Setting up for first track day

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beanz690

Joined
Sep 11, 2024
Messages
45
Location
South Florida
Hope everyone is off to a good new year!

I am getting ready for my first track day on my PV4 next month and trying to setup the bike for myself.

I adjusted foot controls to a good comfortable spot wearing track boots. After that, I lowered the brake and clutch master cylinders to make it easier to get to the levers with racing gloves (had to remove the guide pins on the handle bar).

I also changed the OEM clip on angle, but I’m not sure if it’s recommended or not. I opened the angle a bit making the bars a bit more straight. What are the pros and cons of opening/closing the angle of the handle bars? Also, is it safe that I changed the angle by lowering the clip one to avoid the guides? (photo below)

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I'd say you want the bar angle to be comfortable when you're leaning over with you arm bent and you have an ice cream cone grip on the bar. Make sure you can turn from stop to stop and not hit the fairings or bind up any cables or hydraulic lines. Posistion of the bars relative to the fork, in-front of or at the mid-point can effect how the steering feels, but I haven't experimented with this.

Loose the Rizoma mirrors though, don't just tape them. Another user here had a drop and it transferred enough energy to break the front fairing stay. The OEM mirrors are designed to snap before that can happen.
 
I did the same thing with my bars, just be mindful that the damper is connected to the right bar. You don't want to bottom the damper out using it as a steering stop.
 
Forewarned said:
I did the same thing with my bars, just be mindful that the damper is connected to the right bar. You don't want to bottom the damper out using it as a steering stop.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I did notice that. I still have about 1/4 inch left before it hits the eyelet.
 
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Bars forward indicate weight forward, are you tall? Good to make the effort and adjust the riding position, but the next question is have you set the sag for your weight?
Also if you are new to track riding see how you go in sport mode, its ok up to a moderate pace. But if you find its too soft switch to the race B map. Its very easy to get lost in the setup maze but the stock maps are fine until you are really fast. Other than that tire pressure is the single most important adjustment as these bikes eat tires through cold tear like you wouldn't believe
 
DV4 said:
Bars forward indicate weight forward, are you tall? Good to make the effort and adjust the riding position, but the next question is have you set the sag for your weight?
Also if you are new to track riding see how you go in sport mode, its ok up to a moderate pace. But if you find its too soft switch to the race B map. Its very easy to get lost in the setup maze but the stock maps are fine until you are really fast. Other than that tire pressure is the single most important adjustment as these bikes eat tires through cold tear like you wouldn't believe
Click to expand...
Thanks @DV4.

I am 6'1' (185cm) bars a bit forward felt a more natural to my wrist angle. My bike is a base V4 and I will be installing an ohlins rear shock soon and getting it setup correctly for my weight etc. If the shock does not arrive before the track day, I planned to get the stock suspension setup by the local track suspension guy the day of.

Regarding the map, I have the Deussen tune, and I plan on riding in sport with the engine low or med at most for my first day. I am not new to track days but haven't ridden on track in 10+ years.
 
panibadboy said:
if you are tall, they need to be opened up full way out

enjoy the trackday, bars's angle will be the last thing you think about on that day
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Lol I bet. What triggered all this was sitting on the bike with my track gear on and I noticed that with boots and gloves I had a hard time changing gears and reaching the brakes without hitting the levers. So I started adjusting everything to make it feel more natural for my body. I have to go out and ride to confirm, but so far everything feels much better now.
 
beanz690 said:
Lol I bet. What triggered all this was sitting on the bike with my track gear on and I noticed that with boots and gloves I had a hard time changing gears and reaching the brakes without hitting the levers. So I started adjusting everything to make it feel more natural for my body. I have to go out and ride to confirm, but so far everything feels much better now.
Click to expand...
I think ALL of us here can relate to first track day excitement dude! I wish you all the best, and when you are done, come back here and share what you learned and loved my man!

Jag
 
Forewarned said:
I did the same thing with my bars, just be mindful that the damper is connected to the right bar. You don't want to bottom the damper out using it as a steering stop.
Click to expand...
I take back what I said... Yesterday I tried locking the steering column, but it would not lock because the forks were not able to turn enough to clear the lock. The steering damper was indeed acting as the steering stop although it looked like it has a bit more travel it was already at the max.
 
beanz690 said:
I take back what I said... Yesterday I tried locking the steering column, but it would not lock because the forks were not able to turn enough to clear the lock. The steering damper was indeed acting as the steering stop although it looked like it has a bit more travel it was already at the max.
Click to expand...
You have to get a steering damper support bracket to solve that problem. They're around $75.
 
So many of those are sh*t. I went down this rabbit hole of incompatibility when trying to sort out clip-ons and controls last winter.

The Spider ones are nice, sized perfectly. If you use the R&G lock stop savers, the damper brackets will shorten the turning radius even further.

Probably better just to back off the clip-on angle slightly so you can go lock to lock.
 
Good idea to work on basic setups before you get back on the track. Here are a couple of my thoughts after moving from tacking '93 900 Supersport for 25 years to the V4 late last season.

1) Set the sag for your weight
2) If you adjustable rearsets, you are correct to check your movement when you are sitting on the bike. It will all change when get moving.
3) Adjust the bars if you can but as I'd avoid the rabbit hole of brackets, new gadgets and stuff. Just ride
4) I don't understand all the talk about steering lock. When do you ever go lock to lock on the track unless you are manuevering in the pits or crashing?
5) Mirrors, yes, take them off.
6) Lights and other glass, tape them up. Most importantly the brake light. Make it so you can see nothing coming from it. You can find black masking tape on Amazon. Works better than blue tape and looks better in the pictures!
7) Water wetter, no anti-freeze
8) Very important, make sure your helmet is <5 years old and the rest of your riding gear is solid.
9) Chain, tire and brake wear is ok.

There's more, I do tech inspections for our local track day provider and these are the most important things I look for.
 
BP PanigaleV4S said:
Probably better just to back off the clip-on angle slightly so you can go lock to lock.
Click to expand...
I backed off the angle a little and adjusted the bump stop screw on the lower triple a little.
BP PanigaleV4S said:
The Spider ones are nice, sized perfectly. If you use the R&G lock stop savers, the damper brackets will shorten the turning radius even further.
Click to expand...
I plan on purchasing the R&G savers too so good to know!

Thanks
 
Ohlins TTX shock got delayed, so I maybe looking to setup my stock suspension myself prior to the trackday.
Do you all recommend any video that teaches one how to do an initial setup of the suspension? The videos I watched are either cut short to make you buy into a tutorial or poorly explained.
 
Tankslappers makes nice precut vinyl for lights in any color you want. They do the full clearbra kits too, that's where I started, and now I get several sets of the light blanks as install is super quick and it looks much better than a bunch of blue tape pieces that fall off.
The signals are easy to pull, taillight & headlight are just connectors so they don't get hot underneath.
 

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