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Tech
Tips - by the Flying
Frog!!
Well as per the pre-race report interview that was conducted prior to the first practice, that sort of went like this;
Question, “Farbio do you know what you're doing?”
Answer: “No”.
I thought it may be an idea to do a little segment for Duds entitled Tech Tips, in which I may be able to impart to the those reading some of the wisdom that is being bestowed upon me by the boys in the Vee Two Racing team. (You know the old saying, you throw enough mud and some has to stick).
So what I intend to do is try and report to you the things that you see and use at the race track that can be related to usage for some good old general road riding. Though you will have to excuse the definite one sided bias to our sponsors' products, the gear you use the most, is the gear you learn the most about.
Issue One: Leathers!
Well
here goes, one of our sponsors is Tiger
Angel
who supply us with our race leathers. I should have mine for the next meeting at Wakefield
Park. That will
stuff Duds up. Can't call me the Flying Frog anymore, though I think it may stick
anyway. (The leathers I am currently using are bright green, making it really hard
to spot me when I am lying belly up in the grass. Yet to test this theory
out though!) It seems to me, being the uninitiated, that through the goodwill and grace of Rod, Dredge and John, a plan was hatched by them to show me the necessity of wearing a good durable set of leathers.
Real kind of the guys, when you think about the effort that was put into
this testing.
Turn 2 at Eastern Creek was chosen for the testing
grounds and Rod was the first to show that under extreme conditions Tiger Angel
Leathers do not leak. He had gotten himself ahead of the race enough to run the
test, when he powered through turn 1 at the end of the main straight, and with a race
lead of half of the main straight he held the throttle wide open and shot off
the end of the track leading into turn 2 at an astonishing rate of knots, held it upright then back onto the track to
retrieve his position and finish in 4th place. What an effort. Now
upon close inspection of the rear of the suit no evidence of any spillage could
be seen even though a change of pants was
necessary for Rod before we went out to tea that night. (Tried to tell us
someone had spilt beer or something on him. Yeah sure Rod......) To relate this to the
average motorcycle rally, just think, follow through and no one will know.
Next it was Dredgie's turn. Again turn 2. Running a beautiful race. Lap times were excellent - right up there with the best of them. Hard on the throttle, cranked over, knee buried into the corner to test the slide factor of the leathers, lose the back end, throw the bike away and slide 50m off the track. Apparently it was pretty to watch. I was fairly close behind him but didn’t quite see it happen. By the time I got there, he'd had time to pick the bike up, dust himself off, pitch a tent, light a fire and make coffee, while the paint was drying on the new fairing he'd fitted. Now try that in shorts, thongs and a t-shirt! I don’t think so Reggy! There was a bit of a hole in the arse. He picked the largest, softest part of himself to land on, and had some scuff marks on the back and elbows. Reckons the scuffs on the back were from when he lay down for a nap while waiting for me to come round turn 2. Now that’s proof enough for me that these damn things are good stuff. But not to be outdone, team manager John had to show us all how it's really done!
Same thing again. Turn 2, head down arse up. Knee buried into the tar and lose the back end though to go just one better than Dredge. Power on and ensure the back wheel grabs again, then dismount across the opposite side of the bike (commonly known as a highside. Gutsy play John!), then land in a half pike position. Again a couple of small marks and scuffs on the arse, elbows and back, but all skin still intact. Now just to show how parts of the body that are not protected by Tiger Angel are rather vulnerable, he somehow left his left foot under the bike whilst dismounting from the right hand side, resulting in a bone being broken in the left foot. Damn shame Tiger Angel don’t make boots or maybe this may not have happened, though thanks for proving this fact to us John.
So what have we learnt today? Leathers really work and save you from losing heaps of hide. Getting a set of leathers patched up beats the hell out of picking rocks out of black tar-scraped skin any day.
Now I suppose you’re wondering how the hell does this help the average
Joe out, cause you really don’t want to ride around in a full race suit looking
like a prize chook. Well simple! Go to their site at www.tigerangel.com.au
. Yes an Aussie company, and check out their gear. It comes in all the different
styles of leather jackets, leather pants in all the real bikers favourite colours
including BLACK, BLACK and if you like something slightly different,
BLACK! They even cater
for the women as well, with a range of riding gear in a women's cut. And if
you’re like Bruce (Rowdy) and have a full figure, for 10% extra they make to
measure. And this can all be done online.
So there it is. Issue one! Keep an eye on this site and let's see what the boys can teach us next time.
Regards,
The
Flying Frog
Picture shows the
leathers that look GREAT, though it would stuff a really nice arse if it was to
slide along the tar!
(Really put this in cause it looks
good don’t you agree?) (Bloody oath!.....I agree!....Ed)
Next
issue: What's the best way to jack your bike up? Bricks, chunks of firewood or an
Anderson Bike stand?
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