Hi Guys, So here’s my story … I currently own a 2009 Honda CB1000R and although I love the bike, I’m becoming bitten by the track day bug!!! I am now considering changing the CB1R to a Fireblade and I was wondering how feasible it is to have it on the road, then prep it for the track each time I wish to do a track day? As far as I can see this would involve fitting track day fairings, a spare set of wheels with slicks on and removing the numberplate / indicators etc. Can you get quick release fairing fixings? I could then put some electrical connectors on for the lights etc. I know I'm going to have to compromise somewhere on the suspension set up - but I can't really afford two bikes! Does anybody else do this? Thanks, Chris
The fairings are a complete ball ache tbh.... I'd personally buy an older blade your not precious about, spend the money on suspension upgrade and just track in road trim.... If (when) you have a excursion then maybe go down race fairings and daytime mot? Not that this would be my first choice.... The swapping of fairings obviously possible. And could get full track set up for less than 500 quid... But the time aspect would put me off.... Really don't need to do much to blade if your just getting into track days, but top three mods imo would be in order of priority Shock (front stock is capable enough set up right but shock will save money tyre wise Master cyclinder - oem will fade Qs - just awesome on track
I usually just take the blade to the track in road trim. So can’t comment on the blade. However I used to do as you suggest with my r6. Bought a set of track fairings put them on and disconnected the headlights and drove the bike to the track. I didn’t bother with the spare wheels with slicks as I doubt I would be good enough to get any benefit from them. Cons Riding to the track with no mirrors is odd. I know some people remove the mirrors anyway and put blanking plates on for the road but I just find it odd. No headlights. Late summer nights tend to start getting dark quick. I finished a track day around 8-8:30 last year and I was lucky my uncle came to the track as well and brought my head lights. We fitted them back on at the track removing the nose cone so I could see on the way home. Bit of a faff. If you do track days, chances are you will come off as you chase times etc. This will damage your road bike more than just fairings. Do you really want your road bike getting damaged? Faff of doing this every time you want a track day. This will get annoying even with quick release fasteners. Pros Means you don’t need a secondary track bike saving you the initial cost of buying one. Means you can get to the track with a semi track prepped bike. You don’t need a van or trailer etc. further saving on costs. If you do have an off your OEM fairings are kept in good condition. Anyway that’s my experience, hope it helps in some way. Also, you can pick up some relatively cheap track bikes so to speak. You don’t need the latest, biggest and meanest 1000cc track prepped monster. You can have a smaller cc bike or an older 750 or 1000. Regardless of bike you will have a good time on a track bike knowing it’s a track bike rather than your road bike .
Having just messed around with fairings they can initially be tricky, but you get used to them, and it gets a lot quicker. I reckon you could have say a fairly new blade (08 +) and for track you could keep a spare set of sides, tank cover, and seat unit. You could get a load of genuine Honda panels with a bit of damage from ebay for about £300. Just keep your nose fairing on as that's the really tricky time consuming one, whip the mirrors off, replace tank cover, replace both sides, and replace tail unit and whip off number plate. All that lot could be taken off and replaced in less than 2 hours for sure. Easily done one evening if you have a track day the next day.
Oh, and forgot to mention if you want a track hack rather than using a shiny new blade I have a gsxr600 k4 for sale with loads of bits - spare wets, track fairings, spare levers exhausts subframes etc etc. Going cheap!
You so don't need slicks for the track! I'm assuming you're not in the fast group, it could even be dangerous to use them at lower levels as they really need plenty of heat in them for the tyres to perform correctly. There's plenty treaded tyre choice out there so a road legal one would be more than capable!
As above. Plenty of road orientated tyres Rosso Corsas, Supercorsa SP etc which are great on track, especially if you're just getting into trackdays. Rather than full track fairings why not put a set of Chinese replicas on. It saves the hassle of constantly swapping fairings and means you can store the originals away. You can get a set fully painted up in various schemes for around£300. Take a look at the auctmarts site.
Suspension wise, just have the standard suspension setup for your weight. Explain that you'll be using it on road and track and a suspension specialist should be able to give you a decent setup. Then if you feel you need to, have a play with the compression and rebound adjustment at the track to fine tune.
Maybe sell your current bike and buy a cheaper track bike (Brad's gsxr he mentioned in an earlier post is a perfect option) and then buy a cheaper bike for the road as well - hopefully with the funds of your bike you could stretch to 2 bikes - winter is approaching so you could bag a bargain or two.
A couple years ago I sold my 10 plate blade, then bought :- Cat C ZX7R £850 Akra exhaust, ohlins shock spare wheels for wets not slicks £680 2 bike erde trailer £375 Paddock stands and tyre warmers £150 And bought a mint 02 6000 miles road ZX7R for £2200 Total spend £4255 and enough money in the pocket to do one or two track days a month Have to say that was a good year and learnt a lot, both on the track and on the road.
Blade is ace on track - its been around long enough there are loads of spares. One option is a set of china clone bodywork 'just in case' - add engine cases, some good tyres and off you go. My 2008 has been on the Nurburgring, Donny, Cadwell, Oulton, Snett, Anglesey and Mallory without issue - However.... when a total numpty at Oulton wiped me out it was folk on here (And7rp2 ) who got the bike back on the road to get me home so there is that consideration 'if' it should go a bit pete tong
I use my 2010 Blade on road and track. All I do for trackdays is tape up the mirrors when I get there. My bike is pretty much standard apart from: Diamond adjustable rearsets Pirelli Rosso Corsa tyres (good fast road / track tyre)
Only takes a couple of mins to whip the mirrors off completely. First time I did it, I had to remove the windscreen to see what was going on, but once you know what's happening with the cables, you can slip them out the side, disconnect and then it's a 10mm socket or spanner to remove. You can also take out the headlight fuse and the stop/horn fuse by taking the seat off. And if you slip the battery up you can disconnect the tail light. I've got this down to about 5-10 mins!
I use my bike for road and track, I take off the tail tidy which gets rid if indicators too, take off mirrors and front indicators and put some covers over my lights, I used to go the whole hog and put a track fairing on but now I use a cheap Chinese one which stays on all the time I also have crash protection fitted for low sides and the bike set up for track regards suspension and gearing
