Competitive F3 bike set-up costs?

[nz_rider]

My other half and I have been living here for a while now, and are missing the race scene.

So we are looking at setting up an F3 bike. We are wanting to gear one up that is going to be competitive and a lot of fun.

What sort of money are people spending on F3 bikes over here? Are there many people building spec bikes to be competitive in the nationals series? And if so how much is it costing you?
Is it a worth while class to be in if you are going to spend a bit of money, or should we look at a different class?

Cheers

[lostinflyz]

depending where your wanting to compete depends your costs alot.

club racing: sub 10 grand is easy for a near front running bike. most people are running stock SV's or slightly uprated 400's. nothing very flash and not huge money.

nationals: I did it on a stock-ish 400 with good-ish suspenders. was 50kmph down at places, you cant make that up no matter how hard you try. im no flash racer but it was a bit silly. Am currently building a new bike too as close to the limit of f3 as i can afford and it wont be any less than 25k. Most others have spent close to this or more on the national level, and few have been near the front.

I've always liked nice toys but there are plenty out there doing the club racing scene on really small budgets and doing well. but not at nats level. There almost 2 different classes at that level. As i have said else where the difference between podium nationals and club times is anywhere from about 5-8 seconds down south, depending on the track.

[Ozzy27]

Am currently building a new bike too as close to the limit of f3 as i can afford and it wont be any less than 25k. Most others have spent close to this or more on the national level, and few have been near the front.

Sorry but Sketchy won 3 races including the TT at NZ's fastest track on a bike that cost less than $12k to put on track! You just have to be clever and patient when buying the bike and parts to get it up to top spec. I have a 2006 R6 sitting here that would win any club Race as a 450 for $9.5K and for about another 2-3k it would be capable of winning a Nats race with the right rider.
Dont always believe what rumours are around about the cost of some F3 bikes. You have to remember the top guys have a spare engine to the same spec or close and thing like flash wheels are only good for less that a couple of tenths per lap. So unless you can run in the top 2 forget about all the big numbers people talk about and learn to ride faster!!! Spend your money on tyres and track time as this will help a huge amount more than 2hp or 2 kgs

[CHOPPA]

depending where your wanting to compete depends your costs alot.

club racing: sub 10 grand is easy for a near front running bike. most people are running stock SV's or slightly uprated 400's. nothing very flash and not huge money.

nationals: I did it on a stock-ish 400 with good-ish suspenders. was 50kmph down at places, you cant make that up no matter how hard you try. im no flash racer but it was a bit silly. Am currently building a new bike too as close to the limit of f3 as i can afford and it wont be any less than 25k. Most others have spent close to this or more on the national level, and few have been near the front.

I've always liked nice toys but there are plenty out there doing the club racing scene on really small budgets and doing well. but not at nats level. There almost 2 different classes at that level. As i have said else where the difference between podium nationals and club times is anywhere from about 5-8 seconds down south, depending on the track.

Shit thats alot!! I spent that on a full spec 600, i could build a superbike capable at running at the front for that!

[nz_rider]

[
nationals: I did it on a stock-ish 400 with good-ish suspenders. was 50kmph down at places, you cant make that up no matter how hard you try. im no flash racer but it was a bit silly. Am currently building a new bike too as close to the limit of f3 as i can afford and it wont be any less than 25k. Most others have spent close to this or more on the national level, and few have been near the front."

Yeah I was sort of thinking around the $30k mark.
It seems to be a lot of money to be outlaying. As you don't get anything back on it when you sell them. But it is an awesome sport.
How do people fund these adventures here in New Zealand?
We had a bike back in the UK and a lot of people seemed to get into a bit of debt over there with the racing scence.

[CHOPPA]

[
nationals: I did it on a stock-ish 400 with good-ish suspenders. was 50kmph down at places, you cant make that up no matter how hard you try. im no flash racer but it was a bit silly. Am currently building a new bike too as close to the limit of f3 as i can afford and it wont be any less than 25k. Most others have spent close to this or more on the national level, and few have been near the front."

Yeah I was sort of thinking around the $30k mark.
It seems to be a lot of money to be outlaying. As you don't get anything back on it when you sell them. But it is an awesome sport.
How do people fund these adventures here in New Zealand?
We had a bike back in the UK and a lot of people seemed to get into a bit of debt over there with the racing scence.

Why would you want to spend so much to race F3?

[lostinflyz]

ok to clarify.

1.) Yep sketchy did win a nats race (and TT none the less) on a cheaper bike. But as he has shown he has an exceptional talent on a motorcycle, which i for one will admit i do not have and doubt i could ever get.

2.) f3 is no less expensive than supersport on a nationals scale. Its really a function of the rules as they are written and the fact your do more to a bike than in any other class. You could go compete on a properly competitive bike in supersport for about the same (prob less, depending on your preperation). But if your not a classy rider with the time to commit you will be in the arse end of the field in SS. Personally there's some guys in SS doing some classy things, which i don't think i could ever do, especially if i had to update my bike every 2-3 years. Thus the reason i elected to continue in f3 rather than jump to SS (baseless or not??)

Ozzy is correct 100%. If you get a good bike and are a very solid rider you can win in F3. But if your just alright then you need to spend the dosh, as you will be competiting against bikes in a much higher specification. Remember Sketchy is the only person i know of thats won a nationals race on a cheap(ish) bike. In my memory outside the glen/glen/terry/jason sqaure who has won a f3 race in the past 4 or so years??

You can wait for parts and grab them as they come up cheap but you may have to wait a while and at times the market can drive the price upwards (or downwards if your lucky). The 600/450 concept is good as parts and accessories are much more available than most other bikes. I quoted the price on a brand new bike (newer is always betterer).

I fund all my racing adventures out of my own pocket (somehow???). I have some people (racesupplies.co.nz) who help me out a heap making life cheaper but in the end every penny i spend is outta my pocket. Passion (idiocy) has a price

[CHOPPA]

I suppose it is a good point that you can just run the same bike for ages, how long has Terry had his SV?


I think the new superstock class would be looking like a pretty good class to do, if you got a new bike you could have it on the track for under 20k and its going to be able to run at the front for atleast 3 years. You will be able to sell it for 10k in 3 years so only just over 3k per year devaluation.

[lostinflyz]

yep choppa your dead right. it looks like there should be some good competitive riders in it too, which should help the class grow too.

its important to remember f3 is a place for the tinker'er with money. Its certainly not an easy class to get setup in and competitive in on a nationals scale, but the story is very different at a club scene.

[CHOPPA]

yep choppa your dead right. it looks like there should be some good competitive riders in it too, which should help the class grow too.

its important to remember f3 is a place for the tinker'er with money. Its certainly not an easy class to get setup in and competitive in on a nationals scale, but the story is very different at a club scene.

Well its all about fun at the end of the day! I suppose all classes cost much the same at the pointy end so i suppose you gotta pick the class that best suits ya

[nz_rider]

Some good discussion. And some good points to think about. As I say we are just trying to get a bit of a feel for the racing scene over here at present time.

Lostinflyz: You must have a fairly well paying job to be able to just fork out $25k plus that easily. Good on you mate. Or you have a nice partner who is letting you spend the savings!!! Lol.

The point about it being about fun is also very important. That is what it should be about I feel. But I understand that the money has to come into it somewhere. Although I was thinking it would be around the $30k mark that people would say I was bloody hoping that it would be quite a bit under. Although I am sure with a bit of research and shopping around you can probably do it for less. Got to be patient I guess.

[lostinflyz]

yea its all about having a good time in the end.

I wish i had a big paying job to pay my racing bills. Im ploughing pretty well my entire years salary into racing,outside rent and food. but as choppa alluded too i should be able to i should be able to keep my bike competitive-ish for a good while without that investment year on year. I don't have a missus to remind me im an idiot though so it makes it easy. but thats roughly the money it takes to play at nats level, just usually it don't come all from the one bank account.

if your willing to wait great deals on all sorts of bikes come up with time. But that means sitting on the sidelines waiting for something which i just cant do.

[nz_rider]

yea its all about having a good time in the end.

I wish i had a big paying job to pay my racing bills. Im ploughing pretty well my entire years salary into racing,outside rent and food. but as choppa alluded too i should be able to i should be able to keep my bike competitive-ish for a good while without that investment year on year. I don't have a missus to remind me im an idiot though so it makes it easy. but thats roughly the money it takes to play at nats level, just usually it don't come all from the one bank account.

if your willing to wait great deals on all sorts of bikes come up with time. But that means sitting on the sidelines waiting for something which i just cant do.

Well I must say that is dedication if you are sinking a years salary into it. You have obviously put some good thought into it then as you saved up. Good on you. Although I am not quite that ready to forgo on all other luxuries at the moment just to have the bike, although it is that bit easier with two salaries. So props to you for making it work.
The missus is fine with the bike idea, she has her requests of the new diamond ring she has had designed, but that can be factered in somewhere, down the line. Haha.

But cheers for the advice and the comments. All very helpful.

[koba]

Well I must say that is dedication if you are sinking a years salary into it. You have obviously put some good thought into it then as you saved up. Good on you. Although I am not quite that ready to forgo on all other luxuries at the moment just to have the bike, although it is that bit easier with two salaries. So props to you for making it work.
The missus is fine with the bike idea, she has her requests of the new diamond ring she has had designed, but that can be factered in somewhere, down the line. Haha.

But cheers for the advice and the comments. All very helpful.

Pro Twins is another option, It seems around ten grand gets somthing you can have a good shot on, you could spend more or less though.

[Deano]

Pro Twins is another option, It seems around ten grand gets somthing you can have a good shot on, you could spend more or less though.

Yep - my PT owes me 10K. It has nearly as much as you can do to it (bar cam timing adjustment and full race exhaust). Also including spare wheels and tyres.

At VMCC Club level, Pro Twins are always up the front of the field with the F3 bikes. (unless GW is there)