It's Not What You Ride-It's Who You Know
Reading this article made something perfectly clear to me- who gives a rat's a$$ what kind of bike you're on, so long as you can ride on a race track? I'll take a day at the track on a clapped-out '82 Honda Ascot to a day of street riding on whatever overpriced exotica you can offer. And that's the truth!
These big standards offer a lot of value for not much money. I've seen new '02 FZ-1's for $8500 out the door in California, and the other bikes are even cheaper. Pretty nice deal when you consider a new R6 will set back the baggy-jeans and sideways-ballcap guys close to $10,500 out the door- and the 600 isn't as versitile or fun as a streetbike.
So consider a big standard if you must have but one bike. But if you want to do a lot of track riding...these bikes I think would be demanding and difficult to hone racetrack skills on. Wes Cooley-style sliding doesn't belong in a beginner's bag of tricks, and so much weight can be difficult to manage at the razor's edge.
Kind of ironic that the big-horsepower bike is better on the street and a slower, lighter bike is better at the track? But there you go.
Do some track days soon!
Reading this article made something perfectly clear to me- who gives a rat's a$$ what kind of bike you're on, so long as you can ride on a race track? I'll take a day at the track on a clapped-out '82 Honda Ascot to a day of street riding on whatever overpriced exotica you can offer. And that's the truth!
These big standards offer a lot of value for not much money. I've seen new '02 FZ-1's for $8500 out the door in California, and the other bikes are even cheaper. Pretty nice deal when you consider a new R6 will set back the baggy-jeans and sideways-ballcap guys close to $10,500 out the door- and the 600 isn't as versitile or fun as a streetbike.
So consider a big standard if you must have but one bike. But if you want to do a lot of track riding...these bikes I think would be demanding and difficult to hone racetrack skills on. Wes Cooley-style sliding doesn't belong in a beginner's bag of tricks, and so much weight can be difficult to manage at the razor's edge.
Kind of ironic that the big-horsepower bike is better on the street and a slower, lighter bike is better at the track? But there you go.
Do some track days soon!