Track Day On The Ghezzi-Brian

[Mike Stewart]

Well,

 

I just spent the last two days at Thunder Hill, a race track in Northern California .

 

Two years ago, I did my first novice track day school on my Aprilia Falco. This bike was fast and handled well. I wondered how a less techno (modern) bike would preform.

 

Some friends and I had signed up for the Keigwins ( http://www.keigwin.com/ ) two day novice track day months ago and now it was time to go out and do it.

 

I had reservation about taking the beautiful Ghezzi-Brian, but I was very curious on how it would do on the track. It also would be a great place to learn any short comings of the new bike.

 

Weeks earlier, I was still working on the bike to make it more driveable. A valve adjustment, throttle sync. , remaping, remaping and more remaping to rid the bike of the cough at lower rpm's. (We are talking a big hic-up here) Having a big cough when the throttle is rolled off and back on while leaned over could cause major issues. I also had false neutral problems, mainly on down shifting. This could be a problem going into turns at speed. I thought it was going to be a internal transmission issue, but after looking at the shifter/linkage, I found that the linkage would hit the frame if the pivoted was in the right spot. Just an adjustment to raise the shifer up 10mm. fixed the problem.

 

I was going to bring my 03 Rosso Corsa as a back up bike, but the Ghezzi-Brian was running excellent. I still wondered about doing two days on the track with very low clip-ons, and I also was worried about the harsh vibration at 6500 rpm.

 

The first day at the track the bikes were inspected for the normal, brakes, leaks, loose bolts etc. Yes, the Ghezzi got the most attention of the 60 plus bikes.

 

There were many remarks such as, "shouldn't that bike be in your living room?" and " Don't make us cry" (meaning please don't drop it).

 

We had our riders meeting and went over the rules of passing (just on the outside), the meaning of the flags and a few other things. I was in the B group (the slower of the two groups), I mainly wanted to start off slow so I could learn the bike as I picked up speed.

 

The site in laps were at 60-65 mph, this was quite abit faster then what I remembered at this track two years ealier (same school). It still was not a problem for me, but already some students could not keep up.

 

Anyway, the Ghezzi performed flawlessly, (after a remap for the ping at 3500 to 4k coming out of some slow turns).

 

The Ghezzi is very stable at any speed, braking is second to none, bike turn in is effortlessly and the sound of the exhaust turned many heads.

 

I visited the free suspension setup booth by GP Suspension Inc. I had the compression of the front forks cranked all the way in to rid the forks of the fast fork dive when the brakes were applied. A few sag measurement and hard jounces on the front forks revealed the forks would not move through their full travel. Loosening up the front fork preload and compression damping made the forks way too loose and now the suspension specialist now knew what I had been fighting. He suggested a revalve of the compression circuit and checking the fork oil level. The forks will have to be removed for the repair. He added more spring preload and less compression damping so I could finish the second day at the track. The bike was more compliant now, but I will still take the forks off and have the valving redone as suggested.

 

 

 

I was wearing the red riding suit on the first day but the right shoulder was too tight and did not allow me to point or lead with my right shoulder while hanging off the bike. The second day felt much better and I could move around more freely.

 

 

 

I have to recommend Keigwins at the Track to anyone wanting to do some trackdays, great detailed instructions, very patient instructors and alot of track time!

 

Mike

[Paul Minnaert]

well looks like you had a lot of fun.

[jihem]

I had reservation about taking the beautiful Ghezzi-Brian, but I was very curious on how it would do on the track.  It also would be a great place to learn any short comings of the new bike.

53256[/snapback]

 

 

i read ya, i had the same reservations, but I didn't listen too closely ;--) to them and have already been on Francorchamps, the old Nurburgring, Folembray and Croix-En-Ternois with my GB and it's always a pleasure (except Croix cos it's too tight and technical and the Ghezzi ain't no fun in those cicumstances).

 

I'm very glad you enjoy your new babe :--)

 

Seems like you too have troubles with the Paioli fork...mmmh, I soon will placed a steering damper on my bike as i have experimented a few tankslapping too many on bad roads. We already highered the back Ohlins one knob so there's more solidity on the front. I am also experimenting with the diverses set up of the bike, but it's hard. This Ghezzi is a rock on good roads, but can be a bitch on bad pavements and there's plenty of that around here...

 

As for the throttle, i find my Ghezzi well balanced: lots of hicups when cold, but very smooth when warm. Just one bad point: when the throttle isn't really applied, like on a small opening à-la-keith-code, it does sometimes hesitate whether it's on or not and you can feel once in a while some hesitations.

 

The gearbox is as good as the old 5 will ever get ;-)

Braking is good, i aggree.

vibrations ? Hmm, i have a rough spot between 4.5 and 5.2. I'm soon to be placing heavier bar ends, that shoudl take care of the unwanted sinus wave.

 

I find the track THE place to be for the Ghezzi: when the track surface is smooth and it wipes nicely, this bike is just a dream come true.

[not_scooter_Scura!]

even through that helmet, I can see you smiling

 

great pictures too , hat's off to your photographer

 

the bike looks great, on the track, in your living room , anywhere.