Who races their roadbike?

[puddytat]

Been hummin' & haaing for ages about joining a club & going racing in Clubmans as there just arnt enough trackdays.Living in Murchison & all the travel aspect is also a factor & Ruapuna is realistically the only option.
My last trackday was at Levels & f@#k I enjoyed it!! Because of the small number of riders, the"fast" B graders could ride with the A's & I really enjoyed the step up.Even tho it wasnt racing as such everyone seemed to be going hard & I found it exciting to try & keep up & not be limited to passing only on the outside.
So...Im thinking I might have a crack,but am I stupid to use me roadbike (R6)?
I realise the probability of dropping it is up there,but I also cant afford a racebike either & no I dont want to race a bucket & no I got nothing against them, I like my 100hp. Another point is the rising gas prices & the which are cutting down my road riding enjoyment so I have also thought of taking the R6 off the road & the money I save from that putting towards racing.Plus once I do 3 closed circuit races I could also try Greymouth & Nelson street races, so there are good options. So wot ya reckon?

[glice]

I'd do it. I'm considering racing my 250 in street stock or something like that. I had a mate who used to race his road bike and did ok.

[kickingzebra]

sell R6, buy a race prepped bike second hand for 7 to 10 grand... doing this will save you about 5 to 10 grand on setting up the r6 to race, start racing and then forget about road riding.

This was a 17 thousand dollar lesson I learned the hard way once only,
but whatever really.

[sinfull]

Personally i'd go for it , remembering that
a)you wont be covered by insurance
b)maint costs will skyrocket
c)that you should do it anyway

[sugilite:Me]

Yep, I raced my ZXR750 roadbike on 2006 Actrix series, and just converted it back after each meeting.

[slimjim]

yea give it a go , put the nice frame sliders on , and set of goody tire's its only usually the street curbs that really fuck ya's bike if in a slide, but sitting back and just thinking about it your'll never know by doing just that

[Matt Bleck]

I'm gunna take me K3 1000 road bike racing....

[MD]

Living in Murch your choices sure are limited. Bloody long haul to Levels too.

I dabbled at racing at Ruapuna and Levels years ago just for fun, when all I had was a road bike. It's a real bummer when you know the bike has to get you to work on Monday. There's no way you can get serious with the racing like that. You can't swap tyres back and forth, remove lights, refit lights etc.

That's why I settled for track days. Still the risk of crashing without insurance cover though.

So if you want to get serious you will need to flag any road riding on the R6.

[HenryDorsetCase]

why not keep your R6 (or sell it and buy a cruiser for road riding) and race your Bros in F3?

[FROSTY:Me]

Normally I'd suggest to ya to do a few track days then get a dedicated race bike if you wanna get semi serious.
In your case I'd say try one meeting on ya current bike.
Itll pretty quickly decide ya if racing is your thing.
After that you need to decide for yaself what you are gonna do.

[lostinflyz]

is it too hard to get a cheap old 400 F3 bike?? there pretty cheap. ok so you wont be a national f3 champ but there easy to run and big field.

itd prob end up costing the same amount as getting a good set of tyres and a set of race fairings ect for a newish r6. and you never have to worry about wrecking an expensive m/cycle.

[The Pastor]

Just Race On The Road - But Stay Away From Cops They Dont Like It.

[wharfy]

I am racing my road bike in the VMCC winter series - I have done all the prep - wired the sump plug, oil filter, handlebar grips attached catch bottle etc. My partner and I ride it to the track remove the bits you have to - race and put them all back on and ride home (or to a nearby motel It is not as hard as it sounds.

Riding to the track means only the gear you can fit in your tank bag - No tyre warmers axle stands etc.
If you transport the bike even better do everything in the comfort and privacy of your own garage :-)

I ride this bike to work every day

You wont be insured while on the track but just do it !!

PM me and I will give you all the gory details

[svr]

Don't listen to the pussies - Race ya road bike! Put some old fairings on if you must, but the way I see it, if I crash mine racing, its the excuse I was looking for for a repaint.
I've ridden to 7 meetings on my sv and either got first or second at worst, including 2nd place at the manfield nationals. Its not a problem if you keep a cool head and dont crash - theres a bunch of reasons not to crash, and riding your road bike is just another good one. Forget tyre warmers - they're just another expense and hassle when you start out anyway. Race tyres aren't damaged on the road (they dont get hot) and if you race and road ride you get to wear the whole tyre out i.e. you get your moneys worth.
Why drive a van home when you could be riding home with a trophy duct-taped to the tank! We're motorcyclists not van drivers right??

[puddytat]

Normally I'd suggest to ya to do a few track days then get a dedicated race bike if you wanna get semi serious.
In your case I'd say try one meeting on ya current bike.
Itll pretty quickly decide ya if racing is your thing.
After that you need to decide for yaself what you are gonna do.

Yeah that sounds like damn good advice!!

Actually you all got good points there too..I had thought about thrashin the Bros but I kinda feel sorry for the old girl & have decided to sell her.Ive done a coupe of trackdays on it & had a blast, but I done got addicted to the R6.

Im pretty sure that if I get into racing I will severly curtail my road riding to just a few "must do " rides as really cant afford to do both. Also trying to get some locals to get into racin as well,that way we could split costs in transport. But I aint holding my breath & I will do it anyway.
Yeah so Fark it, the R6'll have to do.

Oh, I just got a copy of "Twist of the wrist" & been avidly reading it the last few days & boy am I looking at all the trackdays Ive done in the past in a whole different way!! Got me starting to think much more about what Im doing & actually got me already feeling more confident about my next track time