FJR Track Day

One of the main reasons I switched from my V-Star to the FJR was to join my friends on their occasional track day events.

I've been hanging with the Windy City Buell Group for several years, and have always wanted to try a track day with them. Memorial Day 2015 was my day.

Sportbike Track Time organized the event at Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, Illinois. The track can be configured as North Course, South Course, or Full Course. Monday's event was the full, 3-1/2 mile, 19 turn track.

STT runs Novice, Intermediate, and Advanced classes with each having 20 minute sessions every hour. Novice includes a few classroom sessions in the a.m. and riders are further broken down into groups of 5-6 with an individual coach.

I prepped the bike by removing the mirrors, windshield, center stand, and reflectors plus painter's tape over all lights. The Michelin techs at the event recommended running my PR4's at 30 p.s.i. front and rear.

Our first run experienced a downpour for the full run. We ran a pretty slow pace (less than 50 mph max.) for 2-3 laps to sight the track.

Second run was raining again, but pace picked up slightly.

Third run, more rain, started to get a little bit of lean in the corners, PR4's are very good even in puddles. You can feel a bit of slip on tar patches, but it's not unsettling.

After lunch, the sun came out, the wind picked up and the Int. and Adv. groups started putting down some good speed. These factors led to a good amount of pavement drying before our first p.m. run.

We started picking up the pace quite a bit, with our coach leading along the preferred/race line. As the corner speeds increased it became necessary to start hanging off the bike. I'm much better at hanging left than right, likely due to a bad right knee and left wrist full of titanium (old work injury)

Even at my maximum hang, I occasionally touched the pegs to the pavement. It's a sound that can be startling, but I'm very used to it from my years of aggressively riding my V-Star. Only now on the FJR, a heck of lot more fun can be had before the sparks fly.

It takes a pretty good effort to get the big Yammy around the corners, but it is VERY capable and smooth as I consistently matched or surpassed the speeds of the rest of the Buellies.

I had a couple off-road excursions on tight right-handers where I didn't get far enough off the seat before hitting the turn. Touching the peg down and realizing I couldn't complete the exit required a quick sit-up and ride into the grass. Once traffic passed, I was able to jump back on the track and continue.

To wrap things up; This bike is everything I had hoped. The performance is incredible, the PR4's are a great match. STT and ACC make a great event. And track days are extremely fun.

Here's a video of my first p.m. run, It was red-flagged after 1-1/2 laps due to a wreck somewhere. https://vimeo.com/128947144

The sixth/last run of the day video I'm still working on. I was really impressed with the max. corner speeds I was able to acheive.

mj

Woo-hoo! Track days are fun, ain' they! My first one was a couple of years ago on my FJR. I'll never forget it. Very tentative at first, wild man at the end.

Here's my glory shot from my first track day. Yes, the FJR is quite capable.



I have done two more since then, my last being two weekends ago. Did that one on my FZ-8. Quite a bit different than the FJR.

I had my 04 at Sears Point raceway some years ago. Tire pressure is about what we ran on Pilot Roads(the first ones)in wet and dry like you did. Had a ball but to be honest she's a bit piggy for the track. I had a FZ6 and a very fast FZ1 that were really fun to rip around on the track. My 990 isn't as quick as inline 4's but the Brembos allow me to reel them in at the corners. Track days are a blast and help learn what your bike really can do, glad to hear you had some fun!.

That looks like a huge amount of fun. Thanks for the video!!

SkooterG said:

Woo-hoo! Track days are fun, ain' they! My first one was a couple of years ago on my FJR. I'll never forget it. Very tentative at first, wild man at the end.

Here's my glory shot from my first track day. Yes, the FJR is quite capable.

I have done two more since then, my last being two weekends ago. Did that one on my FZ-8. Quite a bit different than the FJR.

Click to expand...

Nice shot! However I prefer a bit lighter bike than FJR for the track:

Our instructor was on the BMW RR. Nice ride.

It's cool to see the instructors with their left hand on their knee, looking backwards as we all follow him through the corners. You can tell they love their "job", and make it look effortless.

Great video!

I'd like to try that one day, but not on the FJR. Rather, on a mechanically sound 600cc sportbike with stupid sticky tires, 3 sets of frame sliders, and a decent amount of rash on it already.

Nice, thanks for sharing!

Skoot; U looking pretty focused! Great shot!

Awesome video!!!!!!

hppants said:

I'd like to try that one day, but not on the FJR. Rather, on a mechanically sound 600cc sportbike with stupid sticky tires, 3 sets of frame sliders, and a decent amount of rash on it already.

Click to expand...

You can borrow my SV650 (my avatar). It meets your qualifications (especially after my last two high speed getoffs).

I did a track day on my FJR two years ago. Not 'piggish' at all running 36 psi in the BT-023GT's. The 30 psi is to blame for that and not necessary to be that low (unless you like to muscle it around).

900gc said:

I did a track day on my FJR two years ago. Not 'piggish' at all running 36 psi in the BT-023GT's. The 30 psi is to blame for that and not necessary to be that low (unless you like to muscle it around).

Click to expand...

30 p.s.i sounded very low to me, but the Michelin tech said if I went higher "I'd be sorry"

Being as it was my first track day, with a no-rash bike, I decided to take them at their word.

When I go again (not IF, I'm already hooked) I may run a few different pressures to see how it differs.

The SV650 has always intrigued me. I've not ridden one, but I've ridden a day in the mountains with a capable rider on one and I can attest that the torque on that bike is more than sufficient to get the job done. It seems like the frame/chassis is a bit larger than a typical mid-sized bike (certainly a sport bike), and as a 6 footer, that would appeal to me too. I've got an acquaintence here in my home town that races a SV650. He's done hardly nothing to it as the class he rides in will allow very few modifications. I'd guess he's been racing that bike 5 or 6 years now. Still going strong...

I don't know if a track day is a bucket list item, but I'm interested in it.

Took my AE to Ridge Motorsports Park In Shelton Wa. last year with some guys that had dedicated track bikes, custom trailers, feckin tire warmers, etc. I rode mine there and home so i wasn't planning to go all out on the track. Maybe 7/10th would be OK. I also had my suspension dialed in recently and was looking forward to see what it could do for me on the track.

Got right back to where i was last time i did a track day a few years earlier in terms of getting comfortable and smooth, then started to dial it up to around 7 or 8/10th by the 1st afternoon session. The fast guy of our group blew by me on the straight mainly because i'm not interested in setting a speed record on the straight. I like to tear it up in the corners and usually when i get to the straight i pull over and let anyone go by if they were behind me.

The fast guy had a lap timer device and would come back in and plug it into his laptop and check out his lap times after each session. It also has an accelerometer built in that shows you how smooth you are in terms of braking and cornering, etc. He let me use it for the last session. When I came back in he plugged it in. I asked him what he had been running for lap times and he said 2:10s on avg. On a ZX100 track bike with race slicks and so on. Then he looks at my times and says not bad, your running a steady 2:12. I thought that wasn't bad for someone that hasn't been on this track before compared to someone that does 8-10 track days a year.

Can't wait to gt back on the track.