the bb trackday thread.

[graeme4130]

daniel-5zjw7 said:

Graeme, when you say you've only been riding since last oct, do you mean just on track and you've been riding on the road for longer or literally that you've only been riding a bike for a year? Did you jump straight on a zx10?!

Of course given the amount of trackdays you've done this year you've probably got the equivalent of at least 8 years experience compared to your average trackday goer!

I rode a motorbike for the very first time last Oct when I fumbled my way through my CBT & DAS on the schools cranky old 125
I then rode over the winter on the road, and then this year almost exclusively on track with very few road miles.
I started riding on the track this spring on a rented Smallboy GSXR600 which got me absolutely hooked, and then bought a ZX6R track bike, which I chopped in for the ZX10R I currently have in end of Julyish this year.
My first road bike was a ZX6R, which was a silly purchase and totally unsuitable for a brand new road rider, so I bought an old Triumph Tiger 800 to ride over the winter - heated grips and cruise control
I did run a Ducati 899 over the winter too, but I just found sports bike and road were a bad combination for me, so I sold that on earlier this year.
In terms of tuition, I did California Superbike school this summer, which was good, but as with all coaching, you just pick out the bits that work for you, and ignore the rest
I liked the idea of touring (and doing jumps), so I traded the Tiger 800 in for a Honda Africa Twin with the intention of doing some touring and light off road, but in reality, that just sits in my garage and occasionally gets borrowed by my neighbour to work on my events with.
It's been a fun year.

A couple of vid's from Cartagena
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOxtAKQxVGw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZjhLF0JeHs

Edited by graeme4130 on Thursday 3rd November 13:37

[AdamLoewy]

Nice videos and the overlay is a cool feature. How do you find the Garmin Virb?

[graeme4130]

AdamLoewy said:

Nice videos and the overlay is a cool feature. How do you find the Garmin Virb?

It's really good
It records all that info automatically, and you then just choose what you want it to show on the screen once you've downloaded the file
The only thing you need to do manually when you edit it, is set the start finish point of the lap once so it can work out lap times etc - you can set sectors too I think
I'm a complete numpty when it comes to computers, so if I can do it, anyone can

[AdamLoewy]

Looks great and a good alternative to faffing about with iPhone apps

[daniel-5zjw7]

graeme4130 said:

I rode a motorbike for the very first time last Oct when I fumbled my way through my CBT & DAS on the schools cranky old 125
I then rode over the winter on the road, and then this year almost exclusively on track with very few road miles.
I started riding on the track this spring on a rented Smallboy GSXR600 which got me absolutely hooked, and then bought a ZX6R track bike, which I chopped in for the ZX10R I currently have in end of Julyish this year.
My first road bike was a ZX6R, which was a silly purchase and totally unsuitable for a brand new road rider, so I bought an old Triumph Tiger 800 to ride over the winter - heated grips and cruise control
I did run a Ducati 899 over the winter too, but I just found sports bike and road were a bad combination for me, so I sold that on earlier this year.
In terms of tuition, I did California Superbike school this summer, which was good, but as with all coaching, you just pick out the bits that work for you, and ignore the rest
I liked the idea of touring (and doing jumps), so I traded the Tiger 800 in for a Honda Africa Twin with the intention of doing some touring and light off road, but in reality, that just sits in my garage and occasionally gets borrowed by my neighbour to work on my events with.
It's been a fun year.

A couple of vid's from Cartagena
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOxtAKQxVGw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZjhLF0JeHs

Edited by graeme4130 on Thursday 3rd November 13:37

Thanks Graeme, some good inspiration for me there! Sounds like you've managed to own a shed load of bikes in the last year too, certainly don't do things by halves! What made you decide to trade the ZX6 for the ZX10? And how did you find Smallboys gixxer as your first bike on track?

Good videos but that track does look like hard work on a 1000, lots of shortshifting and just as it's hitting its stride on the straight your having to get back on the brakes.

[graeme4130]

daniel-5zjw7 said:

graeme4130 said:

I rode a motorbike for the very first time last Oct when I fumbled my way through my CBT & DAS on the schools cranky old 125
I then rode over the winter on the road, and then this year almost exclusively on track with very few road miles.
I started riding on the track this spring on a rented Smallboy GSXR600 which got me absolutely hooked, and then bought a ZX6R track bike, which I chopped in for the ZX10R I currently have in end of Julyish this year.
My first road bike was a ZX6R, which was a silly purchase and totally unsuitable for a brand new road rider, so I bought an old Triumph Tiger 800 to ride over the winter - heated grips and cruise control
I did run a Ducati 899 over the winter too, but I just found sports bike and road were a bad combination for me, so I sold that on earlier this year.
In terms of tuition, I did California Superbike school this summer, which was good, but as with all coaching, you just pick out the bits that work for you, and ignore the rest
I liked the idea of touring (and doing jumps), so I traded the Tiger 800 in for a Honda Africa Twin with the intention of doing some touring and light off road, but in reality, that just sits in my garage and occasionally gets borrowed by my neighbour to work on my events with.
It's been a fun year.

A couple of vid's from Cartagena
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOxtAKQxVGw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZjhLF0JeHs

Edited by graeme4130 on Thursday 3rd November 13:37

Thanks Graeme, some good inspiration for me there! Sounds like you've managed to own a shed load of bikes in the last year too, certainly don't do things by halves! What made you decide to trade the ZX6 for the ZX10? And how did you find Smallboys gixxer as your first bike on track?

Good videos but that track does look like hard work on a 1000, lots of shortshifting and just as it's hitting its stride on the straight your having to get back on the brakes.

I knew my riding would progress much better on a 600, but the ZX10R I have now just looked so cool, and then after a quick speculative call to the guy that had it resulted in him offering me more for ZX6R than it owed me, the deal was done. I'd have learnt more staying on a 600, but I do really like the ZX10R and with carbon wheels etc, it's not as heavy as some litre bikes although it's still a big beast. Cartagena's not really suited to the bigger bikes, and would be a 600 track all day long.
Matt at Smallboy is a really good guy, and the bikes are really very well looked after. He's like your own pit crew for the day, and the bike is ready on warmers for you as soon as you're ready to go out, and he's there waiting for you as you come back in to put it back on warmers and check it over ready for the next session. Him and his team that attend the days are fanatical about the bikes, and of all the bike hire companies I've seen a the track this year, they're by far the best. They have GSXR600's, 750's, Triumph 675 and a fireblade, and have all the wets, inters, slicks etc that they'll swap around for you.
I rented with Matt 6 or 7 times at the start of the year, and even though I don't obviously rent from him anymore, he's always got a cup of tea and biscuits for me if I visit his garage.
He's flipping quick on a bike too, so knows his stuff (1:39 at Cartagena and 1:41 at Oulton)

[stew-S160]

Was anyone else at Mallory Park for the No Limits (washout) day?
Good couple of sessions in the morning, but when the rain came down about midday, I think 85% of people packed up and left.
The track went from an OK amount of grip, to none, very quickly. Even the likes of Dean Harrison(TT racer) packed up. Obviously there were some who were determined to get their moneys worth, including one guy who was knee down through John Cooper esses, but then spun up the back wheel and crashed coming out of the bus stop...whoops.

[graeme4130]

stew-S160 said:

Was anyone else at Mallory Park for the No Limits (washout) day?
Good couple of sessions in the morning, but when the rain came down about midday, I think 85% of people packed up and left.
The track went from an OK amount of grip, to none, very quickly. Even the likes of Dean Harrison(TT racer) packed up. Obviously there were some who were determined to get their moneys worth, including one guy who was knee down through John Cooper esses, but then spun up the back wheel and crashed coming out of the bus stop...whoops.

I wasn't, but had some friends there. They said it was blimmin freezing, but they stuck around

[stew-S160]

graeme4130 said:

I wasn't, but had some friends there. They said it was blimmin freezing, but they stuck around

Yeah, cold! When the wind was blowing through it was frakking cold!

[Fleegle]

stew-S160 said:

graeme4130 said:

I wasn't, but had some friends there. They said it was blimmin freezing, but they stuck around

Yeah, cold! When the wind was blowing through it was frakking cold!

Apparently still in the 20's Cartegena and Almeria

[Birky_41]

Just got back from Andulucia and Almeria 4th-8th...Im shattered

Awesome time out there. Andulucia is a tough one on the front tyre I found but a great track to then finish on the fast flowing Almera

I did unfortunately see a couple crashes out there so hope all are ok. Im waiting for some decent pictures to be emailed over as I only got a few on the CD before it went corrupt

Anyone on here go?

[graeme4130]

Birky_41 said:

Just got back from Andulucia and Almeria 4th-8th...Im shattered

Awesome time out there. Andulucia is a tough one on the front tyre I found but a great track to then finish on the fast flowing Almera

I did unfortunately see a couple crashes out there so hope all are ok. Im waiting for some decent pictures to be emailed over as I only got a few on the CD before it went corrupt

Anyone on here go?

I'm heading to both Andalucia/Almeria on the 13-16th Dec with California Superbike school (1 day tuition on Andalucia and 2 days track on Almeria)
Hopefully, some warm weather will stick around
How do the two tracks compare ?

[Birky_41]

graeme4130 said:

I'm heading to both Andalucia/Almeria on the 13-16th Dec with California Superbike school (1 day tuition on Andalucia and 2 days track on Almeria)
Hopefully, some warm weather will stick around
How do the two tracks compare ?

You'll love it. Weather is still 20 degrees out there. It started spitting on one of the days but its so warm it never affected the track and cleared in 20 mins

You will want to do Andalucia first as its a real physical track and I found it hard on my front tyre. I ran soft but wish I had a medium for here. Almera soft was fine though

I think I preferred Almeria but Andulucia does get you really thinking. Almeria long straight is savage and if you are late on the brakes the bumps lift your rear wheel in places there

The only video I uploaded while out there was the below one on day 1 and my pace definitely picked up by day 2 here

https://youtu.be/sHDx2gc_shE

[Biker's Nemesis]

Birky_41 said:

graeme4130 said:

I'm heading to both Andalucia/Almeria on the 13-16th Dec with California Superbike school (1 day tuition on Andalucia and 2 days track on Almeria)
Hopefully, some warm weather will stick around
How do the two tracks compare ?

You'll love it. Weather is still 20 degrees out there. It started spitting on one of the days but its so warm it never affected the track and cleared in 20 mins

You will want to do Andalucia first as its a real physical track and I found it hard on my front tyre. I ran soft but wish I had a medium for here. Almera soft was fine though

I think I preferred Almeria but Andulucia does get you really thinking. Almeria long straight is savage and if you are late on the brakes the bumps lift your rear wheel in places there

The only video I uploaded while out there was the below one on day 1 and my pace definitely picked up by day 2 here

https://youtu.be/sHDx2gc_shE

Almeria is a great track IMO, not been to the other one but have heard it's hard work. Nice colour scheme on your bike Birky.

Do you and Grahame fancy Aragon 1 - 3 May next year, there's quite a few of my lot going

[Biker's Nemesis]

Birky_41 said:

graeme4130 said:

I'm heading to both Andalucia/Almeria on the 13-16th Dec with California Superbike school (1 day tuition on Andalucia and 2 days track on Almeria)
Hopefully, some warm weather will stick around
How do the two tracks compare ?

You'll love it. Weather is still 20 degrees out there. It started spitting on one of the days but its so warm it never affected the track and cleared in 20 mins

You will want to do Andalucia first as its a real physical track and I found it hard on my front tyre. I ran soft but wish I had a medium for here. Almera soft was fine though

I think I preferred Almeria but Andulucia does get you really thinking. Almeria long straight is savage and if you are late on the brakes the bumps lift your rear wheel in places there

The only video I uploaded while out there was the below one on day 1 and my pace definitely picked up by day 2 here

https://youtu.be/sHDx2gc_shE

Almeria is a great track IMO, not been to the other one but have heard it's hard work. Nice colour scheme on your bike Birky.

Do you and Grahame fancy Aragon 1 - 3 May next year, there's quite a few of my lot going

[Birky_41]

Biker's Nemesis said:

Almeria is a great track IMO, not been to the other one but have heard it's hard work. Nice colour scheme on your bike Birky.

Do you and Grahame fancy Aragon 1 - 3 May next year, there's quite a few of my lot going

Yep Id be up for that and thanks, I was pleased how it came out for an old bike. Its sold now. Soon as its back from spain Im giving it a quick clean up and service and have sold it to a friend.

I'll be rebuilding a K6 750 over winter with a similar design for next year as Ive loved the K1 but found it quite limiting at times

[Birky_41]

Oh and if anyone is mad enough depending on weather a friend booked Mallory for me Saturday as a thank you for some bike work I done for him

Only issue being I didnt really think it through and forgot my GSXR is on its way back from Spain along with all my track kit so I'll be going round there on my brand new Aprilia Tuono Factory, 2pc leathers and borrowed boots...oops

[Biker's Nemesis]

Birky_41 said:

Yep Id be up for that and thanks, I was pleased how it came out for an old bike. Its sold now. Soon as its back from spain Im giving it a quick clean up and service and have sold it to a friend.

I'll be rebuilding a K6 750 over winter with a similar design for next year as Ive loved the K1 but found it quite limiting at times

Champion

Alex. MTB, get booked on too!

[moanthebairns]

Biker's Nemesis said:

Birky_41 said:

Yep Id be up for that and thanks, I was pleased how it came out for an old bike. Its sold now. Soon as its back from spain Im giving it a quick clean up and service and have sold it to a friend.

I'll be rebuilding a K6 750 over winter with a similar design for next year as Ive loved the K1 but found it quite limiting at times

Champion

Alex. MTB, get booked on too!

where are you's guys flying to Barca?
Where are the no limits pick up points?

[Biker's Nemesis]

moanthebairns said:

where are you's guys flying to Barca?
Where are the no limits pick up points?

Yep, Barcalona. Bike pick up and drop off will be a Darlington. Just past Croft