So for today, we are running in the rain.
I decided to run the track in the rain, because. well, wtf not? I paid for the day, why piss away 180 bucks?
Actually, it's good to KNOW how to do something, the more you know, the more you are able to perform when it is demanded from you, rather than you volunteering to do it.
id rather learn how to run in the rain, on my own, by MY choice, and know how to work the bike, and stay safe, so that if I find myself getting CAUGHT in the rain unwanted (cough cough, I live in florida, what do you think THOSE odds are?
) I can continue to run safe.
It wasn't that bad really, seriously. For those who are skittish, give it a shot, it's really NOT that bad.
Do I need to do 128 mph on the back side, umm no, probably 105 is plenty, back your pace down, go easier into the turns, but otherwise, run your race the way you normally do, you'll know if you are getting close to edges of boundries.
The bike weighs 600 Lbs, it's going to get decent traction, I am sure the weight helps there a bit.
Is it going to slide and fling and hydroplane all over the place,. well. not unless you are running slicks.
Who's going to run slicks in the rain? NOBODY is that much of an idiot... I hope.
Just regular DOT tires, the Continental Attack 2's I want to say ///they are front and back, did the trick nicely. I hit some corners under speed, YES you CAN hear the tires gripping in the rain!! you can hear the water, .. for lack of a better word, tearing when you are running a wet track and tire shear is going on.
The take away here is, the bike performed superbly in the rain, in fact, I was slammin it!!! The adrenaline rush was on, and I was hammering it and the bike was my faithful partner.....
then the lightning started hitting everywhere and they called the rest of the day off. $#^%&^%^%
Ok, back to the point, if you have decent tires on your bike and it's raining out, don't be afraid, the Energica's are designed to perform extremely well in adverse conditions. If you are on a street bike, you have Traction Control which will be working overtime to save your ass. My race bike does not have TC so that's on ME, and even though I was hitting it a bit hot every now and then, it's not like the bike just jumped and went crazily out of control, it was VERY well mannered in less than nice road conditions.
There were some standing puddles. One of the instructors made a comment, don't worry about puddles, I hit them all the time, it's no big deal.
Now I don't swerve out of the way of puddles, doing that on a track is a HUGE no no !!! but I generally do alter my track line slightly to avoid them, I mean, why purposely go thru an area you know is less than ideal? SAFETY!! However after hearing the instructor say no big deal, Ok, I want to try it now, ramp it up, see how much of a 'no big deal' it really is.
If the puddle is 3 inches deep, NO you probably do NOT want to go thru that, especially at 80 MPH, that's an accident waiting to happen, especially if there is any lean in there. But if it's just a bit of standing water, guess what... it's no big deal... your 600 LB bike will slug right thru that like it was nothing. I hit the patch of standing water several times at increasing aggressiveness to see what my limits were on water sports
The bike really didn't seem to notice much. This is a well designed bike, and if your tires are not bald, it'll bring you thru nice and safe.
Don't be afraid of rain, it's amazing how many people ARE afraid of it !!! We DO have an advantage though, our regen is stupid good awesome, engine braking, it'll stop you very nicely in rain / on wet roads. you got the EB use it, it will make life a LOT easier for you. You will be amazed how quick a high setting EB can stop you on wet pavement along with a gentle braking and do so safely and sanely.
in a way it's kind of sad, how badly, Regen is Under - Understood on Electric bikes on how valuable a tool it really is and can be. Everyone focus' on the power saving aspect of it, which in reality is kind of bullshit, and totally ignores the handling capabilities it now gives you. I wonder why the manu's don't go down this route as a selling item?
Well, tomorrow will be the last day for a while at Jennings, so ill be working on the trailer, getting it all spiffied up, and the possibly hitting other tracks and continuing to report how the bike is running. Let's hope it don't rain too much, however. I almost wish I had a set of rain tires, Id be really interested to see how well the bike performs on those .vs. just the regular dot's. I don't think there will be a lot of diff for most people unless you are just really in a swamp.
Aaron
The tour-ability of the bike is severely impaired when the 10%-90% charge time is now about 1.5 hours. It used to be 45mins. Mind you that’s with 12.6kWh usable, there’s an extra kWh in the 17.3 pack for sub 2022 models that had the pack replaced. But still is a noticeable hanging around that my ICE mates aren’t up for. 
