Twist and Go? Hell No!

 

After several track days on my Triumph, I realized I'll never take my riding to a higher level on a bike that I can't afford to wreck. Not that I want to wreck, but I'd rather have something a bit better suited to the task. After looking around for a month or so over the holidays, I found a 2008 R6 that belonged to a former rider coach, second owner, all paperwork, and three boxes of spares. After some of the comical experiences I had in my shopping process ("You can fix that, bruh," "Hmmm, didn't notice it had no coolant. Hadn't ridden it in awhile," "I know nothing about the bike- I'm selling for a friend and he's not available."), the seller was a breath of fresh air. The bike had been down a couple of times, but it appeared solid, had good history, and it was priced right. As I drove home with a new-to-me R6 on the trailer, I committed myself to the following:

• Flush/change all fluids
• Adjust cables
  
• Change spark plugs
• Replace battery
• Replace tires
• Get a pro to inspect the suspension
• Hit Summit Point as soon as they open!

I was on the second-to-last item on the list. Before taking it in, I took the bike out to check the handiwork so far (but being VERY careful since I was on old slicks with no warmers) and since it was a nice Sunday afternoon with no traffic, I did a very careful pull to an intoxicating 14,000 rpm and as I did, I got the distinct feeling that something was off with the front suspension. I've been here before on other bikes, and it's usually a head bearing or just tightening/tweaking the triple clamps and fixing the alignment of the fork legs. I very gingerly rode home and accepted that the next move this bike was going to make was definitely going to be on a trailer until I got this fixed. 

Finally get the bike in the shop and within an hour of dropping it off, the owner, Erick, sends me a video of the steering head having a crazy amount of play in the up and down direction (which explains what I felt on those first few pulls into the powerband). A bit more investigation revealed bent forks, broken steering stop tabs, and an explanation of why I had scratches on the fork legs themselves (the bent forks). Ugh.

I don't think there was any malice on the part of the seller (he was very straight-up about the bike's history and I just didn't know what I was looking for), and when I test rode it I didn't really pull hard enough to notice (19 degrees outside and tired slicks(!)). Like any mechanical thing, I had to get to know it, and that didn't happen until I dove into this refresh. I'll have more knowledge next time around, but here's my conclusion:

Track bikes, no matter the brand or engine size, seem to come in two flavors. The $7,500 dollar version and the $15k+ version. If you pay less, you're going to spend yourself into the aforementioned price points getting the bike up to scratch and you might as well budget for it. These two price points get you a solid motorcycle. The former may have some tattiness, but will have good bones, get around the track competently, and if it meets an early demise, it's not going to break the bank. The latter pricing gets you traction control, a fresher, younger bike, upgraded suspension, auto-blipping up/downshifting, and so on. 

Of course, for the low, low price of $6.95, you can slam some painters tape on your street bike, no matter what you ride, and have a great day at the track.

In the end, I'm playing it safe and completely replacing my front end from the head bolt to the axle with a stock setup for about $1,200 bucks. I don't want to overspend since I don't know what else I'm in for. There are one or two items left on the refresh docket (rebuild the GPR steering stabilizer and install a new exhaust bracket), but I can't wait for this season to start to see what the R6 hype is all about, honing the skills in the greatest riding environment there is, and sitting under the shade of a tent talking motorcycles with my pit-mates. Come on, spring!