Triumphrat

banda · 10-17-2006

I was wrong.

A couple months ago, I posted a rant about my Speed Four - hated it, couldn't stomach it's manners for commuting, blah blah.

Sunday I took it to a track day.

I haven't done a track day in over two years. I have been doing a lot of dirt track and supermoto racing lately, and my memory of track days is that inexperienced riders freak me out, and running up on liter-bikes in corners gets pretty old.

So I actually didn't have very high hopes for my day, going back to a pure road course, riding with non-racers, and having to do it on my Speed Four, a bike I never really grew to like much on the road.

Imagine my surprise then, to find that the Speed Four is hands down the most comfortable track bike I have ever ridden. It fit like a glove. I could put it anywhere I wanted, and I spent all day passing other riders at will, sometimes as many as five at a time. No kidding. I could get on the gas so much earlier than other riders, and carry so much more speed into corners than other riders, that I routinely passed liter bikes on the main straight. At least three times during the day, I passed a Hayabusa on the straight. I closed on him for the first two seconds, then he would pull away, but at the end of the straight, I had him by several bike lengths, basically just holding it open longer and flying by him on the brakes.

At one point on the track, there's a fast ess turn that has you cross the crown of the track twice. I was coming over the crown so fast on the second crossing, between the first bend and the second, that my front wheel was lifting an inch or two off the surface... this wasn't a hill, just the crown of the track!

I was passing the CCS license class riders and their instructors in every session.

I am not making this up: I was on fire. I could do no wrong.

I have never ridden a bike that worked so well for me, and I have ridden a lot of bikes.

By the way, the new tires I put on were excellent: Metzeler Sportec M-1s. They required no scrub in, and they were good to go before the end of the first lap on a 50 degree track. In fact, the front tire still has all the little nubby things still on it down the tire's center. The sides are all boogery, but the middle is still brand new.

I wouldn't take another bike to a track day if you gave it to me.

(edit to correct tire model - what's a Z1?)

[ This message was edited by: banda on 2006-11-01 16:06 ]

gearslammer · 10-17-2006

right on. glad you like it. it is quite a good track bike, although it is the only one ive ridden on a track. i was able to hang with an RC51, and kept dueling with a prepped R6 on mine.

pete · 10-18-2006

The Speed Four does handle very well, but in my opinion it isn't fast enough.

I have also been faster than many bigger and more powerful bikes, but then again beaten by an Aprilia RS250. It's really rider dependant

Will · 10-18-2006

I had similar experiences on my TT600. It is a whole lot of fun to go roasting by people on bikes that are "faster" on a bike that about half of them haven't heard of before. They have got to be one of the best kept secrets in the motorcycle world.

DaveC · 10-18-2006

Great to hear that it works so well on the track.

But I use mine for commuting and touring and it's wonderful for that riding as well.

Rik · 10-22-2006

Speed Four is a great road and track bike. I'm most certainly no riding God but on the track my Speed Four can easily hold it's own and pass plenty of other bikes of all sizes, including a few D675's on my last one

A few also get past me to be fair :thump: but as I improve their numbers are dropping :razz:

chitownG60 · 10-30-2006

I tracked my S4 all year, and I loved every minute. But i have to admit, I never pushed really hard because the thought of crashing my street bike was always in the back of my head.

I feel the S4 is a good track bike...but the turn-in always felt a little slow...probably the tires. What suspension settings were you running and how big of a guy are you?

Awesome to hear you were lighting up the track on the S4!

banda · 10-31-2006

Quote:

On 2006-10-30 17:47, chitownG60 wrote:
I tracked my S4 all year, and I loved every minute. But i have to admit, I never pushed really hard because the thought of crashing my street bike was always in the back of my head.

I feel the S4 is a good track bike...but the turn-in always felt a little slow...probably the tires. What suspension settings were you running and how big of a guy are you?

Awesome to hear you were lighting up the track on the S4!

I weigh 155 in my Fruit-Of-The-Looms.
I had the suspension settings set to the the user manual recommended settings for sport riding.

I find the turn-in to be faster than an R6 with the 120/65 series front, but lazier than full race bikes. I like the turn in kind of slow because I brake in deep sometimes covering the rear brake, and if the steering is too quick the back end can come around in a most unpleasant way.

I never felt out of shape or out of control during the day. It was like playing a video game set on "easy".

[ This message was edited by: banda on 2006-10-30 23:34 ]

chitownG60 · 10-31-2006

Quote:

On 2006-10-30 23:30, banda wrote:

Quote:

On 2006-10-30 17:47, chitownG60 wrote:
I tracked my S4 all year, and I loved every minute. But i have to admit, I never pushed really hard because the thought of crashing my street bike was always in the back of my head.

I feel the S4 is a good track bike...but the turn-in always felt a little slow...probably the tires. What suspension settings were you running and how big of a guy are you?

Awesome to hear you were lighting up the track on the S4!

I weigh 155 in my Fruit-Of-The-Looms.
I had the suspension settings set to the the user manual recommended settings for sport riding.

I find the turn-in to be faster than an R6 with the 120/65 series front, but lazier than full race bikes. I like the turn in kind of slow because I brake in deep sometimes covering the rear brake, and if the steering is too quick the back end can come around in a most unpleasant way.

I never felt out of shape or out of control during the day. It was like playing a video game set on "easy".

Sounds like you were 'feeling it' that day. I had one of those days this season, and it was great.

I find my turn in to feel a lot slower than my friend's GXSR750. Plus the S4 seems to stand up A LOT when trail braking. I run 30lbs pressur front and rear on the track. Maybe I should have a little more pressure in the tires?

I still have a blast riding the S4 on the track, but I'm leaning heavily towards getting a Japanese track-only bike for next season. The thought of dumping my S4 while pushing it on the track pains me. Plus spares are much cheaper and easier to come by on a Japanese machine. But we'll see...being on a little Triumph 600 and keeping up with more powerful machines is a good feeling!

Will · 11-01-2006

What tires are you using? Bridgestones have a somewhat pointier profile than Pirellis or Metzlers. Pilot Powers have a pointier profile than Pilot Sports, and Pilot Race tires have an even pointier profile. I don't need Pilot Race tires- Pilot Powers are plenty sticky enough for the cornering speeds I am up to. I don't know what Dunlops are like, since I haven't had a set of Dunlops in about eight years. The general rule of thumb is that pointier tires will fall into a corner- tip in faster- and will also stand up.

If you are running 30 psi on the track, you may actually be using too little pressure, and that will cause handling problems. If it is really cold, you use a little less cold pressure, hotter you use a little more cold pressure. I crashed once due to not enough pressure in the Diablos I had on my TT600 at the time.