Hello all,
New poster here. Signed up for a 2-day course in Vegas in April, and I'm really looking forward to it. I've ridden for quite a number of years on the street, but am pretty new to high performance superbikes and track riding. I've mostly ridden sport-tourers. Last year I bought an Aprilia RSV1000R Factory and I've put a few thousand miles on it. My other bike is a BMW K1200RS sport-tourer that I generally ride year-round.
As the title suggests, I did a test ride on a S1000RR today. I managed to get the very first demo ride at our local dealer in Seattle. They had just broken it in and it had a slim 70mi on the clock. An impressive bike. As I said when I got off the bike, "Wow, they really nailed this one". Those crazy Germans managed to take what is essentially a standard modern liter bike design and make it their own. The ABS is great for street riding and a testament to their years of experience in that area. I wasn't able to get any "real" cornering in, so I can't comment much on the handling of the bike in more extreme circumstances. But I take the word of many of the reviews I've read on that subject -- the bike performs. I've read about the handling and power of the bike, so I wasn't exactly surprised on those fronts. The power is very usable and throttle response was excellent. The fit and finish is also excellent -- it's a BMW, no real surprise there. The main thing that surprised me was the ergos and the handling at freeway speeds. I expected it to be a lot rougher, and it was impressively smooth. It was far more comfortable than I expected. My overall takeaway from the bike was this -- my Aprilia is a bike that you must order it to do something, and it will submit with incredible precision. The S1RR is a bike that seems to want to do your bidding. Really looking forward to riding it on the track.
So, as I said, I'm doing a 2-day class in April. I'm a pretty experienced street rider, but I've never done any track work. Even with the Seattle weather I'll probably still get some time on my RSV before April comes. Any suggestions on prep work I can do before the class? I'd like to get as much out of it as I can, since I'll be flying to Vegas. Buy the books and videos? Any other suggestions? It might even be possible for me to squeeze in a track day up here before April.
Edit: Annnnnd I just saw there's a forum for "new to the forum" posts... so a Mod is free to move this one there.