two bikes for racing?

[gerry]

looking to get into racing next season, have done a few track days this year and will hopefully be at summit with team-promo in november.

anyway, i was wondering if it's ok to bring two bikes and race them during a weekend?  are there any extra charges?

i currently have a 954 and feel very comfortable on it and would love to race it but i'm also looking for a used sv650 racebike.  the sv would eb my main race bike but i would like to take the 954 out as well.

is this common practice?  do i just pay for the races as usual?

thank you,
ger

p.s. if anyone here is from the nyc metro area and is willing to help a newbie out next season please contact me

[MELK-MAN]

some do it but ya better have a tractor-trailer full of cash. Tires for one bike are bad enough... let alone two. heck, some guys have 3 bikes. 600,750 and 1k.

[Baltobuell]

You can and it's not uncommon for experts, but don't do it. The first few weekends are overwhelming enough. The SV is a great choice. Concentrate on learning it's potential and you will have a blast lowering your lap times with every outing. Trying to go too deep all at once will make it an expensive, non learning, hurry gotta get going, no fun, waste of energy. If you enter all the classes an SV fits in, you'll be plenty busy, had a great weekend, and maybe have not hit the limit on your Mastercard.

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

     To expand on that further, concentrating on one bike will help you to develop your skills faster, in my opinion. When you 1st start racing there will be alot of different variables you will be trying to sort out all at once. If you stick to 1 bike you will more accurately be able to judge why things happen while racing. When riding 2 different bikes (especially as different as the 2 you suggested) you may be hard pressed to figure out problems in your riding, not knowing if it was the difference in the 2 bikes that caused the handling difference or if it was something you did. With 1 bike you will more easily develop a sense of what is normal for that bike and what truely is a problem.

     At the start you will be learning alot more about racing itself and track layouts than being able to accurately monitor what your bike is doing. Throwing another bike in the mix will only add confusion at first and probably inhibit your learning curve, plus that 954 might decide it wants to race without you and buck you off during racing conditions. Practice days definately help you to get experience with a track layout and may help you to somewhat develop a rhythm, but that doesn't even compare to the intensity of barreling into turn 1 at the start of a race and trying to find a line. This is when knowing 1 bikes handling characteristics is invaluable, and not having to remember which bike your on may save your butt!

[Super Dave]

I think most experts still only have one bike.

One is good.  As a new racer, there are too many things that you should be looking at for set up on one bike, and then to dry to make determinations on two bikes?  Very hard.  Probably exponentially, having had more that one bike at some times.  I've raced two bike for two different groups at an event also.  I didn't have to work on the bikes, but trying to keep them straight in my mind is hard also.

Race the SV.

[Mark Bernard]

Keep it simple...stick with 1.

[Super Dave]

Does a Buell count as one or two....? ;D

[Jeff]

As everyone else has mentioned, stick with one...

I was going to run two this year, but God saw how stupid I was about to be and promptly blew up my F4.  I parted it out to pay for spares on the new bike.

My thought was to have a 'spare' bike because I didn't have a lot of spares for the new bike.  However, it makes more sense to have ONE bike with many spares than 2 bikes with very few spares...

As mentioned, tires, gas, oil, etc on one bike are expensive and time consuming.  2 could get overwhelming quick.

If I did this for a living, I'd opt for 2 identical bikes, but since I don't...

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

Jeff is right.  If you can actually afford two bikes, an identical pair would be the ticket.  That way you're carrying the ultimate spares kit: a complete second bike!!!  Oh the times such a scheme would have benifited me...

Mike's comments are also good.  I played musical bikes this year, and it made me slower.  I wish I could get a do-over for the 2003 season! :'(

Also, if you really want to know what lies ahead as you embark on your racing adventure, just read my signature comments to the left and at the bottom of this post...

[pmoravek]

I have an SV and I can tell you from experience.
You can enter up to 5 or 6 races with an SV and stay PLENTY BUSY on a race weekend. The other issue is tires. Tires are an expensive part of the puzzle for any racer and the SV is much more forgiving on tires than a 954 is. Believe me, if you race an SV you''l go home on Sundays with a feeling of exhausted exhillaration and then you can still ride your 954 to work during the week.   ;D

[MudDawg]

Let's see...I've run 1, 2 and then 3 bikes at a time.

3 is too many.  Too much tire changing, gas filling, pressure checking, etc.  The maintenance was just running me ragged and I wasn't enjoying myself.

2....is ok if they are similar.  I run a superbike SV and a supersport SV.  That is doable.  But only because I barely race the supersport bike....and it's always available as a backup to my superbike inthe event of problems.  

2 is NOT ok if they are different bikes.  The SV's were eventually set up as close to identicle as possible.  So I could hop on and go full bore form the start.  Switching between twins and inline fours....not recommended.  Been there done that.

1 is just fine if it's a supersport bike.  If it's well maintained and you have a decent spares kit...you should not have many problems.  Turnkey racing is nice and low stress.

You are probably better off buying a stock SV.  Then spending the saved money on mor tracktime and suspension work.  Suspension is THE key to going fast.  if ya can't keep your wheels on the ground then you will be.  :-)

[251am]

 Hey Gerry, run what you can afford to run. If you can afford to set up two bikes this winter with skins, extra wheel sets, etc., go for it. It is ok to bring two bikes, you are only charged more for the  more races you  enter. Have you checked the NESBA site for folks in your area to track with? They have a great website as well. Good luck. :)