You know, I have recently moved up to Minnesota from St Louis, and have therefore been introduced to a whole new group of riders and have started going to forums and what-not to see who is in the area. What I have found is that people have some thought that you cant possibly go fast without the 'go fast' parts. Let me just say, I could take a decent AMA racer with his fully prepped bike, give him a stock one, and he would only be about a second off his normal pace.

While those parts are the necessary bits if you are a professional roadracer, such as an exhaust, aftermarket forks, braided brake lines, etc., you dont NEED them to run trackdays, or even to start racing. The whole purpose of braided lines is to cut down on the amount the lines expand when you hammer them at the end of the straightaway and to give you a consistent feel that you can count on. Can you race without them, yes, but you wont be able to run as deep consistently, and you may experience brake fade. Forks are needed to give you more feel, extended range of adjustment, and to make certain that the wheel keeps contact with the track as much as possible. Again, these are not absolutely necessary, we raced professionally for years with factory forks that have reworked internals, and this setup took one of our riders to a top 10 finish at Mid-Ohio. Would a set of unobtanium Ohlins forks have helped? Hell yes, but he would also have needed the Ohlins tech to go with them.

What I am getting at is this, buy a bike, take it to the track, ride it. Once you start finding that the brakes are not the same every time you get to the end of the straight, its time to get some lines. Are the lines going to make you faster? No. Are they going to allow you to ride better and faster, yes.

The point of this whole thing is to rebuff the myth that you have to have all of these goodies on your bike before you go to the track. Just get on it and ride. When you need those parts, you will know it, and by that time, you will also know what you are going to get by installing them. Its like going to the track the first time and using tire warmers, its overkill, and its not doing you any favors.

So, here's to saving your 'mods' money and spending it on the things that are important, like tires and entry fees!