BUYING RACE BIKE, PLEASE HELP

[Sunny]

And no, I'm not picking on you, _EVERYONE_ crashes, sooner or later...

This is a very true statement!  Everyone crashes sooner or later due to equipment failure, and/or their own or other's mistake/s.  

[spyderchick]

Racing involves more than just the bike.
Hints:
Buy a really good race helmet. You can't put your brain back together.

Buy really decent gloves. I hear skin grafts are painful.

Buy boots that fit and are meant for racing. Your feet are your foundation.

Buy the best made leathers you can afford. Make sure it has quality armour. Knee replacments suck, and elbows don't heal well after they've been broken. Again, skin grafts will hurt.

Get a decent back protector. No it won't prevent you from "breaking your back", but is there for impact and abrasion resistance.

Then spend what's left on a bike.

I've been advising people to get the best they can afford, and consider it an investment in your health. Tires run aprox $350 a set. If you spend $1200 on a set of leathers that will last you 5 years, that's equal to 3 1/2 sets of tires. You will go through that many sets of tires in your first few weeks of racing. Thinking this way will change your perspective on your gear. There are lots of costs involved in racing, and the money is only one part of it.

[Super Dave]

SV is still better.

If you're really fast, then you'll be doin' in tires on the 600 at a great pace.  Best part of the tire is good for about 12 laps or so.

So, to be competitive, you're gonna drop a bundle in tires.

One of my students is a rider named Jesse Janisch.  Last year, he was doing 1:16's to 1:15's at a local race track.  His fast time on a 600 was only a couple of seconds faster.  

Bored?  Race a 125.  Race a vintage bike.  Racing is about racing.

If you've got the budget to buy a $9500 600, put tires under it all the time, and repair it.  You should do it for yourself.

Still, guys like Janisch, myself, DiSalvo, the Wood's, the Bostrom's, Mladin, Rossi...you recognize the names...did still start out road racing on "smaller" machines.  The Wood's come from a father that was a road racer himself.  Dave Bostrom owned a motorcycle dealership.  Rossi's dad was a 500cc World Championship Grand Prix competitor.

You might be special.

Regardless, bikes are a sum of their parts.  The reality is that are they set up or do they have a history of set up that makes it valuable?  

You can have all the same parts as a Larry Denning or a Robbie Jensen (guys that make their living racing for Yamaha money), but if you don't have their actual set up...what are you really paying for...

parts....

[stephenr928]

Giovanni,
Welcome to the board.  It's good to hear you asking for input before jumping into racing.  Sometimes I feel like I should've asked a few thousand extra questions before I began racing last season!
To answer your initial question, I'm not sure if it's a good deal (it could be)......It just sounds like a lot of money for a first race bike.  Try going to www.superbikeplanet.com to compare prices in their classified section.

That being said, may I throw in a word (or three) of caution?
1)  Racing is ungodly expensive.  I spent almost $13,000.00 for last season racing Thunderbike in the Great Plains region.  That included my Honda F2 race bike, but did not include going to Daytona at the end of the season.  Don't fear "wasting" money on an sv650.....Racing is one giant waste of money already.  Starting your career on a smaller/cheaper bike will help you enjoy racing before the credit card bills prevent you from racing more than 2 weekends.  (Even in my Sportsman class, I struggled to make a pair of tires last through more than one weekend.  At $325 per set!)
2)  I met a fellow last year who was also a newbie racer. He started the season on an R6, but traded away his entire package for an sv650 after the third race weekend, when the truth of racing became apparent.....Nothing is more humbling than thinking you're fast when you're not.  The 600 cc class was the "beginner" class in the 80's and early 90's, it is not a beginner class anymore.  Please don't confuse going fast at a track day as you're a fast racer.  (Or worse, you're a fast street rider......)
3) Racing can (& should) be enjoyed over a lifetime.  I bought my racebike from a 62 yar old guy who raced with his older brother!  On the other hand,  nothing is worse than a guy or gal who jumps into racing all starry eyed (having blown their entire budget on a gee-whiz yzcbgsx600rrr), go out their first race weekend, try to keep up with more experienced racers, crash & don't have any $ to fix the bike and quit.

I look forward to seeing you at the track for a long time.  Get an sv650, come enjoy yourself for a season or 2, then move up to the 600cc class.
Just my humble opinion, but I'd like to see more racers.  (Especially in Thunderbike!!)

[spyderchick]

Not to mention the skills, Dave... ;)

Do I hear a promo coming? ;D

[spyderchick]

3) Racing can (& should) be enjoyed over a lifetime.  

Amen!

[tigerblade]

Believe me, you won't really "outgrow" an SV650.  You may decide you want to try something else, but these can still be quite entertaining.   ;)

[Bernie]

You may go fast on an R6, but you will learn to BE fast on an SV.  They are more fun and rewarding than bikes with twice the HP.  Welcome aboard.  ;)

[GSXR RACER MIKE]

     GIOVANNI, welcome and prepare yourself for uncontrollable spending in the very near future. :o ;D

     I realize that your not looking for advice in general, just merely on this particular bike, but I feel obligated (like the others here) to make sure you are fully aware of what you are venturing into. There are alot of very knowledgable racers (and support crew) who post here and their advice should not be taken lightly. This advice is being offered to you with your best interests in mind and is meant for you to benefit the most from your racing experience and so hopefully you will last for awhile.

     Having started racing back in '96 I have seen many racers come and go in the MW/GP/GL regions and have learned some basic things about what keeps and loses participants. The average length of time alot of racers stay in this is about 2-3 years before they quit. The majority of people now racing were not around back in the late 90's when I was a front runner in the HW & UL classes. I made the same mistake that you may be on the verge of making now, which was starting with a powerful 'status symbol class' bike because I thought that I would be blazingly fast right out of the box and I wanted to be in the 'fast guy' classes. But as was already said previously I too was shown just how slow I was!

     Starting with overkill power will do nothing but destroy tires very quickly and ultimately slow down your learning curve, which most likely will end up causing you to crash more often and have more repair costs. The inline four 600 classes are dog eat dog as said before and your experience there will more than likely be about survival than learning how to corner well. Learning how to corner is an art / science in itself, doing it well usually requires experience and guidance. Adding speed to this equation is a whole different animal and requires the basic knowledge of how to corner properly in the 1st place, which is why most people will suggest a somewhat lower power bike to start off on. Having started off on a brand new 750 at the time I had a slower learning curve because I was always so focused on not breaking the rear tire loose while cornering (from too much power) which resulted in not concentrating on what I was actually doing with the whole the turn.

     Would this R6 be a good race bike? Well that question seems like it has a rather obvious answer. But I think the more important question is whether this is the right bike for accomplishing what you want to accomplish? Be prepared for substantially more overall cost to race this bike than something like an SV650. That extra cost is very substantial and should be a serious factor in your decision. Lack of money / very serious debt is the #1 thing that causes people to quit racing. If you plan on staying in this sport longer than a couple years than you really should learn to walk before you try and run! But if you think you will only be here for a couple years then I suppose it really doesn't matter which bike you start out on:)

[quicktoy]

Giovanni welcome to the world of racing and debt...your gonna love it ;-)
That being said, the bike your looking at is in itself a great deal for what you are getting, but liek everyone else has said, your gonna spend a looooot of money racing, so get the BEST safety equipment, make sure you have a tire budget (why buy a 10K dollar bike if your gonna tray to extend tires lives)
I started off last year as an amature in the heavyweight classes on a 750, and my biggest problem was the guys on 600s who came up to our classes.  Im an expert this year, and the most fun ive had all season, was at a trackday, when a buddy of mine lent me his crappy street SV650..I didnt know how much fun those damn things were and if i had the funds, would buy one to race right now

[R1KILLER]

BUY AN SV!

[Mark Bernard]

BUY AN SV!

No... buy a Buell!  ::)