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novice with FJR ok at Mid-Ohio?


pista

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Bring that vstorm out you'll have a blast on it at Nelson.......The track will feel smooth on the bike :crazy: A Vstorm has way more power than any Motard that you may see there with a bag of Oreo's :bbq:

Maybe a little more power, 55hp is not a lot, but also alot more weight. :)

Looks like I have little excuse for not going.

phat fingered from my phone

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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.

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My second track day there was a who was 72 on a yamaha rd 350 running novice. On  the straight he would get passed like crazy, and once hit hit the tighter stuff at putnam, he immediately started making passes again. That same day, there was a women who'd never ridden on the street, and a fellow who was 66 on a triumph tiger. 

 

228BCF06-FAD1-4F1C-A85B-5FEFB7665E6C-278

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When I spoke with him, he said it was a 350. The guy was 72 years old. He was traveling through, and heading to barber next. I don't recall what he was driving, but he had a very nice black enclosed trailer. We chatted for 1/2 hour or so between sessions.He tried to tech both bikes, but the one in the back of the picture, did not pass tech due to a leaky fork seal. He was having some ignition issues with front bike. He pulled off in the second session with a fouled plug. He was back the third session, and rode the rest of the day problem free. Cool old guy. 

P.s I made my above posts from my phone, and realized I didn't type worth a shit! 

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