u/Mediocre-Pain9184

Got this bike about a month ago. Done about 1500 street miles, mostly canyons. Not my cleanest lap, plan on some track fairings soon so I’m not as worried about a crash. I come from an mt09/gsx8S, recently picked up a rs660, thought it was the best thing ever made lol then I got the moto 2 and man.. it fucks. Makes my 660 feel like a turd. Does everything the 660 does but better. And faster. But I’m not scared of crashing the 660 so was about 3-4 seconds off usual pace. Can’t wait for more seat time!

Long read I’m sorry but I haven’t really been able to share and I’m kind of spooked. All the what ifs I imagined, and this wasn’t one of them, figured my lesson could maybe be a lesson for someone else. Thanks for reading!

Picked this 660 up a few months ago. Have done about 6 sessions (2 hrs) on it with no hiccups. I hand wash all my bikes before track/rides (I ride street once or twice a month and track once or twice a month) and inspect for anything “different” and then do all the basics, check fluids, adjust chain, clean/lube chain, check tires/pressures, axle/sprockets, and just do a good walk around. Sunday I did my first ride on the street and on the way to some canyons there’s a road where I was really able to open her up (held her wide open for probably 3 or 4 minutes straight trying to keep up with a speed triple rs and zh2 lol) we slowed down and chilled for the next 20 minutes (0 stops until the intersection, no reason to use brakes) coming up to the highway intersection at around 60 mph I went to stop and had 0 front brake pressure. I downshifted and used my rear brake, I locked the rear up a bit not gonna lie, was coming up way too fast on the guys I was riding with and the intersection and I panicked I guess. I was fine with the fish tailing, but there were these white chunks of plastic like heavy duty cardboard all over the intersection and when I hit one it was like the rear was on ice or an oil slick. The guys I was with said once my tire hit that it was over and they seen me sliding on it. the bike kicked 90° pretty much instantly like it was going to low side and then my guess is the tire burned through the plastic, abs kicked in, or I let off the rear brake and threw me into a high side. My guess is I went down around 40 mph or so. I had my full suit on, boots, back/chest protector, everything besides airbag pretty much. Walked away with 0 injuries, just sore 2 days later.

I’m sure I’ll get some backlash about rider error and my fault etc but I know my riding level and it’s honestly just a messed up accident and a little bit of maintenance negligence on my part ( I’d argue that if you’re reading this right now you couldn’t tell me the last time you put a wrench on your banjo bolts to see if they’re tight if it wasn’t leaking/didn’t just work on it) this all happened fast, like 2 or 3 seconds. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t even think in ideal conditions it’s possible to stop with a rear brake in 200ft or less with a rear brake and engine brake let alone completely losing the rear on some road debris.

The cause? During that top speed pull the banjo bolt vibrated and backed itself out of the master cylinder.

I definitely learned my lesson about really thoroughly inspecting stuff even if there’s no reason to inspect it (I never saw drips when looking over the bike, never had brake pressure problems either). The bike is mostly fine, need new fairing stay and getting track fairings now ( my plan was to let this bike do double duty until I crashed and then convert for track/race, just happening under different circumstances now lol) when I get around to putting the bike back together if it’s remotely important it’s getting safety wired lol and I’ll be doing the same to my other 2 street bikes.

I want to get fast and also do some racing next year. I bought an mt09 in September, did my first trackday in December and have done 10 trackdays since. The past 2 days I rode my girlfriends gsx8s and a combined 6 sessions on my rs660. I’m actually faster on both bikes than my mt09 lol but was fastest on the 660 with almost 0 seat time. I feel really slow on it but I guess it just does everything that much better/easier? It’s really weird going from a naked to supersport style bike. I’m mid A group on my nakeds (b group in this video,2nd time at this track, not comfortable being consistent, not comfortable on bike at all, and A group is 1:45 cut off I’m doing 1:48s). I want to get faster and hear some things I can work on, I know I’m sloppy and can tighten up. I was thinking of doing some paid coach lessons next season and maybe try to do the California super bike school when they come around so if anyone has feedback on that I’d appreciate that as well!