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Unplug Your Headlights at the Track! (Why Knolly Started Swearing in his Driveway)

9K views 37 replies 24 participants last post by  Oldbluechair09 
#1 ·
A story brought to you by Knolly and several bottles of Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale:

Last weekend I had an awesome time at the track.



I taped up the headlights on my Striple and set out. I had gone through a ton of effort to install full Ohlins forks and an Ohlins rear shock, Brembo brakes, the whole deal. I wanted to see just what my street bike could do on the track. I had a blast, despite being reserved because I really REALLY didn't want to crash my baby. I even had a "moment" when my front tucked but I saved it, stood the bike up, and coasted into the grass.

What I'm trying to get at is that I taped up my headlights for the track, because that's what you do.

About two sessions in, I realized that the group decal was actually melting from the heat of the headlights, so I pulled apart the gauge cluster (which is a huge *****) to unplug the headlights. I discovered a spider was living in there, complete with a huge cobweb. I flicked it away, undoubtedly introducing a new species of spider to the Indianapolis area that i had brought with me from Kentucky.

I put the gauge cluster back together, which took roughly 30 minutes because what the hell the front "beak" and the rubber grommets it goes into are not even close to the same size.

So then I got back on the track. I rode throughout the day and loved it. The next day, I let my street bike rest and relegated track duty to my Ninja 250. I then loaded both bikes onto my sweet trailer and hauled them home, stashing one in a storage unit, and the other at my apartment. The only incident I had in the return trip was that while I was in the drive thru of the world's slowest Taco Bell, I looked into the rear view mirror and realized that the Ninja 250's seat had "departed" the motorcycle at some point while I was on the highway. I'm sure that's fine though.

Today I decided to get my Striple ready for the street again so that I could go for a ride this weekend. This mostly would consist of just removing tape and replacing the rear fender/license plate mount, but I had some other LED turn signals, a rear hugger, and some other trick parts to mount. So I started the process by peeling off the tape from the track.

Oh.

Oh what's that?

Oh, did my ****ing headlights melt?

Oh yeah, they did.





I don't know if this is because I used black tape which traps more heat, because the 13+ headlights are plastic rather than glass, or just because I have crap luck, but yeah, turns out if you have these taped up for two 20 minutes sessions then you need yourself a new headlight.

Morale of the Story: Learn from my jackassery. Open your gauge, become friends with the spiderbro inside it, unplug the headlight, and go out and pass some superbikes. Don't assume it will be fine because apparently life isn't that kind.
 
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#2 ·
That sucks! If I might suggest to others, it's about as easy to just remove the headlights altogether as it is tape them up and unplug them. Easier, probably. Certainly is when you have a flyscreen to boot. Just make a mark with a grease pen to show how they were aligned before removal. I didn't do that and had to spend a minute making sure they were pointed in the right direction when I reinstalled them. Still faster than taping/untaping.
 
#3 ·
Same thing happened to me, only far less damage was incurred. Now I simply take them off when doing track days. Super easy and looks badass. And we all know looks alone are worth at least .006 seconds!
 
#8 ·
Yeah, hindsight is 20/20. I had to prep the bike at night so I wasn't about to start digging around to figure out how many bolts and whatnot to remove the headlights at the time. Maybe it's just because I had a few drinks after, I figured I could just make a nice writeup of my jackassery.

Anyhow, I was considering a Motodemic headlight anyways, I might have just made my decision...



Hmm, learned something new today. At least with my 09 Daytona if I pulled the headlight fuse it wouldn't even start, so I assumed the Striple was the same.
 
#9 ·
Real bummer sorry to hear. Around here we only have to disconnect the brake and tail lights. Any plastic, lens included, is fine without tape. You don't need to tape plastic fairings so any other plastic rules are silly. Headlights can be left turned on too.
 
#11 ·
If you pull out the gauge cluster, rather than the "beak" at the front, I would say it takes 20-30 seconds on the Striple.

Again, hindsight is 20/20 on this one.
 
#13 ·
Found out the hard way how to track prep my 11R. You'd think you could simply pull a fuse... but no. .. think it's easy to unplug the lights from the harnes... maybe if you have a quick change gas tank and airbox... apparently unplugging the actual lights from the actual plugs and removing the bulbs is the way to go. Or in hindsight removing the headlights completely.

Oh, don't start your bike with the airbox lid hanging off the side. Mine threw a code and I was freaking out until I could find a way to read/clear the code.

Thanks for making the most track able bike less track able, Triumph...
 
#14 ·
Ha, interesting to see how different the bikes are between generations. On my 2013, the plug for the headlights is in the beak-like thing between the headlights, so to get at it you need to either pull out the beak or pull off the gauges (they're both press-fit, though the gauges are WAY easier to get back in).
 
#16 ·
I go back and forth between track and street so I cut the headlight harness and ran four large gauge wires to under the seat and installed 2 switches (one for each headlight). I pull the seat, flip off the switch and tape the lights. Way faster than any other solution.
 
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#19 ·
#23 ·
I'm still trying to get a handle on why some providers are having you disconnect headlights and/or taping them off. Same goes for all lens', if not glass (and that has been a long time since we had any glass on our bikes with the exception of mirrors) I just cannot understand the point. With mirrors either removed or taped you cannot see anyone behind you headlights or not - so why off? Why tape any of the plastic if some if not most is ok not to tape?? The fly screen, face shield and light lens' are all the same material, thank a modicum of logic that you don't have to tape off your face shield - the same stuff as your headlight lens! None of the 4 track day providers around me require any of this nonsense - it's remove or tape glass mirrors and disconnect the brake light, end of the story. I would enjoy hearing the reasons for the selective taping and headlight disconnect.
 
#24 ·
and disconnect the brake light, end of the story.
And what's the point of that? I've never understood the reason for that. Surely, as on the road, it's a safety feature, so you know when the rider ahead is braking. Especially in novice and intermediate groups.
 
#26 ·
I just pull my headlights all together. The plug is right under the fly screen.
 
#32 ·
Personally I'm concentrating on my lines and my braking markers, I'm aware of other riders, but wether their brake lights are on or not makes no difference to me. My main focus is on what I need to do.

But if I'm very close to someone (I NEVER follow directly behind at close range) then the brake light coming on is a nice warning the rider in front is slowing and that's why I think it's safer for the brake light to remain operational.
 
#34 ·
I agree. If you're slow and sketchy, I wanna see your sketchiness far in advance. If you're fast and I'm behind you, brake lights distract me.

Usually not a problem in A group, but B and C groups it gets tricky.
 
#37 ·
Wow, never considered that this could happen. I have always pulled fuses for my lights. Last track day I did some guy on a GSX-R taped his lights but left them plugged and I could see his brake light coming on. Very distracting.
 
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