BEARS Australia 2023

Gutsy stuff, he wasn't smiling after doing one race on his modern bike and right after that getting on the Laverda. Tough as. I was looking for Oli Bayliss, Troy's kid in the second Assen Supersports race last night. He rode in the first race but out in the second, medically unfit with a broken Toe. Lots of nerves in feet, not fun to hurt them.
 
redax5 said:
astounding to be able to not only ride the Laverda's with their right hand foot change, but also win 4 x races from 4 x starts and break his own F4 Lap record by 0.8 secs
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I just have to say it again what a special job you are doing down there.

With broken bones, Matt sets new lap records and changes w/o any issues between LHS- and RHS-shifting between rides. Just awesome!

Red keeps pushing the performance of the Laverdas up a bit, there doesn't seem to be a "can't do it" with him. I'm afraid when Red and Max retire, things will get boring here.

Congrats to all - I just wanted to get rid of that.
Have a nice day,
Jo
 
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Adrenaline is wonderful stuff. Well done to all the team.

An update on what's working around the camchain tensioner problems would be appreciated thanks Red.
 
Awesome stuff. Do you think a 42 is on the cards or would he need the other ankle broken as well?
(sorry for the dark humour).
Awesome bike, crew and rider (tough as nails to boot!). Congrats!
 
breganzane said:
Awesome stuff. Do you think a 42 is on the cards or would he need the other ankle broken as well?
(sorry for the dark humour).
Awesome bike, crew and rider (tough as nails to boot!). Congrats!
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we maybe would of run a 42 on the weekend if Matt was not damaged, he said he was missing 3-4 gear changes every lap due to not being able to be forceful enough with his broken right ankle
in the end he worked out to lift his whole leg to change up, we still have road pattern on the gear change as he prefers to shift downwards to drop down a gear on the Laverda so he can feel the shift go through
Laverda has a tractor gearbox set up compared to his BMW as you would know

limiting factor for us now is the 160 rear slick, he said changing to a 180 rear slick will be worth another 1.5 seconds per lap at most tracks but not so easy to change to a 180 rear slick, we would need to extend the output shaft further out by 12mm, redesign the billet sprocket cover, make new swingarms, machine new cush drives, etc
 
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You can get a 180 on a 5 inch rim. It's also possible to trim the tyre edge a little for chain clearance. Using a 520 chain ?

I'll endorse the benefits of the 180 too. GS1000 with about the same weight and possibly a tad more HP was suffering badly with a 160 rear against those with 180's. They quickly learned to queue up behind and wait for the tyre to go off.
 
Andy J said:
So I guess insufficient room for even a 170?
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they don't make a race tyre in 170, would not be too keen on that

GregT said:
You can get a 180 on a 5 inch rim. It's also possible to trim the tyre edge a little for chain clearance. Using a 520 chain ?

I'll endorse the benefits of the 180 too. GS1000 with about the same weight and possibly a tad more HP was suffering badly with a 160 rear against those with 180's. They quickly learned to queue up behind and wait for the tyre to go off.
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yes we use a 520 chain, with the 160 rear there is no more than 1mm of clearance between the chain and the edge of the tyre
when we change to Pirelli 160 wets we need to grab the Potato peeler out of the toolbox and trim off 3-4 mm off of the edge just to get chain clearance on both sides as left side fouls the brake torque arm
 
redax5 said:
we would need to extend the output shaft further out by 12mm, redesign the billet sprocket cover, make new swingarms, machine new cush drives, etc
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Looks like you might have a project to keep you busy while Matt's leg is healing ;)

I was just looking at the photo below to see if you can offset the engine by 12mm without hacking the frame or engine mounting lugs about too much. It would be a piece of piss if you had sufficient alignment spacers on the engine mounting bolts. But that doesn't seem to be the case from what I can see.
Just thought it might be an alternative to lengthening the sprocket shaft and re-designing the outrigger bearing cover. It's not an ideal solution but I've seen it done on other bikes for the same reason. Doesn't seem to upset the lateral balance of the bike but can potentially reduce cornering clearance on the sprocket side.

Mule.JPG
 
redax5 said:
they don't make a race tyre in 170, would not be too keen on that


yes we use a 520 chain, with the 160 rear there is no more than 1mm of clearance between the chain and the edge of the tyre
when we change to Pirelli 160 wets we need to grab the Potato peeler out of the toolbox and trim off 3-4 mm off of the edge just to get chain clearance on both sides as left side fouls the brake torque arm
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You’re right Red, I can’t find a 170, only 165 for 250/400 sports bikes. I presume you are still using the 5.5 rim so at least you won’t need to change the wheels to fit a 180, but what a PITA it will be to achieve it.
 
Andy J said:
I presume you are still using the 5.5 rim so at least you won’t need to change the wheels to fit a 180, but what a PITA it will be to achieve it.
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yes our rim size is fine to use with a 180 tyre which is lucky as we have 4 x rear rims

Herman is actually designing a Laverda frame right now for his own use and he wants to run a 180 rear tyre on that combo
Which means a lot of the design work has already been done, I just need to decide if I wish to throw the money at the modifications as would have to do both bikes
I try and keep them as identical as possible so Matt can jump from one to the other and have the same feel, to me that is insurance
 
If you had the competition in your class snapping at your heels it might feel imperative. To see just how high above their class the bikes can actually punch?Interesting, tempting?
 
Going to a 180 is as much for rider comfort and security at the limit. The 160's tend to overheat and go off on heavy powerful bikes.
After all they were first marketed for TZ yamahas with 17 X 5in rims. Which are about half the weight.

Even though there may not be anyone in the class snapping at their heels, the 180 means the rider has something in reserve and does not have to push the limits of the 160 tyre.

It can be a lot of work - but it's the last piece of the development phase.
 
Sweet. What side is the steering on? I can’t quite make it out in the picture and don’t know enough about Australian GM products to know if they sold RHD there.
 
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