Just the two – Beej’s MT and Bruce’s pitbike!
THIS MONTH I HAVE MOSTLY BEEN… “Getting a new arse fitted...”
As you may remember, the MT-10 was dead deady McDead in last month’s instalment, as dickhead here had left the bike on the parking lock over a weekend – the shame! Anyway, after a bit of battery charging love she was up and at ‘em once again.
But then, by hook or crook, we didn’t get to spend much time together. Poor weather, poorly child, trips away, chained to my desk – you name it, there were multiple reasons why me and the MT ended up spending nearly a good three weeks apart. So when I finally jumped back on her, it was a sodden and generally quiet ride to the office through the muck, incidentally meaning she was filthy in minutes. Bugger...
But the following day we trooped up to JHS Racing to get the Nitron R2 shock fitted, and it was the very first dry day of riding I’ve had in 2017. It was also the moment where the MT blew my socks again – I just couldn’t keep the front wheel down! I’ve spoken to some with an MT who say they’ve never even wheelied by accident but I cannot see how that’s possible, as even gentle acceleration has it heading skywards, and definitely in the lower gears if you need to chop on a bit – it just happens!
It took a while to get my head around the loopy bugger; I’ve always thought Yamaha had essentially said to themselves that they knew it wouldn’t be the very best sport naked, but if they made it the craziest, that’d do. And that they certainly have done because even months in I can’t think of any other way of describing this bike than utterly certifiable. Quite how I’m still not locked up is anyone’s guess!
But it was time for a new shock, and Nitron’s R2 is a great bit of kit, especially with the remote preload adjuster. James at JHS set about the MT, removing the stock unit that’s done a great job thus far especially with his excellent static setup he dialled in a few months back. But one can’t beat a bit of quality damping, which the Nitron is most likely to provide. They do even better units than the R2, but James assured me that for the MT-10, this was the one we wanted.
It took about half an hour to remove stock then fit the R2, and set-up the remote reservoir and preload adjuster. My only gripe would be that the jubilee clips provided to attach the two together looks a little naff compared to the superb build quality of the units and the shock itself. That said, and being fair, they have a rubber sheath not to scratch said units, so some thought has been put into it. But the proof is in the pudding, and my word the back end feels wonderfully supported now.
It was good before, but there’s a palpable quality to the compression and rebound stroke on and off acceleration now, one which I honestly didn’t expect to feel so clearly. It is brilliant, and I’ll be able to report in deeper depth next month, but the initial report is nothing but glowing.
The Nitron R2 costs £696, with the remote adjuster a further £210 . It looks proper cool and does make adjustment a piece of the proverbial, but if you can’t stretch that far you’ll be fine adjusting it the traditional way. I really like it, love it even, and already I’m giving Nitron’s fork kit some serious consideration, even if James’ setup on the stock fork is still superb. Find out if I folded next month!