Motorcycle Track Day: Prep and Action
The last time I took the good ol' CBR to the track was somewhere around eight years ago. A group of friends were going to Autoclub Speedway and they had space available in the trailer, so I decided I needed to shake off the rust and get back on track. However, before hitting up the track, a couple upgrades were required.
I’ve had my 2005 CBR 600RR since the beginning of 2007. I took it to a couple track days at Buttonwillow in 2008, but hadn’t been back to the track since on the bike. It’s only been work commuting and the occasional canyon ride. As much fun as Project S2000 is on the track, it’s still not nearly as fun as taking the CBR on track.
Just like cars, there’s no bigger asset than sticky rubber. Off go the wheels to get the new rubber mounted.
The old tires were Michelin Pilot Power 2CTs. The new tires are Pirelli Diablo Supercorsa SPs. These are a fully street legal tire, but there’s not much tread on it. On the shoulders, there’s no tread at all for maximum cornering grip.
The front Pirelli similarly devoid of tread on the shoulders for maximum grip.
With the rear wheel off, it was a good time to clean up the rear swingarm.
Shell Rotella is really popular among the motorcycle track day crowd. It’s fully synthetic heavy duty diesel oil; so it probably has some extra anti-wear additives not found in typical oil for gasoline because the additives can reduce catalyst life. A 4-quart jug is typically around $27 which is cheap. But I got it on sale for $18, score! My buddy had an extra Super Tech oil filter that he gave me. He has a 2005 CBR track bike and has been riding on the track for around 20 years on various road and dirt bikes. It works for him, so it’s good enough for me.
