Track Day Dreams Part 2

For a first trackday using an intermediary like Pro 6 Cycle gives you the support you'd need to ensure your bike is prepped well (they have tires, mechanics and other bits and pieces on hand).  Pro 6 runs track days at Calabogie Motorsports Park in Eastern Ontario.  It happens to be on the other side of some of the best riding roads in Ontario, and on the way to my buddy's house in Osgoode.

A couple of hours at speed on the highway and I'm up past
Gravenhurst and turning toward the Haliburton Highlands!

For me the trip is a Southern Ontario grind out and up the 400 before turning east to face some of the nicest roads in Ontario.  Giving three hours for the highway part, I'd aim to meet up with Jason somewhere in the highlands and then we could ride the twisties to Calabogie.

Day one would get me into the Highlands.  Day two would be riding twisties.  Day three would be the track day at Calabogie and Day four would be the return ride home.

To prep for the track day I'd swap out coolant for distilled water at home before the trip and practice stripping the bike down (covering and disconnecting lights, removing mirrors).  I'd also strip the bike back as light as possible, removing the passenger pegs for single pegs, the toolkit, any extra attachments at all.

I'd get a big duffle to carry my gear for the track day (I'd carry rain gear and clothes in a separate, smaller bag).  The track duffle would have to be big enough to carry track leathers, tools, a bike stand and the parts needed to prep the bike.  The idea would be to get to the track and be able to open up the bag and prep the bike quickly and efficiently.

The trackday bag would open up trackdays around Ontario, and once I'd experienced how the pros at Pro 6 Cycle do it, I'd be able to prep better for future days.

I'm a ways away from this at the moment.  Here's a wish list of needed bits and pieces:

A Vicious Cycle
Firstgear-Torrent waterproof duffel = 40l... should carry everything needed for a trackday...

$84

motorcyclesuperstore.ca
Alpinestars S-MX-5 Boots




$264

motorcyclesuperstore.ca
Alpinestars GP PRO one piece leather suit
Size 50 - this one's a bit tricky.  I'm everything from a 2-4x (tall, long in the body, shorter in the leg and triangle shaped)
$857 (on sale!)

A full body suit is going to be a tricky proposition off the rack.  There are some custom options out there, but you're buying from the other side of the world and I imagine returning a poorly done suit would be next to impossible.  That TopGearLeather site offers custom race suits for less than the off the rack retail suits (~$600), but caveat emptor (they may be awesome, I don't know).

motorcyclesuperstore.ca
Alpinestars GP PLUS gloves


$190

motorcyclesuperstore.ca
Schuberth SR1 Stealth Helmet



$950

motorcyclesuperstore.ca
Vortex V3 rear bike stand


$90 (+$70 wheel kit)






So I'm looking at about $2600 worth of riding kit before I even start considering the bike, and I'd want to consider the bike.  I'd start with the current Ninja 650r and build up experience and certifications, but I'd eventually like to get into The Vintage Road Racing Association.  The dream would be race prepping a 1980s Honda Interceptor (strip lights and extras, whittle it down the bare minimum, race prep the engine), and race it!

Racing ain't cheap.  I'd be dangerous if I had a lot of money and free time on my hands.  Since the summer's almost over and I'm back to the classroom, I'm hoping to put together (Kijiji, ebay, whatever cheap alternative I can find) the bits I need to get myself on a track next year.

If I can't arrange the equipment, I might (make a big) ask for the Racer5 3-stage introduction program.  It's one hell of a birthday present, but if supported track days cost you about $250 a pop anyway, paying an extra hundred to rent someone else's bike and get close instruction seems like one hell of a deal.

LINKS

• Respster Wears race suit (ebay)
• Leatherslink race suit (ebay)
• Leatherslink site
• Jackets4bikes (ebay)
• Spartan Leathers (I like this one, less, as they say, 'ricky racer')

FOLLOWUP

I tried on the Joe Rocket race suit at Royal Distributing the other day.  It was a 46.  It fit at the shoulders and waist/legs, but it was too short in the body.  If I were proportioned properly I'd be about 5'11", but with this long body I'm 6'3", my inseam is only 32".  I'm hoping a 48 is a bit longer in the body, and would be a loose fit everywhere else.  I wish there were more local places I could go try race suits on.  If RD gets a 48 in, that might end my quest for a suit for now.

Travelling Ninja

A Vicious Cycle got me the kit for the topbox mighty quick (the day before they said it would get here).  It was a quick fit and install.  With the topbox and backrest in place, my son has a much more comfortable pillion to sit on.  A Vicious Cycle makes it easy to get sorted with the right kit, letting you search by bike and get kit specific to your machine.




  

 

 The setup is very solid.  The Givi monolock seems very stable and the frame was all first rate.  There were no problems with installing it.

The 26l topbox might seem small, but for a svelt bike like a 650r Ninja, it's a well proportioned fit.

 $320 all in (including shipping & taxes) for the Kappa case, the Ninja specific mounting bracket and the Givi monolock base.

n00b at 43

Tim's Motorcycle Diaries

I've always wanted a motorcycle.  The simplicity and immediacy of the relationship between rider and bike has always appealed.  Finally, at the age of 43, I'm becoming a rider.  A couple of weeks ago I sat in an MTO drivetest centre and wrote my M1, so I'm now licensed in the most rudimentary way.  Next weekend I'm taking my training course at Conestoga College in Kitchener. Following that I hope to be on the road.

This blog will trace the process and development of my riding.  I've dug up a couple of entries from another blog that show why I've gotten into riding now.  They should provide some background for what is about to happen next.

A Nice, Canadian Magazine to get you into the hobby...

In the meantime, I've been looking through motorcycling magazines trying to find one that fits.  I'm not a Canadian publications at all costs kind of guy, but Cycle Canada offers smart writing on a wide range of subjects related to the sport (hobby?).  Being a rider in Canada is sort of like being a surfer in Greenland, you can do it, but you've really got to want to.  The place itself isn't really conducive to the activity.  I feel like Cycle Canada approaches this with honesty, humour and wit, while peeling off many of the preconceptions around biking.  Before I began reading it I thought most people think Harleys are the be all and end all of motorbiking.  I was glad to learn that they aren't.  I like 'em so much, I just subscribed.

Getting Your Bike License in Ontario

Getting the M1 was easy enough.  Ontario has a graduated licensing system for becoming a motorcycle rider now.  The M1 is a sit down, multiple choice test on the basics of motorcycle operation (which you pick up from a Motorcycle Handbook you can get for about $17 from any MTO licensing office).  There are also multiple choice tests on road signs and basic driving situations.  There are 20 questions in each set and you can get up to four wrong and still pass (so you need an 80% on each piece).  I've had my G class (regular car) license for 26 years, I didn't study for either of the general quizzes and got only 2 wrong.  If you pay attention to your driving, I'd suggest focusing on the motorcycling handbook.  If you have no idea what is happening around you or what signs mean, it might be time to review the general stuff.

I should add, the general driving portion was very wordy.  Remember those long math word problems you used to get in school?  Like that.  It was almost like it was designed to test your ability to parse complicated text more than it was about rules of the road.  Be ready for that and take your time with it.

You have to go to a drivetest centre to write the M1.  There are many scattered around Ontario but only a few open on weekends.  It took me a couple of hours to get to the counter, write the test and then get the results.  They tell me it isn't always that busy.  The old guy who blocked the only open gate for an hour arguing about his license didn't help.  The M1 costs you about $17 to write.

After the M1 written piece, the idea is to go out and get experience.  You have 60-90 days with your M1 before you have to move on to M2.  M2 you can have for up to 5 years, but if you let it lapse after that you've got to start over again.  After your M2 road test you become an M licensed driver with full privileges.  Conestoga College offers a driver training course for beginners that moves you from M1 to M2.  I'm signed up to go next week.  It costs about $400 and I'm told you're at the bikes they provide a lot over the one night and two day long course; it's very hands on.  At the end of that course I'll have done what is needed to pass the M1 driving test to move on to M2.  M1 means no driving at night, or carrying passengers, or 400 series highways, and no alcohol in your system at all.  M2 is still no alcohol, but you can do the other things.  You usually have to wait 60 days to get your M2, but if you take the course they shrink that time.  I should be able to push up to an M2 in mid-May after taking the course in early April.  I plan on riding at the M2 level for at least a year or two before getting the full M license.

Insurance

I called the company that I've been with since I was a teen (who has made a small fortune off me) and asked for a quote on motocycles.  They told me to come back in two years.  They then said I should call Riders Plus.  They were very helpful.  Talking to a friend afterward, he's been riding for thirteen years and has been with Rider's Plus the whole time.  He's paying about $600 a year for a 2000 500cc Ninja.  I'll be paying about $1300 a year for a 2007 650 Ninja, to give you an idea of what the insurance looks like.




I'll throw on a couple of older posts showing what I've been reading and why I'm going through this now.  Over the next few days it looks like I'll become the proud new owner of a 2007 650r Ninja that has been painted an unfortunate flat black by an adolescent male of questionable taste..  With the bike in the garage and the course next weekend, I should be insured, plated and on the road by mid-April.

More to come as it happens.

Sidecar for my Side Kick

Side cars are cool!

I've been thinking about getting a second bike, one that lets me do some distance with my son (and wife if I can convince her).  I'd initially wanted to get a Royal Enfield with a side car so we could Harry Potter it up.

Like a fish in water.

All together that's about a $12,000 new piece of kit.  I love the classic looks but with a 500cc engine, the RE wouldn't be brisk, though it would be frugal.

Something that might fit better happens to be for sale in Guelph just south of us with an asking price of $5000.  I didn't know anything about XS1100s, though the sidecar was done by Old Vintage Cranks so it'll be done properly.

Looking into the XS Eleven, I found some interesting history.  A monster bike in its day, it was known as a fast, heavy machine that you needed a sledge hammer to roll over in corners.  Since it's with sidecar I'm not so worried about laying it down.  It would certainly have the pickup needed to move a sidecar rig and would have enough grunt to manage all three of us.  At less than half the price of the Royal Enfield (though with less of the classic look I like and over 70k on it), it has some appeal.

As a second bike I'm hoping for something very different from the Ninja which I'd still like to hang on to because I'm not finished learning from it yet.  A big, classic Yamaha with side car is about as far from an '07 650r Ninja as you're going to get.

http://guelph.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-motorcycles-touring-xs1100-yamaha-special-with-sidecar-W0QQAdIdZ529601037

...bike is vintage & in great shape needs nothing for cert, sidecar is new cost $5500 to purchase & have installed by OVC the sidecar pros! comes with gel pak in newly recovered seat,, am/ fm/ USB for ipod or iphone cd sounds fine on the highway.

The Stable

My dream garage always had to be kind of huge to fit all the cars I wanted in it.  With the new bike
infatuation I get to dream of a more condensed (and plausible) dream garage.  It's still got room for the necessary evil (I live in Canada, some days a bike just won't do it), so I took the two car garage and doubled it to make a workshop in the back.

The car garage is separated by a dividing wall with a single garage door in it to allow larger vehicle access into the workshop.  There is a half size roll up door on the side for direct bike access.  The garage is wired in, but also has a turbine and solar collection.  In the winter this runs the high efficiency heater in the workshop.  In the summer is pushes a small, high efficiency air conditioner into the workshop.  The goal is to keep the workshop above freezing in the winter and below 25 degrees in the summer.

The battery packs and computer controls for the wind turbine and solar inputs are upstairs, as are the heating and cooling units, both of which feed into the workshop directly.  There is also room for storage upstairs.  Access is made through a pull down staircase in the back of the car garage.

The workshop has space for 5-6 bikes, though I think I'd keep 3 working bikes on hand, and one project bike.  I'd also keep a shed at the side for a couple of dirt bikes.

As for what I'd fill the workshop with, at the moment I'm all about the British bike.  A Triumph Street Triple, a Royal Enfield Classic with a sidecar and a Triumph Tiger 800XC would be what I'd have on had to regularly ride.  The other side of the shop has the half car/half bike Morgan3 Trike.

Royal Enfield Classic with sidecar

Triumph Tiger 800XC

The Tiger is a great all rounder that can get you anywhere.  A nimble adventure bike that also loves to carve up roads, this'd be my go to for long rides.

The Royal Enfield Classic with sidecar is a classic with modern technology.  It would let me share the open road with my son in a way he'd truly dig.

Triumph Street Triple

Morgan 3 Wheeler

The Triumph Street Triple is a naked bike built for the road.  It's fast, responsive and sounds wonderful.  This would be my dedicated road bike.

What I don't show in the plan is the project bike.  This would change quite frequently, depending on how much work the bike needs.  At the moment I think I'd like to bring an '80s Honda Interceptor back from the dead.

Honda VFR 750 Interceptor

The idea behind the dream garage is to have a workshop for bike maintenance and restoration.  I've really enjoyed restoring the 650r Ninja I've got now, and I'd like to keep doing that kind of work.  To that end I think I'd include a bike sized bench style spray booth, as well as a compressor in the workshop.  I enjoy both mechanical as well as body work, and it would be nice to have the space and tools to do both well.

GoProing

Nothing like a bit of media making on your ride.  This video is courtesy of a GoPro Hero electrical taped to the rear right passenger foot peg looking out over the back wheel.

The route is 60 kms through Elora, Arthur and Fergus.  It ended up being 51 minutes of footage, but I clipped it down to 12 minutes so it would fit on the youtubes.


The vehicle of choice is a 2007 Kawasaki 650R Ninja.

Here's the video!  That GoPro takes mighty nice footage, even at higher speeds...

Running electrical tape over the camera 4 or 5 times kept it securely in place for the whole ride and came off afterward without leaving any tape marks.  Putting it on the right side passenger foot rest means it was just above the muffler, so you can hear the engine clearly and wind noise wasn't too bad because it was behind the fairing and my leg.  Having it on the frame rather than the suspension means that it doesn't bounce around as much as it otherwise would.

If I ever get some time on a race track, I'm totally taping a GoPro on for a few laps.

Variations on a Theme

Trying some variations on the blog logo.  It'd be a nice idea to include the bike of the moment in the logo as way of showing when it was written.  The first logo has the 650r Ninja in it:

Now that I've got the Concours sorted, I'm trying out some headers with Connies in them:

Some more updates since mechanicalsympathy.ca and a new bike came along...