THE WEIGHTING GAME
How was your winter break? Fattening? I think we’re all in the same boat, but I’m not too worried. Most of the mail that comes through my door is suggestive of some form of fat camp, or special slimming drink that’ll burn off your man-boobs while you watch Corrie. Of course, not everyone wants to lose weight, but when it comes to riding bikes, there are quite a few benefits to slimming down your bra size. For starters, you might find yourself fit enough to tick off a whole session of a trackday. And then there’s the physics of the matter; the heavier you are, the more your motor will struggle. Losing weight is an essential ingredient when looking to up your performance and it’s as dependent on your mass as it is your bike’s. You’re in it together, and considering most modern litre sportsbikes weigh around the 200kg mark, you’re looking at around 300kg per rider and motorcycle by the time you’ve got your leathers on and you’ve scoffed that extra donut to keep your sugar levels up. That’s a lot of weight to haul around, regardless of what bike you’ve got, so it makes sense to try and shed as much of it as you can. Take this stock Gixer, for example, which weighed in at 202kg on the scales and kicked out a genuine 186bhp on the dyno. That’s no bad starting place,
