Would you buy a bike that's clearly had a lot of track work?
Discussion
Yamaha R1 for sale 25 miles from me. Basically it's a 2014 bike, at least £1,500 under book price, but has been tracked quite a bit. The tyres look like they've seen some serious heat in their life even though MOT-legal and are of a very soft compound. The chain's seen better days that's for sure.
Nice bits include carbon hugger, tail tidy, crash bungs and a sweet-sounding 4/1 Scorpion exhaust.
Would the track work make this a no-go for you or would the great price seal the deal?
£6750.
Nice bits include carbon hugger, tail tidy, crash bungs and a sweet-sounding 4/1 Scorpion exhaust.
Would the track work make this a no-go for you or would the great price seal the deal?
£6750.
I bought a 1 Yr old 7xr 9, ithat had won our national super bike championship, regs required it std but nice road legal exhaust, better brand suspension etc. Basically it had done 9 weekends of racing with a full service every 120 km, put road tyres on it, kept it 5 years ot was fantastic. So answer is it depends on who tracked it, but done properly its no issue.
I'd have zero issues buying a bike that's been tracked, especially when the bike is designed for it.
Just check the things you'd normally check anyway, check for signs the bikes been on it's arse, crash bobbins, cases etc, but tbh, I find bikes that are used more on track tend to be in better condition/have been looked after better than bikes used solely on the road.
Just check the things you'd normally check anyway, check for signs the bikes been on it's arse, crash bobbins, cases etc, but tbh, I find bikes that are used more on track tend to be in better condition/have been looked after better than bikes used solely on the road.
Most (not all) people who do lots of trackdays/racing will be performing more maintenance than if it was purely for road use, oil/filter change every couple of days on track, chain/spockets, brake fluid/pads, clutch etc.
And to boot you'll probably have uprated suspension, brakes, steering damper etc.
The biggy would be it's condition if it's been down the road, frame, subframe, cases etc.
I had a 2014 R1 as a track/racebike, bought as a trackbike and raced, it was well specc'd and after sorting the suspension/handling for me it was great. put a new clutch in and swingarm linkage bearings and it was fine.
And to boot you'll probably have uprated suspension, brakes, steering damper etc.
The biggy would be it's condition if it's been down the road, frame, subframe, cases etc.
I had a 2014 R1 as a track/racebike, bought as a trackbike and raced, it was well specc'd and after sorting the suspension/handling for me it was great. put a new clutch in and swingarm linkage bearings and it was fine.
I bought an ex-Production TT Fireblade back in 1996. Think '96 was the first year that the Production TT had been re-run? Anyway, the bike was faultless. Had been set up beautifully and was the quickest and sweetest Blade of that era that I've ever ridden. Never missed a beat until it was sadly t-boned by a Vauxhall Belmont.
Freakuk said:
Most (not all) people who do lots of trackdays/racing will be performing more maintenance than if it was purely for road use, oil/filter change every couple of days on track, chain/spockets, brake fluid/pads, clutch etc.
I'd generally agree with that and at least you know what you are getting.However, I looked at a tracked 3k mile GSXR 1000 once which was immaculate but thankfully the owner had only put the road fairings back on and done nothing else.
The oil was black and the sump plug looked untouched. The chain was shagged and the tyres had been cooked. It was clear to me that those 3k had all been fast track and because in the owners eyes it only had 3k on it he had done nothing. If he put new tyres on and changed the oil you would never have known.
trickywoo said:
Freakuk said:
Most (not all) people who do lots of trackdays/racing will be performing more maintenance than if it was purely for road use, oil/filter change every couple of days on track, chain/spockets, brake fluid/pads, clutch etc.
I'd generally agree with that and at least you know what you are getting.However, I looked at a tracked 3k mile GSXR 1000 once which was immaculate but thankfully the owner had only put the road fairings back on and done nothing else.
The oil was black and the sump plug looked untouched. The chain was shagged and the tyres had been cooked. It was clear to me that those 3k had all been fast track and because in the owners eyes it only had 3k on it he had done nothing. If he put new tyres on and changed the oil you would never have known.
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