Right on the Button(willow)! The Ninja's second big track day.

After having a great day of riding, testing and all around Motorbike fun at the Streets of Willow with my little Ninja, I couldn't wait to get back to the track. I have a calendar that I use to keep track of motorcycle track days, races and other events. I combed through it for another chance to do some fast laps before my busy summer. After consulting with the My Motorbike Obsessions Chief Financial Officer (aka Mrs. My Motorbike Obsessions), I was cleared hot for my first track day at Buttonwillow near Bakersfield, CA. Read on to see how the day faired.

After a furious couple of weeks of mounting new clip-ons, taking them off again (argh) and quite a few other shop projects, the bike was in the sorry state you see above. I had a growing work list of preparations and only a few days to get them all done before the Memorial Day track event. Most of what I wanted to do was easy enough, but I didn't want to half-ass anything. With all the work I had been doing recently I really needed to go over the bike front to back to ensure I didn't leave a critical faster loose or accidentally disconnect a key part of the bike (foreshadowing). I found two of three loose engine mounting bolts that needed fixing, but I finished up my whole list. The bike was ready, but how to get it all there?

Well, thanks to all of that free internet money I get from running this blog, (hello sarcasm, nice to meet you) I was able to buy this lovely new-to-me, My Motorbike Obsessions tow rig. This beauty is a 2013 Honda Ridgeline RTS. I got a good deal for the truck. I had been wanting to upgrade from my 2001 Honda CR-V for a while now. After a long and frustrating day of going to two different dealerships to get the truck I wanted, we pulled into the driveway at 10:45 pm. In the end it was worth it, but man what a day!

I know that many truck guys are thinking that the RaceRidge is not a "real" truck. I'd call AWD, towing capacity of 5000 lbs. with a payload of 1500 lbs. truck enough for me. I can choose to put the race Ninja in the bed or trailer it as I usually do. Its versatility gives me a lot of ways to move my bikes and gear wherever we need to go. With seating for four I can take the whole family to the track once the girls are big enough to want to ride themselves. Here is a picture of the back seat area with the rear seat in the upright and locked cargo position. I have the pop-up canopy and my race gear stowed with room for the trailer loading ramp and a cooler of snacks.

The best feature is this positively cavernous trunk in the pick-up bed. In this picture I have ALL of the rest of my track gear. Two bikes stands, two race tools boxes, a camera box, a folding chair, a fuel jug and two Harbor Freight 15" tote bags. One for towing accessories and one for emergency road side supplies. The best parts of this trunk are the fact that it is lockable, discrete and even best-est of all, I don't have to unpack it between track events! Seriously, I could leave all of this gear packed up and when the next track day or race comes along, just hitch up the trailer and go. Now some of this stuff will come out once I figure out the best packing method, but this truck will really cut down on my prep time.

Enough about the new truck, this is a Motorbike blog! I got to the track after a 2 and a half hour drive. I was able to get my paddock set up before registration and tech opened up. I sailed through both processes easily and started to walk around the track and paddock area to get a feel for the day to come. It was 67° F and clear. The weather app on my phone promised a hot day however. Good for tire temps and traction, bad for wearing 30 lbs. of leather and other gear. Buttonwillow is more flat and open than the Streets of Willow. The paddock area was also more well laid out and centralized compared to the Streets.

This is the main timing and scoring tower for the races. It also contains a snack bar and a track gift shop. I got a cool T-shirt and a sticker for my new truck. The riders meeting was held under the canopy. Let's Ride had a raffle where they gave away a bunch of cool things, including a free track day, from their sponsors. We went over the track rules for the different ride groups and all of the flags they use. I took notes like a nerd as usual, but since this is only track day #3 for me I wanted to be sure to do things right and not develop bad habits on the track.

Being Memorial Day, they did a parade lap around the track after lunch and after doing the national anthem. I saw a bunch of people take their kids on the bikes around the track with flags attached to the bike. It was very neat. Being a long weekend there were a lot of families there. A few brought go-karts with them for the kids too young to be out on the track to race around the kart track co-located with the big track. Buttonwillow has multiple configurations they can run for a variety of different motorsports events. On this day we were running configuration #13 clockwise, which is one of the normal configurations you can find on YouTube. I used YouTube videos to make track notes before the track day. It helped out a lot once I got there and got to see it for myself in real life.

I ended up doing 6 sessions in total. For "C" group, they did the whole first session as a follow-the-leader sighting session. I really liked having this as it enabled me to cruise the track at a measured pace and get a feel for how the day would go without worrying about trying to do it all at speed. My second session got cut short thanks to my shifter linkage falling off on the second lap. I guess I left the pinch bolt loose after working on the rear set brackets. I pulled a spare from my stash of nuts and bolts. I also had to adjust the clutch lever location and bleed the front brake. See my first paragraph about not leaving something undone, I guess I needed a bit more set-up time. As expected, it got a tad warm out in the paddock. After getting my tire pressures and temps logged and reviewing my lap times I made sure to stay in the shade and hydrate. It was quite peaceful with the gentle westerly breeze and the sound of high powered bikes ripping by on the front straight.

 

One of the best things about going to the Let's Ride events at Buttonwillow is the suspension services provided by Dave Moss of Dave Moss Tuning. Dave's videos on YouTube are just superb as he has forgotten more than I'll ever learn about motorcycle suspension set-up. I used his videos of the track to make my track notes prior to getting here. I checked with Dave after the sighting lap. He looked at my tire temps and said that after I do a full speed session to come back to him re-check the temps. We were looking for tire temps in the 150° F area to ensure that I had the tire pressures set right for the conditions at the track.

After the third session I came back in straight from the track exit. The temps were around 140° F front and rear. Dave said that this was good and to keep an eye on the weather. If the clouds came in then I'd have to adjust the pressure a bit lower to build the heat back up.  The clouds would cool off the track and take some of the heat away. The suspension also felt pretty good with the new fork springs and 2008 Ninja 250 rear shock. I put in some shorter preload spacers after my last time at the Streets of Willow. I measured my fork travel with the zip tie that I put on the fork stanchion and got full travel of 53mm. I'll have to check my books to tell me if that is good or bad.

I returned after my last session and broke down my camp. The session got red flagged on my lap 2 due to an accident on track. I had just passed the tower so I had to do a complete red flag lap to get to the track exit. We did get back out and I put in some more good laps. I said goodbye to my paddock partner and hit the road. I was able to get 10 minutes down the road home before Memorial Day weekend traffic caught up with me. The new RaceRidge was very comfortable and handled its duties without complaint. I was able to listen to my music and relax while climbing the Tejon Pass at an outstanding 35 mph. It was a good day. I'm sorry I won't be able to get back out to the track for a few months. Summer is approaching and I have to travel to Mississippi for work. I also have to move and transfer to a new job which will put a damper on my track day plans. I do have a few shop projects in the works so don't forget about me. See you soon!

Blue