redkow97

You're asking questions for a jury who WILL have all the facts. All the cop is going to have to say is "he reached for my firearm," and he'll walk.

So you'd be fine with one beaten to death on the street? Abuse is abuse. Frankly, I see a lot more street riders holding their bikes on the rev limiter than track riders. And every track bike I've owned gets an oil change every 2-4 days it's ridden. Street bikes also have more opportunities to overheat in traffic. Crashes aside, I don't really think track riding is that much harder on a stock engine. But I agree that 15k is practically new.

I like RD's. wouldn't mind owning one some day.

I got a sealed "gel" battery off amazon for $23 plus shipping. Arrived yesterday, and it is indeed a sealed battery. Probably not the highest quality, but I'm going to keep it on a battery tender anyway, so it should last. I hope.

Would filling the bars with sand not accomplish the same goal for basically free? Or does the weight need to be at the very end of the bar? I am considering a bar-end mirror (to be legal - I just look over my shoulder she. I actually want to see behind me...)

And Job & Family services isn't also doing this? If the courts were involved, I can't see how a referral wouldn't have been made. Typically ongoing therapy is court-ordered.

Read "no angel" by Jay Dobbins (I think) He's a retired ATF agent who claims to have infiltrated the Hells Angels. Lots of real info and actual events. I presume about 80% of it is true, but the part about grown men being dumb enough to play biker gang is 100% believable.

Yep. Approved by every racing org I've ever ridden with. Used it in my F2 and 600RR the whole time I owned them

You sure it was an rd350 and not a 400? I "know" a WERA racer who started his son on an RD at Putnam.

Can you elaborate on this? I'm curious what you mean. Absent an agreed definition of what a "superbike" feels like, I'm just trying to figure out if you're talking about the horsepower, torque, weight, size, etc. I've never ridden anything I would consider a "real superbike," but I'm basing my definition on race class rules, and not just engine displacement. Even so, the 1125 was in the Daytona Sportbike class when it was being raced, which I think is the root of my curiosity.

just bumping it up for the OP

For the purposes of Novice group, the type of bike is almost completely irrelevant. Under all but the strangest circumstances, it would be safe for a stretched "chopper" style bike to be on the track, so long as it's in good mechanical condition with no leaks, decent brake pad life, and adequate tire tread. Learning to ride ANY bike better is the third most important part of any track day (the first being safety, and the second having fun). Improving your skills on whatever you've got is always a good thing. As someone else said, the crowd will be mostly sport bikes, but it's ALL kinds of people. I have seen the following bikes and riders at track events: - me on my '97 EX500, barely breaking 100mph. I estimate that speed, because I don't think 6th gear was even necessary... - A woman on a GSX-R 600 who had less than 100 street miles under her belt, and did not want to surpass highway speeds. - a guy on a VFR 800 who was doing his first track day. - a guy on a VFR 800 who was doing his 21st track day. - some kid on a Yamaha 600 that was almost as old as I am... I'm thinking late 80's, but it was so rough looking, I couldn't tell. - younger and older riders on CB350's, some with drum brakes. - a BRAND NEW Duc 848 (this was in 2008) with carbon fiber bodywork, full slicks, and tire warmers. He was faster than the GSXR woman mentioned above, but not by much. - a Lifan 200 Chinese 'sport' bike that might have hit 80mph with a down-hill straight the length of the entire track. - some guy on a Harley XR1200, bombing around at a pretty good pace. - a big touring BMW, that I believe was shaft-drive. I don't know my BMW models very well, but I think it was a 1200(?) EVERYONE mentioned above was in Novice/Beginner at the time I saw them riding. The only one of them who crashed was the woman on the GSXR 600. It wasn't the bike's fault. Everyone else managed to stay upright, learn a lot, and improve a ton as the day progressed. Will that Lifan 200 ever be the fastest bike on the track? Hell no. But I am sure that person is a better street rider because of what they learned on it that day. Maybe they'll do 100 more track days, and maybe they won't do any - but they had fun.

it wouldn't just be $10 though. If OMRL rents the track, they are getting just as much money from us as they would from the karts. I looked at their 2014 karting schedule, and while there are a LOT of weekends full, there are plenty of weekend dates where nothing is scheduled.

Kent said he contacted them, but I don't recall if he just didn't get a response, or if they told him it wasn't going to work with their schedule. Our money is just as green as karting money, so I don't see the problem... Are they worried about losing karting business if they schedule one or two days of bike racing each summer?

I like the wider bar up front. That makes hauling 2 bikes MUCH less dramatic. I did the same thing with an old street sign post that the previous owner of my house left in our attic. Provides much better anchoring to hold the bikes upright rather than just forward.

Quickly.

I'm not quite as pissed off as you sound, but I do find their apparent elitist attitude a bit laughable. They would likely not have me as a member, despite the fact that 20-30% of my caseload at work is abuse, neglect, or dependency cases.

Is the implication that non-members aren't against child abuse?

Also in 2002. It snowed the first day of my summer job.

Of you could adopt one of the thousands of dogs that need to be rescued to avoid being gassed.

and you could change them back in under an hour if you wanted to do more aggressive riding.

When you say "more comfortable" are you talking about wind protection, or just riding position? I think the naked standards are the way to go. You can put dirt bars on any bike, and having a seat reupholstered to add padding is a lot cheaper than people think. the only remaining concern at that point is the rearset position, which tends to be lower on an FZ09 or FZ1 versus an R6/R1. That last bit can cause clearance issues when cornering, but otherwise, it's a great comfort feature on the street. without knowing what kind of power you expect to have, there are a ton of options for you. Everything from the naked 650 twins on up through the VFR type bikes and naked 750-1000cc class. But you can change the ergonomics on most bikes for pretty cheap - you can't add power without spending a bit more. Someone said that to me in a discussion about how they liked the FZ8 better than the FZ09, and I think it's a relevant point for all bike purchases. New bars will always cost less than motor work.

Are your quotation marks meant to imply that the bikes aren't actually stock? ...and wow, did I ever get a crap start in that video clip!

Tire Warmers in novice would be counterproductive IMHO. your pace won't hold the heat the Warmers generate. That means your grip will actually DEcrease as the first few laps go by. I can't foresee that ending well.

I wish I had a cruiser to really flog at a track day. With exaggerated body position, you might be able to make fewer sparks and go a lot faster. There is a great old video of a 500cc 2-stroke (ridden by Freddie Spencer), a UJM standard, and a Nissan 300ZX turbo(?) racing around a track. The UJM does pretty well. I don't expect a modern HD would be all that much slower.