9 replies to this topic

[tonyed]

Crap - Paul Denning blames Topraks failure to finish 2nd race at Most on 'rear tyre failure' how about 'rear tyre abuse'

Great ride by Toprak but have some reality.

The great hope from Superbike constantly beaten by the failure from MotoGP.

Both great riders as they all are, but honesty should prevail.      

[flatlandsman]

Hate to say it but this is not very nostalgic!

[tonyed]

Nostalgia starts the minute after the present finishes.

Been racing motorcycles and involved with the preservation of them since 1967.

I do not consider anything out of bounds when it comes to the support or comment on our sport.

Tyres have been at the forefront of our sport since they were first mounted on a rim, so to comment on an ongoing situation is I think relevant. 

If all people want to trace who was related to who etc, etc then I'm out.

This website used to be the hub of nostalgia, look back in the vaults, died years ago   

[GregThomas]

Lying about reasons for retirement or poor performance has been common from day one. Nostalgia for the days of better quality lies is fair ground for discussion IMO.

[tonyed]

Back when it was much more difficult to lie about race failures as bikes were much more basic. 

Easier to see a conrod hanging out of the cases that an ecu component failure or the sat nav loosing its' signal so the 'bike' gets lost. 

But often such a catastrophic engine failure would be blamed on 'electrical trouble'. 

However the non-nostalgic comment about the tyre failure brings me back to my other pet subject - tyres.

I don't like the one make restriction where manufacturers and teams have to use the tyre dictated to them by the sole supplier. For a component so important to a bikes performance on track forcing a direction change by the tyre supplier on the machine preparation is wrong, in my opinion.

Edited by tonyed, 31 July 2023 - 03:59.

[Michael Ferner]

My favourite 'electrical failure' retirement story was when one nosy journalist found out that a con-rod/piston assembly had come undone in a big way, causing a sizeable hole in the crankcase and (here comes!), knocked out a few electrical ancillaries on its way out... 

[flatlandsman]

Aaron Slight, Honda RC45 at Monza, oil all over the belly pan, and dripping out the bottom.. HRC rep Electrical failure.

 

HRC were always the worst at this, and then had the gall to sell people A and B Kits that were almost the same for 125's often the B kit was faster, the V4 800 they sold was pathetically slow yet cost an fortune, as was the NSR500V they sold that was about 20hp down on Okada's factory bike.  HRC were the masters of making money for selling very poor bikes

 

Remember the initial RC45 days when you needed a special key to operate the tuning dials?  Just in case private teams were able to go faster!! You could nto tune an RC45 for about a year!  Remember also Castrol Honda buying an RVF for Hislop to use at the TT, it came with only half the bits, the other half going to America who did the same thing, so they sold two bikes and split the kit both ways!

 

there is a  reason the 250 class became Aprilia dominated, because they would sell you a proper factory spec bike, or lease you one. And you knew you were getting at least something that was competitive

[tonyed]

Aaron Slight, Honda RC45 at Monza, oil all over the belly pan, and dripping out the bottom.. HRC rep Electrical failure.

 

HRC were always the worst at this, and then had the gall to sell people A and B Kits that were almost the same for 125's often the B kit was faster, the V4 800 they sold was pathetically slow yet cost an fortune, as was the NSR500V they sold that was about 20hp down on Okada's factory bike.  HRC were the masters of making money for selling very poor bikes

 

Remember the initial RC45 days when you needed a special key to operate the tuning dials?  Just in case private teams were able to go faster!! You could nto tune an RC45 for about a year!  Remember also Castrol Honda buying an RVF for Hislop to use at the TT, it came with only half the bits, the other half going to America who did the same thing, so they sold two bikes and split the kit both ways!

 

there is a  reason the 250 class became Aprilia dominated, because they would sell you a proper factory spec bike, or lease you one. And you knew you were getting at least something that was competitive

 

Totally with what you say.

One of the great things about TZ Yamahas is they came out of the crate, top end off to ensure the cylinder base gasket was the right way round as well as the pistons, check the crank for alignment, throw away the Jokeahama tyres, perhaps on the early twin shocks, new Girlings throw it it the back of the Tranny and if YOU were good enough top 10 GP results.

 

Aprilia's were expensive but you got a top notch bike for the money.

 

Also no need to get a new bike next season, most were recycled with upgrades.

 

Much of the problem with the Japanese was their thinking.  Park last years bike and buy this years which is why there are so many low mileage bikes still over there. This years bike is obviously superior to last years.

Classic example 1985 TZ250N. First of the 250 reed valves, a dog slow droner as the reeds were too small. The 84 L normally piston ported no reeds, faster.        

[flatlandsman]

It was quite clever money wise, create a ton of hype then lease a load out to teams and then watch as they get a bike well down on power.

 

Only bike they never really did it with was the NSR500, most of those were tip top, but RS Honda's even the odd N SR in the later days needed so much work to be quick. the triples were also good and least they layered it so you knew what you were getting.  I recall in 93 raudies won the 125 title on a B kit bike, HRC restricted the amount of very pricey A kits to only a few users and Dirk beat them on an older B kit bike, that is not on!!

 

no-one has ever fully explained why the Shell HArdwick 500;s that Walker and haslam rode were so poor either, that for me is very unexplained, well backed great sponsor yet the bikes were horrible apparently

[exclubracer]

There was also the notorious customer RS500 triple moneypit bought new by Keith Huewen which broke gearboxes and suffered from warped brake discs at a a prolific rate, parts available only from Honda UK. It almost bankrupted him as I recall.

 

There was talk at the time that Honda made a cash settlement with him to avoid further negative publicity, I think the bike ended up with Simon Buckmaster.

 

I remember seeing on TV Neil Tuxworth signing off on the Honda UK RC30s going in the crusher to prevent any of the 'standard' parts falling into private hands, lightweight wheels and light gauge frames, trick forks, lightweight cases the list goes on. production bikes indeed!!