the bb trackday thread.
Discussion
Biker's Nemesis said:
moanthebairns said:
Sunny in( right after Jim Clark esses) is flat out in 4 th or 5th on your bike Alex.
That was the advice I gave to McKean but I forgot he was on a 1000. He made it though.
Make time up in the fast stuff
king right. Remember I'm ste. It's windy as here sadly. Big black clouds coming in and spitting.
Here's hoping it rains. I've developed a taste for it.
A quick trackday report from yesterday that Rockingham 
After departing with my friend Sam for his first ever trackday on a new bike, we stopped by my friend Adrian's in Newbury for some dinner before an early 04:30 start to make our way up to Rockingham.
Arrived slightly (fashionably?) late as always due to my bumbling about but still with good time for the sound check and briefing after offloading our bikes and managing to drop one on it's side due to my clumsiness.
Went out on our first session and having not ridden rockingham before i instantly found myself carrying too much speed into the hairpins, so made it my target to get better lines through these as the day went on. By session 3 I was much better, had most of the corners down and was fairly quick within the Inters group, managing not to get overtaken by anyone much to Adrian’s dismay as he couldn’t keep up
. Got a bit too much lean out of Brook chicane into turn 4 (of the speedway circuit) where the flat infield meets the banking. As the camber changed I smashed in my gear lever and was lucky not to come off. My bike was stuck in neutral and it had to do the ride of shame back to the pit garage.
Bashed the lever straight with my precision mallet and was able to carry on with the day, but it didn’t stop causing trouble and I had to come in to sort it another couple of times. Meanwhile Sam somehow managed to rip the zip off his leathers, and so while he attempted a quick fix, I had some lunch.
Sam was beginning to get quicker within the Novice group, as was running mid pack before the session was red flagged near the end. I looked around for him to come back in, but he didn’t come. Looking over to Yentwood corner I saw a bike on it’s side and a rather confused looking rider. Sure enough he’d managed to lowside it. Luckily he wasn’t hurt and the bike was OK, other than flooded carbs and a damaged exhaust and crash bung. We managed to sort the bike and get it started and so he was able to carry on. Hell of a first trackday for him.
Went out for final session and on lap 2 my bike got stuck in second due to the linkage coming apart. I called it a day and came back in. Watched Adrian finish his session, and we all watched a very nervous Sam do some Sunday style riding in his, before we all packed up and went home.
All in all a good day. A hard circuit, and while it’s not my favourite, it does have the advantage of being anti clockwise which is useful for tyre wear. I’ll go again, but I’ve got to get Silverstone and Cartagena out of the way first.
Cheers
After departing with my friend Sam for his first ever trackday on a new bike, we stopped by my friend Adrian's in Newbury for some dinner before an early 04:30 start to make our way up to Rockingham.
Arrived slightly (fashionably?) late as always due to my bumbling about but still with good time for the sound check and briefing after offloading our bikes and managing to drop one on it's side due to my clumsiness.
Went out on our first session and having not ridden rockingham before i instantly found myself carrying too much speed into the hairpins, so made it my target to get better lines through these as the day went on. By session 3 I was much better, had most of the corners down and was fairly quick within the Inters group, managing not to get overtaken by anyone much to Adrian’s dismay as he couldn’t keep up
. Got a bit too much lean out of Brook chicane into turn 4 (of the speedway circuit) where the flat infield meets the banking. As the camber changed I smashed in my gear lever and was lucky not to come off. My bike was stuck in neutral and it had to do the ride of shame back to the pit garage. 
Bashed the lever straight with my precision mallet and was able to carry on with the day, but it didn’t stop causing trouble and I had to come in to sort it another couple of times. Meanwhile Sam somehow managed to rip the zip off his leathers, and so while he attempted a quick fix, I had some lunch.
Sam was beginning to get quicker within the Novice group, as was running mid pack before the session was red flagged near the end. I looked around for him to come back in, but he didn’t come. Looking over to Yentwood corner I saw a bike on it’s side and a rather confused looking rider. Sure enough he’d managed to lowside it. Luckily he wasn’t hurt and the bike was OK, other than flooded carbs and a damaged exhaust and crash bung. We managed to sort the bike and get it started and so he was able to carry on. Hell of a first trackday for him.
Went out for final session and on lap 2 my bike got stuck in second due to the linkage coming apart. I called it a day and came back in. Watched Adrian finish his session, and we all watched a very nervous Sam do some Sunday style riding in his, before we all packed up and went home.
All in all a good day. A hard circuit, and while it’s not my favourite, it does have the advantage of being anti clockwise which is useful for tyre wear. I’ll go again, but I’ve got to get Silverstone and Cartagena out of the way first.
Cheers
Edited by Pebbles167 on Saturday 13th August 18:38
It's taken me bloody hours, two drill bits, a lot of swearing and most of the skin off my knuckles, but the new screen is now fitted to my track bike
Who'd have thought fitting a ZX6R screen to a ZX10R would be such a faff
Next stop Oulton park via California Superbike school level 3 tomorrow
Who'd have thought fitting a ZX6R screen to a ZX10R would be such a faff
Next stop Oulton park via California Superbike school level 3 tomorrow
Fleegle said:
Why was it such a faff?
A number of things, but largely that I had to re-drill it, and then heat and shape it to get it to sit on the fairingsThen discovered that the fairings were drilled wonkey, so had to drill the screen wonky to get it to sit straight
Next time I'll save the hassle and buy the right screen
Got myself to cadwell Wednesday. Second time there and loved it but only lasted 2 sessions and 3 laps before my gearbox went. Had the forks setup by Stef (Tyres4bikes) and a big difference. Also went from Conti Endurance to Supercorsa SC2's front and rear...it was like cheating the grip was soooo good!
First time there times were 1.44 on Conti's second time there on second session running SC'2 1.40.8's and I know I had more in me but pads went end of first session which scared me a bit. I checked them after fitting them at Snett and they were 2/3rd worn so thought they would be ok until lunch...but I was very wrong
1 track day and first session at Cadwell
Got there the night before with a full factory setup haha
Didnt really get any pics as it was short lived but a mate got a couple stills from his GoPro
And one from a mate on the side of the track
Was my mates first time there on his K3 600 and second time on track. He said it was both the best track and hardest thing he'd ever done
He managed to get to 1.58's at lunch and 1.54's by last session. I know you dont officially time...but we all like to know how well we are going round tracks!
First time there times were 1.44 on Conti's second time there on second session running SC'2 1.40.8's and I know I had more in me but pads went end of first session which scared me a bit. I checked them after fitting them at Snett and they were 2/3rd worn so thought they would be ok until lunch...but I was very wrong
1 track day and first session at Cadwell
Got there the night before with a full factory setup haha
Didnt really get any pics as it was short lived but a mate got a couple stills from his GoPro
And one from a mate on the side of the track
Was my mates first time there on his K3 600 and second time on track. He said it was both the best track and hardest thing he'd ever done
He managed to get to 1.58's at lunch and 1.54's by last session. I know you dont officially time...but we all like to know how well we are going round tracks!
So now the lovely job of stripping it down and rebuilding..
Engine coming out this week
Manage to get this beauty by pure fluke on trackday addicts (FB) for £50. Water pump gone but gearbox is a peach...I took a chance and it paid off
I found two of these in the oil, looks like a case dowel but maybe wrong?
Hoping to have it turned round in the next week trying to fit it along work, road bike riding, sons mx and wife time (Last bit I get told off if I dont do it)
Engine coming out this week
Manage to get this beauty by pure fluke on trackday addicts (FB) for £50. Water pump gone but gearbox is a peach...I took a chance and it paid off
I found two of these in the oil, looks like a case dowel but maybe wrong?
Hoping to have it turned round in the next week trying to fit it along work, road bike riding, sons mx and wife time (Last bit I get told off if I dont do it)
Birky_41 said:
Had the forks setup by Stef (Tyres4bikes) and a big difference..... pads went end of first session which scared me a bit. I checked them after fitting them at Snett and they were 2/3rd worn so thought they would be ok until lunch...but I was very wrong
1 track day and first session at Cadwell
Did the work on the forks sort out your handling woes? 1 track day and first session at Cadwell
Personally, I change pads at the half worn mark for track work. It's not worth the risk!
fergus said:
Did the work on the forks sort out your handling woes?
Personally, I change pads at the half worn mark for track work. It's not worth the risk!
Yep 100% agree! BIG lesson learnt for me there! Ive gone for a harder compound SBS SC now. They dont feel as nice but they also seem to wear much betterPersonally, I change pads at the half worn mark for track work. It's not worth the risk!
Oh and forks yes much much better - I thought they would be too stiff as I could barely get them to move in the pits, actually thought something was wrong with them but once on track the difference was night and day and if anything Id still go stiffer. Comp are 1 out, pre load 5 rings
Birky_41 said:
Yep 100% agree! BIG lesson learnt for me there! Ive gone for a harder compound SBS SC now. They dont feel as nice but they also seem to wear much better
Oh and forks yes much much better - I thought they would be too stiff as I could barely get them to move in the pits, actually thought something was wrong with them but once on track the difference was night and day and if anything Id still go stiffer. Comp are 1 out, pre load 5 rings
The oil viscosity will change a bit when it's warm, so it will feel like you have more damping when the forks are cold in the pits. I'm surprised you felt you couldn't move them though. That seems like the damping was wound right up. Oh and forks yes much much better - I thought they would be too stiff as I could barely get them to move in the pits, actually thought something was wrong with them but once on track the difference was night and day and if anything Id still go stiffer. Comp are 1 out, pre load 5 rings
The number of turns/clicks in/out depends on the type of valves used, shim stacks, etc, etc. Likewise the preload is a function of setting the sag for a given spring weight (i.e. meaningless to quote on its own!) Glad you are going in the right direction. How is your tyre wear now, as that's often a good indicator of suspension which is well dialed in.
fergus said:
The oil viscosity will change a bit when it's warm, so it will feel like you have more damping when the forks are cold in the pits. I'm surprised you felt you couldn't move them though. That seems like the damping was wound right up.
The number of turns/clicks in/out depends on the type of valves used, shim stacks, etc, etc. Likewise the preload is a function of setting the sag for a given spring weight (i.e. meaningless to quote on its own!) Glad you are going in the right direction. How is your tyre wear now, as that's often a good indicator of suspension which is well dialed in.
Unfortunately I only got 2 good sessions on the SC2's but front wear was excellent in the short time I tried.The number of turns/clicks in/out depends on the type of valves used, shim stacks, etc, etc. Likewise the preload is a function of setting the sag for a given spring weight (i.e. meaningless to quote on its own!) Glad you are going in the right direction. How is your tyre wear now, as that's often a good indicator of suspension which is well dialed in.
Rear looks good but a bit harder wear on the right, I wouldnt say tearing but I think it could be improved. I paid for that to be setup at the next track day
I'm only running mine until Xmas anways after I come back from Spain as I have a K7 750 which Im rebuilding for track this winter and will sell my K1 750 at the beginning of next year. Been a damn good bike to me that has
So after my first couple of track days I'm no longer the slowest in novice. This has created a new issue, I can't get past people. This is due to a combination of my lack of skill, confidence and bike. Whilst I'm held up in the bends I can't out accelerate to pass on the straights which is annoying and frustrating.
Currently on a Daytona 600, what would be a good choice of replacement...up to £6k. Hopefully I will improve the two areas. I'm thinking 06 onwards R6.
Currently on a Daytona 600, what would be a good choice of replacement...up to £6k. Hopefully I will improve the two areas. I'm thinking 06 onwards R6.
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