Track Day gearing?

[NZSpokes]

I have a track day coming up on Sunday and Im a little undecided on gearing.

Rear is stock 41. I have either a 15 or 17 for the front. On the front straight im just hitting 200kph. With the 15 on its just under 8000rpm in 6th. Would it be better with the 17 which would mean I could stay in 5th much longer if not the whole straight?

Or should I go get a 16?

[Miztaziggy]

I'm no expert, but I would have thought you're better with the 15 for quicker acceleration. If you stick on a 17, you'll be in 5th for longer, but you probably won't reach as high a speed. I guess it's not a very long straight if you're only getting to 200Kph?

I would always rather have the acceleration out of the corners than the top speed in the straights.

[popkat]

Quicker acceleration doesn't always mean you go faster, the firestorm has a lot of engine braking and if you go down on the front sprocket you'll get the back wheel locking changing down gears, I would run standard front sprocket and one tooth bigger than standard on the rear, in fact I have run that gearing and won races on it..

An example of gearing, on the Katana I raced last year at Lydden hill which is a short circuit I had to put a bigger from sprocket on, this meant the bike was geared for about 145mph, yet top speed of the small 1 mile circuit is way lower than that, but I was able to get the bike into turns much better and still have drive out, I was just using different gears.

For more radical gearing on a firestorm you'd need a slipper clutch, then you won't have the wheel locking problem, but I think you'll get on just fine on the gearing I said above.

[Varastorm]

What kind of track are you going too?

Is it a technical or high speed circuit?

I think the general consensus is you should be just off the limiter in top on the fastest section.

If you hit the limiter in top go up a tooth on the rear

If your a whole gear off, go down one on the front

The VTR isn't as fast on the straights as an IL4, you have to take advantage of the torque & blast out of the corners.

If you go with the wrong (lazy) gearing you will be so pissed off, I did the first time. Never again

For the road on my CBR 600 I use Std 16F 44R/ (Anglesey) Track 15F 47R (no good for the road though & easy to flip)

Anglesey is not so much of a high speed circuit so no need for tall gearing



Awesome place, note the Church on the island in the bottom right of the picture

[VTRDark]

Lovely pic that Vara

The real pro's will alter their gearing according to each circuit. I expect altering the gearing wont make much difference to most folk unless your at Popkats level where every spit second can make a difference.

(:-})

[Varastorm]

Lovely pic that Vara

Cheers Carl, its only 10 minutes away from me

The real pro's will alter their gearing according to each circuit.

That's why I was asking about the type of track, they all require different gearing to get the best out of a specific bike

I was asking so many questions to track day regulars before I eventually got my act together & bought a specific bike.

The same answer was always given to me about gearing though. Anglesey = 15F 47-48R for a 600cc IL4 though.

Other circuits will (should) have a similar (known ballpark) gearing setups.

Handy thing with the VTR/Varadero is that once you have decided on a specific track gearing setup you can remove the left hand peg to remove the endless chain without splitting it for when you put road gearing on

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This is how it panned out for me. 3 sessions in the morning, 3 in the afternoon. Bar any red flags.

First session, fab, why didn't I do this sooner. But how come are some guys are so much faster than me

Second session, you sneakily follow someone who is getting some track tutoring from a bibbed marshal (because I was too shy in the morning briefing to ask for myself )

Third session, you practice your newly learnt lines you've sneakily copied, It feels very wrong but you do go faster.

Dinner

Fourth session, you sus who is similar in capabilities & using your new found lines, you race everyone you come across. The hard work in the corners is undone though, because they're getting passed you on the straights. Strange thing is though, as they fly past, no amount of bashing the tank with my fist will make the bike go any faster

Fifth session, You take it to the next level. Pissed off because you know your faster than some but because of the (Lazy) gearing on the bike you have to succumb to a well known overtaking technique. The popular block pass manoeuvre, only used by those who've got the gearing wrong or want a fist fight in the pits

Sixth session, this is the one, you have total confidence in your bike, tyres, track lines your last time to show the doubters who is truly king of the novice session........

[NZSpokes]

Quicker acceleration doesn't always mean you go faster, the firestorm has a lot of engine braking and if you go down on the front sprocket you'll get the back wheel locking changing down gears, I would run standard front sprocket and one tooth bigger than standard on the rear, in fact I have run that gearing and won races on it..

An example of gearing, on the Katana I raced last year at Lydden hill which is a short circuit I had to put a bigger from sprocket on, this meant the bike was geared for about 145mph, yet top speed of the small 1 mile circuit is way lower than that, but I was able to get the bike into turns much better and still have drive out, I was just using different gears.

For more radical gearing on a firestorm you'd need a slipper clutch, then you won't have the wheel locking problem, but I think you'll get on just fine on the gearing I said above.

Cheers. I think I will grab a 16 and give that a shot. I dont tend to lock rears but have been caught out by engine braking. Im not racing, just a track day but would like to move up a group. I feel the bike could roll a bigger gearing out of turns. I find on the long turn on the track we run on its a bit choppy on the throttle in one gear and lazy in the next if that makes sense.

[NZSpokes]

Lovely pic that Vara

Cheers Carl, its only 10 minutes away from me

The real pro's will alter their gearing according to each circuit.

That's why I was asking about the type of track, they all require different gearing to get the best out of a specific bike

I was asking so many questions to track day regulars before I eventually got my act together & bought a specific bike.

The same answer was always given to me about gearing though. Anglesey = 15F 47-48R for a 600cc IL4 though.

Other circuits will (should) have a similar (known ballpark) gearing setups.

Handy thing with the VTR/Varadero is that once you have decided on a specific track gearing setup you can remove the left hand peg to remove the endless chain without splitting it for when you put road gearing on

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is how it panned out for me. 3 sessions in the morning, 3 in the afternoon. Bar any red flags.

First session, fab, why didn't I do this sooner. But how come are some guys are so much faster than me

Second session, you sneakily follow someone who is getting some track tutoring from a bibbed marshal (because I was too shy in the morning briefing to ask for myself )

Third session, you practice your newly learnt lines you've sneakily copied, It feels very wrong but you do go faster.

Dinner

Fourth session, you sus who is similar in capabilities & using your new found lines, you race everyone you come across. The hard work in the corners is undone though, because they're getting passed you on the straights. Strange thing is though, as they fly past, no amount of bashing the tank with my fist will make the bike go any faster

Fifth session, You take it to the next level. Pissed off because you know your faster than some but because of the (Lazy) gearing on the bike you have to succumb to a well known overtaking technique. The popular block pass manoeuvre, only used by those who've got the gearing wrong or want a fist fight in the pits

Sixth session, this is the one, you have total confidence in your bike, tyres, track lines your last time to show the doubters who is truly king of the novice session........

This vid is from a guy following me in the first session of my last track day.

Its has tight bits and fast bits. LOL

Yes ive been working a lot on body position since I saw this vid.

[Jamoi]

Quicker acceleration doesn't always mean you go faster

I found that out too, I like the stock gearing tbh

Oh and yep I defo need a slipper clutch or some practice letting the lever out slower under braking

[Varastorm]

Oh and yep I defo need a slipper clutch or some practice letting the lever out slower under braking

Recently I have been scouring the shed for various bike bits which I feel I wouldn't miss & with the cash getting a Sigma clutch.

Honda VTR1000F
Six ramps, wet type. Hard anodised in grey; Clutch centre only.
Uses standard clutch friction plates and springs

£580 plus VAT (Ref: 058)

No plates or springs included

[popkat]

£580 for what it does isn't expensive, a pair of scorpion cans cost more and don't give anywhere near the performance gain, if improving lap times is what your after, but I also think this would be a good mod on the road. as slipper clutches go it's towards the cheaper end. Most people want something that can be seen if they're spending that much money which maybe why some would see it as expensive.


I wonder if there were say 5 or 10 people interested in buying would they do a decent discount ?.

[Varastorm]

£580 for what it does isn't expensive

It is when you consider I've just been roaming around builders merchants bumming free/damaged rolls of loft insulation for exhaust packing

I can imagine if bought & fitted, when the time comes to sell the bike on just remove it & place it on eBay.

I recon you should get some of the money back for it

If I see a second hand one on eBay I will be paying it a lot of attention to it

[Jamoi]

You'd definitely recoup a large proportion of your initial outlay if you decided to sell the slipper clutch when changing bikes in the future.

If I wasn't buggering off, I'd 100% have a Sigma clutch in Blacky right now.

100% agree, it must give bigger gains in performance than many other things costing £600 (you've just got to ignore the fact you can buy another Storm for £600 )

I bet it feels flipping brilliant knocking down a couple of gears and letting it do its job

[NZSpokes]

A local mechanic has a CBR1000 slipper fitted to his Storm. Must find out how hard it was to do and cost.

[Varastorm]

A local mechanic has a CBR1000 slipper fitted to his Storm. Must find out how hard it was to do and cost.

Now that's sounds very interesting, any more info on that would be awesome

I'll look into this, as the weather is grim here to say the least

It states the 2008> model CBR1000 was fitted with one, this is what's said.

In order to improve stability under deceleration, a slipper clutch was added, with a center-cam-assist mechanism.