV is in 'limp' mode and won't rev over 3k. What a ball-ache! A few calls and help from Aprilia guru Don  and I manage to get her running ok - looks like a faulty oil pressure sensor. Must be faulty becasue I unplugged it and the engine didn't much itself. In the end I managed to get 2 decent 10 lap sessions in on the SV and 3 sessions in on the Factory. A good shake-down.

Shit way to start a test session...

Setup for racing around the Isle, of course they were way overgeared but felt solid and stable. Just what's needed. The new SV front-end is superb... feels like a proper bike now. You can brake so much later and harder, all while keeping perfect composure. It feels solid and doesn't waggle around and flex under heavy braking. The Factory is fast, but I struggled with the way-too-tall gearing around the menagery Mallory - I couldn't get out of 5th gear. I need to get used to that quickshifter and the feeling of keeping it pinned while changing gear.

Neither of the bikes blew up or fell to pieces - the new front-end on SV worked and feels great... and the Factory felt strong. I found a few little potential problems that need attention...  so just a bit more work and they'll both be ready to haul ass down Bray Hill. :-)