leppard Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 I am taking my aircooled rd350 to the track in the coming weeknd, its a stock bike with absolutely no mods, am wondering whether to leave it as it is or go ahead with mods like clip ons and stuff, I can't fit in a rear set for the bike with the present time available,so putting in a set of clip ons wud make a difference or not, do let me know on the pros and cons of this, this is my first post here and do let me know if I am outta my line with this request here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Kane Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 Adrian, Your post doesn't say if you are going to a track day or a track school but my response will be similar regardless. If the stock set up of your rd350 is how you intend to ride your bike after your track day, then my recommendation would be to leave it alone. If you plan on getting into track riding, however then I would pursue the mods because it will be "easier" if you and your bike are in track trim. The first mod, the one that would be the single biggest mod you can make and the one that will have the greatest return on investment - is training. As a student of multiple Superbike Schools, I can offer the observation that students do not need track ready sport bikes to learn and benefit from attending this school. I have seen bone stock Harleys Davidsons and BMW touring bikes with their bags freshly removed in the paddock more than once and those riders did very well. The key is that the skill sets they were taught were fully transferable to suit their motorcycle of choice. Good luck with your track day. Let us know how it went. Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike kromjong Posted February 20, 2006 Report Share Posted February 20, 2006 Adrian, If i were to go to the track on a RD350, wich can't be a very new bike, some questions come to mind. Questions that are mostly suspension releated, like has the fork ever been checked, the oil ever changed, is the shock in good working order? Things like that. Because if your going a lot faster around the track then your used to on the road, then the suspension has to perform equally better. And you don't want to be forced into modifying your RD because it's not in one piece anymore. It's not my intention to dramatize, but thinking before you leap never hurts. And now, to answer your initial question; i agree with Kevin, leave it alone for now. Hope this helps Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leppard Posted February 21, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Apologies, I should have given a little more brief, well am from India and there really isn't much of a track school around here, most of the folks go through links and material available from gurus like kieth on the internet and friends who do track days abroad,trying to grasp the science of riding through these sources, might not be the right way but we really dont have much options. As for the bike , its an everyday use bike and sees a a lot of miles basically through touring and commute, the forks and suspension are in top order and goes through regular checkups.... As for the track its a pretty tight circuit with lots of sharp left and right handers in sequence, small bikes like yams of 125 two strokes do very good times here as compared to the big bikes like the 600 and 1000, hope this gives some perspective as to my requirement. As for me I have done some track days before namely three times and its been always on small 125cc two strokes, dont find them very comfortable as I am not a small guy and feel very cramped in them, so the switch to the rd350, trying to put together the best possible setup with the focus being on fun and improving myself as a rider. Any more tips from the gurus here will be more than helpful. adrian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Kane Posted February 21, 2006 Report Share Posted February 21, 2006 Adrian, Check out this link from Motorcyclist. Maybe there will be some ideas here but if nothing else, it illustrates the stature of the RD350 in Yamaha's impressive racing history. Bikes of the 70's Yamaha RD350 Back to the question of modifications, if you are going to continue to use it as you described and if your previous track rides were uncomfortable because you felt cramped, then my earlier advice on leaving it stock remains the same. BTW, I do not find my track bike comfortable - at all. But in that environment, it handles incredibly well and I am never on it for more than 20 to 30 minutes at a time so comfort never is an issue. I would not want to ride it as a comuter/touring bike. Kevin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leppard Posted February 22, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 22, 2006 Thanks for the advise folks, have a clear idea on the way to move forward ,will give you all a feedback on the trackday next week. Thanks again. Adrian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leppard Posted February 27, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2006 Hello Folks, Had an awesome weeekend, got some of the techniques right, I was able to better my lap times by 6 secs, lot of work had gone into setting up the bike and it was quite fast, not to mention all the awesome material on this board, looking forward to my next track day, it keeps getting better and better . adrian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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