tire costs and lower purchase
costs, you're looking at the small-
er motorcycles. Bikes like the Ka-
wasaki Ninja 400R, the Yamaha
YZF-R3, the Honda CBR500R and
the KTM RC 390 are relatively in-
expensive, easy to ride, don’t burn
through tires, and are cheaper to
operate and maintain. The down-
side, of course, is that compared
to their bigger siblings, they don't
make as much power. The slight-
ly larger Suzuki SV650, Kawasaki
Ninja 650R and Yamaha MT-
offer more power, but weigh more
than smaller bikes. One big ad-
vantage: With less power, smaller
bikes encourage track day riders
to learn to carry corner speed and
develop other basic track riding
skills that a liter-bike’s sheer pow-
er may distract them from putting
attention on. And although older
Kawasaki 250s and 300s have
been superseded by the Ninja 400
in the showroom and in some club
racing organizations, the good
news is that there are a lot of
track-ready, well-maintained Nin-
ja 250s and Ninja 300s for sale at
bargain prices. The same applies
to KTM 390 racebikes since the
KTM RC Cup was replaced with
the multi-brand Junior Cup in
MotoAmerica.
Middleweights offer a solid
halfway point—they’re quick, with
the front-running race-prepped
600s in the lead group during the
2019 Daytona 200 hitting 188
mph through the tri-oval at the
legendary Daytona International
Speedway—but the power comes
in at the top, so immediate throt-
tle response isn't as intimidating.
And with less rotating mass inside
the engine, they’re easier to turn.
Honda's CBR600RR, Kawasaki's
ZX-6R, Suzuki's GSX-R600, and
Yamaha's YZF-R6 are (contrary to
rumor) still being made and are all
full-size bikes that handle quick-
ly, rip down the straights, and still
give the majority of riders the feel-
ing that they're really getting the
bike to perform.
For the rider who wants to
think outside of the box, consider
the KTM Duke 790 or the Ducati
959 twin-cylinder machines. Bikes
in this category tend to come with
stock suspension adequate for
track day needs. There's little rea-
son to upgrade an off-the-show-
room-floor middleweight until well
into your track riding career.
Another reason to consider
bikes in this class: Electronic rid-
er aids, simplified to reduce price,
start to appear here, and they re-
ally lower the intimidation factor
for the beginning track rider. Au-
thor's note: Some of the most sat-
isfying track days I have had were
on a middleweight fitted with track
tires. A Yamaha YZF-R6, Kawasaki
ZX-6R, Suzuki GSX-R600, or Hon-
da CBR600RR running Dunlop
Sportmax Q4, Michelin Power Per-
formance, or Pirelli Diablo Super
Corsa TD (for Track Day) tires and
a pipe equals track day joy.
Open-class bikes cost the
most, are hardest to ride and eat
tires like Homer Simpson devours
donuts. Advanced electronic rid-
er aids—the best available to the
general public—are found in this
class, which helps reduce the in-
timidation factor. Still, they’re
harder to turn or slow down than
a 600, and, when pushed hard,
these bikes are most challenging
to take to the limits of their per-
formance. They are the heaviest
of sportbikes available, and show-
room-stock bikes kick out horse-
power that could have won Na-
tional-level professional road races
about a decade ago. But there's no
replacement for horsepower, and
there is nothing like the rush of a
literbike coming on-song and kick-
ing you in the tailbone, the front
end going light and space and time
warping around the windscreen.
And the best part is that a mod-
ern literbike, with regular mainte-
nance, will do that for thousands
and thousands of track day miles.
There is not a better performance
value on the planet.
Select wisely. Think, don't re-
act. Pick the bike that meets your
needs, and then learn to get every-
thing you can out of it. You'll be
grateful every time you hear "Final
call," hop on, and head out toward
the hot pit lane.(Above) MotoAmerica switching from the one-make KTM RC Cup to the all-brands Junior Cup made RC390s
available as bargain track bikes. This is a 2017 RC Cup race at Road America. Photo by Brian J. Nelson. (Be-
low) Jay Newton (314) won 2018 CMRA club races on a Kawasaki Ninja 250, but it and the Ninja 300 aren’t
competitive in some clubs, making them a bargain. Photo by David Gillen/dgillenphoto.com/Courtesy CMRA.
Another good place to shop for available track-prepped motorcycles is
the paddock at track day events. Here, instructors get ready to go out
during a Let's Ride Track Days event. Photo by Caliphotography.com.
RW16—Roadracing World, Trackday Directory 2019