psajunk
Active member
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
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
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Great shot!
