khp

Very cool indeed. But their words about "built-in webserver" and "runs on Linux OS" makes me wonder if it's just an elaborate prank. From the video they're linking to, it obviously isn't. The power pack isn't huge: the biggest is 11kWh and a MotoGP has around 240bhp, and uses on average, say, half the power for around 45minutes of racing. That's ½*240bhp*736W/bhp*3/4h = ~66kWh, ie 6x the energy of the TTX02. What am I missing here? That the TTX2 doesn't put out a lot of bhp?

Greg, Excellent, it was exactly this kind of info I was looking for. BTW did you see the waterproof case VholdR is coming out with? It's quire compact, but it looks more like for diving than anything. Sounds like that it's the same problem that my friend had with his 720p camera - the power would cut from the motorcycle vibrations. He had his battery replaced under warranty- apparently VholdR had a batch of batteries that were 0.5-1mm too short, resulting in this problem. With the new battery, he haven't had problems so far, when going snowboarding. Nice videos, and very fine riding too I presume the raw files are much better quality than what I see on youtube. Post-processing? Why do you like I've got a Full-HD LCD TV I've previously used Pinnacle Studio (about 6 versions ago), so I'll probably give that a go first. Thanks again for your valuable input, Kai

Thanks for the link. Looks really nice - but also rather expensive. I also like the idea of a totally self-contained unit. JTNYC, I think we're pretty aligned here Video specs: I've taken a look at the specs for the GoPro HD and the ContourHD 1080p, and it definitely looks like they are using the same sensor and encoding hardware: they have the same sensor size (5Mpix), can record in the same modes (1080p, 960p "Tall-HD" 4:3 format, 720p, 720p@60fps, etc), use the same codec (H.264 aka .mov/.mp4), and the videos consume the same amount of GB/hour. Audio: GoPro claims to have worked a lot on the audio side - a good thing, because you easily end up with a video that just has wind-noise as sound. VholdR says they have improved the audio side on the 1080p over the old 720p. The sound on the car videos at GoPro's homepage sounds very good. The sound on this YouTube video is OK, but it isn't track pace so it's a little hard to judge. Storage: VholdR uses microSDHC cards (max 16GB), whereas GoPro uses SDHC cards (max 32GB). VholdR is narrower and deeper, whereas GoPro is wider (has a bigger frontal area) but not as deep. Personally, I like the design of the VholdR better. GoPro can take still pictures (5Mpix). I'm not sure the VholdR software can do that. Mounting/alignment: A trackday friend of mine has the "old" 720p ContourHD cam, and he says that adjusting the ContourHD can be annoying, because it A) doesn't have a built-in screen and doesn't have a "webcam" feature so you can see where it's pointing. That means you need to take a small clip, stop the cam, plug in USB cable, review it on a laptop, unplug USB, adjust cam direction, repeat ad nauseum. Don't know about the GoPro. Stevo, can you get your trackday buddy to chime in on this? If others have info to share, please do. I'm not rushing out of the door to buy a cam next week. Thanks, Kai

I'm considering to get a video camera to mount on the racebike, so I can film what I'm doing during sessions in order to provide feedback to myself. I've previously used a Sony mini-DV camera but it takes up quite a bit of space on the tank and secondly, the helical-scan tape recording system is a fickle system that doesn't like a lot of vibrations. A fully-electronic solution (no moving parts) would be preferred. My question is twofold: First, what cameras have people tried and would recommend? - The UK school had an all-digital camera, but it had some problems with water entering it when I did Level 4 in July. Secondly, where should I mount it in order to get the best input into my own riding? The normal mounting position is on the fuel tank, pointing forwards and possibly seeing the instrument panel, but that's probably not the best way. I've been looking at the VholdR ContourHD 1080p. In 1080p mode, it gives a 110 degree field-of-view, compared to the 55 degrees of the old Sony miniDV (with a 0.6x wide-angle lens). Thanks, Kai

ECR - is that Eagles Canyon Raceway? Regardless of the track, I would recommend dividing that goal up in smaller, intermediate steps or goals - taking 18s out of 138s is my opinion A LOT, unless you are really 'coasting' along on the straights today. Consider it this way, if the track record is 1:46 (as on Eagles Canyon), you're today 30% off the lap record and 2:00 will be 13% off the lap record. Maybe you're just a lot braver than me, but to me ... wow, that's a big improvement you're looking to do.

...my 2 cents: BUY! You need this equipment anyway. But then it's easy to spend someone else's money. I agree with Kevin: Buy ... if you at all can find some leathers that suit you (no pun intended). If you cannot find leathers that fit you well, consider renting if you know you'll have a set made-to-measure (it ain't cheap). You should be able to pick up boots, gloves and back protector that fit you like the proverbial glove. If the first shop don't have stuff that fits you, visit other shops that carry other brands. Oh, and remember those earplugs! Cheers, Kai

It sure depends on how wet the weather is in general Since you're running on street tyres, they should work fine in the rain as well. Sure, you probably won't be able to ride with your knee down in the rain, but then again .... would you want to? Personally, I lived happily without extra wheels for wet weather from 2003 to 2008. The only reason I have extra wheels now is that they came with the new (used) R6 I bought a year ago. Hope this helps, Kai

Speaking of video analysis - I nevet got to see the video from my L4 on Silverstone South in July, due to water in the camera. Do you know if they got the video out of it so I could see it (even now)? (answer: ask the office) Thanks, Kai

I picked my copy down from the shelf and reread it, and I think you have gotten it mixed up: that chapter (15) is about Rossi's Ferrari F1-test at Ferrari's private test track Fiorano and as I read it, what Rossi is explaining is how to take a turn in an F1 car - not on a bike. An F1 car needs the downforce from the winglets in order to go quickly through the turns and thus, a high speed into the turns.

Hi, The BMW's work a bit different WRT suspension than my old XT600Z, but the relatively long and plush suspension of any offroad type bike can make the bike change steering angle quite a bit (it becomes less steep) which will lead it to understeer -this may be what you are experiencing in the slow corners. Try finding a relatively long and soft turn on a road and try play with the throttle (close/open it repeatedly) to get a sense of how it affects the suspension and the steering geometry on the GS while in the turn. Doing this would be verging on dangerous on my old XT600Z (that's how I originally learned to stay on the gas in a turn).

Qualifiers it is! - found them on sale online (€182 including shipping - must be around €80 down on normal), probably a clearance sale thing before the new Q2's arrive. /Tanner: great avatar there. Is that a 2002-2003 model you have as well?

I always wear mine; on the track, in a School or on the street. - ATGATT! I totally agree to the ATGATT philosophy. When I started using a backprotector some 12 years ago, using one was rare among street riders - now it's like "are you stupid or sumthin'?" if you don't wear it on the street. I have a friend still living because he purchased AND used his back protector - let's just say that in the battle between your back and Norwegian granite (as in 'mountain'), it's the granite that wins every time. The Danish car racer Jason Watt crashed his ZX-9R bike ten years ago during a mag photoshoot, while doing a wheelie - unfortunately he slid his back into a curb leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. He has continued to successfully race specially modified cars. We don't know for sure (we can't go and reenact the accident), but it is highly likely that we wouldn't have been paralyzed, if he had used a back protector at the time. Kai

It's exactly the alround choice I'm looking for here. Just a clarifying question: are you referring to the 'plain' Qualifier or the Qualifier RR tires? Which Bridgestones are you using? - my problem with the bridgestones is that there are so many models to choose from (bt-002, bt-014, bt-015, and -016) and their website don't line them up the way Dunlop do. The Michelin PowerOne tires & website has the same issue - basically too many variants to choose from, even with their selector website. Thanks to all for chiming in.

Short version: maximum rpm and thus power. I was going to say torque as well, but realized that they have pneumatic values now (which allows them to optimize the lift profile for all rpms independently). Longer version: With 1000cc & 4 cylinders, the max bore of 81mm will effectively limit the minimum stroke length to 48.5mm. The piston has to travel 2 x the stroke for every revolution, and the average speed of the piston affects the wear and heat of the piston. So in order to keep the wear and heat to a reasonable level, they have to keep the rpms down, or come up with ways of reducing the wear and heat. As an example take a 600cc sportsbike with a stroke of 42.5mm (such as the YZF-R6 and CBR600RR), which has a max rpm of 15.500rpm. Here the max average piston speed is 15500/60*2*42.5mm = 22m/sec, which is close the what has been considered "the limit" for production bikes for some time. For MotoGP race bikes, they can surely bend the limits quite a bit.

Since 2002, I've been using Metzeler Sportec M1 and Roadtec Z6's 2002/2003 Yamaha YZF-R1. The M1/Z6 tires have always given me a lot of grip and lots of confidence in both dry and wet conditions. This year, in preparation for my CSS Level 1 & 2, I bought a new set of tires - Sportec M3's (front + rear). While the old M1's were very neutral and didn't move from lines in the tarmac until they were quite worn, the new M3's felt "nervous" from day one. With the new M3, the confidence is gone (even though there's clearly lots of grip available, even at full lean). The bike becomes very sensitive to longitudinal tarmac changes and white stripes. Also, when turning in the bike, the front feels like it's twitching as if it cannot decide what lean angle to settle on. I've been in talking with Metzeler customer support (they actually called me up!) and they explained that this is as expected, due to different constructions of the M1 and M3 tires - basically the M3 is more pointed, which makes it more "nervous". After a season of driving the M3's, I've decided that I want the old behaviour back. I could go back to the M1's but since a lot of development is happening in compounds and Silica contents these years, I'd rather look forward than back, when choosing a new tire. So here's my question: which tires would you recommend, given the above?

What you just described is affectionally known as "the gorilla factor", since you get this slightly hunched over position while off the bike I couldn't agree more. I had a set of leathers made-to-measure in 1998 (for road riding) and it was just fantastic. My current Dianese 1-piece that I use for track riding is a standard size 56, but it's 4" too short in the legs and 2" in the arms. I guess that at 6'6" and 190lbs, I'm just not measuring up to EU-standard sizes After 12 seasons of riding the leather on the tailored suit is deteriorating and the colours doesn't look as nice, so just before Christmas I had measurements taken for both a 1-piece (for the track) and a 2-piece (for the road). Christmas 2010 should arrive around February 1st :)

Thanks, stevo. Actually, it's just Denmark that weird with the taxes - Sweden don't have any registration taxes on cars and bikes. Legend has it that originally the tax was a "luxury tax" in Denmark, but suddenly the government got caught up in relying on the income. These days the arguments are "vehicle pollute a lot", "Without a high tax we would have an congestion problems", and "we need the revenue". The unspoken issue is also that without a local car production, a high registration tax effectively limits the flow of money out of the country. On the flip side, we do have free (as in gratis) education all the way up to university and free health care. Most Americans go ballistic when they hear this the first time, but when they've stayed for a while in Scandinavia, they come to appreciate they tradeoffs made.

Hi Cobie, I have just today been trying to find out the ratios are between the various bike types (or rider types, if you like) here in Denmark, but I didn't succeed. When I get that info, I'll let you know. Suzuki is quite popular in Denmark, since the distributor normally gets some really good deals on the bikes - combine that with a 180% tax, and they quickly much much cheaper than the rivalling Japanese bikes. Honda had a big market share 10 years back, but somehow they've decided that they were able to demand higher prices for their bikes - big surprise, they weren't. The beemers have always been popular with the guys that want a "two-wheeled bus, cabriolet", in spite of their ridiculous prices. I'm not very much into the cruiser types, but I believe that most people choose the jap wannabee bikes over the Harleys, since the Harleys tend to be associated with gangs and gang related crime (Bandidos and Hells Angels). Trackdays: there are a number of providers, and the total number of days you can attend seems to have gone up over the last 10 years. Probably has to do with the proliferation of the Internet - now it's much easier to spread the message to more riders, so it's easier to get attendance from more riders. Overall, I would say that the trackdays are reasonably easy to get one. There are specific schools which have been around for 10+ years which are hard to get on, simply because they only run 4 schooldays every year. Regards, Kai Reliable months: this is Denmark, are you kidding me? - we get wind & rain at the same sickening rate as the British do. Generally, the motorcycling season is considered to be from March to October, but since we can get night-frost (and the municipality spraying salt on the roads to de-ice them) up until late April, many riders wait until at least April to drag out their bike. Pretty much the same goes for southern Sweden. If you go the 500km due north to get to the level of Stockholm (Sweden) and Oslo (Norway), you can cut out about a month in both ends (Been There, Done That). Go another 400km north again to Trondheim (Norway) and you can at least cut another fortnight away in both ends. Go further 350km and say hello to the Arctic Circle Since they now have the possibility of midnight sun, the 6-7' of snow can disappear pretty quickly - but it can also be quite cold, so best option is to check the forecast even in the midst of the summer.

Right now, the schedule looks a little empty - it wont be like that for long: April 2-5th, Lausitzring (Germany). July 9-10th, CSS Level 4 at Gälleråsen (Sweden). I'll probably squeeze in 1 more day in each of the missing months (May, June, August, September). On top of that, I'll probably spend 4-5 weekends as a safety course instructor between April and August

Not just singles - the Big Four has made a bunch of 400cc 4-cylinder bikes originally destined for the internal Japanese market, but for tax reasons (bikes and cars are taxed up to 180% at registration) Denmark has received quite a few of these such as CBR400, VFR400, RVF400, GSX-R400, and ZX-R400'es. A friend of mine has a CBR400RR and loves every bit of it, since she's around 162-165cm (5'4"-5'5" for the metrically challenged). Biggest problem is the coming shortage of maintenance parts and tires (try getting hold of a decent 150/60 rear).

Actually, I live in Denmark, but that's a minor issue. The lower part of Sweden, which is the part I know, is very much like Denmark - rolling hills, patches of woods, fairly narrow roads. Norway, on the other hand, has plenty of mountains and canyons - pick any 3-digit "Riksvei" (national road) and you're in for a good time in the saddle. But still plenty of narrow roads Denmark has just 3 asphalt tracks, all located on the Jutland peninsular and very rarely open to trackdays. The biggest track, Jyllandsringen, is located next to a bird conservation area and a very large camper area. Well, let's just say that it goes downwards from there. So it's not a surprise that most Danes travel to Sweden or Germany to go track riding. We are fortunate enough to have quite a few Swedish tracks close to Denmark - Falkenberg, Ring Knutstorp, Sturup Raceway as well as Scandinavian Raceway in Anderstorp where Formula 1 and GP500 was held back in the 70'ies/80'ies. I think Wayne's lap record from 1990 still holds (1.31'107). Sweden has quite a number of other tracks, but not easily accessible from Denmark. With the notable exception of Anderstorp (4km) and Ring Gotland (the North loop is 3.2km, with a projected south loop adding 4.2km to that), most tracks are short, technical and often with elevation changes. I don't think that Keith is that well known - you have to be a bit into trackdays or racing to know him. The cruiser guys mostly think that us sportsbike people are nutters . Many motorcyclist go to locally based courses, such as SMC's Braking/curves course (BKK) or the Danish DMC's safe-driving courses. Since SMC have started the sportsbike courses, which has been heavily influenced by Twist-2 indirectly through the Norwegian book "Full Kontroll", Keith and the Twist books are likely to become better known and undoubtedly more popular. Somehow, Denmark has a much more scattered offering of courses, with noone really picking up the gauntlet from Twist-2. We have some that try to teach cornering, but they do not provide a very structured approach - everything depends on which instructor you are assigned. (I can safely say this since I've not only attended the course, but know a number of the instructors first hand).

I would think to make it viable for others to be able to supply bikes, and competively so. I'm only guessing here, but my take is that they thought that having a 600cc (Moto2) and an 800cc class (MotoGP) was too close for comfort - just how much difference in laptimes etc would there be between the top Moto2 riders and the top MotoGP riders, with just 200cc of extra displacement? So in order to be able to market the two classes as being really different, they had to move them further apart - and hence the 1000cc displacement. Slight topic deviation: Since they have replaced the 250GP class (250cc 2-strokes) with Moto2 (600cc 4-strokes), a natural progression would be to replace the 125GP class with something like a 400cc 4-stroke class as well. If they did, it could result in a new wave of 400cc sportsbikes and THAT would be really interesting IMHO.

I can't speak for dbtripple's version of "Long Leg Syndrome", but since I'm 6'6" as well, I can at least add my own perspective: when you have (very) long legs, you tend to have very sharp angles in the lower joints (knee, ankle) and the bike dimensions can make it difficult finding a good, stable body position on the bike. All this can also make it a bit awkward moving around on the bike and cause fatigue on longer drives. WRT your own vs a school bike: I've done all my levels (1-4) on my own bikes. Yes, you may be a little bit more cautious about dropping the bike, but I think that's just a good thing since charging around the track will most likely lower your learning during the day(s). Hope this helps, Kai

Hi Andy, He most certainly did! - I've got both his and your autograph in your "Performance Riding Techniques" book as well as this photo by picman to boot: Hope to see you again at Gälleråsen! Cheers, Kai

I got my drivers license in '89 while studying, and bought my first bike in '95 after graduating and getting a job (cars and bikes are expensive here in Denmark) - a Yamaha XT600Z Ténéré '88. The year after, I moved to Norway and brought the bike with me. In Norway, I started going canyon carving on Sundays with a bunch of people on mostly sportbikes. That led to a YZF600R (ThunderCat) in '98, which I attended my first CSS-inspired course. I proceeded to crash it thoroughly later that year on a local track (Rudskogen) after getting both my right knee and footpeg down in "Storsvingen". When I moved back to Denmark by '99, I got a new ThunderCat, which I thrashed around on both street and track for a few years until I moved to Sweden (where the bikes are inexpensive) - and got a YZF-R1 2002. It got nicked a year later, so I decided to get a dedicated track bike instead - a '01 R6. Come 2004, I got "an offer I couldn't refuse" so I was the lucky owner of a 2003 R1 as well. I still have that bike and loving every moment of it, even though I had to pay for it an extra time when registering it in Denmark, when moving back in 2005. Last year I swapped the '01 R6 for a '08 R6. What a difference! Still trying to adapt to it. Overall, I must have ridden around 90K miles, riding on the roads for around 15 years and on the track for 10+ years now (I'm a fairly smooth and predictable, but not a very fast, trackday rider). Since 2005, I am also working as an instructor at a motorcycle driver safety course here in Denmark.