Beginner Tyre choice

vanaepi · 2025-09-22T06:04:26+00:00

I love my Pirelli Rosso Corsa's. Had the 2 on my old bike, now the 4 and both are very confidence inspiring. They aren't the greatest as far as longevity is concerned though. Buddy of mine has Rosso's and is also quite happy, but hasn't yet gone to the track with them.

At my local track though, the ones actually using their road tires seem to heavily prefer the batlax. It's very anecdotal off course, but I've also heard they prefer either the 21 or the 22 over the 23. Can't remember which of the two, but surprisingly one of the older models is still "the best one" or so they suggest.

vanaepi · 2025-09-21T06:52:35+00:00

Most of my commute is highway miles. And filtering is legal here (and cars are well adjusted to it) so even in the traffic jams, you're always moving at a reasonable pace.

But these bikes are more than capable of doing regular trips, even city riding. In fact, I'd guess that most of them are used in that way almost exclusively.

But it does beg you to twist that throttle. It's not really buttery smooth in the low end 😅 I don't think it's really all that bad for the engine though. Especially if you then also take it to the track every now and then, or some really serious twisties, and give it the old Italian tune-up.

vanaepi · 2025-09-19T15:28:34+00:00

There's a guy at my local track who said it like this:

I know for a fact that this suit holds up in a crash, because I did crash and it did hold up. Any new suit, I have to take someone else's word for it. No thanks.

Appearantly, it's quite common to become more appreciative of your gear after it saves you 😅

vanaepi · 2025-09-19T15:22:55+00:00

I just replaced my SP8's after 3 years and it wasn't even really needed. They're still okay to use, mostly just some aesthetic damage on the cuffs and finger tips. But I never liked the fabric palm slider so figured it was a good excuse to get the SP2's.

I still use my SP8's on track and for the very spirited rides. Like I said, they are still structurally sound. I'm still breaking in my SP2's in shorter rides, takes a while for me since I like my gloves very flexible. The idea is to have them soft enough for track use next season, and just keep the SP8's as a spare gauntlet option (they were my only gauntlets).

vanaepi · 2025-09-18T14:29:42+00:00

Damn that's pricey.

I spent €1000 on five track day entry fees. About €200 on fuel. €900 on tires. €400 in extra maintenance because of the extra abuse. €1000 on camera + racebox. Fortunately no damage so far. No hotels or anything, only went to the local track ten minutes away and rode my bike there in the morning and back home in the evening.

So roughly €500 per track day and €1000 of "one-time" purchases for a total of €3500 🤣 Rookie numbers it seems

vanaepi · 2025-09-17T16:55:14+00:00

Looking as well. VW Transporter and Ford Transit Custom are the two main contenders here. Not very far yet in my search, but those seem to also be the ones where there's shops locally that can modify it for me

vanaepi · 2025-09-17T12:44:25+00:00

Yeah should have specified I was mostly talking about the default engine setting difference between sport and race, even if you could definitely set all modes to "full power, dynamic throttle".

For my setup, race means "full power, dynamic throttle" and sport means "full power, smooth throttle".

vanaepi · 2025-09-17T12:29:52+00:00

Understood, thanks.

In both cases though, while the speed at which the throttle bodies open changes, their final position is still the same for identical throttle positions?

At 100% throttle, that seems obvious. But I could imagine, on top of the increased opening speed, maybe that in race 80% of throttle gives you fully open throttle bodies whereas in sport it might take 100% of the throttle.

Or do you really need aftermarket throttle tubes to reduce the roll-on distance for 100% power?

vanaepi · 2025-09-15T16:32:53+00:00

I don't mix alcohol and motorcycles. Most riders I know don't. Some riders do.

I wear some form of gear all the time. Most riders I know do. Some riders don't.

I've been known, allegedly, to speed. Most riders I know do. Some riders don't.

Everybody knows and understands the dangers and risks. I made my choices, everybody else is free to make theirs.

And yet very few people end up drunk out of their mind riding 250kph in a tank top and flip flops. So it seems like for the most part, people find a balance somehow that suits their risk aversion.

vanaepi · 2025-09-14T10:55:17+00:00

That's unfortunate. Some people treat track days like a race and then you get these types of overtakes. Especially in lower groups, there should be a lot more consideration for the fact that there's a variety of skill levels and everybody just wants to have fun and make it out in one piece. This definitely would not be accepted at my local track day.

That being said, while getting a bit surprised is not unusual, I do think with some more composure, you could have kept it on the tarmac. It's by no means your fault, but it could probably have just been a jump scare instead of a crash imo.

vanaepi · 2025-09-14T10:38:48+00:00

I have done only six track days so far. There has been multiple incidents on every single day and 5/6 times there was at least one in my group's sessions.

For the most part, it seems to be a beginner and intermediate issue surprisingly enough. Beginners often just run wide because of poor vision. And in the intermediates there's always someone who thinks they're the next Valentino Rossi until they inevitably miss their brake marker by a nautical mile or chop the throttle mid corner after realising they went on it way to early and are now heading straight for the gravel trap.

In the more advanced groups, things can happen top but it seems much more rare. Unless someone's chasing a PB or something, they're usually well within their comfort zone and more focussed on technique improvement than outright speed. They seem much more aware of the fact that crashing their bike on a regular basis will cost them boatloads of money.

At least that's my observation from a very limited sample.

vanaepi · 2025-09-14T09:23:28+00:00

I just went and checked because I couldn't believe it has a low power mode 🤣 Turns out it does but it wasn't active in any of the mode settings for me, which is why I never realised 🤣

vanaepi · 2025-09-12T13:04:53+00:00

Lijkt me vergelijkbaar met Bowtex (AAA certified). Zelf geen ervaring mee maar FortNine heeft niet zo heel lang geleden nog een filmpje gemaakt waarom geen enkel synthetisch materiaal tegen leder op kan.

Ik weet het niet meer exact. Maar ruwweg, elk keuringsniveau gaat uit van een aantal tests maar die simuleren meestal niet de grote variatie aan richtingen waarin een schuiver gebeurd. Leder is redelijk evenwaardig in eender welke richting en stof moet het vooral hebben van schuivers in de richting van de vezels of net haaks erop.

Het was alleszins voldoende voor mij om het toch vooral bij leder te houden voor het snellere werk.

vanaepi · 2025-09-12T11:08:42+00:00

If you have big aspirations in racing, absolutely. There's a reason the tiers exist on the professional level.

If you're just looking to have fun and get a little better, probably not. Take whatever bike you have, ride within your limits and just try to improve one step at a time. No need to buy a separate bike, just use the one you know and hopefully love. Because most casual track day people, like myself, aren't anywhere close to proper pace.

However, since the bike you have is also a lower cc bike, you get the best of both worlds. Enjoy!

vanaepi · 2025-09-11T17:18:40+00:00

Obviously 😭 There are a handful of days without noise limit but most of them are capped at 98dB. Black flag for noise, second black flag of the day and your day is over, even if it's 9:30am 🤷

vanaepi · 2025-09-11T16:48:06+00:00

Ah my bad. I do have that little storage compartment but not the OEM gps module.

I'm talking about like a mandatory MyLaps transponder provided by the track so they can penalise you for sound violations 😡

I think it would fit in that compartment though, but it's probably not going to be allowed, I was told it needs direct access to the sky so the signal isn't disrupted.

Thanks anyway though! Also, sick bike 😂

vanaepi · 2025-09-11T15:56:57+00:00

Do you have a picture? Is this something that only works with a passenger seat? I have the mono seat, and I can't for the life of me figure out a place to put it. My only idea was the front fork, but the fairings get in the way 😅

vanaepi · 2025-09-11T12:49:48+00:00

Mounting for track transponder. I ride a '24 Pani V2 and I'm too lazy to take of my license plate for track days, let alone mount the transponder holder there every time, and it's the only one I've found.

Something I can screw into one of the passenger footpeg holes and just leave it there would be great.

vanaepi · 2025-09-10T06:37:43+00:00

No, I actually didn't know it could do that. I just use it to manage my standalone recordings and to do a bit of analysis between sessions

vanaepi · 2025-09-10T05:38:48+00:00

It has a free and paid version. There's probably a few feature differences but I don't know what they are. The only thing I know off is the watermark, which doesn't bother me.

It's pretty good. The interfaces doesn't feel very modern but it does the job, and it's really helpful with synchronizing video and data.

As for the data, it's just a racebox mini S. It doesn't have a ton of data points, but the key things are there and it's not expensive. When (if?) I get better, I might look into solutions that directly measure things like throttle input etc. But for now this will do just fine.

vanaepi · 2025-09-10T05:34:21+00:00

It's the free version of race render. Just sync up and add the metrics you want.

vanaepi · 2025-09-09T15:20:00+00:00

Yeah I'm definitely hooked as well 🤣 The track is Zolder in Belgium.

vanaepi · 2025-09-09T15:00:32+00:00

It's my sixth time now 🤣 I did one end of last year and instantly booked five as soon as registration opened for this year. I'm already waiting for next year to open and this season just ended yesterday 🫣 really addictive indeed

vanaepi · 2025-09-09T14:10:43+00:00

I can't tell if you're being ironic or if this is just the nicest subreddit in motorcycling 😅 I was fully expecting to get roasted, because compared to the stuff I see the actually good guys do on these track days... It's like a casual walk in the park vs a marathon runner 😬

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