Search the Community

I'm wondering why there is only one major producer of after-market throttle cables. Their flagship product is a progressive cable that runs exponentially faster as you open the throttle: at lower speed the sensitivity is almost the same than the stock cable but as you open gas the cable will run faster towards its end. In general, throttle control is more critical at lower speeds (there could be tracks with very fast corners that require the same level of throttle control than slower corners, but I am not aware of any. Please let me know). Ride-by-wire changed a bit the need for this type of upgrade but did not remove the problem (long discussion). But this product doesn't do just that. It also has a smoother, more stable run (hard to describe with words) and removes that dead "play" at the begin of stock cables (I know it can be reduced but not removed). With all the stress on traction control why there would be only one fine offer? I give this upgrade more points than rear-sets and master cylinders, yet everybody jumps on rearset and brakes upgrades but not on a precision throttle cable?

One of the differences I noticed watching many onboard racing videos is that a majority of expert club racers tend to be aggressive on the throttle right after the apex. They seem to be waiting for that magic point in the corner where they can optimize the bike power. WSBK/motogp videos on the other hand look more symmetrical in throttle control around the apex. Deceleration and acceleration change of speed are similar. Is this a valid observation? At first I thought this happens because the fastest riders have higher corner speed. But could it be because of the more sophisticated electronics managing the bike?

Hi all, At a track day recently I was watching some of the riders in fast group enter a particular turn, one of them was riding at tyre-blistering pace and what really made me take notice was the fact that he was entering this fast sweeping turn still on the throttle! I have never noticed anyone do that before, so I kept watching and sure enough lap after lap it was the same thing. He would just roll off the throttle at or after the apex. I meant to go and talk to him but didn't get a chance... Here's the track I'm talking about, this particular corner is called "The Kink", first corner after the straight: It's pretty fast through there, for me it's 5th gear easily 200km/h+ (125mph+). Previously I have always been rolling off the throttle and turning in, then back on the throttle to accelerate to the Karusel. But when I saw this other rider using throttle into the Kink I started thinking hey, why not? There's plenty of room and I accelerate out of it anyway so obviously I'm not going into it as fast as I can? Well here is the reason for "why not", summed up by Hotfoot in this previous thread: Add to that the fact that I have thought about it before, but have always been worried about inadvertent throttle input while making steering inputs... But I thought I would just start out giving it a try anyway... after seeing someone else do it... well it must be possible! Since it's such a fast corner, quick flick isn't really doable (or at least not possible to the same extent as slower corners) so I didn't feel that using throttle would compromise the steering input. I started out just adding some throttle to reduce deceleration, still rolling off before the apex. And gradually kept adding more throttle, but still not accelerating into the turn and still rolling off before/at the apex and accelerating out. This was towards the end of the day so I didn't get much time to keep experimenting with that, but was pretty chuffed with it so far considering that previously I wouldn't have even thought about it, let alone have been game enough to try it. I should be back next month and will keep working on this. So I just wanted to ask how others have handled similar turns? And what other tracks have the same kind of setup? First one that comes to mind is the big left hand kink in the straight at Laguna Seca? I have read that when races were held at this track back in the day, racers on 600's would be able to hold it open through the Kink in 6th gear on a really good lap with fresh tyres. But that same article mentioned that lots of people kidded themselves that they held the throttle flat through there as well... My thoughts at the moment are that I should be able to work up to accelerating into the turn, tapering off to more of a neutral/maintenance throttle nearing the apex just to reduce engine braking. Next step would be to see how the tyres and bike are handling that, if the bike is stable then trying to maintain some light acceleration all the way through the turn. Trying to think of anything from the Twist books/DVD that would apply to this type of situation, but I've leant of my copy of the Twist 2 book & DVD to a friend. Help a guy out! Cheers!