What makes a track bike a track bike?

[AlphaOne]

I know it's a big question but if some one could pm me guidelines or something that would be really cool. Because I will hopefully be building a race bike once i get my street one paid off, and need the knowledge.

[UglyDogRacing]

Dented in tank, bent frame, roadrashed bodywork, blown motor.... :lol:

[rybo]

A great place to start is the MRA rule book which can be found on their website mra-racing.org

Basically- remove lights and glass, safety wire critical bits or parts that can leak slippery fluid, install a steering damper. Those are the starting point, you can of course get much more fancy with the removal of the stator and charging system, flatslide carbs etc......

Have fun!

Scott

[Bueller]

Here is one ready to go on the track and almost race legal. :D

http://www.cosportbikeclub.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=11754

[Anonymous]

I think the answer depends on where you plan on riding it. Here in CO, we're pretty lucky that some tracks aren't very strict on bike prep. This is true for SCR (which probably won't be around past the beginning of November :cry: ) and IMI. I'm not sure about (street bikes at) CDR or Pueblo (or any other tracks).

In my opinion, the raw definition of a track bike is something you're not going to be worried about crashing (while at the track).

The first thing you should do is get the suspension set-up for you. Then, you'll probably want to install a steering damper (if your bike doesn't already have one) - when you do this is up to you though - when I first started track riding (on my R1), I didn't feel that I needed a damper, but as I got faster, I could see where it would have been useful (I stopped riding the R1 on the track when I bought a race-ready R6 which had a steering damper).

As far as safety prepping the bike, I'll try and list these in order of ease:

1. Tape over or remove all lights (yes, even the plastic ones) and mirrors. If you remove your headlights, you should cover the hole(s) with tape so it doesn't affect the bike's aerodynamics. If you cover them with tape, make sure you disconnect them first, so the glue doesn't get baked on.

2. Change out your anti-freeze for plain water (or mixed with Water Wetter). Anti-freeze is slippery and doesn't evaporate well (or fast - can't remember which).

3. Have a belly-pan that will hold fluid. Race bodywork already has this taken care of. OEM belly pans have holes in them, usually for the exhaust. In a pinch, an aluminum turkey pan can be fastened to the bottom of your engine in case you start leaking oil. If you're handy with fiberglass, you can try and modify your OEM one (but be careful since there will be a lot of heat near them from your exhaust).

4. Safety wire. Drilling the bolts is the hard part. Doing the actual wiring is easy. Always safety-wire a bolt to another bolt(s). Some things to safety-wire: Brake caliper bolts; front axle & pinch-bolts; radiator cap; oil filter (put a hose-clamp around the filter and safetywhire the clamp to the bike); oil drain plug; oil filler cap; dipstick (if your bike has one); and rear axle. I think I covered most of them, but refer to the MRA Rulebook for a complete list of things to safety-wire. If you can, get somebody with safety-wiring experience to help you out the first time (even drilling your bolts). Just ask - I'm sure there are plenty of racers here that would be willing to help in exchange for beer! :lol:

5? If you've done this much, you're probably ready to take a race class with the MRA (you'll need a damper to participate in the mock race at the end of the class), put number plates on the bike, and go racing! :D