yamaha 500cc gp bike melted

+1

Shenny scares the crap out of me - with close walls and little runoff, it's definitely a track for slower, more conservative riding (or a supermoto )

Personally, I think it's cool as hell the guy built the bike and was going to track it - that's what they're made for, and I wish I'd been able to see it run.

But if it were mine, I'd much rather open that bad boy up on a track where it's legs could be stretched...that's all.

 

I guess some guys are less clever than others. Had I spent 2 years restoring a 500cc GP at the cost of a $150k and then been black flagged for leaking fuel I think I would have, I don't know, fixed it before continuing on with my day.

 

It's the wera beeb - full of couch racing know it all's, Debbie Downer's and a pile of hater's no matter what the topic!


A guy restored an awesome bike, took it to a track to run....gimmie a break! Better yet, give him a break!

 

And what does that have to do with the track he chose to go to?

 

Nothing..I don't care. He's out riding..the track is irrelavent to me. I'd damn sure be out riding it. On that we agree. I just hate to see a nice machine in flames and a trackday ruined over possibley a cheeseburgers worth of fuel line or a gasket.

 

I don't blame the guy for picking a somewhat undersirable track, by some people's standards, to ride a bike of a lifetime. It is a huge shame it melted, maybe it was insured.

 

I've ridden Shenny on an R6. I agree completely with the people here who would not take that bike to Shenny and I can't say anything about the black flag because I wasn't there, however, that guy is not a dick just because he made/makes a lot of money!

What is wrong with the mentality of Americans these days???? Just because the guy has money he must be a dick???!!! Wow!

The northeast WERA and CCS racers know me. I'm certainly not rich, but I don't begrudge someone who is. I'd love to have that kind of money to spend on my bikes, but I don't. I spend what I can, and I work hard for what I do have and what I can afford. And I race the bike that I can afford to build, many times against other bikes that have more money invested into them.

Maybe the guy has a rich daddy and was given everything since he was a kid and has had an easy life, or maybe he got a good education, worked hard, very hard, and may have had just a little luck and did well for himself. Maybe, just maybe, he owns/runs a nice business and hires plenty of like-minded sport bike enthusiasts to work with him.

Too many Americans feel they are entitled to a good living without having to work for it, and this "hate the rich guy" attitude reflects how lazy some of us have become. Too many of us feel we "deserve" to be wealthy and we aren't.

Either way, this "rich guy" spends his money on a sport we all love. I'd rather see him spending his money restoring an older MotoGP two smoke than buying a new Bentley or some $150,000 painting to put on the wall.

In case you are wondering, I have no idea who this guy is and have never met him nor have I seen the bike. I do, however, wish him the very best in getting that bike back out onto the track, where it belongs! Too many of those bikes are either destroyed or hidden away.

 

Reading the comments on that forum was painful, bunch of knuckle draggers. "A seven-year-old $150,000 bike. Someone took it up the ass hard when they bought that thing." What a retard.

 

Shame it happened. I don't blame him for bringing it out. You only get a few chances when you can ride something like that. Kudos to him for running it around. I'm a believer in these bikes should run, race or ride (preferably race). I almost look at as a disservice to hide it away. Bill brown is putting on a good show with some rare bikes at events. Big price to pay if anything goes wrong - hopefully he can put it back together.
Pat - what do u know about bikes - do u even race?

 

I'd ride that thing anywhere there was asphalt, little track or no.

Long driveway, mall parking lot, etc.....

And by the looks of his truck / trailer / EZ up he's not rolling in the dough...

 

I'd have it parked outside Starbx right now.

 

I'm glad this thread took a turn for the better Could have been a real train wreck.

 

How do you make a fireball 8x8x8?

 

could be like Supermoto's besty... sacrificed everything for his e-ticket ride! On the scale of things... he got alot closer to mechanical nirvana than most!

 

i'm more in shock so many of you don't like Shenny than anything else in this thread. i LOVE that track. granted i've only raced/drifted on it in cars, no supersports/bikes, but still... its super fun, i love the layout there for just dicking around. i know its not GP track status. twice as many turns as Main... for practicing and precision is rad as shit. i guess cause you guys aren't stretching your bikes out fully? i can see that. i'm seriously building my supersingle JUST for Shenny, to just go there and have a blast railing some light ass bike. to each their own i guess, i was just surprised haha.

i guess i'm just a sucker for old, narrow, twisty, WWII-era style tracks. Summit gives me inner peace. Just like BSB.

also this bike or a TZ750... i kinda just need to own one before i die. i don't blame this dude one bit and i just wish i woulda seen it in action before this happened. such a damn shame. i guess as long as the frame and engine is salvageable most other stuff can be bought over again with, at least, more relative ease, no? wheels, forks, fairings, brakes? hopefully it didn't warp the frame or swingarm. awwww...

 

I'm with Kenny on this one. Coming from a guy who accidentally set his bike on fire that was basically being restored for 2 years, and through 3 engines. Mine caught on fire and you're talking about maybe 10 grand in it. But after all my time and labor I would have put it out with my dick if I had to.

HOWEVER... "Restoring" a 150K bike? How much restoration had to be done for that price? Can't be much. But props to him for getting it out there. And as far as the track goes... How cares, he was out there with one of the coolest bikes ever made, does the size of the track really matter? The size of the fire extinguishers bigger or better at bigger tracks?

 

With a bike like that it can be pricey either finding the rare as hen's teeth parts to go on it or having to have them made beause you can't get the parts.

 

It makes a of of sense to go to a little track where top speeds are low for your first shakedown of a post-restoration bike that you can't legally ride on the street. A fireball under his nuts while rocking the front straight at Summit Main going 160 might have had a significantly different result.

steelcityracer, thank you for your incisive review of Shenandoah (with an H) circuit based on a look at it. Did you look from a plane, on Google Satellite View, or from the top of the bridge?

I've ridden Shenny many times and had a lot of fun every time. Sure, I prefer to stretch the S1000RR out on Summit Main or Thunderbolt, but Shenny can be a lot of fun.

 

Cold blooded Geoff, cold blooded. I raced my 250 dirt tracker to the ground a few months ago. I won. It was close behind though! It punished me good for getting there first too. My thumb still looks like this- :up:

 

I'm under the impression that the main complaint is what would happen if someone crashed there. Probably a little more painful than what would happen to you in your car.