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Road to Racing: Prepping the bike

I’m pretty naive sometimes. I thought that getting a bike that was mostly fully set for racing up would solve the issue of having to prep the bike for me.

I was wrong.

Don’t get me wrong, it saved a ton of work and money, but more than a full day’s work had to be done with it.

I already knew that the suspension would be unacceptable for me- the previous owner was over two hundred pounds, I’m about one hundred forty pounds with my gear on. Gunther was purchased with Andreani fork internals and a Penske rear shock, so I made sure to take care of getting new springs right away. Conveniently, Jon knows somebody who does suspension! We gave Mike at GP Suspension all the necessary info, and he sent a box with a new rear spring and new front springs that are perfect for my weight. I went from not being able to even touch the ground on Gunther to being able to tippy-toe it, which is all I needed.

Jon and I set aside a day to change the suspension and make a list of anything else that would need to get done. He tackled the suspension issues first, then gave the bike such a thorough inspection that I’m pretty sure it feels violated.
I used the time to peel off the existing decals with a heat gun, because I’m helpful like that. And Jon is so fast and efficient that I normally get in his way as he hovers about the motorcycle, flitting from place to place like a hummingbird.


Since my Gunther was someone’s “B” bike, we figured out pretty quickly that bits and pieces here and there were cannibalized as needed. A small list was created, but overall there didn’t need to be many purchases. Some bolts had vibrated out and needed to be purchased, along with new handgrips. Mostly, we set about making sure that the bike was in race-ready condition: everything clean, tightened to spec, controls/suspension adjusted for my (smaller) body and lighter weight, and a complete fluids flush.

In the end, I think it came down to a little over twelve hours of labor done on my bike alone.

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Road to Racing: Getting the bike

While I’m brand new to racing, I’m not new to racetrack riding. There’s a fine difference: track days are not officially timed events, while races are. (Make sure your health insurance covers race events!)
I’ve done track days off and on for years, on different bikes, and I’ve learned that I have way more fun on the smaller displacement bikes than on the bigger ones. This is going to help my decision making, since there aren’t all that many modern smaller displacement bikes available for me to choose from.

Since I already made the decision to join the same race organization as my partner, I’m limited to what AHRMA specifies in its race classes.
Unfortunately, my current beat-to-hell 2009 Ninja 250r with +30K miles on it doesn’t fall into any of them. It’s been a great bike, serving double duty as both street bike and track bike, but it’s time to get something that I can race. I really liked the way the lil’ baby ninja felt at the racetrack, so I want to stay within 100cc of that if possible. My personal motorcycle technician hates carburetors, so picking a modern bike would make it nicer for him. Bonus points if I can find one that is already race prepped, which will ultimately save me at least a thousand dollars.

I narrowed down my choices to a single make/model: KTM RC390.
PROS: modern bike! fuel injection == no carb cleaning. An ECU we can map. Suspension options == better handling. plus, it’s pretty and it’s interesting. RAWR.
CONS: I’ve never ridden one before and it’s too cold to do it now. They’re kinda expensive since they’re still new to market. Parts will be harder to find, and there probably won’t be all that many people with spare parts in the paddock if I need help. Boyfriend/technician isn’t familiar with the brand, so he’ll have a learning curve that he probably won’t enjoy.

This bike is a brand new addition to the AHRMA organization for 2017 in the SOUND OF SINGLES® class.
Here’s an excerpt of the new rule straight from the handbook:

I searched high and low for a race-prepped KTM. I made full-price offers on three, and was rejected each time! Venting my frustration on facebook seemed like the right thing to do. And then, magic: one of my friends sent me a message, saying that he knew a guy who might be getting rid of one.
The bike wasn’t even up for sale yet (the owner had two that he was getting rid of, and he’d already sold one of them but was still undecided about selling the second.) but I sent him a message offering nearly full asking price for if/when he was ready to sell. He was nice enough to respond with an “I’ll think about it”, and a link to some information about the bike. I was actually asking for a racer’s B bike, his alternate bike in case something bad were to happen to his primary bike when he was at an event. It was a solidly set up bike that would come with lots of spare parts, making me even more excited to potentially own it. But I’d been let down before after making offers, and wasn’t particularly hopeful.
Then, magic happens AGAIN: the owner sends me a message about two weeks after initial contact, saying that he’s ok with my offer and I should come pick it up as soon as possible. Pickup is scheduled for the next Sunday, and the bike is about 5 hours from where I live. It’s going to be a long day, but at least it’s a day trip. and at the end of it, I’ll own a new motorcycle!!

And that’s how I bought my race bike. He’s named Gunther. He’s awesome.

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Road to Racing: I’m finally gonna do it!

So I’ve finally decided to “take things up a notch”, as it’s said. 2017 will be my first year as an amateur racer.

2016 has been spent watching my boyfriend race and traveling to a few different locations, meeting a bunch of new people and taking a whole lot of pictures.
(Click here to see some from my flickr account!) While I love taking pictures, I love motorcycles more. It’s been agonizing to watch them go by and not be a part of it, especially as I began to meet people who just kept telling me to join them out on the track.
So this is it: I will race.

My partner in cookie-eating/boyfriend/personal motorcycle technician Jon is already a racer with a particular organization (AHRMA), so I decided to make our life easier and just join the same one.

It’s gonna be fun!