Escalation

Is the reason I won't be buying the forks I wrote about yesterday.

Let's rewind back to a time when the front end of my bike didn't look like this yet:

I'm one of those that, admittedly, wants to have his cake and eat it too. This was a big reason why I didn't buy a pair of Ohlins R&T forks for my bike a lot sooner than I could have; it's not because they were rare or people were selling a used set for too much.

It was because of escalation.

I remember having talked about it with Rob, that as much as I wanted to have R&T forks, I didn't want to have that and run it with the regular calipers. An upgrade like that to my forks necessitated (to me) an upgrade to the brake calipers as well. No biggie, but the problem was I was never one to collect parts in my garage; if I buy a part, I want it on the bike right away.

But I didn't want the forks on the bike right away without the calipers.

So I was basically leaving myself in a position to either have it all, or have nothing.

It was really by luck and a very big favor from Rob that I was able to have my cake and eat it too, when I found a pair of Ohlins R&T forks already fitted with upgraded (billet) brakes that Rob agreed to help me get.

So now the whole front end of my bike makes sense, in that they're comprised of parts that are in a way, up to par with one another; the Ohlins forks, billet and radial calipers, oversized full-floating rotors, and the forged aluminum wheel. Virtually nothing is stock in my front end with the exception of the wheel axle, and that's only because of my apprehension to run a titanium axle for daily use.

So what does this have to do with the superbike forks?

Escalation.

While the superbike forks would bring me ever closer to my ever continuing goal to make my street bike a rolling homage to today's absolute racing motorcycles, I can't just stop at the superbike forks, can I? What would be next? Nickel-plated billet Brembo calipers, perched over some insanely expensive rotors, like say carbon rotors?

I don't stop. When I get going, I do not stop.

So before I even get started again, I'm going to have to draw the line right now for me to not cross. Where the bike's at now is already elevated from where it was, far from where I ever thought I could take it.

So why keep escalating when I've already done more than enough?

You Will Always Find Me in the Corner of "No Regrets" and "With Reason"

I don't typically post a photo of anything I haven't already bought or installed on my bike, unless for reference. But this time it's a bit different.

That's an actual photo of a pair of Ohlins superbike forks (FG470) being offered to me for less than a third of what their retail were ($10k - $12k?), shipped from the UK. Normal me would be posting these photos right now too, but writing instead that "I just bought them and they're on their way, woo-hoo!" But within the next month, my first child is due to be born, so I'm not really my normal self this time out.

Before I got the pair of Ohlins FG43 forks currently fitted in my bike, I swear I would've never thought the day would come that I would actually score a pair of them for my bike. I swear. So imagine how I feel when these forks are being laid on my lap.

I'm basically in between the nexus of No Regrets, and With Reason.

So I wanted to make this entry and post these photos up anyway, either as a reminder of the time when I said "no regrets," and purchased them.

Or the time when I was "with reason," and this was the closest I got to ever having them on my bike.

I'll know which soon enough.











P.S.
Fuck you, temptation. Very much.

The Last Hurrah Before Stella

The title's a bit misleading; as a matter of fact, I've already got a trackday booked for October 2nd, AFTER Stella arrives. So that's two trackdays done this year so far, with a third one later on in the year. Don't know if I will or can squeeze in another trackday between now and October 2nd, but assuming my dwindled trackdays dwindle some more post-Stella, then what are we looking at here? Two trackdays a season, maybe one?

We'll just have to see.

One thing's for sure - however many I'm left with of few and far in between trackdays, what little of them left will be such catharsis. :)