Hi all,
Just thought I'd share some thoughts with you having recently had my 1299S converted to a track bike.
I bought the bike new in 2015 for weekend blasts on the road and even with only 2,400 miles on the clock, I felt that I'd safely got what I can out of it on the roads. In short, I was tired of rarely getting out of 3rd gear and always coming up against traffic. I felt that I wasn't getting enough out of the bike so my choice was to sell it, or convert it to a track bike (I started my first couple of track days last year on hire bikes and loved it).
It felt like a big decision to make, not least because it was going to cost me about £5k. I decided to let the pros do the conversion and gave it to MotoRapido in Winchester. They run a BSB team so they know their sh!t and have decent race spares to help keep the cost down.
To cut a long story short, I took delivery of the "˜new' bike on Friday and tracked it at Silverstone in the dry on Saturday. It was epic. Felt night and day compared to the 1299 I'd known on the roads and I actually felt like I was riding the bike as it was intended. It began to make sense. As much as I love big litre sports bikes, their capabilities just seem a bit "˜wasted' on the roads. Don't get me wrong, they'll still put a massive smile on your face and the Panigale looks epic if you want a head-turner.
So if you're sort of in the same boat I was in, owned your Pani for a couple of years and thinking if it's worth converting to track only, I'd say you won't be disappointed. Go for it!
P.S MotoRapido were excellent to deal with and gave great advice. Never trying the hard sell. Mods done:
- Termi full race exhaust + ECU re-map
- OZ lightweight wheels
- Li battery (Shido)
- Race seat
- Track farings
- Sprint air filter
- Race brake pads and fluid
Just thought I'd share some thoughts with you having recently had my 1299S converted to a track bike.
I bought the bike new in 2015 for weekend blasts on the road and even with only 2,400 miles on the clock, I felt that I'd safely got what I can out of it on the roads. In short, I was tired of rarely getting out of 3rd gear and always coming up against traffic. I felt that I wasn't getting enough out of the bike so my choice was to sell it, or convert it to a track bike (I started my first couple of track days last year on hire bikes and loved it).
It felt like a big decision to make, not least because it was going to cost me about £5k. I decided to let the pros do the conversion and gave it to MotoRapido in Winchester. They run a BSB team so they know their sh!t and have decent race spares to help keep the cost down.
To cut a long story short, I took delivery of the "˜new' bike on Friday and tracked it at Silverstone in the dry on Saturday. It was epic. Felt night and day compared to the 1299 I'd known on the roads and I actually felt like I was riding the bike as it was intended. It began to make sense. As much as I love big litre sports bikes, their capabilities just seem a bit "˜wasted' on the roads. Don't get me wrong, they'll still put a massive smile on your face and the Panigale looks epic if you want a head-turner.
So if you're sort of in the same boat I was in, owned your Pani for a couple of years and thinking if it's worth converting to track only, I'd say you won't be disappointed. Go for it!
P.S MotoRapido were excellent to deal with and gave great advice. Never trying the hard sell. Mods done:
- Termi full race exhaust + ECU re-map
- OZ lightweight wheels
- Li battery (Shido)
- Race seat
- Track farings
- Sprint air filter
- Race brake pads and fluid
