Sell Street Bike?

Note: I'm newly married and trying to buy my 1st home.

I have a K8 1000 with only 12k miles on it - babied for the most part and mint. The normal aftermarket stuff: exhaust, PCIII and custom tune, 520 kit with +2 in the rear, pazzo levers, K&N air filter, graves pair block plates.....the bike runs great.

I want to get into track day riding but obviously don't want to jump into in with a 1000cc bike...my wife doesn't like the idea of me buying a dedicated track bike...is it worth selling my K8 to fund a track bike and all the bits needed for track days....and only riding on the track? The streets are dangerous - but I love being able to jump on the bike and go for a ride....

Thoughts?

 

Get a divorce now if she doesn't let you do what makes you happy.

 

lol - she does have a point tho....especially since I know I will get addicted to it and want to go faster and faster which equals more $$ each time

 

Sell the bike, buy the house, save $ for a nice 600 and jump in when she has her home, and you can afford to get a dedicated bike.

 

Has the annulment period expired?

Not sure what you can get out of it cash wise but you should be able to walk away with a surplus of cash. Figure you can get a nice SV/lightweight bike or 600 for $5k or less. Or even get a 250 and have a few years of championship chasing money... if its not too "aggressive" for you.. . :up:

 

Yeah, buy her a new house, she gets addicted to new furniture, fills up new house, wants bigger house, buy her a bigger house, and your dreams stay on hold forever.

 

Go buy a SV650...relish in the full throttle fun....once you are addicted then sell the street bike.

 

By then, she'll be pregnant with their first child, will be telling him that racing is too dangerous and he has a child to look after, and his dreams die again.

 

Uh thats when you step up the game and buy a toyhauler/rv/diesel truck and lobby for "family fun" Asking for forgiveness and all that!

 

I feel like i can get a SV or older 600 for under 2500?....do a track school 600ish at NJMP and a set of full leathers (500-800)...seems doable without selling the street bike...I seriously love that thing lol

 

I like the part about "asking forgiveness" and not "asking permission."

 

you sell the bike, have money, and then as said above the new home expenses slowly eat that and then you have no 2 wheels.

I have learned my lesson already. I now have a street bike for those times I want to ride and a dedicated track bike for that extra high

The key is...650s rule and yeah..try to always have a 2 wheeled vehicle in the garage at all times, well except when you're out riding

 

Convinced - keeping the street bike...worked too hard to pay that off lol.

 

I'm cheap, so I'll get that factor out of the way up front.

I had a dedicated track bike after 5 track days on my street bike, and later sold the street bike to fund my racing habit. The points I would make are:

- I don't see the point in having the world's greatest street bike when I can't use even 70% of its potential on the street. (the exception would be if you plan on this year's street bike becoming next year's race bike). So get yourself something cheap and ugly for the street IF you even want to continue street riding. I stopped commuting due to my school schedule, and was spending weekends at the track, so my street bike got almost no use... Selling was an easy choice.

- Race bikes should be safe and clean, but also relatively disposable... (read NO MORE EXPENSIVE THAN NECESSARY). If you're just getting into racing, buy the cheapest FI 600 or 650 that you can find that is already set up for racing. It will be AT LEAST a couple of years before you need equipment less than a decade old. I've seen novices win races on 1999 R6's. I raced a 2003 in 2011 and 2012, and the bike was absolutely NOT what kept me off the podium. Once you start winning novice races, then you can think about upgrading to a newer, more expensive bike...

The best improvement virtually any racer can make is additional seat time. A cheaper bike that you can race 10 rounds a year is MUCH better than a really nice bike that you can only afford to race 3 rounds a year.

In your shoes, I would buy a beat up first gen SV650 for street, and a nicely set up 2nd gen SV650 to race. Combined cost should be around $5k. Then you race the nice one, and have the old one as a spare that is still class-legal if the nice bike is crashed and not repaired in time for the next round. If you're lucky enough to be able to afford two 2nd gen SV's, then you can cannibalize the street bike for spares in a pinch.

 

NICE!

 

If her point is anything other than "do what makes you happy" then you need a divorce.

 

It's paid for? Keep it. Buy some track bodywork, maybe a spare set of wheels. Go have fun at trackdays and easily be able to convert it for street ridin'. No trophy at end of day, so take it easy, learn to ride that thing, relative speed will come with time.

Now if you're considering actual racin', plenty of great advice above mine.

 

"Get into track day riding"? as in, you've never been?

How about you sign up for one or two, ride the 1k but take it easy and see if you even like it. If you do like it, see how you feel about street riding afterwards. You may hate the track. You may still want to ride on the street or you may say "hell with the street" and go 100% track. Whichever one you decide will affect how you move forward.

 

So, you're saying $3300 is doable?

Housing prices are down, but, on the way up. Interest rates are low, but, seem to be trending up.
Buy the house.

Instead of sinking $3300 into a bike and leathers, rent a track prepped bike and don't worry about bike maintenance or transporting the bike (save money on trailer and additional fuel needed for towing).
http://www.adrenalinecycleinc.com/2012/wordpress/arrive-ride/
They say on the website that the bike and gear packages range from $275 - $450. On the high end, $450, that's 7 track days and you're still under $3300.
On the low end, $275, that's 12 track days for $3300.

 

My personal opinion is don't track a street bike. If you do, it'll become a track only bike over time anyways and also potentially end up as a pile of scrap parts. If you can't deal with that, then buy a cheap track only bike.