Hickman has had a tough two weeks with the Superbike version of the M1000RR, with the Englishman beaten by Michael Dunlop on the Hawk Racing Honda in the opening race for the class last Sunday.
The FHO rider detailed “unnerving” brake issues on the bike caused by a lack of stability, while he also had to battle a quickshifter problem.
Despite this, he was under 10 seconds away from Dunlop at the finish and came close to an outright lap record of 135.445mph.
Hickman’s team spent the week since then trying to fix the issues with the Superbike, but only made a breakthrough on Friday morning in the solo warm-up lap.
The team fitted data logging onto the bike for the first time to better understand the issues, with the team able to solve the braking problems.
Hickman told Autosport on Thursday that he was still planning to race the Superbike despite a dominant run in the first Superstock race of the week on Tuesday.
Hickman’s decision for the Senior TT was thrown into further confusion on Friday when he dominated the Superstock race for the second time this event and set a new outright lap record of 136.358mph.
Source: Autosport