Advice on getting started with CCS?

[Super Dave]

If you're actually going to race, find a copy of Kenny Robert's book Techniques of Motorcycle Road Racing.  It's out of print, and a copy will probably cost over $100, but it is probably the best no bs book out there.  Certainly will be an attitude adjustment, maybe too harsh for most people.  It's very no BS rather than a thousand questions.  Ride an ice bike in the winter too. 

[pointofdeparture]

Awesome. Learned a lot speaking to Terry last night, and just placed an order for both "Twist of the Wrist' books. Also found Roberts' book in used condition for a mere $13 on Amazon! Thanks for the suggestions, they'll make great reading material during the work day.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

...and just placed an order for both "Twist of the Wrist' books.

There's actually a 3rd Keith Code book as well, 'The Soft Science of Road Racing'. 

[racerhall]

get a 600 and do some motovid trackdays at blackhawk farms and then get your liscense then race at blackhawk, i thing there are 3 races left for the season so there is still time, you will learn the most on a 600, start with that

[gkotlin]

Lots of great SV's out there.  Then get out and do some track days and get some quality instruction.  Get started that way and get some seat time.  If you get good on an SV, you'll learn to ride well and it's just a matter of dealing with more power.  You can get a solid setup SV for under $3000.00.

July 4th at Blackhawk Farms is a Nesba trackday.  Come out and watch or if you have a bike, come out and do the free intro sessions to give it a try.  You'll find many common faces at the race weekends and track days.  PM if you need more info, I'm not on the forum as much as I'd like.

[scubabill]

Yeah you are on the taller side of racing especially when it comes to the lightweight bikes. I have seen Adam loefler at  your height and weight racing a 125 gp bike and he was competitive. The GP bike althoug requiring perceptually more maintenance is not too bad. Top end rebuilds costing in the $125 range depending on the bike and complete rebuilds in the $1500 range. Try that with any four stroke. Oh yeah tires lasting the season on reportedly two sets.

The SV is a cheap reliable mount that I recommend and it may fit you better. Cheap on tires and yes you cN cheat a little on maintenance unlike the GP bike.

Get the race prepped bike it will save you time and money and you will be better prepared as to what you want. Alright is the best advice on bike prep and riding coach.

I think if you are not gonna race this year then don't get the license. I personally think that racing is much safer than track days and so racing is the choice for me. Then again I am in the Florida region where we get a good amount of track time.

LOL...There might be a few 6'3" close to 200lb guys riding LW machinery

[fzr400tony]

I also think racing is safer than track days these days.

The first generation vs second generation SV topic is interesting. You can get some solid information on the svrider forum, searching the racer section. You can also probably find some stuff on zoran's forum (twf racing or something like that)

You should buy the best maintained bike you can find for the money you have. I would avoid bikes that's have signs of neglect. I would avoid round bolts and Allen heads. Personally, I think superbikes are usually a bad idea. Stock motors are always more reliable. That said, I would much rather an 85 HP SV that wasn't built by a hack than one that has a bunch of over-torqued and stripped bolts, no service history and a bunch of clearly bent parts.

I wouldn't be afraid of a nicely put together Buell or Ducati if you have $7,500 to spend. When you buy it, have the suspension freshened and then set up for you. You really don't want to own a bike that might require much more work than that your first year.  You just want to ride it.

[Court Jester]

Hello all, my name is Desmond, I'm 21, and I've had the itch to go racing for as long as I can remember. I'm located in Milwaukee, WI and it looks like the midwest region would be my locale. I was looking for some newbie advice from you guys; I've already done a fair bit of searching on this board, so I am starting to figure out what I'd like to do, but could use some more guidance. I would like to be as competitive as possible, but really I just want to have some serious fun and scratch my racing itch!

Firstly, I'm wondering what the consensus is on the many racing schools out there. Learning Curves is in my area, and I see that they offer both a licensing course and an advanced rider course. I've street ridden bikes on and off since I was 15, but not with any real regularity. The archives on this board seem to recommend some real rider coaching instead of a simple "get your license today" school, particularly from a guy by the name of Super Dave, who is (was?) in my area but no longer seems to be around! I figured I would start running some track days to get a feel for things, then get my license and possibly take the advanced rider course through Learning Curves. Thoughts? I suppose I should add that my intended timeline is to get licensed by the end of the year and get some track experience, and begin racing next year/season.

Second, I am trying to figure out what bike would be best for me. I don't really intend to compete in the "meat grinder" middleweight class right off the bat, sounds like it could easily turn into a painful/heartbreaking entry to racing. Lightweight seems more fitting for a beginner like myself. Looks like everyone runs SV650s in this region, but some people make mention of FZR400s and RS250s and the like in posts here. If it makes any difference, I'm 6'2" and 170lbs. I'm most concerned about having a competitive, reliable bike with good parts support than anything else. I also don't want to spend $30k on some exotic Bimota...Yamaha has earned my loyalty in the past but if the SV650 is most competitive so be it. Also, I intend to build the bike myself - I've been turning wrenches since I was a kid, so unless a really good deal comes along on a race-ready machine, I'd have too much fun in the assembly process to skip it. What modifications should I be looking at right away, regardless of bike choice?

Is there anything else that a newbie to cycle racing should know? Any and all advice that you guys can give me is awesome.

Learn how to have a total ball pissing away large amounts of money and get real comfortable with smiling as you do it and you should be golden.