Ssr Epic Ride I

[Netfan]

Good riding guys, looking forward to the big report.....

[Bard]

Paul,

We're not staying in Tak first night but in Mae Sot, the hotel is 280 Baht a night with air con, think 150 without. Think I managed to get Tony to book it for us. Also in Mae Hong Son it's a 350 baht/night inc air con there. Cheaper without. I am just addicted to it for sleep...

Udon we have a place at NinjaGladiator, failing place there we can go a couple of other reasonably priced places.

I ran my Fazer today breaking her in as bad as I could, and WOW what a bike I love it already. It is a gentle cat below 6k you are fooled to think it's a beginners bike, then 7k and <deleted> it takes off so hard you are suddenly in 150 kph in 2nd gear WOW what a cool ride man. Only grudges I had was a bit clunky gearbox but that will probably settle after it's broken in, and the clutch lever will take a while to get used to. Other than that it is a good one as soon as she revs 7k there is no stopping the beast, like a gentle cat roaring into a real devil, brilliant. I do not think the Fazer is a good bike for anyone beginning with bikes, it's to brutal in the change from mellow to savage.

More bikers joining what a thrill, I can't wait to blast my bike again. Yohoooo

[BigBikeBKK]

Paul,

We're not staying in Tak first night but in Mae Sot, the hotel is 280 Baht a night with air con, think 150 without. Think I managed to get Tony to book it for us. Also in Mae Hong Son it's a 350 baht/night inc air con there. Cheaper without. I am just addicted to it for sleep...

Udon we have a place at NinjaGladiator, failing place there we can go a couple of other reasonably priced places.

I ran my Fazer today breaking her in as bad as I could, and WOW what a bike I love it already. It is a gentle cat below 6k you are fooled to think it's a beginners bike, then 7k and <deleted> it takes off so hard you are suddenly in 150 kph in 2nd gear WOW what a cool ride man. Only grudges I had was a bit clunky gearbox but that will probably settle after it's broken in, and the clutch lever will take a while to get used to. Other than that it is a good one as soon as she revs 7k there is no stopping the beast, like a gentle cat roaring into a real devil, brilliant. I do not think the Fazer is a good bike for anyone beginning with bikes, it's to brutal in the change from mellow to savage.

More bikers joining what a thrill, I can't wait to blast my bike again. Yohoooo

Hey Bard- I'm a complete fuk up... forgot your helmet today (nice of Yamaha to lend you one), and forgot to book the rooms in Mae Sot...

I'm not too worried- this time of year and during the week I think there should be a lot of rooms available. I can give 'em a call tomorrow on the ride up to confirm.

Alright- I'd better finish packing and get some sleep!

See you all soon!

Tony

[LivinLOS]

Come on lads ?? Ride report !!

I saw Tony posting last night.. whose back, who made an arse of themselves (trent), who copped off with the LB (trent again)..

Please tell me you wore the banana suit !!

[nakedAIR1300]

nice one Sefton

Actually I haven't had time to post, got back tuesday afternoon and did a days work. Thursday spent the day servicing bike and preparing for it next trip in which I left again for Khon Kaen with bard. Did a day trip yesterday and today heading for Rayong. After that we have 3 days at the track and then back to Bangkok Thursday. Only then will I have the time to post.

As for the SSR Epic Ride, it was awesome! Covered lot of good roads in 7 days... I'm sure when everybody finds the time the beans will be spilled

[tahaan]

As for the SSR Epic Ride, it was awesome! Covered lot of good roads in 7 days... I'm sure when everybody finds the time the beans will be spilled

Beans spilling from a Givi box mounted on a locally produced rack?

[JimsKnight]

Just wait until I've cut and edited the video for this week of biking madness!

One of the real gems was leaving Bangkok. Ghost Rider has nothing on the SSR boys with me in tow filming them all!

[BigBikeBKK]

Hi All,

I've been meaning to post but have been so busy since getting back from the SSR Epic Ride.

It was an excellent trip but unfortunately I don't have many pictures since, as some of you know, my camera got run over a few weeks ago on the way to Khon Kaen Bike Week and I've yet to purchase a replacement. I've made do with my camera phone and video camera, but the quality leaves something to be desired. Every once in a while I was able to get a decent pic, but most are quite poor...

Day One- Bangkok to Mae Sot:

We met bright and early at the Yamaha Big Bike shop behind the Esplanade Mall on Ratchadapisek.

Bard and Trent on their shiny new Yamaha FZ6's

Peter on his XJR1300, aka the T-Rex

JimsKnight, whose real name is Paul arrived on his CBR400 and was quite fortunate to have the nice guys at Yamaha on hand to bolt his fairings back on as it seems the last shop to work on his bike failed to tighten down the allan bolts and some had already fallen out and many more were loose. (Woulda been kinda cool to see his fairings fly off at 160 km/hr though...)

Off we went, a bit late, but no worries (gave some of us time to throw down some breakfast). Khun Man from Yamaha escorted us out of the city- Once again I can't tell you how impressed I am by the customer service of that Yamaha shop. Certainly not the cheapest bikes around, but they really do go the extra mile to take care of their customers and even non-customers.

LESSON ONE: GPS is a useful tool, but like any tool, you have to know how (and when) to use it!

So- Trent and I have blasted up to Tak plenty of times and we should have known better, but the GPS said to stay on Highway One, and like idiots, we believed it... So rather than blasting along the highway 32 to Nakhon Sawan we followed Highway One as it snaked over to Saraburi and then through Lopburi... Ah well, no worries, live and learn!

Jim (Paul) tried valiantly to keep up, but said his CBR kept overheating when pushed to higher speeds. (Trent and I placed bets on whether it would blow up like LivinLOS's Bandit did on the same stretch of road way back when) I felt kinda bad, but we did make it clear in the ride rules that everyone needs to be able to keep a 160km/hr pace and Jim/Paul did his best and always brought up the rear.

Anyway- a pleasant ride without any major drama. Another guy named John riding an orange ER6n joined up with us in Khlong Khlung. He mentioned something about being old and ready to die (joking?) But his Kamikaze riding style made it clear that he wants to go out with a bang. Of concern however was the fact that he might take some of us with him... Nice guy and I hope no hard feelings, but we decided to part ways after day one.

Mae Sot was a fun town and that's all I'm gonna say about that! (Anyway- none of those pics would be allowed on this forum anyway)

More to come!

Happy Trails,

Tony

Edited March 15, 2009 by BigBikeBKK

[Bard]

Hey guys,

Me and Trenty just arrived back from Khon Kaen where we had a pleasant visit to John Gooding for the weekend. Tomorrow we'll go to do HST track riding for 3 days so we'll probably be out of the loop until that's done. Did over 1500 km this weekend so I need some relax time before the HST.

Short summary from the trip so far... AWESOME we have now covered well over 5000 km so far and the trip just keep on rolling, I am happy that I managed to tick off my metric iron butt during the trip as well, 1004 km in a day so that was a good ride. Also managed to do a 800 km pillion ride in one go with my missus on the back this weekend, brilliant.

Yohoo have fun

Cheers Bard

[JimsKnight]

Yep the Yamaha boys were rocking and rolling alright. Good service from them.

I think you'll find the ride rules stated 120-140 kph. Not 160 - 180 kph (or up to 200 kph unofficially)

A big difference on a CBR 400 (at least for me anyway)

But such are the ways...

Yes the CBR did reach the dizzy speeds of 190 kph, but the saddlebags? started inducing micro-tankslappers and the temperature gauge came close to red-lining so I fcked off trying to keep up with that and backed it down to 140 - 160 kph.

Fortunately the lights were with me and while the boys were stuck waiting on red, it gave me chance to catch up

I think Bard pushed his machine to well beyond 200 kph which was cool, not something I'd want to do with a new machine but Bardsters got the viking spirit alright!

Quite how some of you lot actually can stand the wind-buffeting at beyond 150 kph is astounding. I'd be couched behind the canopy all cosy, while the boys would be going beyond the limits!

The winding, wending and twisting roads after the Highway 1 were pretty bitchin'.

Similar to the Mae Sa Valley.

http://www.ontheroadthailand.com/ChiangMai...MaeSaValley.htm

The SSR boys are all trackday hounds so got their lean-on and grooved on through it like a dose of the salts.

I, on the other hand, don't rush corners as I enjoy the views a bit more and would probably over-cook the corner and end up doing superman impressions.

So I let the boys do their formation riding thing and hung behind enjoying the sunset landscape

'You're the first CBR 400 that's made it this far JK, the others blew up!' Said Trent chirpily, once we reached CM.

Not surprised with the blistering pace that was set!

My bike sounded like a sewing machine when I started her up the following morning!

Luckily an oil and filter change soon sorted that out.

Tony / Big Bike Bangkok,

Jimsknight is a nickname from my Koh Tao diving days. Just in case that's puzzled you.

[BigBikeBKK]

SSR EPIC RIDE DAY TWO-

Mae Sod to Mae Sariang on Route 105

Mae Sariang to Chiang Mai on Route 108

Some of you may notice that this is a deviation from our original itinerary which called for us to ride to Mae Hong Song. Indeed some of you may have heard that the one of us got our knee down (along with everything else) on that wonderfully twisty Route 105).

I should have marked the spot on my GPS but at the time that was the last thing on my mind...

Alas it is true that one of us suffered a low side slide- but fortunately both rider and bike escaped without serious injury. However after bouncing the bike off both pavement and guardrail it no longer tracked straight, handlebars were a bit tweaked and there was a worrisome dent in the front wheel so it was decided that a deviation to Chiang Mai was in order to get the bike sorted.

You'd think that would be the end of the drama, wouldn't you? But no- just as I was passing Ob Luang National Park on Route 108 the custom built rack that was holding my Givi Box decided to snap. YIKES! That would normally not be a big deal except for the fact that instead of just falling off and bouncing down the road the box pivoted under the tail of the bike and got caught between the tail fender and rear wheel. Talk about emergency braking! I am so very lucky that this happened on a straight road and that I wasn't going too fast. Before locking up the tire melted the box spraying melted plastic all over the place- pretty cool actually and I'm kicking myself for not borrowing a camera to record the carnage. Anyway- it was getting late and we wanted to reach Chiang Mai before dark.

New problem- how do you strap down a 35 liter Givi box? They are so smooth with no place to attach a hook, bungy or rope... I ended up emptying the contents and leaving the box at a nearby police checkpoint. BIG THANKS again to the guys for carrying my stuff to Chiang Mai for me.

Always good to visit Chiang Mai- great to see John and George from Khon Kaen, Ian, Pikey, and David and darling Gung from Mr Mechanic who gave me her car the following day so that I could go collect my busted up Givi while the other guys attended to their bikes.

TO BE CONTINUED!

[BigBikeBKK]

I think you'll find the ride rules stated 120-140 kph. Not 160 - 180 kph (or up to 200 kph unofficially)

A big difference on a CBR 400 (at least for me anyway)

But such are the ways...

Hi Jim/Paul- here are the ride rules from page one:

1. Your bike must be mechanically sound enough to make the journey

2. You need a 200km range on the tank as there are a bit in between fuel stations

3. On boring roads we will cruise in 140 - 160 if condition permits, so if you're not comfortable with that, it will be hard to follow.

Anyway- hope there are no hard feelings- enjoyed riding with you and look forward to running into you at future Bike Weeks.

Happy Trails,

Tony

[JimsKnight]

SSR Epic Ride Video

Part 1

Ok here's the first stage of the blast.

Setting off from Bangkok.

The boys and I weaved our way out of the madness of the city and onto Lopburi and beyond.

Had a close encounter with Bards panniers but that was pretty much my own fault for unwittingly stacking up too close at the lights! 3:15.

After the buzz through Lopburi the final test of the day awaited which was the previously mentioned turns of highway 105.

More on this in the next video

PS Yes, sorry 140-160 kph, I've just rechecked. However my speedo must be out by 20 - 40 kph as to keep up with you guys on the straights it was about 180 kph and 200 kph! Cool speeds, but beyond the pale for extended periods on my machine I'm afraid

Edited March 16, 2009 by JimsKnight

[BigBikeBKK]

Great vid Jim!

The new camera is definitely an improvement. Your soundtracks always crack me up! Thanks for posting!

Happy Trails,

Tony

[LivinLOS]

Shame to hear someone took a dirt dive.. All good that no one was seriously hurt.

Mad also about the box explosion.. So much for the superb job of DIY'ing that mount.

Also a bit surprised the CBR heats up.. I thought those 400's were bullet proof, they give off a bit of rider heat which i think is cos they shift so much oil up to the gear driven cams.. at least thats what I thought it probably was.. the one I had would sit all day over 160 but did top out not far after.. Been a while but am guessing not far over 180 was its limit. Maybe try a rad flush too ??

Keep it coming.

[Bard]

Hehe Yes i did the dive, tried my best to get knee down but then the panniers was also down and then the bike, no worries with me, bike was a bit rattled but was drivable to Chiang Mai where Yamaha fixed it up a tad so it was more comfy riding again. Insurance pays for the bike and I got only one small scratch so that was not bad at all. Lesson learned no panniers again unless going easy...

I got a ton of VDO as well but no time to process, well will go to work and then I should be having enough time to get it all done.

Cheers for the VDO Paul, good one.

I'm busy with track days for the moment which is great fun love it, what a great instructor Graham is... Brilliant...

Cheers Bard

[JimsKnight]

Alright Part 2 is being cut and processed as we speak.

Some more antics on the roads along with some tunes to keep Tony amused!

The second part of the onslaught was a test of mettle!

Having made it this far I was caught behind a clunking bus and minivan, effectively pinning me to the lane until it got clear. By this time Bards viking blood had carried him far far ahead and I had a mighty gap between the riders and myself.

I didn't know the roads from adam, but the SSR boys did, and they didn't hold back the horses.

Once I saw 2 riders waiting for me. They waited for me to catch up then roared off into the distance again!

We arrived in Mae Sot before nightfall and with about 600 km on the clock from Bangkok.

The rogue entity, John who joined us at Klong Khung had vanished in the night!

Which was probably for the best as a few of the SSR wolves wanted to duel him.

In the morning when we woke up, or rather when Trent woke us all up, we discovered he'd buzzed away at 6 in the morning.

'That's the last we'll see of him' said one.

'Not so, I think he's gone on ahead.' Said another, along with myself.

After some noodle breakfast and some charity donations it was time for the relentless mountain roads of the 105.

Fueling up was the usual chore, although Trents perpetual looping around the pumps on his bike raised the usual eyebrows.

A chirpy biker on a Transalp buzzed in while i waited. He'd just come from Mae Hong Song the previous day on the 105. I asked him what the roads were like.

'Brilliant, but take it easy, don't rip into the corners.'

'Hmm, you obviously don't know the SSRs!' I countered ruefully, pointing out Trent doing his perpetual loops, seemingly in a trance....'

At first the way was nice and smooth, with gentle turns you could power into. Then came the harsher ones and as I kept to my comfortable groove, the others got their lean on and screwballed through them like roadrunner. I took in the views and rolled the film for you all to see.

No point in being the fastest rider to the coffin

After about 30 minutes I caught up with the others, but for the wrong reason, one of them had tumbled-down. The corner was a bitchin' hairpin AND was on a downhill gradient with gravel near the edges, one of my most hated style of corners.

Luckily it was a lucky low-side and he was able to self-rescue the bike and himself to continue.

Some first aid from myself later and a good few smokes to cool the fiery nerves and we continued.

BBBK weaved him magic on the GPS.

'We can cut across onto Highway 108 and get into Chiang Mai that way.'

This was wisdom, but meant Mae Hong Song would have to wait another day to be stormed by the SSR crew.

Without further ado we continued, albeit with one rider having bent forks to contend with.

I must say though that he still kept ahead of me and left me behind, so the magic hadn't left with the accident at least.

Ok she's uploaded.

Here's the latest on the road groove.

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[Ithailian]

- Nice!

... I'm back here in the US this week and watching those videos makes me realize how super crappy some of those Thai roads are, but, at least there are NO passing rules/no speed limits in Thailand Split lanes or try to pass like that over here in the States and 1/2 of the Highway Patrol would be in pursuit.

Ride on crazy brothers!!!

[LivinLOS]

Well at least glad to hear no injuries bard.. Low side down is the least painful is about the only silver lining I can think of, I did a highside when 15 and got 3 pins in my knee for my foolishness, so am always a bit leary of rear end breakaway. My one was downgrading from a 250 crosser and thinking I could also powerslide a 50cc as it broke away !! Erm no !!

Take care lads.. Would be good to hear of one of these rides where no one blows up or takes a dirt dive.

[Bard]

Well, we done 5000+ km after the slide with no problems and on the greasy roads up North the rear kept on sliding in curves which is no problem when you apply throttle really. Just keep the foot away from the rear brakes always is a good idea under those circumstances. That had really nothing to do with my slide, the slide was caused by following another bike actually, then get into lazy mode following the other bike, meaning that your eyes relax on the bike in front. So when the bike in front went wide in the curve and hit the brakes I was already to wide, (behind) and when I tried to scrub off speed with my brake it was already in the sand and gravel on the road so, 2 choices hit the other bike or low slide, easy to choose really...

Talked with another rider after and guess what few days after he followed a rider and found when the other rider went off the road into the grass he was lucky to be able to brake off the speed and not end up in the grass as well. Also David U. had lot of these stories so it's common...

So the lesson learned is never to focus on the bike in front, if you find yourself doing so, back off to force yourself to pick your own lines all the time. It looks cool when everyone follow the same line, but unless you have your mind past the bike in front you will follow them over a cliff if that happens. So I blame myself for letting down the guard and I am happy that it was so minor and I did not follow anyone over a cliff, so I could get that lesson smacked in really good now before it could be much worse.

Cheers everyone, enjoy before the rainy season...

[JimsKnight]

And Enjoy during the rainy season!

If I am still here I will be taking the Storm Child out for a blast in the rain, just to see how she handles

Ok Part III is uploading now...

[johngooding]

Hi Lads, Some nice pics and reports. Sorry no camera for me this trip. Enjoyed being out and about with you and the weekend here around KK too.

Confirming what Bard says about following the bike in front, can get to be almost hypnotic, just following the lines. For me ideally the bike ahead is just about in sight some of the time. I think I get a better appreciation of the scenery as well. Same problem if you have a bike right on your tail, I prefer to let them pass rather than constantly watching them in the mirrors. We each have a slightly different idea of speed in and out of corners and lines etc, so works better that way and a lot safer if something unexpected happens. Just means the faster guys stay in front and slow down a bit or wait up on the less interesting bits.

However can also be great sometimes to follow guys who know the road well, like following Ian Bungy when on his turf and I do not know the roads, even then not too close.

Interesting what the view of this is after a few days on the track, looks like you have to be following the bike in front??

[Travelmate]

Interesting what the view of this is after a few days on the track, looks like you have to be following the bike in front??

On track you look past the guy in front, looking at the next corner. Yet keep him in your peripheral vision. Same applies to the road. Otherwise you crash a lot, because your vision had narrowed and shorten to a few metres, the distance between you and the rider in front.

As for bikes behind you. The trick is to ignore them. You only worry about them when they overtake you.

You will see in most videos as an example the rider looks at the road immediately in front of him (see a lot of tarmac) Rather than looking ahead.

Best to look ahead. It reduces the sensation of speed and gives you a wider peripheral view.

[JimsKnight]

Yes, the Bardster and co taught me to continue tracking around the corner, otherwise target-lock / can mean riding over the edge.

But this is one reason I prefer to be the lone rider. No worries about the others buzzing about near me. Bummer if you tumble-down though

Ok Part III now uploaded!

The helmet cam blew off at highspeed a few days later. All my touring data for the last leg to Chiang Mai and around the city moat, lost forever.

I was not able to recover it. The first I knew of it missing was pulling into the petrol station for a fuel stop.

If any of you riders out there are travelling on Highway 1 between Lampang and Khampaeng Pet. If you see a black, square-shaped object with elastic material around it, that's my helmet cam!

Until I can get another one sent into Thailand there will be only the Isaan Oddessey chapter to publish and then no more!

Bard, your tank cam is our eyes and ears now!

Edited March 17, 2009 by JimsKnight

[LivinLOS]

As for bikes behind you. The trick is to ignore them. You only worry about them when they overtake you.

And when they have shown themselves to overshoot corners 2 or 3 times in the last hour ??? And now if they overshoot they take you with them ?? You stay nice and relaxed and concentrate on your own line knowing they were just on your shoulder ??

No, IMO track and road is very different.. And riders in groups tend to get a bit carried carried away with group riding, not want to be seen to being slow, put themselves out of thier usual pace (I do it myself) etc.. Lots of ego and other BS gets involved. normal for guys on bikes.

Groups of guys at a natural speed match is fine, but thats something that online ride groups do, put guys at very different skill levels into the same mix.

[Bard]

Interesting what the view of this is after a few days on the track, looks like you have to be following the bike in front??

On track you look past the guy in front, looking at the next corner. Yet keep him in your peripheral vision. Same applies to the road. Otherwise you crash a lot, because your vision had narrowed and shorten to a few metres, the distance between you and the rider in front.

As for bikes behind you. The trick is to ignore them. You only worry about them when they overtake you.

You will see in most videos as an example the rider looks at the road immediately in front of him (see a lot of tarmac) Rather than looking ahead.

Best to look ahead. It reduces the sensation of speed and gives you a wider peripheral view.

Travelmate is 100% correct here it was a glitch from me and that was it, no worries... I won't do that again! I relaxed (no do) and looked at the bike in front which is another (no do) so it was a very valuable lesson learned there. On the track you look at everything, you see small things on the tarmac, how many stripes on the sides, olde skid marks, water pipes and a lot of information in amazing speed, why because you look for reference points for braking and turning, your mind is running in overgear processing all the information, that is what we all should do on the road as well, ignore the moving targets like other bikes etc. and get reference points turn as fast as possible and rev out of there. Travelmate is real pro in this so he knows by hart, I have to practice a lot before I am on his level.

It has been really good to get out to the track and get rid of bad habits, feel 100000% better now. As a first on the new bike I had knee down all of the hairpin today, and to my surprise I was the first FZ6 Rider who done that at Bira according to Graham. For anyone who is into riding, do track time it makes you far safer on the road after... Get rid of the bad habits and get moving good and smoothly. Graham and team is excellent guys and really good at getting the point over, you will not regret doing a HST 3 day worth every single baht.

Cheers Bard

[nakedAIR1300]

day 2 still no knee down

went to secret soi to relieve some stress

[nakedAIR1300]

my apologies for not posting some pics and reports, am still busy riding track. will be finished wednesday but then doing a few more days riding and then back to track for the weekend. hopefully i will have my version of the report by mid next week and i will have good news of a knee down at BIRA!

nice reports Tony and Paul

[thaicbr]

Paul what helmet cam are (were) you using?

Allan

[Bard]

Hey due to request here is some pics from Bira fun.

Getting suited up and ready to go...

Trent in first corner

Knee down board at HST

Evidence...

Cheers Bard