I haven't owned a dedicated track bike since my
2005 R6, which I bought pretty much four years ago to the date of this entry. I proceeded to do nothing but ride that bike at my utmost limit during that time, intent on learning and continually improving as a sport rider around a racetrack. I
fell, got
back on it, and just kept riding to learn and improve without too much particular regard for the bike other than keeping it in tip-top, running shape. I sold that bike nearly a year after I bought it, but not without leaving such an impression on me for being
an excellent learning tool for serious track riders. I really would've kept it longer, if I wasn't so intent on a consolidated garage, using one bike for street and track riding, which is what my 02 R1 has been doing in the last three years since I sold the R6.
Truth be told, I would've been fine continuing with my consolidated garage. However, without even taking into regard how much time and resource I've spent on my 02 R1 to turn it into my own personal superbike, the fact is that I was lucky (I've lost count of how many times I've been!) to pretty much escape my last crash on it relatively unscathed. When I picked the bike up that day and rode it to the pits, allowing me to thoroughly go over the bike to assess the damage I incurred, I didn't just let out a sigh of relief - I bellowed it out. I could not believe how lucky I was that after all that, I only needed to replace the fairing stay.
So while I had no qualms about riding the bike that very next weekend in my treasured TAAF street fairings around Laguna Seca at full-tilt, what happened that week only served to remind me that it was perhaps time to invest in a dedicated track bike again. Maybe I have been pushing it with my 02 R1 in the past three years, and it's only now come back to bite me, though only slight.
Well I'm not about to wait for the big one.
So here we are, and I've found myself a 2007 Yamaha R1. Non-repairable title from a parking tip-over after it was bumped off its kickstand by a car, breaking a tiny piece off of the steering lock insert, which is subsequentially a part of the whole frame. Insurance companies don't like it when the frame is touched in any shape or form, so it was written off as junk. This means it can never be registered for street use again. Perfect!
I also paid less for it than I did the 05 R6 four years ago, or my 02 R1 before this. And with less than 6k original miles, the irony is in how little this bike cost me, considering it's at least half a decade newer than the two former ones.
But I'm not complaining. :)
And in continuing to work with Z2 Trackdays, I already had a chance to give the bike the first shakedown to get acclimated with it.
Well, when I wasn't working, anyway.
