Triumphrat

Kajota · 07-22-2006

It rained on the way to Summit (Jefferson Track) so I was thinking that we wouldn't get to ride. Luckily the rain stopped and the track dried off and I got three sessions in (more or less).

I was riding fairly well I thought. Having fun. One of the control riders came by and complemented me between sessions so I was feeling pretty good.
Unfortunately my habit of leaning the bike over too far and scrapping things caught up with me and I low sided on turn 2. As I'm falling down, I'm thinking "hmmm, I'm falling down, I'm supposed to do something when this happens.". Basically I just waited until I stopped sliding and got up. The best I can figure is that I just leaned the bike over too far.
I had my video camera on the bike during the crash but the memory was full by then and it missed the crash. But you can hear a nice scrapping noise going through turns 1 & 2 in one of the videos.

Damage to the bike isn't too bad. I need a new handlebar, front brake lever, rear brake lever, front master cylinder, grips and a left front turn signal. oh and new frame sliders

Damage to me: my right big toe and my right ankle are both purple and swollen. Oh yea and my pride. I've apologized to the bike already so hopefully she won't hold this against me.

My motoport suit held up fairly well. There's a small tear in one seam on the knee that I'll probably have to get fixed.

Pics of me on the track and the damage to the bike are here:
Track day Pics

The videos that I have are pretty big (196M & 303M). I'm trying to figure out how to make them smaller now. I'll post them if I can get them down to a decent size

So I have to buy a bunch of parts soon to get ready for the next track day. I'm going to try and not crash next time.

[ This message was edited by: Kajota on 2006-07-23 11:40 ]

R100Pilot · 07-22-2006

Nice shots, man. How about some more details? What all was involved? What were the gear requirements? That suit doesn't look like leather. How'd it hold up? Other bikes there? That sorta thing.

I want to try a track day and figure I'll probably get addicted, but I'm holdin' off until I can find a dedicated track bike that I wouldn't mind getting messed up, on accounta with my dumb luck, the same thing would probably happen to me, and I just can't imagine scraping up Trippy.

Kajota · 07-22-2006

Quote:

On 2006-07-22 19:39, R100Pilot wrote:
Nice shots, man. How about some more details? What all was involved? What were the gear requirements? That suit doesn't look like leather. How'd it hold up? Other bikes there? That sorta thing.

I want to try a track day and figure I'll probably get addicted, but I'm holdin' off until I can find a dedicated track bike that I wouldn't mind getting messed up, on accounta with my dumb luck, the same thing would probably happen to me, and I just can't imagine scraping up Trippy.

Well let's see. This is a NESBA track day so I don't know how this will compare to others. I was in the Beginner group.

They have registration and bike/gear tech inspection between 7am and 8am. Bike has to be in good working order. All lights should be off (I pulled a couple of fuses and a relay to keep the headlights/brake-lights etc from being on). You have to take the mirrors off of your bike and tape all the lights. There are 3 groups: beginner(B), intermediate(I) and advanced(A).

For the A group you have to safety wire things and replace the coolant in the radiator with something other than anti-freeze. For the other groups they recommend it but it's not required.

As far as gear, for B & I groups you must have either full suit (leather or textile) or two piece that has a full circumference zipper. For advanced you must have leather. Full gauntlet style gloves. Boots that cover the ankles.

There were all kinds of bikes out there. Liter bikes, SV650s, KTM dual sports, Ducatis, a Daytona 675, GS500. No other Speed Triples of course.

The suit I was wearing is a Kevlar blend. It held up well. It has lots of padding everywhere and I have no injuries from anywhere that was covered by the suit. If I had had some better boots my foot might be in better shape.

I hope that helps answer some of your questions.

premier · 07-23-2006

Wow. I'm glad you're ok, but sorry for the bike

Looks like fairly minor injuries to the bike though. How fast were you going?

Kajota · 07-23-2006

Quote:

On 2006-07-23 06:12, premier wrote:
Wow. I'm glad you're ok, but sorry for the bike

Looks like fairly minor injuries to the bike though. How fast were you going?

I don't know really. It was at the second apex of a douple apex right-hander so I was probably just getting on the throttle a bit. I would guess no faster than 40-50 mph. (probably slower). It's really hard for me to tell however because I never once looked at my speedometer in any of the turns.

Kajota · 07-23-2006

Anyone know of a good place to buy the parts I need to get my S3 fixed? Bars, Grips, front/rear brake levers, Master Cylinder. I need to get this thing fixed up before my next track day (Barber 19/20 Aug).

R100Pilot, I'm starting to think that having a dedicated track bike might be the best way to go too. Probably won't happen this year. But while thinking about replacing all this stuff on the S3 (thinking about getting some of the really cool parts) and I think "what happens when I crash again?". Or having some replacement parts with me so that If I crash I can get the bike back up and working at the track. Maybe I need a more universal track bike where there are easy to find parts. Maybe something like an SV1000 (I had an SV650 and it does not have enough power). Hmmmmmm.

[ This message was edited by: Kajota on 2006-07-23 07:01 ]

Curmudgeon · 07-23-2006

Quote:

On 2006-07-22 19:22, Kajota wrote:

Unfortunately my habit of leaning the bike over too far and scrapping things caught up with me and I low sided on turn 2.

But you can hear a nice scrapping noise going through turns 1 & 2 in one of the videos.

I'm sorry to hear you fell, but glad to hear you and your bike are only a little hurt.

So you figure you scraped something hard, which caused you to low-side? What do you think you were scraping? Until your report, I hadn't heard of anyone scraping '05+ S3s and I'd like to think cornering clearance is not an issue. How much do you weigh and how is your suspension (preload) set?

ctrhenry · 07-23-2006

remove butt from seat , suspend on inside of turn , in close proximity to bike.

glad youre ok

Kajota · 07-23-2006

Quote:

On 2006-07-23 08:35, Curmudgeon wrote:

I'm sorry to hear you fell, but glad to hear you and your bike are only a little hurt.

So you figure you scraped something hard, which caused you to low-side? What do you think you were scraping? Until your report, I hadn't heard of anyone scraping '05+ S3s and I'd like to think cornering clearance is not an issue. How much do you weigh and how is your suspension (preload) set?

I'll have to take a look at the suspension but I'm a fat dude. I weigh about 280 lbs. I spent some time with a mechanic that I know last year setting the suspension up but I don't remember the settings off the top of my head.

Usually I just drag the footpegs. I did drag (s-c-r-a-p is a bad word according to this message board) the rear brake lever a little once I think.

There were some guys from Penske at the track and I was going to go over get them to help me with my suspension after lunch but I didn't make it that far.

Kajota · 07-23-2006

Quote:

On 2006-07-23 09:36, ctrhenry wrote:
remove butt from seat , suspend on inside of turn , in close proximity to bike.

glad youre ok

Yea, this is the big problem. When I'm riding I think I'm doing this but when I see the pics, I'm obviously not. I think on my next track day I'll ask one of the control riders to follow me a bit for a few laps and ask them what they see.

Once I get the bike fixed, I'll probably ride it to work with my butt hanging off just to try and practice.