Hi everyone, I’m new to the site and will soon be new to the track. I live just outside of San Francisco. If there are those who would like to share their opinion or observation, that would be very helpful. I’m an expert windsurfer, snow skier and martial artist. I went through long and sometimes physically painful learning curves because I wasn’t getting enough expert instruction and thought I could learn it all on my own or in a book. Because I can be overly burdened by my gender, I usually purchased equipment that was too advanced for my skill level and thought I’d grow into it. Sometimes that approach worked, but mostly it just held me back on the fundamentals learning curve. I currently own a 1994 Honda CBR F2. The bike is in perfect condition and I don’t really want to risk it on the track since it’s so rare. At least to me. I also own a 2009 CBR600RR. I thought about putting this bike on the track, but after thinking about how most world class riders started, 50CC, 125, 250, and up, I thought about my windsurfing progression. Light wind, medium wind, strong wind, waves, jumping. Finally, my question is. What bike for a first time track guy would enable me to move up the learning curve building a base foundation of track skills first? 2009 Honda CBR600RR? 2009 125 Aprilia track bike SV650 While I’m not a trust fund baby, money is not the first consideration. Skill development and learning fundamentals are the key for me. I thought the 09 RR would perhaps a little too much bike for me. I don’t want to spend my time screaming down the straights and be worrying about braking versus looking through the turn. I’ve down that on the mountain, believe me. I thought the 125 would be great for learning body position, vision, etc without the worries of the big throttle in my right hand. My ego is fine getting passed. My body isn’t fine crashing a 600 at 120mph. If this has been discussed in other threads, my apologies.
Ditto!! Can't go wrong with the SV as a starter bike. Not enough power to get you in trouble and enough power to go as fast as almost any track day liter bike rider.
There's very few folks out there that recommend the 250 as a starter bike more than I do. But, for the track (and it really depends on the track and the straights), I am concerned about the 250 and running track days with it. I've seen accomplished riders\racers bring the 250 to the track and corner as fast as anyone. But, the closing speeds on a track like Mid-Ohio and the back straight are flat out freaking SCARY! I personally would not recommend it for that reason. For racing or running with other 250's, it's one of the most fun bikes. But, not on a track with liter bikes running at the same time.
Buy a track prepped SV650, tear it up for two season's or so, then sell it for about what you paid for it... That is my plan for next season... Plus you can get one inexpensively, and tires will not cost an arm and a leg... Hey more money for track days.... :lol: There are several STT coaches on these bikes, Mr. Eiring passed me quite easily my last time at Mid-O. They are a fast, well handling bikes... You will not be disappointed...
Thanks for the great feedback. Just so I'm not confused, you're saying that the jump from a SV650 to a 600 is a bigger jump than a 125/250 to a 600? I'm not ever expecting to go above a 600 on the track or on the street. That's enough acceleration for me for the forseeable future. I'm looking to be fast in the corners first and then fast on the straights. Thanks again for the great advice. I'll be at Infineon, Laguna and Thunderhill soon. Cheers
I'll dump my $0.02 in - I started on a 03 CBR600RR, it hurt a bit.... I got better and faster on it at a reasonable pace....jump ahead to this year, decided to go lightweight racing and picked up a prep'd 01 sv650s (if you are going to the track with a track only sv buy a race prep'd one, the suspension on the stocker is crap) I've not had this much fun in years...and that was at Road America playing with the liter bike boys, so call me a convert or whatever but a well set up sv650 is a riot on the track and will definitely teach you faster than the 09 600RR - that one can hurt you very very fast if you don't respect it. I've spent a day and a half on the sv at RA and raced one day so far on it....I don't know if I'll ever go to a track day on a 600 again.....this is just way too much fun
I very much appreciate the input. The SV650 it is. I'm on craigslist as we speak. My 600s in the garage are going to wonder who the new woman in my life is soon. I'll figure out a way to break it to them gently.
If you don't have any luck finding a bike on Craigslist, try the WERA website... Here is a link: http://forums.13x.com/forumdisplay.php?f=48