Free Practice on a Race Track

[Django]

Hi CB Lovers,

last Thursday I took my CB for a day to the race track. It was a whole day free practice event at Anneau du Rhin, France. I were there with a group of my Beemer friends. Our group and participation was organized by myself.

The CB1100 is definitely not the first motorcycle, which comes to your mind, when you want to go to a race track. But then, I was really curious about how the CB1100 performs, especially compared to my old BMW K1100RS (R.I.P.), which I took to the track once a year the last 4 years.

However, goal was not, to compete, but to become acquainted to this motorcycle at the limits.


CB1100 in race dress (not shiny, I had to ride 300 km in the rain the day before)

Result:

Because of bad ground clearance you can't lean very much in curves. Speed of my K in curves was higher, more room to lean. I put the suspension to the hardest point front and rear. However, it's not for sport, but for comfort.

I removed the feelers from the pegs already some time ago. Then I figured out, that the alu pegs would get eaten up from the road really fast and I mounted very short feelers from another Honda model. I brought them easily to the ground. The heads of the feelers were already gone after that one day on the track.

However, the chassis of the CB was very stable in the curves, felt better than my K. The chassis says 'give me more', while the pegs say 'no more please'.

Every round at the back straight I reached the speed limit. Then braking down heavily before the next curve made the fork instable. I guess, a fork stabilizer could help. However, I think, it's not necessary for usage outside the track.

The breaks are better than those of my (20 year old) K. Compared to my friends on the older Ks, I could brake later and harder before the curves and temporize some time. However, in competition to my friends I couldn't keep up in curve speed and acceleration, driven only by 90 hp. Also I couldn't compensate this handicap by better riding capabilities.

Anyway, that day with a CB1100 on a race track was really fun! Now I know some more, what I can expect of my motorcycle and I got some training and confidence for extreme situations, if they should happen there out in the wild traffic. I did this training not, to be able to race in traffic, but to figure out the limits, to have some buffer, when I was in hot water at the road.

Here are some pictures from my camera: [url=http://www.1a-software.de/~rsz/bilder/150830_Anneau_du_Rhin/]http://www.1a-software.de/~rsz/bilder/150830_Anneau_du_Rhin/

 

[EGAlvarez_imp]

Sounds like a great day! I don't see any chicken strips on those tires! Awesome!

 

[Django]

Here are pics from the track photographer.

 

[Offroad]

Great pictures! Track Photographer pictures really show you reaching the limit of the lean....good job!

 

[grover_imp]

Cool shots Django!! You make it look easy!

Sounds like you're ready for some more aggressive rearsets and some suspension upgrades!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Pterodactyl_imp]

^^^^^^ +1.

cheers

 

[Cormanus]

Great shots from the track photographer, Django. Must have been good fun. And educational.

 

[Ulvetanna_imp]

the ideal perspective, the ideal track day, the ideal goals for the day

i am surprised at the amount of lean the bike appears to be able to achieve, it looks like close to 45 degrees with the shocks set all the way stiff

track is much safer than the street, people worry about other riders being too fast, a rider passing you on the track will likely have a speed differential of 10-20 mph

what is the speed differential of oncoming traffic on a two-lane road with a posted limit of 100 kph...yes that is 200 kph so if the oncoming driver drifts into you, you have a 200 kph collision

no ambulance
no corner workers

any bike can be taken on a closed course for training, i know someone who took a sportster low and was dragging pegs every corner but learned a lot

 

[Rolls_imp]

Great day at the track, Django! You're definitely getting some lean out of the old girl from the track photographer's shots, and your own photos of the tires. Looked like very nice weather, too. Glad you had fun and thanks for sharing! Cheers!!