MCN’s Adam ‘Chad’ Child is doing the Northwest 200 and the Isle of Man TT this year for the first time, and bought his Kawasaki ER650 in for a bit of preparation. He’s doing the NW200 with a standard engine (which we’ve set up on the Dyno) and when he’s back we’ll fit the tuned engine we’ve just done for him.
Conservative is the word we’d use for tuning a bike to do the TT. That race will break motorcycles and engines, the stress on every part is that much higher and all the things you don’t expect to happen can, and will. Wear and tear is phenominal – bits shake undone or to pieces, and fairings bottom out.
Bigger engines cope a little better than smaller ones, as they’re not on the stop for the whole lap (!). It’s a difficult balance to strike because you want the best horsepower you can get, but with a huge margin of safety and reliability for a motor that’s running flat out for so long. Chad, as a Newcomer will be finding his way around, so missed gears and the odd over-rev are a distinct possibility, all of which can push a motor to destruction.
So we’ve given his engine a little extra compression, some head work and extra valve lift, but all with durability firmly in mind, rather than outright horsepower.
Good luck, mate.
Chad's ER650 with fettled stock motor, ready for the NW 200, then the TT...
