Today was my first track day on a bike at buttonwillow.



I spent all of last week getting the f4i ready for the track. fixed a bunch of little things that needed fixing (throttle cable was broken, painted the tank, got the track plastics on, etc) and doing maintenance. I mounted some supercorsa take offs with a lot of meat on them (but possibly heat cycled to death, as suggested by the guy at cycle gear, whom i don't completely believe, but whatever).



The weather today was a warm low-80 degree day in the central valley, and we left at 4:30am to get to the track at around 7. met up with a bunch of people from the local sportbike board and got situated. I ran w/ dial it in, which is a good group to run with. I was signed up for the new rider class, which i thought might be a waste of time and not a real class, but i was wrong. dial it in's new rider school is definitely worth the money, as it involves real instruction on track and in the classroom, and it definitely helped me get faster throughout the day.

the first session was a parade lap of sorts w/ my instructor, as i was shown a conservative line around the track. BW is a challenging track; in a car i never really got comfy w/ turns 2 and 3 (off-ramp and cotton corners), and the same applied on a bike. The difference though, was that i was very comfortable with the rest of the track which never really happened in a car (going over lost hills in a car is much scarier than it is on a bike, at least at my speeds), and especially liked the bus stop-riverside-lost hills complex (as it caters to my ACH-inspired love of sweepers), as well as the sweeper that replaced star mazda in today's config. It was really easy for me to pick out good reference points and maintain a good rhythm throughout the day through turns 4-11.

the F4i was hauling today. by the second and third sessions i was wringing out the throttle through the straights, and she was pulling like an ox. the suspension needed some tuning, as the rough spots on the track tended to disrupt the chassis more than it should have. my body position needed a little tweaking, as my instructor was telling me that i was doing the "only hanging off w/ your butt/shoulder twist" even though i was conciously trying not to do that.

I put a knee down for the first time in turn 10 in session 3, and continued to feel better about my riding. the next classroom session helped me finally figure out where to start when it comes to braking, shifting, setting up for the turn, and body position. I put it all together in session 4 and really started riding w/ confidence and good speed. I still had rhythm issues through #2 and 3, but everywhere else on the track i felt faster and faster. However, as i leaned the bike over more, i realize that i was starting to drag my pegs more and more. The f4i needs some new rearsets for improved ground clearance, b/c even with my knee out there (w/ good body pos) the pegs seemed like they'd touch down right about at the same time as my knee.

This is unfortunately what finally took me down in turn 3 towards the end of session 4. Going through the last L of turn 3 i caught my peg, hit some of the bumps, washed out the front, and lowsided at about 40-50 mph (not sure). A really leisurely slide into the dirt, and i popped up right away to get off the track. They red flagged the track, and when i picked up the bike to load it into the truck, i saw the carnage: destroyed right clip on, really badly dented tank, and destroyed R fairing. Gas/oil? leak, and possibly more since i haven't conducted an autopsy yet. The bike was laid down on the left side, but flipped onto its right side as it slid into the rumblestrips, which did alot more damage than the initial slide. My lid was lightly scraped (as i didn't really hit my head at all), and my left glove torn. the suit held up wonderfully, as did my Setup boots (for all those wondering about the crashworthiness of $129 boots, they held up fine, though this wasn't the most
dramatic get off).



I got to paddock and unloaded the bike, and changed into my shorts and got in for the last classroom session. talked to my instructor afterwards and we brainstormed about what happened and how i can prevent it. So in the end, though i crashed i think i learned something from it (without paying the price in blood). and came home in good spirits, itching for the next chance i get to get on track. i'm thankful it wasn't the 675 out there, and that the f4i now has some new graphics that are appropriate to a track bike

for all of those put off by the cost and time to prepare for a track day, forget all of that. once you go you'll wonder why you didn't do this earlier.

pics to be added later...



edit: i just went and did a quick look, and the bike starts. these bikes are ****** tanks, i love f4i's




Modified by bad-monkey at 3:06 PM 5/12/2007

 

Damn man, sounds like you picked up a lot

Sorry to hear about the crash

but still

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by hybridreams &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Damn man, sounds like you picked up a lot

Sorry to hear about the crash

but still </TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah, all in all, it was a good day. 4 20 minute sessions did more for my riding than monfs in the canyonz.

 

sorry to hear about your getoff, glad to see you're ok and had alot of fun overall though. i'll be doing my first TD on july 1st with TrackDaz @ BW. i can't wait!!!

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by life sux die &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">sorry to hear about your getoff, glad to see you're ok and had alot of fun overall though. i'll be doing my first TD on july 1st with TrackDaz @ BW. i can't wait!!! </TD></TR></TABLE>

i figured as a seasoned canyon rider, i wouldn't get much out of the class, but it was really nice to have another set of eyes watching me and being able to see the things that i do wrong that i don't even realize! pay for the instruction if you can, it's worth it!

and watch out in turns 2 and 3 i imagine you're gonna haul *** everywhere else

 

Sounds like a great day at the track, and you make it sound like those pegs really ruined your day.

P.S. easy on the photoshop there bro. it hurts the eyes

 

Good job on the progression but sorry about the bounce. Good luck gettin it back together.

 

D'oh!

I put a set of woodcraft rearsets on my F4i

I just did a trackday today @ summit point... no ground clearance issues

I'm exhausted - 9 sessions, 150+ track miles. Tires and knee pucks still in good shape though

 

Sounds like a blast, sorry to hear about the wreck but it's a learning experience

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by .RJ &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">D'oh!

I put a set of woodcraft rearsets on my F4i

I just did a trackday today @ summit point... no ground clearance issues

I'm exhausted - 9 sessions, 150+ track miles. Tires and knee pucks still in good shape though </TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah, i think i might have found some vortex rearsets and clip ons from a race F4i that i can put on, and they're cheap. good to hear that rearsets fix the clearance problem.

thanks for the wellwishing everyone, but i really don't need it hehe. the f4i should be back up in no time, with minimal effort (i hope).

 

not to sound like an *** but i think it was a combo of BAD body position(crossed up) from what you say and scraping hard parts on a sports bike like ours is pretty much a dead give away, new suspension so it mad the bike feel different and bad tires. they could have TONS of meat left but like the guy at cycle gear said heat cycles and he was completely right. with race tires its all about heat cycles! glad your ok, i wanna take a trip down there some time this year.....so did the bug bite you or are you turned away from trackdays now?

 

you should clean up that garage floor yo.

 

Congrats on popping both track cherries! )The first trackday + the first track crash.)

For a get off at T3, that's pretty good. A buddy of mine went off track there (on the first right turn) and came back on track (just after the left) and smacked the track edge. Dented his front wheel, and he went down on the other side.

I had my bad accident there too, at Club Corner. It's a real fun track, but damn some of those turns really kick your *** if you don't pay attention.

Your Triumph looks a little scared now, parked next to the F4i.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Kyles ej1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">not to sound like an *** but i think it was a combo of BAD body position(crossed up) from what you say and scraping hard parts on a sports bike like ours is pretty much a dead give away, new suspension so it mad the bike feel different and bad tires. they could have TONS of meat left but like the guy at cycle gear said heat cycles and he was completely right. with race tires its all about heat cycles! glad your ok, i wanna take a trip down there some time this year.....so did the bug bite you or are you turned away from trackdays now?</TD></TR></TABLE>

nah, you're not being an ***, constructive criticism = . i'm sure my body position could use some improving. but compared to riding the triumph, there's so much more clearance on the 675 than there is on the f4i. and as much as the f4i is a competent sportbike, it's still less aggressive with body position (and you can totally tell the second you get on the 675 or an r6). i ride an SV sometimes, and i hadn't ridden the cbr in about 2 months, so getting back on it felt more like the SV than it did the triumph, or the K5 that i also ride around at times.

i do wonder if the tires played a role in the crash, but they were spot on for most of the day. since i've ridden the triumph which came with supercorsas from the factory, i feel like i've got a pretty good feel for how the tire acts, and i don't feel like i was at the limit of traction given my line and my speed.

not scared at all for my next track day, this crash has done very little to dampen my enthusiasm

 

Very nice write up, it sounds like you had a lot of fun. I was thinking "Man it sucks that this guy ate it." but you have a nice shiny triumph to go home to and ride around town, so good on you buddy! I want to take my bike to the track but my Triumph is my only bike so... I would cry if I crashed it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by GermanHondaSlayer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Very nice write up, it sounds like you had a lot of fun. I was thinking "Man it sucks that this guy ate it." but you have a nice shiny triumph to go home to and ride around town, so good on you buddy! I want to take my bike to the track but my Triumph is my only bike so... I would cry if I crashed it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

yeah, i'm not ready to start chasing down parts for a crashed 675, esp since they're mostly impossible to find for cheap atm.

here's some pics from that day. i can already tell i need to get my upper body shifted over more and look further through the turn!

 

wow, you seriously did use that tape

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Ninja 6 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">wow, you seriously did use that tape</TD></TR></TABLE>

there's some really jank fiberglass work under there.