first track weekend

[dbakerpa]

I wore about half way thru the pucks. Unfortunatly I wore almost all the way thrut the toe sliders. I really need a rear set (and an SV650 or GSXR )

[gazoo]

lookin good ! what size and year kat is that ? also did you do ant prep work to the bike beforehand ? hows the bike feel at speed ? do you have sliders installed ? suspension settings ? i'm gonna have to try my hand at this next spring , but when i do any investigating people tell me my kat ( 95 750 ) is a dinosaur and to get a gsxr . i figure let me get good on this then move up to something else .

[dbakerpa]

Track

This is an 04 Kat. I will tell you the truth your bike would be just fine for a first track day. Find out if you like it then pick up a track bike (which is what I am going to do). All I did for prep was safety mesh my headlight and signals. Took off the rear signals. I saftey wired the oil plug, cap and filter though you dont have to. I took off the center stand and zip tied my kickstand. I had new dunlop roadsmart tires which have a softer side but I chewed them up pretty good all the way to the edge.
It is best to have a bike to get parts for like a gsxr or SV650 perhaps a CBR or R1 there are tons of them around. Try Nesba.com for more advice.
Oh yeah I put a D& D exhaust on. 3-4 more HP -not sure the neighbors are lovin though

[gazoo]

thanks for the advice . i'm going to try it once next year . i did'nt know wether or not my kat would be the bike to try it on or not being as it does'nt have sliders in case something happens . i want to learn to corner properly at speed in a controlled enviroment with qualified instructors letting me know what i'm doing right and wrong . if you wore out your pucks i'd say your doing great in my opinion ! i think at englishtown there is a track for bikes where they offer a track day . when you went did they offer any instruction ??

[OldandReallySlow]

Your Kat will be fine for a first time track bike. Ride on the balls of your feet and you shouldn't hit your toe sliders. You can use Painters tape on the headlight, taillight and signals (unless you remove them) and if nothing else, you can use high temp silicone dabbed on the oil plug to keep it in. Just go out and have fun and before you know it...You'll be broke from paying for all the track days!!!!

[mjohn138]

Your toes should not be dragging! put your feet back further and get off the bike more. The suspension sucks on kats for the track, but if you get your body off the bike more, you'll have to lean the bike less and you won't have to worry about scraping your toes or any hard parts. I had the same problem last year at JenningsGP. Just really get off the bike and you won't have a problem! You can see in your pic that your rear end is getting off the bike, but your upper body is still on the tank. Best advice I ever got was to think of trying to bite my wrist! works every time! Hope this helps!

I'll be posting pics up here soon

[tmk7c9]

My wife got 2 trackdays out of her '95 kat before she decided she needed more bike. For a first timer, a katana is a great track mount. Not enough power or ground clearance to really get you in trouble (although, anything is possible if you're stupid about it).

You'll outgrow it quick, but I wouldn't hesitate to put a kat on the track for the first few days. Don't worry about frame sliders either....most of the wrecks i've seen, they just break off anyways. Most regular track riders don't use sliders anyways. if your bike is down, you want it to stay down....not catch a frame slider in the grass and start flipping end over end!

[katman05]

Nice pics, congrats on your first track day!

[JimG4652]

Awesome! Glad you had a good time!

[XRacerX]

If you ride with the balls of your feet on the end of the pegs, then cut your pegs down, and you wont drag your toe sliders... I ride the same way, and cut my pegs down to about 2 inches on my 89 GSXR 7/11 WERA Vintage race bike, made a world of difference...