Gettin' the bike ready for the track

exalted512

Putting her out on the track for the first time tomorrow. I'm super excited

-Cody

bigaudiofanatic

I am jealous, I want to do this but have not yet. Have fun and be safe. Ride YOUR ride not someone else. The worst thing you can do is try to pass someone and find yourself halfway in a corner at 95mph and trying to find the balls to lean that sucker down. Ya good stuff have fun!

gfong

Have fun and be safe, I know I have a ball on the 1/4 mile track on four wheels! I could only image it but would never attempt it on two!
If your going to a twisty/turns track, keep it upright! Good luck.

audiobliss

Wooo! That's awesome! I can only imagine the excitement.

To reiterate the others, have fun and be safe!!

mole'

whats all done to it

messiah

Have fun man, and keep the rubber side down

kawizx9r

Pirelli Diablo's are your friend, it's what I had on both the Kawi and CBR when I used to ride.

Take it easy and have fun on your ride!

Sherardp

Hell yeah, go fast and don't be afraid to lean. Look through the corners and you'll get that knee down in no time.

greyford1979

You lucky sob lol. Have fun and be safe!! Maybe someday I will finally buy one lol.

exalted512

No draggin knee or anything. I was mainly focusing on my lines this time around. Finally by the end of the day I was getting my lines pretty much spot on. So I would assume that my next track day at this track is going to be about 1/3 of working on my lines and remembering what I forgot, and the other 2/3 would be focusing on body position. The next one would be focusing more on body position, then hopefully by the 4th, I'll have my body position right, just a matter of moving it further off the bike. Then I can try going to a couple other near by tracks.

One guy wrecked his 748 duc and is missing about 1/4 of his pinky now. Evidently he lowsided and pinky got caught under the bar. I actually went off the road where he wrecked. Mine was a stupid mistake, but i managed not to go down...it wasnt all that hard keeping it upright.

I just took a wrong line and by the time I corrected it, it was too late. Decided to go straight off into the grass instead of trying to hold on it and possibly sliding off into the grass sideways instead of straight on.

Almost got the chicken strips wore off!



Now I just need a suit
-Cody

inspiredsports

Definately a young man's game and I envy you still being in it. I used to own a street bike, and also owned and raced MX bikes.

When I was 19, on the steets a car didn't see me (headlight on) when he came to a full stop at a road teeing into mine, looked both ways, and proceeded to pull out a mere 40 feet in front of me.

I pulled up hard on the bars, veered hard right, and cleared the ditch, but the engine's skid pad caught the top string of the adjacent barbed wire fence and yanked the bike out from under me. A mid-air sommersault landed me flat on my back, staring up at the blue sky and clouds when I came to with a tingling from my head to my toes, but no pain.

I thought I was dead and gone to heaven. Amazingly, I was able to limp that bike home and I parked it in a seldom used shed at my parents house.

The bike has not been move since. That was 34 years ago in 1976.

BlueFox

I bet it is fun. Other than removing the turn signals, anything else needed to be on the track? Take the 'racing' or 'high-performance' classes that get offered at tracks.

exalted512

inspiredsports wrote: »

Definately a young man's game and I envy you still being in it. I used to own a street bike, and also owned and raced MX bikes.

When I was 19, on the steets a car didn't see me (headlight on) when he came to a full stop at a road teeing into mine, looked both ways, and proceeded to pull out a mere 40 feet in front of me.

I pulled up hard on the bars, veered hard right, and cleared the ditch, but the engine's skid pad caught the top string of the adjacent barbed wire fence and yanked the bike out from under me. A mid-air sommersault landed me flat on my back, staring up at the blue sky and clouds when I came to with a tingling from my head to my toes, but no pain.

I thought I was dead and gone to heaven. Amazingly, I was able to limp that bike home and I parked it in a seldom used shed at my parents house.

The bike has not been move since. That was 34 years ago in 1976.

Wow. Have pictures of the bike? Be interesting to see after all these years.

BlueFox wrote: »

I bet it is fun. Other than removing the turn signals, anything else needed to be on the track? Take the 'racing' or 'high-performance' classes that get offered at tracks.

Mirrors were removed and all the turn signals, head lights, and brake lights were taped up. Fuses were also removed from the head lights and brake lights. That's all that was really required at this particular one.

Some tracks do things differently, like you might have to get a special type of anti freeze or wire tie some key things. This one is pretty laid back.
-Cody

greyford1979

exalted512 wrote: »

No draggin knee or anything. I was mainly focusing on my lines this time around. Finally by the end of the day I was getting my lines pretty much spot on. So I would assume that my next track day at this track is going to be about 1/3 of working on my lines and remembering what I forgot, and the other 2/3 would be focusing on body position. The next one would be focusing more on body position, then hopefully by the 4th, I'll have my body position right, just a matter of moving it further off the bike. Then I can try going to a couple other near by tracks.

One guy wrecked his 748 duc and is missing about 1/4 of his pinky now. Evidently he lowsided and pinky got caught under the bar. I actually went off the road where he wrecked. Mine was a stupid mistake, but i managed not to go down...it wasnt all that hard keeping it upright.

I just took a wrong line and by the time I corrected it, it was too late. Decided to go straight off into the grass instead of trying to hold on it and possibly sliding off into the grass sideways instead of straight on.

Almost got the chicken strips wore off!

Sounds like you had a good time and safe time. I have a friend who takes his bike down to the Mid-Ohio track all the time and has a blast.

inspiredsports wrote: »

Definately a young man's game and I envy you still being in it. I used to own a street bike, and also owned and raced MX bikes.

When I was 19, on the steets a car didn't see me (headlight on) when he came to a full stop at a road teeing into mine, looked both ways, and proceeded to pull out a mere 40 feet in front of me.

I pulled up hard on the bars, veered hard right, and cleared the ditch, but the engine's skid pad caught the top string of the adjacent barbed wire fence and yanked the bike out from under me. A mid-air sommersault landed me flat on my back, staring up at the blue sky and clouds when I came to with a tingling from my head to my toes, but no pain.

I thought I was dead and gone to heaven. Amazingly, I was able to limp that bike home and I parked it in a seldom used shed at my parents house.

The bike has not been move since. That was 34 years ago in 1976.

I've had 2 friends that recently had accidents on their bikes within a few months of each other. One a rock flew up and hit him in the head, wasn't wearing a helmet cuz he was riding a girl on the back. Luckily both only had some minor scrapes and bruises but his brand new GSX750 was totaled. The other, a car pulled right out in front of him. Was the woman's in the car who was at fault. He messed up his ankle pretty bad and got some road rash. Bike again, a one year old CBR1000RR. I've wanted a bike for many years now, this is the one thing that keeps my from buying one, idiot drivers. That, and my fiance literally started crying when I told her I want one:( Keep safe out there on your bikes guys and gals.

Sherardp

When your in for tires next time get yourself some Michelin Pilot Powers, they warm up very quickly and are of excellent compound. In other words they get sticky very fast. I prefer them to Dunlops 208GPs any day young friend. Enjoy.

bigaudiofanatic

Nice tire wear, you did some good corner braking I see. I sis that and my father thought I was doing burnouts. The guys at the shop even asked who did it, I said I did they said props for good braking lol.

steveinaz

Is that an R6, R1?

exalted512

Sherardp wrote: »

When your in for tires next time get yourself some Michelin Pilot Powers, they warm up very quickly and are of excellent compound. In other words they get sticky very fast. I prefer them to Dunlops 208GPs any day young friend. Enjoy.

Those are Michelin's.

steveinaz wrote: »

Is that an R6, R1?

Kawasaki zx6.
-Cody

nadams

If you see this chick in your rear view mirror.... let her go past.

inspiredsports

Dang, I'll apologize in advance but I just can't resist wondering out load what kind of vibration comes up through that seat. :eek:

exalted512

nadams wrote: »

If you see this chick in your rear view mirror.... let her go past.

Don't have mirrors on the track, but I'm not afraid to say there was one lady in our group who was faster than me. But she had also done several track days prior.
-Cody

ViperZ

greyford1979 wrote: »

I've had 2 friends that recently had accidents on their bikes within a few months of each other. One a rock flew up and hit him in the head, wasn't wearing a helmet cuz he was riding a girl on the back. Luckily both only had some minor scrapes and bruises but his brand new GSX750 was totaled. The other, a car pulled right out in front of him. Was the woman's in the car who was at fault. He messed up his ankle pretty bad and got some road rash. Bike again, a one year old CBR1000RR. I've wanted a bike for many years now, this is the one thing that keeps my from buying one, idiot drivers. That, and my fiance literally started crying when I told her I want one:( Keep safe out there on your bikes guys and gals.

Why oh why would anybody ride without a helmet is beyond me... Saw a guy on a Monster lowside in the rain today. I am sure he was glad he was wearing full gear.

exalted512

ViperZ wrote: »

Why oh why would anybody ride without a helmet is beyond me... Saw a guy on a Monster lowside in the rain today. I am sure he was glad he was wearing full gear.

I dont get it either. And I love the fact that I get called an organ donor just for riding a crotch rocket by a guy on a harley wearing chaps and a bandanna on his head...
-Cody

Sherardp

I rode my bike down the street once to see how it was without a helmet. Needless to say I could never imagine riding a bike 60+ miles an hour without gear. It's just asking for death.

bigaudiofanatic

exalted512 wrote: »

I dont get it either. And I love the fact that I get called an organ donor just for riding a crotch rocket by a guy on a harley wearing chaps and a bandanna on his head...
-Cody

Ya I love that as well of curse mine is a sport turing bike.

exalted512

More pics came in. Form is definitely not there yet, but that's what track days are for!






Definitely looking forward to going back next year and working on my form! Feet aren't where they're supposed to be on pegs, body position isn't terrible, but its not all that good either. I do think the photos were taken in the first 2 sessions though. It was still an absolute blast!
-Cody

exalted512

Well, track season is here again. The 2 organizations here allow you to work a day flagging in exchange for a free track day. Conned the wife into going with me last weekend too, so I have 6 free track days this year

Bike is getting new rubber tomorrow. Going with Dunlop Q2's this time around. Still have the tires that were during this original track day, but they're more of a sport touring tire. So I'll have the Q2's just for track duty, then switch em back over to the michelins for commuting.

Mole asked what all was done to it and I guess I never saw that post.

Its got a BMC race filter, Scorpio alarm system, tank pad and stomp grips, Akrapovic full titanium exhaust (no more cat...she shoots out flames when shes mad now), Power Commander V fuel management system, Auto Tune (does similar to what an O2 sensor does for a car, tunes the bike on the fly to get the right A/F ratio), Woodcraft frame sliders. It's been dyno tuned. Puts down 113 HP to the wheel. Not bad for a bike that weighs around the 400 pound mark.

I got a used suit on the cheap. With my extra back protector and armored shorts, its a little too small though, so it's probably one or two on my list of crap to buy for this hobby. The other thing I want at this point is stainless steel brake lines. Since the bike is new and the brakes are already the best in the class, the stock lines arent that bad. But as I progress, I'm sure they won't be good enough anymore. The last thing I want to happen is be going down the straight at 150+ and not be able to slow down for turn 1 in time

I do have some track body work shipping today though, which I'm super excited about. I'll have it in time for the track, but not in time to get it painted. Not the whole bike though, all I could afford was the upper front fairing.

I'm over budget, so it'll be the end of the year before I get to buy anything else fun

But list of mods to come (in no particular order):

1. x-tre (timing **** eliminator)
2. rest of body work
3. wood craft engine covers
4. quick shifter (allows for full throttle, clutch-less upshifts)
5. new gearing
6. rear sets
7. new front / rear suspension
8. brake / clutch levers
9. tire warmers
10. clip on handle bars

After that, won't be much else to upgrade aside from doing major engine work. I could do new wheels but damn they can get expensive for the ones worth getting...magnesium wheels are around $3700! Doubt I'll ever do that...maybe if I win the lotto


-Cody

gdb

Wear clean underwear and have fun!

pdxfj

One of these days I'll get out for a track day or two.

Go for the S/S brake lines. Even though the stock rubber lines are somewhat new, they are still flexing. Very nice difference between the two.

GaryZ06

ViperZ wrote: »

Why oh why would anybody ride without a helmet is beyond me... Saw a guy on a Monster lowside in the rain today. I am sure he was glad he was wearing full gear.

Here in Florida you don't have to wear a helmet.....By my unscientific calculations 99% of the fast sport bikes wear their helmets and 99% of the cruiser bikes don't.....I just don't get it but around here most drivers don't wear their seatbelts either

exalted512

GaryZ06 wrote: »

Here in Florida you don't have to wear a helmet.....By my unscientific calculations 99% of the fast sport bikes wear their helmets and 99% of the cruiser bikes don't.....I just don't get it but around here most drivers don't wear their seatbelts either

Same here. But then again, some of the sport bike riders have their helmets still strapped to the side of their bike as a fashion statement. Idiots.
-Cody