Joined
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57 Posts
Hello all. Been lurking a bit and decided to make an account. Here’s a short intro.
I’m 37 years old. Started riding in 2013, so I am late to the party. I took all of 2016 off due to deployments, a training period and settling in my new duty station. I am in thr military.
I started with an EX500 in San Diego.After 3600ish miles I thought I was ready for a new bike. Bought a 2012 N650 and promptly wrecked it within 360ish miles. I didn’t think that bike was too much for me. I think that accident was me riding well over my skill level in the Playground on the 94 in San Diego. I really liked that bike and bought a 2013. My second 650 rolled around 13,000 miles, countless mods including suspension and a whole ZX6R front end swap. While owning that bike I joined a Socal forum called socalsportbikes.org and through that met some local riders in San Diego. I joined a group on the San Diego sportbike meet up group and did lots of canyon riding with them. I sold that bike and ended up with an 09 ZX6R. Loved that bike but was just going too fast on the street just commuting but not really learning to ride fast in the canyons (relative to those canyon junkies). I grew interest in the R3, sold my 600 and almost regretted it at first. It wasn’t the lack of power, I got over that quickly. It was the lack of braking power since I was so used to the awesome stopping power of the 4-pot dual Nissans. After a while though I got used to it and really enjoyed the smaller lighter bikes. I did my first track day in October 2015 and was hooked on small, light weight bikes. Did my second track day before I left San Diego and got stationed in Japan.
I commute daily on my bike. I no longer do recreational riding on the street. As long as we aren’t deployed, I’ll aim for 2-4 track days per month, even during winter. I know some of you folks from the R3 forum.
Admittedly, I don’t own a ninja 400. I’m here for info. I’m at the point where I am chasing a certain track Lap time. There is still progress to be made but at this point I am comparing my relatively new skill level (4 Years with 16 trackdays and god knows how many canyons rides where I was probably learning incorrect techniques) against racers. I am currently 3 seconds away from a buddies lap time on a Duke 690 while I am on an R25. I believe moving to a ninja 400 will shrink, if not close that gap. I know it’s cheating but I’m also itching for a new bike lol.
This community looks like it has a lot to offer. Sorry for the loooong post.
I’m 37 years old. Started riding in 2013, so I am late to the party. I took all of 2016 off due to deployments, a training period and settling in my new duty station. I am in thr military.
I started with an EX500 in San Diego.After 3600ish miles I thought I was ready for a new bike. Bought a 2012 N650 and promptly wrecked it within 360ish miles. I didn’t think that bike was too much for me. I think that accident was me riding well over my skill level in the Playground on the 94 in San Diego. I really liked that bike and bought a 2013. My second 650 rolled around 13,000 miles, countless mods including suspension and a whole ZX6R front end swap. While owning that bike I joined a Socal forum called socalsportbikes.org and through that met some local riders in San Diego. I joined a group on the San Diego sportbike meet up group and did lots of canyon riding with them. I sold that bike and ended up with an 09 ZX6R. Loved that bike but was just going too fast on the street just commuting but not really learning to ride fast in the canyons (relative to those canyon junkies). I grew interest in the R3, sold my 600 and almost regretted it at first. It wasn’t the lack of power, I got over that quickly. It was the lack of braking power since I was so used to the awesome stopping power of the 4-pot dual Nissans. After a while though I got used to it and really enjoyed the smaller lighter bikes. I did my first track day in October 2015 and was hooked on small, light weight bikes. Did my second track day before I left San Diego and got stationed in Japan.
I commute daily on my bike. I no longer do recreational riding on the street. As long as we aren’t deployed, I’ll aim for 2-4 track days per month, even during winter. I know some of you folks from the R3 forum.
Admittedly, I don’t own a ninja 400. I’m here for info. I’m at the point where I am chasing a certain track Lap time. There is still progress to be made but at this point I am comparing my relatively new skill level (4 Years with 16 trackdays and god knows how many canyons rides where I was probably learning incorrect techniques) against racers. I am currently 3 seconds away from a buddies lap time on a Duke 690 while I am on an R25. I believe moving to a ninja 400 will shrink, if not close that gap. I know it’s cheating but I’m also itching for a new bike lol.
This community looks like it has a lot to offer. Sorry for the loooong post.
