Running at the track require different maintenance?

[akira700]

So I think this year I ran about maybe 600 miles on the track
and near 4 grand in normal street commuting.

Does running at the track require a different maintenance schedule
than not running at the track? I'd guess buzzing around at 10-12 grand
takes abit of a toll after a awhile.

I think my Honda manual calls for throttle body sync at 16,000 miles.
I have about 8 grand on my bike so far.
What are things to get done if any ?

[daviid]

definitely a much shorter oil change cycle. also adjusting valves sooner would be good.

[RyanNicholson]

i dont think you'd have to worry about it too much with only 600mi on the track.

i dunno exactly about maintenance schedules and stuff specifically, but running the bike at higher RPMs doesn't take as much of a toll on the motor as you'd think (or so i've been told). I'm sure some of the more mechanically inclined guys will chime in with good advice, but i've got about 15k on my race bike and about 4k of that is on the track....all i've done is change the oil and filters pretty much and she runs great.

[RandyO]

the hardest service on an engine oil is short trips that do not fully warm the engine up

may be hard on the engine due to valve speed and piston speed but is not necessarily is not hard on the oil

[TTD]

I'm on my 4th Honda 600.

2 were solely used on the track and 2 were half and half.

I change oil and filter regularly, nothing else as far as engine stuff. Every time I checked the valves, they were right in spec.

Never had so much as a hiccup on any of the bikes motors or transmissions.

You are better off doing suspension stuff and regular greasing (swingarm bearings, steering head, etc).

[akira700]

Thanks folks...
So I'll not worry, and go change my oil.
Honda''s seem bullet proof anyway. At least my last one was.

[Paul_E_D]

High RPM, high load riding most certainly wears a motor out faster. Even faster than short trips. It just wears parts that are not part of regular street maintenance. Cranks flex a lot more, which wears the bearings at a much faster rate. Valves and guides wear faster. In fact, endurance race bikes (600s) are notorious for eating valve retainers.

There are more risks as well, like valve float, or spinning crank bearings on aggresive downshifts.

Anyway, I don't think a few trackdays per year has a huge effect, but it's foolish to think you're not shortening the life of the motor by revving it really high.

Oh, and to answer the question... You will use up brake pads, chains, sprockets, brake fluids and suspension fluids a lot faster doing trackday. Those are things I would inspect and replace much more often than the user manual suggests when doing a lot of trackdays...

[RandyO]

High RPM, high load riding most certainly wears a motor out faster. ..

wears the motor out faster yes, oil no, heaviest loads on oil are lugging/lower rpm. short trips even worse, moisture doesn't get evaporated off, oil deteriorates faster

[TTD]

While I agree that high RPM running wears engines out faster, I think the amount is negligible on a Track Day or even LRRS racing bike.

The track is fairly small, with lots of gear changes and moving up and down the tachometer. Totally different than a Daytona or other superfast tracks where you basically sit at max RPMs for long periods.

Now, if you were doing it daily, or even weekly, that might matter. But since most riders around here do it 10 to 20 days per year, I think most modern 4-stroke bikes don't need any special attention because of it.

[Paul_E_D]

Except motards!!!

[Ken C]

There is a proposed motard-based spec class. I can imagine the popping sounds now. And I don't mean backfiiring.

I imagine modern supersport bikes being quite capable of running hard on the track with little issue. They are designed for that purpose-- to a degree. I change my oil a bit more regularly than I would normally (about 2,500 miles), but not much. And I use synthetic-- good for motors, bad for the track if you spill.