I have an opportunity to pick one up as my track bike and I was curious if anyone here has any experience/opinions on these?
I've been sort of looking for a track bike. I'm only riding in novice groups right now, possibly teetering on the edge of breaking into the intermediate sessions. Just wondering if an R1 would be too much at this point?
What do you believe they're worth? 16,000 miles, nothing wrong mechanically but pretty beat up cosmetically. "Beat up" means terrible paint job, terrible painted stock can, hand-wrapped seats, etc.
An R1 is going to be a lot of bike, even an old one.
My recommendation would be to pick up an R6, preferably 2008 or newer, or 2003/2004. You should be able to get either cheap if you look around. Either will also have plenty of power for your needs, and both handle well...although the 2008+ handles better due to the newer chassis (the older R6 has better mid-range grunt though). You can jump up to a liter bike in the future after you're a better rider if you still want more power.
Other middleweights are very good also, but R6s are the best IMO. There's a reason they dominate club racing in the states. They're also cheap (relatively) to maintain and repair.
IMO it is better to learn to correctly use the power that you have, as opposed to relying on it to mask your shortcomings as a rider.
FWIW, I started racing on a 748 (1 season), then 749 (a few races until it imploded), then '03 R6 (2+ seasons), and finally in my 4th season of racing I jumped up to a liter bike in addition to my old R6 (mainly because I love the bike and got a good deal, not because I needed the power). ALL of the smaller bikes were more than capable of riding in the expert group in any track day. Riding the smaller bikes definitely helped when I moved to the liter bike, and even then it was a handful until I got used to it.
Not saying you can't make the R1 work, that's just my recommendation. :)
Also, you can get fully-prepped race and track bikes cheap by poking around club race forums. That's definitely the cheaper way to go.
I agree that it would be better to have an R6 or similar, that is actually what I was looking for. It just seems like the stars have aligned too well for this...
I have an ad saying I have a turbo'd VW manual that I want to trade for a sport bike. He has an ad saying he has an R1 he wants to trade for a turbo'd VW manual. And we live 40 minutes apart. Crazy. Trying to put that in the back of my head for the decision making process though.
I agree that bad riding shouldn't be remedied by a faster bike. All I've been looking for is something to be my track pregnant dog so that I don't have to beat the hell out of the Monster (my daily ride). I guess my question is, could this fit that role? Is it possible that moving straight up to an R1 poses a huge safety concern?
What would you all pay?
Something else to consider, I weigh 215 ass-naked, making any bike considerably slower than someone who weighs 160 [laugh]
... also means it stops slower too though... :-\
Quote from: ChrisK on June 03, 2014, 01:50:02 PM
I guess my question is, could this fit that role? Is it possible that moving straight up to an R1 poses a huge safety concern?
What would you all pay?
Something else to consider, I weigh 215 ass-naked, making any bike considerably slower than someone who weighs 160 [laugh]
... also means it stops slower too though... :-\
It could easily fit the role. The only safety concern I can think of is high siding yourself because you grabbed a handful of throttle before you knew how to slide the rear tire properly. Probably not a huge concern though if you just remember to get faster gradually. The same can happen on a middleweight, just not as easily.
No idea what to pay, sorry.
I'm gonna tell you the same thing a good friend of mine told me when he found out I had just bought a 996...after many years of riding my 900 Monster and a 750 SS...
"I see a high side coming".
You can thank me later.
lol I get that. I can't tell if you're saying that as just a warning for if I get it or if you're saying that to tell me I shouldn't get it.
Quote from: ducpainter on June 03, 2014, 04:08:09 PM
I'm gonna tell you the same thing a good friend of mine told me when he found out I had just bought a 996...after many years of riding my 900 Monster and a 750 SS...
"I see a high side coming".
Did he see right? ;D
Quote from: ChrisK on June 03, 2014, 07:24:39 PM
lol I get that. I can't tell if you're saying that as just a warning for if I get it or if you're saying that to tell me I shouldn't get it.
I already had the bike. I might not have bought it if he had told me that first. It's up to you to decide if you have the self control to avoid hurting yourself. The bike won't do it by itself.
In my case I took his advice to heart.
I was so scared of high siding it took me a whole season of track days, I was doing about 10 a year, to get to the point where I was as fast as on the 750.
I never did high side, although I crashed a few times...nothing new there..., and eventually got to the point where I did the bike justice.
IMHO.
I was a C grade club racer over a seven year period and have been doing track days for 17 years. I raced a ZXR600, a YZF750 and 3 NC30 400s. My current track bike is a GSXR 750 and I can only just use all of it (about 130hp).
There are tracks I go to where no one except A grade racers can go fast on litre bikes. If the track you frequent most is a tight, technical and exhausting track, then stick to a 600. A 1000cc bike at such tracks will be exhausting and frustrating, with a great risk of throwing your ass in the air. Like dating a lingerie model but only ever holding hands. At my favourite track, which fits the description above, all my riding buddies went quicker on a 600 after getting off a worked GSXR1000.
If you frequent tracks that are fast and flowing then maybe a litre bike might work for you, but you better be pretty good! I would get a 600 unless you honestly can restrict your throttle hand until you gain experience.
i had a '99 r1. it was lighter than all the 600s of that era and was so powerful, it would lift the front wheel while accelerating in the first three gears.
the 2001s were stronger.
i had zero desire to track that thing.
Well I'm starting to think logically and starting to shy away from the R1.
I now have someone offering to trade me an 06 CBR600 F4i for my Jetta.
Anyone have any experience with an F4i compared to a 600RR? I know they're down on power, but are the rear sets too low to the ground as well? How about the seating position for the track?
Lol... just got a text from the guy with the R1. This whole time he's had an 02 R6 for sale he wasn't telling me about. [bang]
Back into deliberations....