The sum of experience
by James
Then comes the track day. They don't let you ride the first time without taking their riding course. I am so glad of that, as I got edjumacated big time. Lots of bad habits fell by the wayside, to be replaced by good ones. I knew to look through the corner already, but what these guys taught was a revelation. At the beginning, I felt good with my newfound confidence in my tires and my bike. By the end, it had started to rain a little... I ended up going harder in the wet than I had started out... in the dry! Then people started overcooking corner entry speeds and lowsiding, so they called it a day. I was still having fun, and didn't see what the fuss was about.
The sum of my experience with the SV so far:
1. A new tire has a better profile than an old tire. I'd need to ride a bike with new z4's and new 208's back-to-back to tell you if they had enough of a profile difference to be felt. Even then, I'd probably adapt and probably enjoy the riding more than be able to tell either way which one I preferred.
2. Riding position, particularly footpeg location, is incredibly important. If you want to crank it over hard, you need to be able to stand up on your pegs without tugging on your bars, for obvious reasons (you want to be able to shift your weight without steering.) I built my own rearset adapters, and they were a big help in improving my confidence on the bike. Clip-ons take it to the next level. I now have a bike that's good for about 30 miles on the highway, but feels great once the road curves.
3. Not once did I feel that the bike's (stock) damping and spring rates were hindering me. I'm 210 pounds without my gear, and I have rear preload maxed and front preload 2 marks out from maximum. The bike behaved perfectly, even with some left-right transitions over fairly significant bumps. Smoothness is more important than what weight fork oil you have or whether you've spent $800.00 on a penske shock. Maybe I'll recant that opinion after a few more track days, but for now I'm sure that my skills could use more improvement than the bike could.... and I was keeping up with guys on r6's and 600rr's with their knees down.
Side note: I'm a little miffed that I can be going through the same corner at the same speed as some guy on an r6 who's got his knee down, yet I'm not feeling a thing... what's with that!??!? I'm hanging off what feels like a ridiculous amount, but not getting anywhere. Several times I was prepared for the magic knee plastic-on-pavement moment, only to be denied...
I'm not at all miffed that the guys with the RRs and the Ducatis were the first to go off when it got a bit slick. Must have been all that bodywork on the bikes. I've been convinced for years that plastic on a bike invites unintended horizontality. Naked, baby, naked... it keeps you upright. Oops, I just realized that has more than one interpretation. :)
4. "Large, timid people" (I'm really really resisting the urge to use the phrase "Fat old guys") borrowing their friends Kawasaki W650's because they're on the Harley waiting list or pulling their 1784 Honda 550 four out of retirement should not attempt to occupy the same track space as current hardware. Furthermore, said ye olde twinshock'd motorbicycles should not accelerate as fast as possible on the straights after what can only be kindly referred to as puttering, doddering, and weaving through the corners, as trackday rules stipulate that passing in the corners will get you kicked out. When 12 people are backed up behind you, it is only courtesy to pull over to the side of the track at the end of the corner, dismount, and light a cigarette until all 12 of us have passed you. I don't care if you don't smoke, you should start. What you do with the butt is unimportant, for we will be occupied with other things. Plus, it's probably raining.
5. Trackday organizers shall heretofore be required to amend any "No passing in the corners" rules to read "...unless the person you are stuffing at the apex has a bike that was manufactured before 1980, or the rider weighs more than 270 (two hundred and seventy) pounds buck naked(*)(**), and/or uses any or more of the following:
a) Twin shock rear suspension
*said buck naked weighing should preferably occur in private
Background:
2002 SV650, unfaired, approximately 5500 miles on stock MEZ4s. Front looking good, rear badly flatspotted and almost no tread left in center section. My buddy with an older SV-S swapped out rears (for another Z4) at about 5000 miles, and said it made a huge difference to his confidence, particularly on turn-in. I had my first track day coming up, so I sprung for a Dunlop D208 in stock sizing. Spent a week scrubbing it in, and marvelling at the improved feel and confidence I had. It wasn't me, it was the tires. I felt uncertain and vague as I tipped it into corners; no more. I was taking the same corners on my commute 10-20mph faster, with more confidence. Well, except for the deer lurking around the corner, but what's life without a little excitement, or deer jerky for that matter?
b) anything made by Harley-Davidson not specifically branded Buell.
1) No, Screaming Eagle doesn't count. That's Harley dealer code for "Easily parts with money, and equates noise with performance."
c) any bike that has been featured or mentioned, even in passing, in Motorcycle Cruiser, V-twin, Easyriders, or similar magazines.
Exceptions:
d) You have personally road raced the bike in its current state of tune and
1) gone faster than 100 mph *and* have negotiated corners (the slow, stop, turn at the end of a dragstrip does *NOT* count)
2) without a tailwind
3) without ending up in hospital
e) said bike is from Italy or Spain
1) unless it's a Moto Guzzi Ambassador sans the nearly impossible to find Mandello del Lario race kit.
f) No, motorscooters don't count
g) Yes, even Vespas with the "big bore" kit.
h) Look here, Pasta breath, I need to see a sub 13 second quarter mile and at least 45 degrees of lean angle before we'll let that in.
** Look, I'm not saying that if you weigh 270 pounds, you shouldn't be riding. I'm just saying that if you weigh 270 pounds, you should treat the poor old (new?) W650 to the "big boy" spring kit and work on hanging off a little... those sparks from the mufflers get a bit dazzling and distracting sometimes...