So I’m 47 years old 6’5 260lbs and would love to learn to ride track. Hopefully I’m not to old to learn. No desire to race just do track days. I live in Southern Utah so Las Vegas would be the closest track to me. I actually work for the Fire Department in LA County stationed in Lancaster which is basically where Willow Springs is so I have track options. I’ve never really ridden a track unless you consider riding the corkscrew at Laguna Seca once while working the Amgen Tour of California. Haha. But in all fairness I wasn’t going fast and was only one the track for a short section of it. But ever since then I’ve had a desire to learn to ride track.
I’ve been riding for over 30 years. First bike was an 87 Honda Hurricane then a 90 GSXR 750 and also a 92 GSXR 600. Loved riding sport bikes back in the day but it’s been along time.
For the last 20 plus years I’ve been on more sport touring bikes like FJR’s and BMW Rt’s etc or Adventure style bikes like BMW GSA or Yamaha Super Tenere. I still ride a ton probably 20k miles per year as I’ll often do my 360 mile commute riding my bike to work but that doesn’t mean I can ride track. I feel like learning track would help me immensely in my bike handling skills that despite years and years of riding I’m sure I lack. I feel like I’m a decent rider but I’m sure on a track it would be an entirely different animal.
I guess my question would be at my size what would be a good track bike for me? I’m not super excited about using my BMW GSA for a track day since it would be a slow pig on a track so I would like to find something for maybe around $5k or under that I could use on the track and also let my 16 year old learn on also. But not sure if that’s a good idea or not. He’s a decent dirt bike rider and has been riding dirt bikes since 5 years old and would love for him to learn track also. But there is a huge weight difference between him and I like 120lbs difference so that’s probably not going to work. I’ve been thinking of buying him like a Ninja 300 to learn to ride street on. Seems like that would be a pretty mellow starter street bike for him.
So just curious what a good starter track bike would be for an old tall fat guy to learn and have fun on would be?
Also would it be best to start with something like the California superbike school? I definitely don’t want to show up at a track and just ride. I want to have instruction and learn how and to ride properly.
Any help appreciated.
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I’ve been riding for over 30 years. First bike was an 87 Honda Hurricane then a 90 GSXR 750 and also a 92 GSXR 600. Loved riding sport bikes back in the day but it’s been along time.
For the last 20 plus years I’ve been on more sport touring bikes like FJR’s and BMW Rt’s etc or Adventure style bikes like BMW GSA or Yamaha Super Tenere. I still ride a ton probably 20k miles per year as I’ll often do my 360 mile commute riding my bike to work but that doesn’t mean I can ride track. I feel like learning track would help me immensely in my bike handling skills that despite years and years of riding I’m sure I lack. I feel like I’m a decent rider but I’m sure on a track it would be an entirely different animal.
I guess my question would be at my size what would be a good track bike for me? I’m not super excited about using my BMW GSA for a track day since it would be a slow pig on a track so I would like to find something for maybe around $5k or under that I could use on the track and also let my 16 year old learn on also. But not sure if that’s a good idea or not. He’s a decent dirt bike rider and has been riding dirt bikes since 5 years old and would love for him to learn track also. But there is a huge weight difference between him and I like 120lbs difference so that’s probably not going to work. I’ve been thinking of buying him like a Ninja 300 to learn to ride street on. Seems like that would be a pretty mellow starter street bike for him.
So just curious what a good starter track bike would be for an old tall fat guy to learn and have fun on would be?
Also would it be best to start with something like the California superbike school? I definitely don’t want to show up at a track and just ride. I want to have instruction and learn how and to ride properly.
Any help appreciated.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk