Loading Your Bike for Track Days / Thunderhill Track ? - Ducati.ms

jbernard · May 8th, 2010, 7:56 pm

Since a lot of you guys do track days and I am hopefully going to do one soon (Thunderhill in NorCal - it's the closest best deal here in the Bay Area) I had a couple questions that you guys could potentially answer.

What type of ramp do you guys like/use - since my old dirt bike ramp won't work?

For those of you transporting in a truck, what do you do not to bow the bed of the truck (at the back of the cab) once you tie the bike in? I know in my old truck from haulin' my dirtbikes it got a bow'd; I have a newer truck now and I'm looking on a tip to prevent this from happening.

Last, for the rest of you NorCal guys - have you ever done a track day with Pacific Track Time - how was it; how was Thunderhill? They seem cool on the phone and said that their intermediate class was for track newbies that have road experience but are new to the track. They said they offer class instruction in between moto's too.

Anyone doing the June 5th date @ Thunderhill?

Anyway - Thanks for the help.

Take care - Joe

Decreasing Dave · May 8th, 2010, 8:08 pm

For the bed, I use one of these http://www.ccrsport.com/bed-buddy-c-...d6509d9efa0c03

It has a place for the front tire to keep it from turning during transport and loosening on side of the tie downs, letting the bike drop.

For a ramp, I just picked up an aluminum one from the local bike shop that doesn't have sides like my(your) dirtbike ramp. It just has lateral bars and a gentle curve to it.

Dave

Antigrav · May 8th, 2010, 8:09 pm

You mean to keep the front of the bed from bowing... the bed reail behind the cab??? I go in at an angle and put my front wheel in the front corner of the bed, that way it locks the front wheel in place and depending on your bed legnth you can close the tail gate. Going straight in in the middle of the truck bed will bed it quick with a heavy bike like the Hyper. Also use four tie downs on a bike as heavy as a Hyper.

Better yet is to buy a cheap trailer... they make a fold up one... way lower and safer to load and unload and leaves room in the truck for gear and stuff.

bromike666 · May 9th, 2010, 12:06 am

I rent a single bike trailer with a fold down ramp from Uhaul. It's $15.00 a day and no worries about pushing the bike up a tall skinny bike ramp. I put my front tire in a Baxley chock, use four tie downs and off I go.

eezz · May 9th, 2010, 12:33 am

These work.

http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/...submit=find+it

Then you'll have a little money left for a good ramp.

Suigeneris · May 9th, 2010, 12:37 am

I'm very spoiled, I use 2 ramps. One for the bike and one for me. Too many almost disasters specially after long hot t-hill trackdays. One ramp folds into a tailgate for extended storage. I always load straight in as I bring more than one bike. Bed bowing doesn't bother me because I bought a truck specifically for bike hauling. Furthermore, I can make it from hayward to t-hill in 2 hours flat since I don't use a trailer. 80mph compared to 65mph. Oh yeah, check out the t-hill avatar<<<<<

popmonkey · May 9th, 2010, 12:05 pm

thunderhill is a fantastic track and a great facility to do track days. you can arrive the evening before and camp at the track, saving you hotel cost and there's nothing quite like waking up with your bike and the rising sun

i've done quite a few with PTT and they do a very good job. i usually go with either PTT or Keigwins (the latter is pricier tho)

unbalanced · May 10th, 2010, 11:21 am

Thunderhill is a great facility, lots of fun and relatively safe.

PTT is a fantastic organization, their "instructors/coaches" are the best of the best, and their events always run smooth and trouble free...That's been my expierience anyway.

chipset · May 10th, 2010, 12:17 pm

I use a Baxley wheel chock in the center of the truck. I ride my 848 into in. Then I use a Cycle Cynch to keep the bike from moving side to side. I might tie down the back of the bike, depends on how far I am going.

The baxley wheel chock is nice because you don't have to load up the front end to get the bike to stay. The chock pivots to create a nice grip around your front tire. This helps because it is less prone to blowing out a fork seal.

I used a single ramp in the past with help getting the bike in the back of the truck (it's fairly tall in my Dodge) but I picked up three ramps that turn into a bed-wide ramp which will make it a lot easier.