[gsguy]

I did my first track day on the SV this past Friday (third track day total). The bike has the stock tires and suspension. Apart from grinding down my left peg a bit and doing some accidental motorcross action in the grass, I had a great time. I'm surprised the vinyl on the saddle is still together after the large pucker factor of going through the grass at 70 mph. My riding skill has improved but still leaves a lot to be desired. I need to concentrate on body position and using reference points.

Anyway, here are some picts including the scraped peg and the 'after' picture of the tire.

I'll be doing some suspension work and getting some different tires before I do another track day. I had a chance to ride an '05 ZX6 on another trackday and really appreciated the suspension on it. Good feedback for good AND bad control inputs as well as a real planted feeling in the turns. I'd like the SV to feel like that. I'm debating on getting a rear shock as well. The rear shock would be nice on the road too...avoid that over damping feel.

One bad thing, I took the GPS to get my max. speed. I had 130 indicated on the straight at Texas World Speedway.....GPS said only 119 mph. If anyone asks I'll only report the indicated speed.

 

[Bmudssa]

Great pics!! I always like to see little rubber balls....









on motorcycle tires

Looks like you got the leaning thing down, now it's time to get your ssa off the seat

 

[JaredMcDonley]

sweet... Got to love the theft of the photos too! ;D

 

[DougZ]

Congrats on the first track day. I have done four myself so far, and I love them too. Oh,and don't worry about the grass "excursion"as we like to call them...I did one my first track day too. They get easier with experience. LOL

 

[donniej]

congrats... great job for your first track day. I definitely reccomend springs and oil before your next, it'll make a big difference and raise the bike a bit so you'll scrape pegs less. Changing your sprockets for a higher ratio (smaller front or larger rear) will help accelaration and top speed for a "finite area" setting.

My 2002 has no problem getting up to at least 115 (as per GPS), but that was on highway not track. It has 14/45 sprockets.

 

[stranger]

i hit 120 on the highway (126 indicated). i wonder if they'll let me take the gps on the track for a lap when i do my trackday later this month

 

[nicksvs]

take the peg feelers off for more ground clearance and like everyone said, upgrade your suspension ... it'll make the bike easier to go fast.

 

[DrummerDaveB]

Also, in the second pic, it looks like your leaning toward the "high" side of your bike.

You dont want to do this. That's probably the biggest reason you were scraping.

Get your body to the inside of the turn, and as low as you can. "Kiss the mirror"

That should give you some more cornering clearance.

 

[gsguy]

Good comments. Suspension upgrades will help, but the majority of my problems are with body position. Like they say...80% rider/20% bike. Unfortunately the 20% is easier to take care of!

Here's a before pict of the rear tire and an after pict of the front tire. The last picture shows some better body position coming into turn 3 at TWS....too bad it's not me.

And, ugh, I'm not stealing the pictures I just haven't gotten around to paying for them yet.

i wonder if they'll let me take the gps on the track for a lap when i do my trackday later this month

I have the Garmin Fortrex 101 and it straps on with no problems. It won't come off in a wreck. I didn't bother to ask if it was okay. Several other people have lap timers, video cameras, etc.

 

[wonderjosh]

Did you stay for the races on Sunday? I cornerworked that day... big bikes go crazy fast on that track.

 

[DougZ]

i hit 120 on the highway (126 indicated). i wonder if they'll let me take the gps on the track for a lap when i do my trackday later this month

LOL NO!

 

[wonderjosh]

LOL NO!

why wouldnt they?

 

[DougZ]

why wouldnt they?

1. extra crap to fall off bike and clutter track
2. TPM has you tape over speedo, especially for Art Basic( first timers) class that Josh is taking, so they would definately not want you to be looking at a GPS either.

 

[stranger]

1. extra crap to fall off bike and clutter track
2. TPM has you tape over speedo, especially for Art Basic( first timers) class that Josh is taking, so they would definately not want you to be looking at a GPS either.

yeah, i'll sneak it into my pocket then

and pull off the tape so i can see the speedo - or put a hole in it

 

[DrummerDaveB]

Stash it under your seat.  8)

 

[DougZ]

Stash it under your seat. 8)

Under the seat is fine..they just don't want you to be looking down at the speedo when doing excess of 100 mph, and your eyes shoud be up.

 

[stranger]

Stash it under your seat.  8)

not a bad idea. just need to wrap it up in a towel or somethign to prevent it from bouncing around too much

 

[AvidSV650Rider]

You sure did put the hurt on those D220s!

 

[wonderjosh]

You sure did put the hurt on those D220s!

I was going to mention that... those tires are ragged out pretty bad lol

 

[syntheticton]

Good comments. Suspension upgrades will help, but the majority of my problems are with body position. Like they say...80% rider/20% bike. Unfortunately the 20% is easier to take care of!

+1 its not suspension that has pegs scraping... its body position. You could easily lean bike back up probably a couple more inches if you lean your body into the turn and bring the bike along with you giving more ground clearance. Its easy to just start doing by swinging butt off to side of seat and you can keep head centered if a total body hanging off is not comfortable for you yet... but you get best results if your shift your whole body to side a little.

My biggest problem currently is my street riding habits. I hang my butt off in corners but tend to keep my head centered over tank. Comes from worrying about my head hitting mailboxes and cars on the lean. Next track day I am focusing on getting my body position to get best cornering results too.