abiggs82 wrote:
I have an NC 24 and was toying with taking it back onto the track next year. I know it was raced when it was new at the IOM, not sure how it done there though, it all seams pretty standard apart from holes for lock wire in the bolts. Compared to my previous 1990 VFR NC30 it seams much quicker in corners, acceleration and top end.
Just looking for any advice on racing it and what i should expect, I have previous experience on the track with a kr1s and ZXR400.
Yeah man the 24's an ace motor. your not the only person to say it's quicker too, but I wouldn't say that too much you'll upset all the 30 oweners, mine pulls to the rev limiter in top quite easily.
I think the 16" front wheel has a lot to do with how quick it corners, but this also limits you on tyres too.
With the standard wheels (130/70/18R and 100/90/16F) your pretty much limited to Bridgestone BT45's or Pirelli Sport Demon's.
I prefer the 45's and therem ore than adequate for street use (unless your driving like a twat everywhere) but serious track use and the tyres would be one of the weak points.
The other weakpoint for trackuse would be the Suspension and possibly the brakes, the front 2 piston sliding calipers with good pads and braided lines work 100x better than the stock lines (which are going to be 20 years old now) but that still doesn't solve the suspension issue.
My choice of NC30 frontend was twofold, convenience (less work than usd forks) and price (cheaper than an RVF frontend as im trying not to spend too much!)
The original NC24 forks are very soft and are 'air adjustable' between 8-11psi, which doesn't really make that much difference, pushing hard round the twisteys and the front can become worryingly unstable at speed.
Later (post 89/90) forks have adjustable rebound and daming etc etc, 41mm showa cartridge forks which when done up are supposidly really good) plus they came with the NC30 4 piston calipers, which with braided lines and good pads work fantastically well and allow you to be frighteningly late on the brakes! Plus the NC24 brake MC and resevoir is the same as on the 30 so one less bit needed. You will need the yokes and bars though as the 24 has 37mm forks. You'll also need a sprocket cover if you want a speedo as it drives from the sprocket on the 30, not the wheel (but this just bolts on anyway)
Now we have the front suspension and brakes setup (i've not decided on rear yet, but i'll keep you posted) we can talk tyres.
I have a stock NC30 wheel and a CBR900 wheel as possible candidates, the 16" wheel off the fireblade is in keeping with the original size of the 24 but is wearing a 130/70/16 BT-014 (I think, might bt BT-016!) The NC30 wheel has a Michelin 2CT on it at the moment.
Obviously both of these tyres are a lot more agressivly orientated than the BT45 wheel.
The rear will give the same kind of choices!
Going to try the 24's stock suspension before change it as it does feel quite nice.
The 24's a crackin motor, and with the right sensible mods on can be made (hopefully anyways :D) into a great track-bike for relatively ittle money.
I'd say the best thing to do would be to make sure it's all running fine as stock and do a track-day and find out yourself what you find to be the weakpoints and go from there.
I'm fortunate enough to live near a 70mph dual carriageway country road with a 290° corkscrew each way that is dead at 4am and great for testing suspension et al out on the cheap.
I have the owners manual and the sales brocuher scanned in on my site if you need it, also have the partsbooks and service manuals which are getting scanned slowly but surely ^_^
