Tail of the Dragon

[Jared]

Where's the banter in the General Banter forum?  I give you an image, discuss amongst yourselves...

[Stinger]

Maybe he has new tires and is slowly scrubbing them in 

Because the PC800's front tire has less chicken strip then this dude's rear tire.   

Not really digging the frog headlights.

[Greg]

A whole lot of money in that photo. I'd hazard a guess that he's looking at the photographer and scrubbing in the tire as Roger suspects, thus the poor body position.

[PKPK]

I don't see a problem, other than he is looking over to the camera but it appears he is trolling along anyway.  

Look at the money in that front suspension.  I think those lights are PIAA and I think they are mounted higher for longer field of vision and he can swivel them as needed to put some lighting where he needs it.  At least I hope it's a functionality thing, because it looks dorky.

Some of these guys ride the Dragon several times a day.  He could have been scoping out his line for his next run at stardom.  I'm guessing he is one of the Dragon regulars who trailer the bike to the Gap for strictly running back and forth.

The last time I was at the Gap, it was early Saturday evening and although the traffic was sparse, the pros were out in full force.  His lighting could be setup for running at dusk when the traffic is light.

 His knee pads appear to be scuffed.  I don't think this guy finishes his day with a wide chicken strip.   I'm just glad he is wearing the gloves.  

[Cam]

Or he could be going slow because he's  behind a semi....or a cop.  The Dragon ain't exactly what it used to be.

I really doubt this guy is afraid of a lean angle, considering the CCS racing sticker and I'm assuming a covered race number, which makes the reason for the frog lights apparent since the bike has a race plastics and no other headlights.

[Jared]

I think the headlights are interesting myself.  Pretty creative way to rig up the bike using the mirror mounts so he didn't have to put holes in his bodywork!  No comment on how fast he's going/body position/chicken strips etc, that's not what I was looking at.  The thing that really stood out for me was the front suspension.  The forks are Ohlins gas charged which = MAJOR $$$$.  Like enough money to buy an entire dedicated street bike to ride the dragon so you don't have to hooptie rig your track bike...  To get the enough benefit out of those forks to make them worth the pricetag he would have to be riding at 10/10ths all day long which hopefully he is not.  I thought it was odd to see a piece of trick technology like that used on a bike being ridden on the street where you can't use it's full range.  If it had been on an F4 or RSV4 or something like that I would have said that this guy is just loaded and just wanted the best of the best on his bike, but this an R6 with novice plates on it that I would guess is his weekend warrior with CCS/WERA.

No judging here, just thought it was weird/kinda cool to see.

[zaskar]

Those might not be chicken strips, but rather wear marks.  If they were run on the track the outer edges might be smooth (giving and unused look in the pic) and then an inch inward they could be torn up a bit.

Looks like he's dragging some front brake maybe and is likely stuck behind slower moving traffic.

[beedawg]

He seems to be squeezing the front brake with his index, middle and pinky fingers.

Edit: I probably misjudged on the pinky.

[Chris]

I don't think he would be riding at night with that dark shield on the hamlet, those lights must just be for looks.

Brembo brakes on the front, aftermarket ROTOR on the back, is neat looking

[Chris]

thanks that "other spell check dude"   

[PKPK]

I don't think he would be riding at night with that dark shield on the hamlet, those lights must just be for looks.

I never said he was riding at night.  I said dusk (think early evening with the sun lower in the sky).  The lights are to augment the poorer lighting in the shaded areas.  He would still keep the dark tinted screen because there is still bright sun on some of the corners.

It's all wild speculation.  I'm trying to put myself into the thought process of what could be a very serious Gap rider.  For all I know, he could be a complete poser with dumb looking headlights.

[KoopaTroopa]

I like the color scheme he has going, but those frog headlights ARE terrible.

[Ray916MN]

Race or track bike being used on the street is my guess.

The Ohlins front end on the bike is about $3K, the Brembo brakes another $1K and he's got some kind of Marchesini magnesium wheels, another $3K. Very very few street riders lay out this kind of money on suspension, brakes and wheels. The odd headlight set up is probably to allow him to slap on lights quickly. WERA and CCS patches are also tips.

[PKPK]

It looks too nice to be a club racer though.  He probably does track days with it but it looks way too perfect for your typical club racer.  Maybe he has racing skins he slaps on it for the track though.

[Jared]

Bump for another pic (not from T of the D).  It's coooooooold outside!  Hope everyone's winter is going well!
JP