| Author | Message | ||
     Spatten1 |
Just got back from Summit Point, my first track day. Had a blast. NESBA did a great job. The control riders were very helpful and everyone was really friendly. I'll be back.    | ||
| Vikingdave |
Alright!!! Good for you man, I want to go myself. The picts look real good. How did the bike handle the track?  | ||
| Typeone |
great pics Spatten! are those the stock Dunlops? How'd they feel on the track? | ||
| Elff |
That is some very nice lean you have there. | ||
| Spatten1 |
Thanks for the encouragement guys! The bike handled very well. The hardest part for me was not having lower bars, but the Crossroads made it 100% better than stock. I'd love to take a 9R out. When moving my butt around I really had to concentrate on just using my legs, because the closer the bars are to me, the more I try to use them to move my body, which creates scary wobbles. Probably just an issue with my riding style. There were suspension guys at the track that made adjustments for me, at no charge. The guy just pushed down on my "tank" and watched how the bike squatted and rebounded, asked my weight and dialed in the rear a bit. He was mostly looking to make sure that the front and rear went down and came up at the same rate. It really worked well. I have a Dunlop 208 in the rear, but it is a replacement, not the original Buell tire. I have a Michelin Pilot Sport in the front. Both tires stuck like glue. | ||
| Fbolt |
Is that the main course? Looks good. Next time you plan on going, let me know-I'll try and meet you out there. I've run the smaller Jefferson course a few times and main once-lowside in turn 1. Looking good. | ||
| Spatten1 |
Fbolt, It was the Jefferson course. I'd definitely like to meet you there next time. It would be fun to be with another Bueller. | ||
| Spatten1 |
If anyone is intimidated to do their first track day, I was too. The beginner class is great because there is no passing in the turns, and no one is in competition, so everyone is considerate and safe. NESBA will boot someone out in a hurry if they are endangering other riders with stupid moves. There are plenty of NESBA control riders mixed in with the group and they set the pace and show you lines, etc. After each session you can talk to the control riders and they will give you advice and tell you what they saw you doing and what you should work on. I rode terribly for the first half of the day and kept asking for feedback and kept seeing improvement. Also, take your peg feelers off before you go out, it scared me pretty good when mine touched down, just because I wasn't expecting it. | ||
| Fbolt |
I remember the 1st time my feelers went down. I lifted my boot and looked down!! A few laps later I was scraping knee. I've done the free NESBA track day and I couldn't agree more. | ||
| Typeone |
"I rode terribly for the first half" yeah, whatever! look at the lean you gots goin' on!  sounds like a great day. i'm so jealous. if i had a track close to home i'd never ride on the street again. dying to get some track time in. someday I'll make it up to Loudon, NH (NHIS) for sure. any more pics, Spatten? | ||
| Charlieboy6649 |
Looks like you had a blast! You're holding a tighter line than the other guy in that first pic for sure. Hope I have the $$$ to make one soon! I'm shooting for Firebird Intl. around October timeframe... | ||
| Wildman4x4nut |
That looks like a total blast. I too have always wanted to go ride on a track. I will have to look into doing that this year or next for sure. I just wonder how much my leg will mess me up. I can't bend it completely. Guess I'll have to go and try. See what the guys from the track say when I show up. | ||
| Spatten1 |
Typeone, The rest of the pics are almost identical, same curve. He did take some pictures of lefts early in the day, but I was still pretty vertical then, so it's just bad pics of the side of my bike and me sitting on it wrong. I was really cranking through the lefts later (at least it felt like it to me), but did not get any pictures. This was a great day for me because I never rode my X1 hard in turns, and crashed my XB on the first ride (bought it used), and have been very tentative in corners since. Now I feel like I can ride again. | ||
| Spatten1 |
I can't stop thinking about riding at the track Saturday. I've been in a funk for about a year, and now I feel friggen great. That is some serious therapy. | ||
| Ortegakid |
Scotty, looks so cool! Glad you had fun and now your ready to ride again! You'll be needing my knee pucks soon! | ||
| Race_pirate |
Im glad you had fun. Getting the chance to open up a motorcycle on a racetrack becomes extremely addictive!!! You look very comfortable in the pic's. | ||
| Mmelvis |
Looking great on the track. Glad you had a great time. | ||
| Spatten1 |
Thanks for the good words guys. "Getting the chance to open up a motorcycle on a racetrack becomes extremely addictive!!!" The street will never be the same. It is ridiculous how much harder you can go at the track. I've heard people say that for years, but now I finally understand. | ||
| Olinxb12r |
Also, take your peg feelers off before you go out, it scared me pretty good when mine touched down, just because I wasn't expecting it. Did you grind them off, or do they screw out? I've been wondering how to get rid of those. By the way the track day looks awesome! | ||
| Spatten1 |
Olin, I think they take a 3/8 wrench, but a Makita grinder will get the job done too. | ||
| Dago |
Those pics look great! How much longer until your next one? Those were interesting comments about the suspension setup. I think I'll take advantage of that next time I'm out. | ||
| Spatten1 |
Dago, your bike is so fast that you probably shouldn't bother focusing on the suspension. Just get better grips so you can hold on! Suspension has always been voodoo to me. I just know if it works or if it doesn't. It is nice to have people there to help. It was pretty amazing how simple it seems to be to someone who does it for a living. My next NESBA date is in August, but I think I'm going to check another organization to find one sooner. I have a feeling this track day thing is worse than crack. I know you've gotten plenty of laps in. | ||
| Dago |
I'm with you on the suspension voodoo comment. It would be great to have someone there explaining what they're doing while they're doing it. But you're right. I should just leave it alone or have the guy soften it up to the point of mush. That way those panty-waiste IL4's will have a chance keeping up with me through the twisties. Because we all know they don't stand a chance on those long straights. Mine is, and will always be, the fastest. No question. | ||
| Eeeeek |
Spatten: You have some good habits. Your foot placement is excellent! Most people either have both feet forward or both feet backwards. It's rare for soemone to actually have the inside foot with the ball on the peg and the outside with the arch on the peg straight out of the gate. You do look pretty tense, though. Relax and lead with your shoulder. Vik | ||
| Spatten1 |
Eeeeeeeek, You are right, I was very tense on those rights. It was easy to get aggressive with my upper body in the lefts, but, in hindsight, the rights felt more "scary" and I did not commit my full body the way I should have. Good call, and thanks for the advice. | ||
| Elff |
Eeeek Can you explain in more detail about the foot placement. I dont have any track experience and would love to learn and start practicing the correct way now. thanks | ||
| Josh_ |
if you ride with your arch on the "inside" peg you'll do this to your boot  Your "outside" foot can be free to cover shifting or brake (depending on the corner), or you can ride on the balls of your feet on both sides and just slide a foot forward when needed. | ||
| Eeeeek |
Josh, there's a lot more to it than that. Elff, As Josh noted, if your inside foot is too far forward, you will drag your toes. This will limit how far you can lean your bike at best and could cause your foot to get caught under your shifter ot lever the bike, at worst. Most people learn this while riding on the street. Their toes will drag in a corner and the first couple of times it's unsettling. Eventually, most poeple just shift both of their feet back on the pegs and move them forward to either shift or brake. Now's where it get's intersting. On the street, this isn't such a big deal. On the track, it limits how far you can take your form. When you get super agressive, you're getting the bike over far and probably hangin off a bit. You can do this with the ball of your foot on the outside peg; but, it's going to wear you down. When you are far off the left side of the bike, for example, you want your arch on the right peg so it's a straight line from you knee to your foot. If you have the ball of your foot on the peg, you have to now engage more muscles and you're more likely to have your foot slip off the peg. This is not to say that you have to do it the way I descibed. Some top level riders just leave the ball of their feet on the pegs for everything put shifting and braking. I did it that way for a while and found it was much harder on my legs. Then I saw a picture of Eric Bostrom leaned over super far. He had the arch of his outside foot on the peg. I searched the net and found most pro racers do it this way (including the motogp guys). This has alwoyed me to get farther off the bike comfortably, which allowys me to keep the bike more upright, which then allows me to bring the bike over farther at higher speeds.  Vik | ||
| José_quiñones |
Scott, Missed ya Saturday, i was there for the Sunday Jefferson Circuit track day. not sure which one I'm doing next. I'm on the "stand by" list for the Sunday 7/10 Track day on the new Shenandoah Course. That looks like it will be very physically demanding, no straigths, all turns, 22 I think. I need to get into better shape, I was tired after the third session and I was making mistakes the rest of the day, fortunately I did not go down. The Buell was fun, except when it would hit false neutrals between gears and finally when it decided it did not want to shift anymore. Glad I had Linda's SV with me I was able to finish the day on that. See you at the track soon! (Message edited by josé_quiñones on June 14, 2005) | ||
| José_quiñones |
  In addition to hanging off even more and placing my head over the inside handlebar, I'll have to try that foot position Vik mentioned next time..... | ||
| Spatten1 |
Nice picture Eeeek! Jose, that's a drag that I missed you. Man, I hope it isn't too tough to fix your bike. I'm signed up for Pocano 8/13 and 9/4, and Summit Shenandoh 10/15. I'm actually stoked for a tight course. The hardest thing for me was getting my speed right at the end of the two straights. I'm hoping that gets easier with experience. | ||
| Josh_ |
What not to do  ...which is how my boot got like that after a few laps and I finished grinding that peg off. |
