With your experience in track riding I want to ask your suggestion.
Myself have no track experience, don't own any sports bike till now.
I use a 150cc trigger for daily commute and also I had done some long trips on it. In my family there is another bike the Honda CB350 rs. So I am looking to buy a new bike and I am leaning more towards a sportsbike dream of 300-400cc. I was eagerly waiting for r3 launch last month and the pricing was a worry for me.
Besides looking for the new bike I am thinking about riding in tracks. So which one should I go for first. As both is expensive business in india.
Option 1. First go take a course in racetrack and get the racetrack licence
Option 2. Get a sportsbike and get adjusted to riding a sportsbike. Then later go for the course on racetrack.
Also the last thing to ask is since I am near to Chennai. Which school do you suggest
(Even if i am buying say a r3 or aprillia rs457 I don't wish to immediately take it to a racetrack. I think it will take years for me to have confidence to take my bike to the track)
Also I request one more thing from you. When the Aprilia rs 457 reaches the showroom. Please ride it and let me know whether it feels in the same league as r3 or just in the same as rc390
For a sports bike experience at minimal cost, just get yourself an R15 V3 or V4
This bike is the smallest "superbike" you can ride.
It handles as good as a sportsbike and feels like a 250 cc bike in terms of power. It will make you a great rider.
You don't need any license to ride on track, you just need to be able to afford the track schools training events - you have Indimotard TWO, APEX, ISBK, RACR academy.
There is also a more premium expensive track school that happens once a year only in Chennai (California Superbike school)
It costs quite a lot of money for 2 to 3 days - but you get trained properly once.
Once you do that you will ride faster and safer anywhere on road or track.
You will need to buy or rent proper riding gear and premium DOT or ECE rated helmet, gloves, boots and so on (buying all this costs about 1.5 lakhs at least)
After that - if you have really good talent you can look at going professional, but its not cheap or easy.
For fun riding on track, you can do "open sessions" on track school events - just pay and ride - you get about 8 laps a session and maybe 6 to 8 sessions a day for 2 or 3 days
There is also "Sunday pay and practice" where you can ride paying a small fee for 3 hours - but this has a lot of random people coming and sometimes safety is a bit compromised as far as I heard.
You can practice your cornering skills on ghat sections also, but it is super risky if you go beyond limits - which is more likely when you are younger.
Track riding is a very expensive hobby - so you really have to think if it is for you - you can enjoy yourself a lot more touring on nice roads that have curves, if you ride sensibly.
Hence - to summarize
1) Get an R15, ride it a bit
2) Save up enough for a track day "Level 1" course - I recommend Indimotard TWO school (google for details)
3) Ride and tour, do more track days if you can afford.
4) When you are really reaching the limits of the R15 then think of spending big bike money.
I think having a track only bike is not the most efficient use of money - at most you can do 5 or 6 track days a year, so its just not worth it spending too much money.
Duke 390 (2022 version and above), R3 (old version second hand) and the Apache 310 are fantastic bikes that will work all round.
You can rent bikes for the track also.
New R3 is too expensive to recommend
There are only 3 race tracks in India - MMRT Chennai, Kari Coimbatore and BIC New Delhi.
MMRT is best for you.
I will certainly ride the RS 457 and see if I get a chance and post about it here
Hi
With your experience in track riding I want to ask your suggestion.
Myself have no track experience, don't own any sports bike till now.
I use a 150cc trigger for daily commute and also I had done some long trips on it. In my family there is another bike the Honda CB350 rs. So I am looking to buy a new bike and I am leaning more towards a sportsbike dream of 300-400cc. I was eagerly waiting for r3 launch last month and the pricing was a worry for me.
Besides looking for the new bike I am thinking about riding in tracks. So which one should I go for first. As both is expensive business in india.
Option 1. First go take a course in racetrack and get the racetrack licence
Option 2. Get a sportsbike and get adjusted to riding a sportsbike. Then later go for the course on racetrack.
Also the last thing to ask is since I am near to Chennai. Which school do you suggest
(Even if i am buying say a r3 or aprillia rs457 I don't wish to immediately take it to a racetrack. I think it will take years for me to have confidence to take my bike to the track)
Also I request one more thing from you. When the Aprilia rs 457 reaches the showroom. Please ride it and let me know whether it feels in the same league as r3 or just in the same as rc390
For a sports bike experience at minimal cost, just get yourself an R15 V3 or V4
This bike is the smallest "superbike" you can ride.
It handles as good as a sportsbike and feels like a 250 cc bike in terms of power. It will make you a great rider.
You don't need any license to ride on track, you just need to be able to afford the track schools training events - you have Indimotard TWO, APEX, ISBK, RACR academy.
There is also a more premium expensive track school that happens once a year only in Chennai (California Superbike school)
It costs quite a lot of money for 2 to 3 days - but you get trained properly once.
Once you do that you will ride faster and safer anywhere on road or track.
You will need to buy or rent proper riding gear and premium DOT or ECE rated helmet, gloves, boots and so on (buying all this costs about 1.5 lakhs at least)
After that - if you have really good talent you can look at going professional, but its not cheap or easy.
For fun riding on track, you can do "open sessions" on track school events - just pay and ride - you get about 8 laps a session and maybe 6 to 8 sessions a day for 2 or 3 days
There is also "Sunday pay and practice" where you can ride paying a small fee for 3 hours - but this has a lot of random people coming and sometimes safety is a bit compromised as far as I heard.
You can practice your cornering skills on ghat sections also, but it is super risky if you go beyond limits - which is more likely when you are younger.
Track riding is a very expensive hobby - so you really have to think if it is for you - you can enjoy yourself a lot more touring on nice roads that have curves, if you ride sensibly.
Hence - to summarize
1) Get an R15, ride it a bit
2) Save up enough for a track day "Level 1" course - I recommend Indimotard TWO school (google for details)
3) Ride and tour, do more track days if you can afford.
4) When you are really reaching the limits of the R15 then think of spending big bike money.
I think having a track only bike is not the most efficient use of money - at most you can do 5 or 6 track days a year, so its just not worth it spending too much money.
Duke 390 (2022 version and above), R3 (old version second hand) and the Apache 310 are fantastic bikes that will work all round.
You can rent bikes for the track also.
New R3 is too expensive to recommend
There are only 3 race tracks in India - MMRT Chennai, Kari Coimbatore and BIC New Delhi.
MMRT is best for you.
I will certainly ride the RS 457 and see if I get a chance and post about it here