Motorcycles BS Thread 2.0

saaame i hate loading stuff in the bed unless i have to lol

 

hell yeah, congrats man!

Well that looks like a fucking blast!

sorry to hear man, keep your head up, you got this. I know all the pep talk in the world doesn't make a difference, but just stay positive about things.

I think of this often when i ride canyons solo. So i generally just take it easy.

you'll get there, just need more seat time. as always, ride your own ride and take it easy, you don't have to bomb into turns your first time in the twisties. Just learn the road

nice. there's something so satisfying about a bike in the middle of nowhere to me lol

Welcome!

Personally I would say avoid lifting if you plan to continue transporting it in the bed. I have a GFC V2 so I used a Uhaul trailer this weekend.

I use a hitch hauler to get my dirtbike to the track, and my truck is lifted with a high clearance bumper with the hitch in the bumper, not below. the ramp to load the bike isn't even long enough to touch the ground, hovers just about an inch off when resting by itself but it works for loading. the steep angle usually means i have to recruit someone to help me though.

 

So my weekend was pretty fun. Went to Willow Springs for a track weekend, did both Saturday and Sunday. Learned a lot, had a blast, and took some damage as did the bike lol. Nothing too crazy, I ran wide into a turn and couldn't save it, rode into dirt and couldn't quite manage to ride it out, lowsided into the dirt. Scratched up headlight fairing, left slider got bent back, shifter got a little bent, and one of the windshield/mirror mounts cracked. Nothing too expensive or too hard to replace/fix fortunately, and the bike still runs just fine. Also broke off the spoiler on my Pista but whatever lol easy replacement.

Crash happened midday Saturday, picked myself up and finished out the day, then continued on through Sunday with no incident.

Things I learned from track:

-My "looking through the turn" on the street was nothing compared to how I need to look through the turn on the track
-tires really matter (i was on a road 6 rear and power 5 front, yes I know blasphemy, won't make that mistake again)
-body positioning really doesn't matter much unless you're pushing the tires to the edge of their limit and then some. some of the fastest guys weren't hanging off the bike at all
-late apexing is key for quicker and tighter turns
-the moto community really is the best community. I showed up solo, pulled up next to a dude, asked if it was cool for me to park next to him, he said sure. Turns out he's a racer, we hung out the whole weekend and he was helping lead me, and evaluate my riding
-my bike is definitely way too much for that track. As soon as I was able to get on the throttle and the power kicked in, the next turn was coming up. Ran wide into the skid pad on Sunday after attempting to pass someone on a straight. The rapid onset of power of the inline 4 didn't really belong there lol.

Honorable mention....I've been wearing my boots the wrong way the whole time lmao. Saw mention once that some Dainese boots went inside the suit leg, assumed that meant all their boots for some reason so that's how I was wearing my boots lol.






also a shot of the setup camped out at the track.

 

Oh my parents hated motorcycles and I was told to never bring one home or if so to find a new place to live. I rented a garage a couple miles away and kept the bike there for quite a while. After my father passed away my mom somewhat came around and left me keep it at the house but she always hated it and worried about me on it. Once I took the MSF course that helped and she knew I always wore good gear.

 

I thought we went over that and you had Q5S to run? A little off in the dirt is an easy lesson, sounds like you had a good time

 

Me being me I decided to save the money and run my street tire lol. Yes I'm an idiot. That said, the tire isn't to blame for my crash. Another older guy who was helping me had motioned for me to go ahead of him so he could watch me, i hesitated a bit then gunned it just before the turn. panicked a bit coming in hot, didn't fully commit to the turn, then when I saw the edge coming up I just stood the bike up to try and ride it out. I had ran wide earlier in the day on a downhill turn where I did ride in the dirt for about 6 feet over a subsequent apex and that was fine. Which is probably why I didn't commit and went for the dirt again lol.

Won't be taking street tires back again though, I was definitely finding the limits of the rear towards the end of Sunday. Thank goodness for German engineering, I just kept the bike in sport mode since my tires weren't quite up to snuff, so the aids helped.

But yeah man. One of the better weekends I've had. Absolutely hooked and already wanting to go back lol. Think I might pick up a smaller displacement bike to use as a mostly dedicated track bike, like an RC390/Ninja 400/R3.

There were some old heads on some old 2 stroke yamahas that were dusting most people in the turns lol.

 

Sorry about the off but glad you are OK! Sounds like you learned a lot. To be honest, I'm worried about tracking the KTM because I'm scared of binning it as well, but it rides so well and was cheap enough that I think I should just do it. Plus parts seem to be dumb cheap (like a fairing is less than $100, not sure if that's painted or not, though).

 

TBH i'm semi glad it happened in a weird way lol. Obviously not ideal that i laid it down, but for my first ever crash, probably the best setting and the best outcome I could have had. It was good to get over the fear. Definitely learned a lot and improved a lot by the end of the second day. For the first half of the first day, I was so tunnel visioned I wasn't even noticing the cones indicating when to turn in. Still in awe how protective moto gear is lol. All I have to show for the crash on my body is one tiny bruise on my hip.

I think you should go for it! If you take it relatively easy there really isn't much risk unless another rider is being an idiot. There were a couple guys in C class with us who were def way too good to be in C class, doing inside passes and throwing off other people's lines but luckily there was only one multi-vehicle collision over the weekend.

 

I am very tempted to get the Helite track airbag vest just in case...

 

One of the my pit neighbors had it on the track. He swore by it, and had just crashed his other bike a few weeks back wearing a Helite at supposedly around 100mph, lowsided and came off the bike. He seemed perfectly fine. I've only heard good things about them as well.

 

The $1000 is a tough price to come to terms with but it's so much cheaper than even one broken bone.

 

Definitely worth the expense IMO if you're concerned. i mean hell a quality suit is at least half the price, more if you're going with a higher brand name.

A buddy of mine was at the dirt track this weekend and may have broken his collarbone :/

 

Friend of mine wears one. Second day of the Iron Butt Rally she hit a deer around 4 am at highway speed. Bike was destroyed. She did end up with 3 broken ribs but was told that vest may have saved her life as no punctured lungs.

 

I wear one on the street already, which is why I want the track one. The street one won't fit over a race suit though, as the suit has the hump on the back that the track vest clears.

 

Rad! Glad you came out relatively unscathed. I've been wanting to get the Tuono out to big Willow but the surface has been dogshit for years. How was the repave?

 

So we did ours on the Streets of Willow track, which was just repaved, so I'd have to imagine that they repaved the main track as well? Can't say for sure though. Streets of willow was great though.

My only gripe was they didn't repave the skidpad. Not sure why since that should be the easiest section to repave...it was fine going clockwise, but going counter clockwise, you hit that skid pad right after the longer straight, then it's a bunch of tar strips and ruts through a wide turn into a chicane. Not very confidence inspiring but you just had to trust it lol.

 

Yeah, they're also repaving Big Willow. They already did the first half thru T6 with plans to repave the rest next year. I wouldn't mind checking out Streets sometime now that it's been repaved!

 

my dad was all for it since he rode dirtbikes and did streetbikes but mom nooope hated it lol still hates it dont matter if i got gear or not she hates it.

 

Lets go! Need a little time to either get another bike or fix up the BMW though lol.

 

Only person from either parent side who rode was one of my father's uncles. Uncle Jack rode Indians way back in the day. I can still remember him telling stories of he and his brother riding from PA to CA back in the late 1930's on their Indians at a time when interstates weren't even thought up yet and in many places paved roads were yet to be completed.

I wish he were still with us as I know he'd love to hear some of my stories of where I've been.