The Track Tactics day at BeaveRun exceeded my expectations. To start, the weather was perfect and the turn-out was light, so there was tons of open track. Dave Moss was on hand and doing suspension set ups for $40. I signed up and was impressed with the results, as was everyone else I spoke with. Dave went over my bike and set my sag before the first session and asked me to bring it back over at the end of the first session. The biggest change he made initially was adding quite a bit of pre-load to the forks. I would not have said my bike had any suspension / handling issues before Dave’s adjustments, but once on track the front end felt immediately better. The forks felt like they were constantly in the sweet spot of their travel. It inspired confidence, and I felt it allowed for faster corner entries. Dave made additional adjustments after the first session and asked me to stop back 5 laps into the second session for a quick adjustment, before he sent me back out on the track. He did the same with the 3rd session, made adjustments before the session, after 5 laps, and after the session was over. He seemed to be making his adjustments based on my feedback, the travel I was using (zip-tie on the forks), and how the tires looked. By the end of the 3rd session, Dave said we had it set up right where it needed to be. He asked me to make a mental note regarding the wear pattern on the rear tire, saying “that’s what you’re looking for”. My bike feels great, my tire wear seems to be significantly improved, and I can’t imagine getting more bang for your buck in regards to a performance upgrade.
The other pleasant surprise of the day, was Chris Peris putting on what amounted to a free mini riding clinic. He provided classroom sessions after the Advanced track sessions, and also put on a demonstration during the lunch break. We rode out (in a truck and trailer) to different sections of the track and watched Chris and another rider come by at speed. It was pretty cool, I learned a few things, and I was impressed it was offered free of charge!
Overall it was another great BeaveRun trackday! It was good to see everyone as usual!
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