Crash Hooked Me, Track Conversion Project

[bcampana]

I just had my second day at the track with my 08 fz6 and I'm completely hooked. First day was great, started off a bit uncomfortable but I was able to shake off some of the green. This time was simply. Awesome. Only downside was i lowsided on the seventh session. Got my knee down for the first time that day and next thing I know Im rolling.

Guys on the track said it was my tires. I still had my stock tires and over 9000 miles on em. Woops. My puig sliders worked perfectly, just scratches on the passenger rails, but I had to take everything off to clean it since it went into the dirt. I couldnt help but notice how amazing it looks naked so I decided not to put the fairings back on and go naked =) I just ordered the stock fz6n front assembly for use on the street. Eagerly eagerly waiting for that...

On the track side, I'm dying to get back on but I have a few mods planned that I could use some opinions with tires, handlebars, and suspension.

First of all, tires. I'm going to need a set for the track and a set of the street. I don't want to waste the track rubber on daily commutes. I'm going to need some decent street tires since I canyon at least twice as much as I track, and commute 10x as much as both. Any recommendations on some street tires? I dont push it in the canyons, but I'd like some grip to help avoid crashing like I did at the track. I get how it was mostly me not keeping an eye on my threads though.

Second is body positioning. I was debating between clip ons and handlebars. I was just about to order some Suburban Machinery bars so I wouldnt have to worry about tank and fairing clearance. Then I ran into the FZ6 cup specs and some photos: 1 2 Their bikes have ValterMoto clip ons with what looks like no rise. I see that they'd have no problems with their fairings, but how does this not hit the tank? Did they just rotate it out or are their clip ons different somehow? I emailed SM and they said that their bars are as aggressive as possible with respects to the tank and fairings. Seeing as how I have no fairings I feel like im losing out on something going with them. I also emailed ValterMoto today, but I wouldnt be surprised if i dont get a good answer from them seeing how I had to google translate their site.

I plan to strip out the lights and spedo in my old front fairing. Then cut and fiberglass it and use it as a track fairing, so I'm only worried about tank clearance. For the rearsets I plan to get risers for the stock or swap with R6 sets.

Suspension wise I've decided to rebuild the stock with ohlins parts. I'm choosing not to do R6's swaps because I dont want to mess with the bike's geometry. I know this is going to be more money, but I can just wait longer for them to offset this. Is there any advantage with going with the r6 fork and rear suspension instead?

Thanks in advance for your comments/opinions!

 

[fz6nick]

As for tires, lots of good things to be said about Bridgestone BT016's You can get em cheap right now. They have multi compound rubber.

Id try to go with Racetech progressive springs and 15 wt oil before doing anything major with R6 forks. $115 mod. (front only tho)


OR.... You could get a track bike!

 

[DefyInertia]

Pilot powers or BT016 are great for aggressive street riding and a slow all the way to intermediate pace at the track. Dragging knee at the track on worn touring tires is no good.

I have a mint condition rear rim that I will sell you if you're interested.

I have found ground clearnance to be a limiting factor on the FZ6 at the track. As such, I use rizoma rearsets (cheaper options exist) and I remove both the side and center stands when at the track.

I run my bike naked at the track and use helibar black bird clip-ons that mount under the top triple. This gives me the ability to use proper body position without breaking my wrist. Steering lock is severely limited but I don't care at all; I use the handlebars on the street.

Check out the FZ6 track day prep thread that is stickied in the track and technic riding subforum section.

:needpics:

EDIT - if you're really serious, just save yourself the time/money and get a track bike like Nick said. Roadstergirl is selling a great track bike in the classified section. Track bikes are cheap!

 

[bcampana]

Yea with all the work Im planning i thought of just getting a track bike, but then thats a lot of money all at once. I'd have to save up for that a bit so I wouldnt be doing the track for a while. Still a student here =P With this plan I can do it bit by bit. Get the new tires. Track. BP mods. Track. Suspension. etc.

Ill look into those tires and the racetech parts. With the heli bars, do you have any rise on them? If you dont have full tank clearance wouldnt your barends go into your tank on a crash? I think I've read that a 1" rise would clear the tank. But if Im rising from below the triple i wonder if its just easier to drop from the handlebar risers with some aggressive handlebars. So I'm guessing the fz6 cup bikes have a tank clearance issue too?

If theyre not to uncomfortable Id like to keep from swapping the controls between street and track. Longest I've been on something aggressive was on a gsxr for about 100 miles. Wasnt so bad.

Pics? We'll im waiting for some parts and deciding still. But heres what I got so far.

I've got it clean in my garage right now. I'll take some pics of it when my headlight assembly comes in.

 

[DefyInertia]

Interesting pics but I was talking about action shots!

About suspension, the front is easy to fix and you have a number of options. It's the rear that is more troubling and more expensive to fix.

 

[bcampana]

Yea I plan to do the front first. It seems that its the weakest. Is there a large performance difference between rebuilt fork and the ones off the r6?

Im considering having seperate rims for track tires. How much for the rear rim? I have access to a full garage though, I was thinking about just switching the tire out myself when I need too. After I learn how that is...

I only took one off the monitors, wish i got the others. Maybe next time ill actually get the whole package

 

[phantomxc]

Last picture is great. I want to go to the track so bad but I'm scared of sliding the bike. It's just too perrtyyy. Screw it!!!

 

[bcampana]

It wasnt really that bad. I remember entering the corner, holding my angle, and then all of a sudden I hit the ground and start rolling. I think about trying to slide but im rolling pretty good so i decide to just brace up and just pull my arms close to my chest. So I'm just rolling listening to my back protector and elbow gaurds take turns hitting the ground, not really hurting at the time. Stopped when I hit the dirt and i just let it all soak for a bit, moved away from the track edge just in case. Walked away with some bruising where my shin gaurds end and a funny back pain thats pretty much gone now.

Usually you get a lot of feedback from your bike, so slides are usually controllable. Just dont panic. Unfortunately this time it came out of no where, which kinda bothers me. I'm just gonna pin it mostly on my tires and shrug it off. Work on my form too, I know I was holding back on my lean. But then again I kept pushing every lap harder and harder. Had too much fun =P

Check out tracktactics. $65 for a day at streets of willow springs! AWESOME deal. Very technical track though. Maybe a trial by fire, but if you can do that everything else will probably seem long and loopy =P

-EDIT-
And I just ordered some rearset risers from Oso2k on sbn. Should get here by the end of the week. I'm going to see how the stock rearsets feel with those and I'll think about the r6 pegs or some aftermarkets when I get whatever handlebars I decide on. Keeping an eye out on some deals for those BT016s too.

 

[Wolfman]

It wasnt really that bad. I remember entering the corner, holding my angle, and then all of a sudden I hit the ground and start rolling. I think about trying to slide but im rolling pretty good so i decide to just brace up and just pull my arms close to my chest. So I'm just rolling listening to my back protector and elbow gaurds take turns hitting the ground, not really hurting at the time. Stopped when I hit the dirt and i just let it all soak for a bit, moved away from the track edge just in case. Walked away with some bruising where my shin gaurds end and a funny back pain thats pretty much gone now.

Usually you get a lot of feedback from your bike, so slides are usually controllable. Just dont panic. Unfortunately this time it came out of no where, which kinda bothers me. I'm just gonna pin it mostly on my tires and shrug it off. Work on my form too, I know I was holding back on my lean. But then again I kept pushing every lap harder and harder. Had too much fun =P

Check out tracktactics. $65 for a day at streets of willow springs! AWESOME deal. Very technical track though. Maybe a trial by fire, but if you can do that everything else will probably seem long and loopy =P

-EDIT-
And I just ordered some rearset risers from Oso2k on sbn. Should get here by the end of the week. I'm going to see how the stock rearsets feel with those and I'll think about the r6 pegs or some aftermarkets when I get whatever handlebars I decide on. Keeping an eye out on some deals for those BT016s too.

just had one of those....where the hell did that come from....moments, not fun.

:thumbup:

 

[bcampana]

Pilot powers or BT016 are great for aggressive street riding and a slow all the way to intermediate pace at the track. Dragging knee at the track on worn touring tires is no good.

I have a mint condition rear rim that I will sell you if you're interested.

I have found ground clearnance to be a limiting factor on the FZ6 at the track. As such, I use rizoma rearsets (cheaper options exist) and I remove both the side and center stands when at the track.

I run my bike naked at the track and use helibar black bird clip-ons that mount under the top triple. This gives me the ability to use proper body position without breaking my wrist. Steering lock is severely limited but I don't care at all; I use the handlebars on the street.

Check out the FZ6 track day prep thread that is stickied in the track and technic riding subforum section.

:needpics:

EDIT - if you're really serious, just save yourself the time/money and get a track bike like Nick said. Roadstergirl is selling a great track bike in the classified section. Track bikes are cheap!

You still have tank clearance issues with the rise from the 1100xx helibars? Does it turn any less than any other bike with stock clipons?

EDIT - Okay, I delazied and read through your old posts. Got it. Probably should get back to work now =)

 

[bcampana]

So my light is on! But I forgot about the mirrors. Anyone know who makes these mirrors? I like how they dont hang off the side. Since these clamp onto the bar, should i still be searching around for "bar end mirrors" or are these something else?