How much does tracton control limit racing?

I've never road my bike with the traction control off. It seems like it doesn't noticeably limit the bike while racing from a stop light. Then again I've never tried it without traction control to know any better.

Does anyone have experience trying to go as fast as possible from a stop with traction control off and does the traction control really make that much of a difference?

I've seen on videos where sport bikes with traction control on you can actually see it dramatically affecting how fast they can take off, where as with the rocket I have never felt it kick in like that.

Obviously a sport bike can do a wheelie super easy so I'd assume their traction control has to be on the heavier side.

So whats your thoughts, is it worth turning it off for a race? Or does it help?

mo8414 said:

I've never road my bike with the traction control off. It seems like it doesn't noticeably limit the bike while racing from a stop light. Then again I've never tried it without traction control to know any better.

Does anyone have experience trying to go as fast as possible from a stop with traction control off and does the traction control really make that much of a difference?

I've seen on videos where sport bikes with traction control on you can actually see it dramatically affecting how fast they can take off, where as with the rocket I have never felt it kick in like that.

Obviously a sport bike can do a wheelie super easy so I'd assume their traction control has to be on the heavier side.

So whats your thoughts, is it worth turning it off for a race? Or does it help?

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Slipping isn’t gripping. With that said, I turn my TC off when we are hooning around because I love the feeling of powering out of corners right at the ragged edge of losing traction. But it is definitely a, “feel“ thing. So many different variables affect each corner. Tire temperature, road surface and power applied. I definitely left mine on until I got a really good feel of when it kicked in. These bikes have so much torque, crack open that throttle heavily in a corner and you’re looking for serious trouble, very quickly. TC is really intrusive on a drag strip. It gets turned off every time. These bikes will definitely wheelie, especially at a drag strip. @Kevinfrazier has a great picture of his bike coming up off the ground. I hate that feeling, Kevin and Konrad think it’s pretty darn funny. Kevin took me to my very first time actually riding at a drag strip a few years ago and I watched a stretched-out Gixxer do a complete loop. This was before I even did my very first run. It’s stuck with me.

If you want to know how traction control is affecting your launch, find an open parking lot and launch with and without, you'll know seat of the pants how it affects your riding.