Must say I'm realy enjoying Practical Sportsbikes Mag, it's actually been very good since issue 1, but in recent months the features on NSR's have been superb.
Good to see a mag covering 2T's with as much, and sometimes more enthusiasm, as the 4T's.
The F3 article was a great read. Next month's 250 group test should be interesting too. _________________ Rich
MC21 Track Bike / RS250 NF5 'Spencer', NX5 'Cadalora' & NXA 'Aoyama' / RS500 / Two Brothers Racing RC30
The MC18 has issues.
The MC18 is still restricted.
The RGV has had some attention (they can go well, I swear Dave Reynold's Aprilia pulls harder than either Steve's F3 or Tom's RS).
Please please please don't let a group test be blighted by such things, the lightweight tests of around 2001-2005 were always the same;
£5k near new ZXR400.
£3k RVF400 with soggy suspension.
£2.5k Aprilia RS250, needs a top end and hasn't been setup for it's pipes.
£2k FZR400, stuck Ex-up valve.
£1800 GSXR400, running like a dog and on o.e. GPR70's.
"conclusion", This GSXR400 is rubbish but the bike has potential, the FZR400 has no mid range but that's an easy fix, the Aprilia runs like a 3 legged dog but handles like nothing else available today, the RVF400 decks it's pegs too easily so the first thing to do is remove the hero blobs are fix the suspension and the ZXR400 is brilliant but costly!
Helpful...real helpful. _________________ Please do not PM me technical questions, if you can't find it on the Forum start a thread
Which forum member provided the MC18?
Do they know if their bike is indeed derestricted and running 'as to be expected' albeit with full power? Standard gearing? _________________ Rich
MC21 Track Bike / RS250 NF5 'Spencer', NX5 'Cadalora' & NXA 'Aoyama' / RS500 / Two Brothers Racing RC30
It was Stephens old Terra MC18 SP. All derestricted etc so I guess the RGV is a well set up one as well. I am sure the poor little TZR was left miles behind as its still restricted
It was Paul G's MC18, formerly Stephen's I believe, which has had the wiring splice done. Having ridden it, I'd question whether there's another restriction to stop it passing 112mph - perhaps something in the speedo, ala NC30? My RGV is stock aside from a set of Nikon pipes (which are crap, to be fair) and a Pipercross filter (but road spec, not the freer flowing type). And I've not sorted the fuelling out yet, so it's not what it could be either.
And like I said, just because one was quicker flat out, that doesn't necessarily reflect the outcome of the test. We're not that small-minded that we'd base the outcome on numbers on a speedo. The three bikes were a good match in terms of condition - enough for us to make sound, unbiased judgements on them. The fact that one bike is mine won't make a blind bit of difference to the test.
PS will live or die by its reputation as a mag that does things fairly and researches stories properly. I'm not going to risk that by picking my bike as a test winner if it doesn't deserve it. We're only human, so we won't be 100% right all of the time. But we've got pretty damn close in the first 14 issues. Unlike a good number of other writers in this business, we're taking a lot of pride in doing things well, and doing them right. That's why in researching the buyer's guide part of the test, I contacted two people on here with the experience of them, rather than trotting out the assumed knowledge on NSRs other magazines wheel out year after year.
Feel free to contact me directly if we get something wrong - we'd rather be corrected and learn from it, but at least wait until the test is out before making a judgement on it.
Intriguing......I'll look forward to reading the article next month. _________________ Rich
MC21 Track Bike / RS250 NF5 'Spencer', NX5 'Cadalora' & NXA 'Aoyama' / RS500 / Two Brothers Racing RC30
MC18r5k/6k has the low stock gearing as standard, lower than the MC18 R2J and MC21. They won't do much more than 115mph even de-restricted. You can use MC21 gearing to help them as they have plenty of punch to pull it. _________________ If I have to take the carbs off once more...
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