I'm having a hard time fellas...please offer some advice.

[Trident]

It's official...I WILL be tracking my bike in the near future. I had a VERY unique opportunity to speak with 2 World Champions Friday night and they really opened my eyes and encouraged me to get on the track.

So, anyone going to be at Roebling Dec. 10??

[yangins]

Originally Posted by tanks95

If I were you I'd just keep my 190hp race bike at home and shine it up. I'd take it to the local bike hang out and show it off, maybe even put some armor all on the tires. Then every now and then I'd take the purpose built machine around the col de sac or a favorite road on Saturday, then park it back in the garage and put another coat of wax on or trade it in for an HP4, and do the same thing.

Seriously, a track day would be awesome for you. Do you worry about being killed every time you leave home? No? Well, the track IS safer.

Ride your pace

Listen

Learn

And repeat, if you like.

Then amazingly you will begin to realize your "fast" street friends, are actually VERY slow and VERY dangerous.

You also end up converting the bike to a pure track. Realizing that the street is a waste for a bike like the S1000rr.

Get a Ducati 1199 if I wanted a poser bike. You will get more attention.

Mad Yellow Bumble Bee

[kuroshio]

Might check at the track and see if anyone is offering insurance for the trackday specifically. I think there are a coupe providers at NJMP who offer insurance for the day for example.

[Rainman]

You are hard to read Trident.

You are worried about dumping a $17K+ bike at the track without insurance, but you are looking at adding $4-6k worth of high performance wheels?

If you are going to pimp your bike up with BST or Marchesini wheels before you even try one track day, you might want to ask yourself, ... why?

You say you finally have decided you are going to do the track because two World Champions convinced you last Friday. That seemed like a hard decision for you.

I wish you all the best, and keep dreaming big, but you will undoubtedly be the weakest link at this stage on the track without experience, and fancy wheels won't help you (yet). Wait for the Ninja 250s and SV650s to streak by you in the corners like you are standing still to really make you eat a lot of humble pie.

My advice is, unless you totally bin the RR at the track - and I hope you don't - and if you finely get comfortable with it on the track and are committed to it, THEN, start looking at very expensive wheels if they give you an edge.

Oh, and there are dozens of threads on this site about wheels, and the only "opinions" you are going to get are from guys who own one set or the other. Do a search and you will find out a lot more than the few "opinions" you will get this way.

Sorry, the cocktail must have kicked in.

[tanks95]

AWESOME news Trident, HOWEVER, i agree with the others.

Please don't take this the wrong way, (i did when i first had someone tell me a few years ago), but that bike is way more than you can currently handle on the track.

I would definitely SKIP the $4,000 wheels. Why, well as said before, they WILL NOT help you, and if you do get hooked, you will primarily need good rubber!

If you just have to blow the 4K, then wait till you track it, and if you like it, then take:

$1000 and get race plastic
$1000 another set of OEM wheels
$1000 leathers
$1000 in tires pads, track fees, and other consumables. then go enjoy

You are going to have a blast. Drop the street terms for "fast", depending on who you are riding with in december, you will see what fast is, and fast is the rider, not the 14,000 machine. But, you'll be hard headed like i was, until a few experts on a 650 pass you and look back and give you a sympathy wave.

Its all good, keep riding, and be humble.

RRR is my favorite track, BUT december, whoooooo, cooooollllldddd!

[tanks95]

Originally Posted by yangins

You also end up converting the bike to a pure track. Realizing that the street is a waste for a bike like the S1000rr..............

Yup, Thats what i did, quickly after 600 miles! there is simply no way i would ride that razor on the street now. yes, razor! maybe not so sharp with me on, it, but darnit im getting better!

Cant wait til feb, for the first race of the year! At Tally (Maybe) COLD!

[Trident]

Rainman, thanks for your comments.

My biggest concern was/is completely totaling my bike in the event of a crash. After speaking with these guys they pretty much assured me that at my pace it would be really far fetched for that to happen. Damaged plastics are a given, ripped off pegs and probably a smashed exhaust can every now and then. Those things I can live with and I consider them to be a low cost fix. I'm not really keen on twisting up Ohlins sticks and warping a frame. One of the guys told me that he couldn't remember the last frame he damaged, been awhile for him.

C.E. told me to quite being a pu**y and get my ass on the track which I thought was pretty funny. He also said I was way more likely to destroy my bike on the street rather than on the track.