| Author | Message | ||
     1324 |
I just did my first trackday a couple days ago and fell in love, what a blast! At any rate, my question for all of you is about controls. I've read good reviews of crossroads bars, but was wondering how they are for track duty. While the bike handled great, I'd like to improve my form and I feel weird with my arms so high and close to my chest. I guess I'm still used to my old seating position on my Suzuki. Any comments/insight/recommendations as far as bars? Also, I scraped my pegs a couple of times and was wondering if people have found the Firebolt pegs to help. Keep in mind that this bike is first and foremost a streetbike, I just want to re-orient it for occasional track duty as well. I recognize I may compromise some of the street comfort, but that's ok as long as its reasonable...and if it won't break the bank. I don't really need $500 rearsets at this time... Thanks in advance, Nick | ||
| Spatten1 |
I've read good reviews of crossroads bars, but was wondering how they are for track duty. I have zero degree Crossroads. They are perfect for track days. You can move around on the bike without pushing on the bars and upsetting the bike. Are your pegs scraping or your peg feelers? You should unscrew the peg feelers before getting anywhere near the track. I tried the Firebolt pegs and it was too cramped for me. I know other guys that are OK with the higher pegs. | ||
| 1324 |
Thanks for the insight. The scraping was happening with the feels on the pegs. To be honest, I forgot they were even on the pegs since I've only touched down once of twice on the road. What is your inseam? What seat are you using? My inseam is around 31 or so...but I can definitely feel some stress in my knees with even the stock pegs after some time. | ||
| Tank_bueller |
+1 on removing the peg feelers. Track officials and event staff sort of frown on dragging bike parts if it can be avoided(ask me how I know  ) I went for the LSL pegs and the 1" drop mounts sold by American Sport Bike. Very nice pieces. As for the bars, I use the stock setup, but I'm just a short f-er. Sorry, no help here. | ||
| Gentleman_jon |
Probably the most important thing if you want to spend some time on the track is to upgrade your suspension and tires. This is more important than any engine work. There are several different steps that most people go through. 1. Switch from stock tires to top of the line sport tires, such as Dunlop Qualifiers, ( which I use) Pirelli Diable Corsa III, Michelin 2CT. This is an absolute must. 2. Set your suspension according to the Shawn Higbee agressive settings, see knowledge vault on this site. 3. Fit competition springs, and revalve your shocks. This is slightly complicated by owning an 2003 bike as Buell no longer supplies springs for the front fork, but any suspension specialist can do the job. I used Trackside Engineering to do this. 4. Fit upgraded aftermarket shock and have the front forks rebuilt with competition valves and springs. 5. Fit Ohlins suspension from the Buell XBRR. If you weigh over 200 lbs. new springs are practically a necessity. | ||
| Spatten1 |
Inseam is 30". I need the lower (regular) lightning pegs on my lightning, if you know what I mean. I do have LSLs, but they are the stock height. With the feelers off my (stock) pegs I only drag in fast bumpy corners, and rarely at that. I'm talking 75mph corners that have bumps that send you into a two wheel drift. Crossroads zero degrees are the best mod I've made to the bike. | ||
| Chessm |
also if youre dragging parts...hang off more | ||
| Blackxb9 |
Keep dragging those pegs and they'll just call you Sparky. Now that your turning my first love into a track attacker it makes me want to head for the Poconos. Glad your enjoying the bike as much as I did Nick. Looks like I need to change my profile a bit since I only own 1 bike now. I wish I could change my name on this site too since it no longer applies. | ||
| 1324 |
Well, Shandon, track attacker might be more heavy duty that I intend, but I guess it all starts some place, right? Let me know if you want to hit the track, I don't need much of an excuse to go... As far as Gentleman_jon's recommendations: 1. I'm running Continental ContiForce front and rear. Not exactly full on track rubber, but not bad either. I'll be switching to either the Corsa III's or Pilot Powers when these are no longer salvagable. 2. Done. Much better than stock...yet, ironically, I think the stock settings were more finicky, something I didn't expect. 3/4/5. I was going to do the fork oil this winter when I have some down time and the mileage is already in the area of 9k anyway. I'd rather not spend money on a full race revalve yet, just because I'd rather spend my money honing my skills then hone the bike (at that level, anyway). I weigh in at about 200 lbs with full gear. Is this really too much for the stock suspension? I guess I'm not used to a good suspension (my old bike was a stock-suspended SV650), but it seems to handle pretty damn good. Any recommendations for spring swaps? Is that even feasible w/o a revalve? Also, what is everyone running as far as tire pressures? Reason I ask is because I usually run what the manual specifies (36F/38R), but ran lower pressures for the track and I noticed that the rubber would ball up when it heated up. I realize this is mostly normal, but the front balled up so much that now I have blobs of rubber stock to my thread that I need to scrape off. Is this an indication of too low tire pressures? I just ordered a track day handbook (K. Larson) from Amazon to add to my ever growing motorcycle library...hopefully this spells out some more details I'm sure to be overlooking. | ||
| Xbullet |
What is your inseam? What seat are you using? My inseam is around 31 or so...but I can definitely feel some stress in my knees with even the stock pegs after some time. i swear by firebolt pegs for more aggressive riding, and i put on 10K miles last year with firebolt pegs on my lightning. inseam -- 31 seat -- corbin gunfighter pegs -- firebolt bars -- firebolt top triple clamp on my lightning (similar to crossroads) if this makes any difference, sport riding/track days are just that. SPORT riding. it's an athletic thing, and there is gonna be pressure on joints (knees, elbows) and muscles. the higher pegs are less comfy sometimes, but it allows better positioning as far as getting off the bike, keeping it upright and allowing the suspension to do the work. Body lean is your friend.  | ||
| 1324 |
How do you like the Corbin seat? I was thinking of getting their lower profile one (the one without the big bulge in the pillion area). I was looking on American Sport Bike's site and it looks like they have billet replacement footpegs (firebolt position) for not too much money. Has anyone on here actually had the stock pegs break as American Sport Bike suggests the LSL pegs will prevent? The last thing in the world I want is to break a peg on the track and end up on my face. At this point, I'm pretty sure I'm either going to do the Crossroads or the Firbolt conversion, because I did prefer the position on the firebolt I test rode. | ||
| Xbullet |
i LOVE my corbin. lots of room to move. feels more like a sportbike than any of the lightning seats. The last thing in the world I want is to break a peg on the track and end up on my face. trust me...if you break a peg. you're already on your face. the buell brand pegs are designed to break. that way the impact is absorbed and nothing else bends or breaks. just take off the "curb feelers" and throw them away. it's a lot cheaper to replace pegs than it is rear sets or whatever the rear sets might be pushed into if neither the pegs or rear sets break. | ||
| Spatten1 |
I got the LSLs. There used to be plenty of threads about pegs breaking, usually when impacted from the side when pushing around the garage. I'm not taking any chances. I stand on the pegs all the time, so I ponied up for the LSLs. They are not cheap and it bums me out that I had to upgrade, but if one broke while I'm standing up it would be ugly. | ||
| Diablobrian |
I made my own billet pegs for the same reason. | ||
| 1324 |
Are the Buell Traction pegs made from billet? I vaguely remember that from somewhere. Although, I think the cost of the LSLs and the bases is still lower than the Traction pegs. It also looks like the LSL pegs/bases are at Firebolt height....or am I mistaken? |
