considering a motard rental from Penguin...

[feralchimp]

Anyone rented one of the Penguin motards before? Only bikes I've ridden at Loudon have been an RS125 and a 600RR, so I'm worried I'll be even slower and less confident than usual due to the different geometry. I do ride a CRF250L on the street, and really f'ing love it, but I'm sure the power delivery / suspension / braking are night-and-day different on the KX.

I have a sneaking suspicion it'd be the most fun I've ever had on the track, way better setup than anything I've ridden before, and less fatiguing to ride.

[JettaJayGLS]

It is incredibly easy to ride a motard fast around Loudon. The learning curve is very short. Do it, it will be fun.

[feralchimp]

Signed up for 4/29. BRAAAAAP

[nhbubba]

I've ridden my DRZ there. Also no contest to a properly setup motard. But if fun is your goal, you can't go wrong.
Why worry about how "fast" you are? Do it for the funnuvit.

[feralchimp]

I just want to drag a knee before I turn 40. And then a whole bunch more knee thereafter.

[tls25rs]

I just want to drag a knee before I turn 40. And then a whole bunch more knee thereafter.

Just ensure that the dragging knee is not immediately followed by shoulder, back, head, ass repeat as necessary until stopping. Stop at the knee and things will be good.

[sdog30]

It's a stock bike with motard wheels, so not fully set up, but I was able to win 2.5 races with it the weekend I rented one, so I'm sure you'll be fine.

[carsick]

^ Rent to own, if I recall.

[sdog30]

^ Rent to own, if I recall.

Yeah, I was impressed.

Definitely not stock anymore, though.

[TheIglu]

Why not use the SV? Mine drags whatever I want at track days.

[carsick]

I just want to drag a knee before I turn 40.

I think the taller ride height and lower peg position of a motard make this harder to accomplish. Those who know better may correct me. I am certain you'll have fun though!

[sdog30]

If you didn't drag knee on a rs125, not sure you'll do it on the motard. Lol
I don't remember it being harder than the r6, although I have hit the pegs on the tard and had to start lifting my foot in 10.

[feralchimp]

The SV is very well setup parts wise (it was Chip's) but it needs some attention to the brakes before I'd take it to the track.

[feralchimp]

What the delta between the Penguin bikes and a 'proper' sumo setup? Just curious.

[nhbubba]

I agree that you're more likely to get a knee down on an SV. Motards are tall.

"Proper" is a very relative term. From my perspective proper just means not based on an overweight, underpowered street biased dual-sport. To others it likely means a 450+ high-perf MX machine with superbike multi-pot brakes and engine and suspension work, tuned to the moon. I argue there's a law of diminishing returns in here somewhere. Especially for a recreational track day type.

I was sure the penguin rentals had brake work done to them.

[Kurlon]

What the delta between the Penguin bikes and a 'proper' sumo setup? Just curious.

How big would you like the dent in your wallet to be?

[feralchimp]

Haha fair enough. I'd assume brakes and non-trivial suspension stuff, but do people go nuts with quick shifters or slipper clutches and whatnot, different triples etc? I can't imagine that stuff making *me* any quicker, but I'm sure those folks are out there.

[Kurlon]

Brakes - At a minimum a 310/320mm semi-floating rotor and adapter bracket for the OEM caliper. Full nutty is a replacement lower fork lug allowing for radial mount calipers without an adapter bracket, cast iron rotor. It's looking like for rd 1 I'll be on the minimal side here personally. I have a Brembo four pot radial caliper and bracket but I'm running into clearance issues between it and the spokes as well as the rotor buttons and the pads. There are ways of adapting but I don't want to mod anything just yet while I research my options so instead I'll be running a Honda CRF450 front caliper (better Nissan option than Yamaha opted for) on an adapter bracket with an EBC 320mm rotor.

Quick shifters - I don't know how many are in use in LRRS but they are absolutely used in Supermoto in general. I've been eying a setup but will get one for my FZR first. To give you an idea of how far you can go here, I know of people running full traction control in Europe...

Slipper clutches - Hells yes. Not required, but they don't hurt...

Different triples - This varies by bike as they all have different geometry, some will let you get away with stock offsets better than others but ultimately for road racing ala LRRS you want to consider them sooner rather than later. Not all of the aftermarket 'sumo' options are ideal either. In my case what's out there for Yamahas doesn't correct the geo fully so I've got a custom set.

Suspension - It's a race bike, if you're going to spend money on it, start here first.

That all said, you just wanna play at track days? Spoon some 'sportsman class' tires on your stock rims, leave the rest of the bike how it came out of the crate and go play. When you want to race at the pointy end of the pack, bring your wallet. Pick where you want to be in that spectrum and go from there.

[curiouser]

If you're looking for something easy to ride on the track and get a knee down, I'd recommend Penguin's Ninja 300. I rented it last September at Canaan Motorsports Park and had a blast. It was so easy to crank that thing over and feel stable. I had only done one track day on an F4i way back in 2007 before doing the Penguin day, didn't get close to having a knee down then. Fast forward to 2015 and I think I touched down by the end of the first session with the little Ninja and it was a piece of cake thereafter. It was easy to manage and inspired confidence so I could work on body position instead of trying to wrangle with the bike. Since you're already comfortable with the motard, that should be in line with your goals as well, but I had a great experience with the 300.

That bike (and the motards) did great as a tighter track like Canaan, but I'm not sure how it would be at Loudon, so maybe someone else can chime in on that. I'm hoping to get in on a Loudon or Canaan day this Spring with your old SV.

[sdog30]

The stock kx450f has 270mm brake in front, but definitely could feel a difference.

The most common set up is upgraded master, caliper and 320mm rotor with relocation bracket. Some change the triple to a different offset, others just drop their forks to change the geometry. Changing the valving or springs on the suspension would be a good idea. Some run a slipper clutch, but most at loudon that I know don't. I also don't know anyone running a quick shifter on their motard at loudon.

All that said, I ran a 1:22 for lap time on the rental with race tires on it. It's a very capable bike.

[feralchimp]

Ugh, turns out they're out of motards that day, so I'm probably going to rent a 300.

[Kurlon]

Wellll... crud. Still, you get to rip on someone else's bike for the day so it's still a win. 300s should be fun, roll speed baby, roll speed!

[feralchimp]

Yeah the 300 will still be wicked fun, and probably a better bike to improve on. Can't complain about a day at the track.

[PainfullySlow]

The 300s ARE fun and yes you can learn a ton from them. There will be tons of Penguin staff there for sure but if you have any specific questions feel free to look me up and I will see what I can do for you.