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[ethanh8791]

Nice riding! I was hoping for more overtakes but I'm a complete noob so expectations prob a bit out there.

[oobflyer]

Nice video - looks like fun!

[Manzanita]

Thanks you guys. Yeah, most people will do all sessions... you have forty minutes to rest each hour, so it's not that intense.

More overtaking? Them overtaking me, or me overtaking them? :  )  Other than a couple stray ninja 300's, most riders either have a 600cc supersport or a 1000cc supersport. Granted, this is basically the beginners group, and so at this skill level, we're not even pushing the bikes (although it doesn't take much skill to twist the throttle on the straights)...  which is why I'm able to catch 100+ HP bikes with a 54 HP bike. The first lap of this video cracks me up when I catch the three riders--you know you're in the beginners group when four riders take four completely separate lines! :  )   

That was my seventh track day, today was my 8th... today was a two group format with 30 minutes per group every hour. It was a blast, I was definitely feeling more comfortable with the bike and was able to catch up to faster bikes in the tight turns... I ran 2 sessions + about 15 minutes of a third, charged from 11% to 25% over lunch and got about 20 minutes out of a fourth session. Today was the five mile course that included tighter more technical turns.

The zero was supposed to be my commute bike and the 919 my track/touring bike, but it was really hard to switch bikes. All that nonsense with the clutch and shifter! :  )  Having confidence in your bike is key, and just not feeling confident on the 919...

[Manzanita]

Trackday photos: http://www.gotbluemilk.com/web150705/z/imagepages/image13.html

I was dragging toe, but I swear I have the ball of my foot on the peg, and I was working on avoiding this. Obviously from the photos, I still need to work on this.... hopefully before I destroy my boots!

[evtricity]

The foot pegs are very low on the Zero  S/SR and if you do track days regularly you'll need to get some custom rear sets that have the pegs higher and further back otherwise you'll constantly scrape pegs and boots on tight corners.

[Manzanita]

The foot pegs are very low on the Zero  S/SR and if you do track days regularly you'll need to get some custom rear sets that have the pegs higher and further back otherwise you'll constantly scrape pegs and boots on tight corners.

How easy is it to change back and forth between stock and rearset footpegs? Custom as in expensive one-offs? What does that run?

I don't see myself doing it more than a couple times a year... so my thought is to just leave it. The pegs do fold and there should be almost no weight on that inside peg. The real challenge is not to flinch when you scrape. Also, keeping the bike upright by leaning off more is possible, at least at my level.

I have had four other bikes on the track and all of them, even the 919 have this issue. Its the price you pay to have reasonable all-day riding ergonomics.. sportbikes do not attract me for that reason. I guess a track-only bike is the answer if I were that into it that much.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

[evtricity]

As you're not going out regularly to the track and looking to move up the levels you can probably live with the stock pegs. I was trying to infer that it's not so much your riding style but the fact that the Zero geometry provides limited lean angles with the stock pegs that is the issue.

I don't know if anyone offers to make custom rearsets so can't give you an idea on price or "swapability". I had mine done by a friend with a CNC machine. The Hollywood Electrics guys seem to have made up some which they used at Pikes Peak.

Sounds like you're in a happy place with your Zero so on that basis no need to change.

[Manzanita]

Manzanita, do me a favor and report back with how it went? Things you'd do differently, what went well, etc?

Trackdays are an awesome experience and I highly recommend doing them just for fun. I'm not a competitive person and the vibe at the these events is really positive. No one cares about your bike or how fast you are, everyone is just there to have fun. Oh, I guess there are the racers but they are in A group anyways...

Things I could have done...

1) I could have emailed the trackday provider to get the location of the outlets before arriving. Ditto with the motel, although actually they might not have been very helpful--I guess I could have called around to find a place that could actually confirm they had accessible outlets.

2) I did have a problem with tech inspection, actually. I never figured out how to disconnect the front headlight by pulling the fuse (where is the fusebox, btw...) because I figured I could just tape over the headlight, which I did, using the blue tape and then black duct tape... but at tech inspection the front headlight tape was burning hot, and they told me to disconnect it. Well they announced 5 minutes to start my group, and I decided to just cut the high beam wire behind the headlight--I had tried pulling the connector off the headlight, and it would not budge. I had today off and figured out how easy it is to remove the headlight cover (the four screws in front, duh), and I soldered the wire.

The suspension settings I posted in another thread are too stiff for street riding for me, but worked great on the track.

So have you done trackdays before on other bikes?

Some people get the impression that you need special tires, or that the bike prep is complicated. Track providers here aren't even requiring changing your coolant out (glycol coolants were previously not allowed because they're slippery). Disable or cover your lights, remove your mirrors, tape your wheel weights, be sure you have plenty of tread on your tires. That's it I think... and beginners groups here have lower gear requirements--they do not require motorcycle-specific boots (leather boots, even leather hiking boots, are allowed in C group). You do need a leather suit, but again, beginners group are okay with a zip-together leather jacket and pants. Ebay and craigslist are full of good deals on suits. I got my first zip-together suit for $120 I think, and bought my second suit for $220 on ebay.  You do need to haul your bike but I pulled two bikes with a U-haul trailer and the trailer rental was $80, picked up friday and dropped off monday morning (today). The sketchy-est (sketchiest?) thing about the weekend for me was hauling two bikes with a 1998 subaru wagon that has 255k miles on it. I installed the trailer hitch for $200 (previously I had a pickup or got a ride in my friends pickup). But I see people hauling single bikes on small trailers with Honda Accords, or whatever...

The barrier for entry isn't really that high. And all these places have free coaches available to either follow you or lead you around. Do it!