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mugget

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mugget last won the day on October 4 2020

mugget had the most liked content!

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  • Have you attended a California Superbike School school?
    Level 3 at Queensland Raceway

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    Male
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    Brisvegas, Australia
  • Interests
    Track riding and maintaining pristine lawns.

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  1. I will have to search the forum when I have a chance, pretty sure it was discussed but that would be years ago... At the track right now, felt so much better even in the first session. At this track it feels like I’ve come home. 🙂 Working through some drills, feeling more comfortable with the tyres moving around over all the bumps and creases I know in the track. Looking through my notes on the pickup drill - think they could be wrong somehow... I wrote “How: straighten inside arm”. But that would be the same as pushing the bar to counter steer? It should be straighten the outside arm? It was the last session of the Level 2 day so I could have easily got it backwards.
  2. Thanks Hotfoot. I will definitely take it easy and work on the drills, last thing I want is to have SRs kicking in. I’ve been using warmers for a while now, so no dramas there I’m used to pretty much getting stuck into it straight out of the pits - altho usually I can feel the limit of the tyres better - probably a combination of all the different things causing me not to have that same feel straight away made me a bit apprehensive. But I’ll focus on the drills and let it come to me. Great to hear the Twist II video is available online! I loaned my DVD to a friend and he must have liked it because I still don’t have it back after years and years. I will definitely have a watch.
  3. Cheers Yakaru, makes sense. I do actually have my own notebook as well as the CSS workbooks but didn’t take them to the last track days... thought that would be a bit much to manage with all the changes and being so long between rides. But looking back I think that may have been the one thing that would have really helped. Will definitely take them tomorrow. I usually make notes after each session, things I know I need to fix or improve, and little breakthroughs or discoveries I’ve made. I think it’s more the act of putting pen to paper that helps... and if something is working the worst thing you can do is change it! As for the higher seat requiring more lean angle... honestly that’s just something that I remember reading (higher CoG?). 😅 It was kind of a shock to me at the time because I wondered why racers would want to have to lean more... made sense when it was explained tho (can’t remember details unfortunately - would appreciate a refresher or summary). I’ve been out of it for so long now, I should probably go back and read all my old posts - feels like I could teach myself a thing or two. 😝
  4. Hi all, Well life has done what it does and kept me off motorcycles for the last 2 years... before that I'd only done track riding for 3-4 years and had done up to Level 3, made some really good progress and found myself in the fastest group at track days. I did a double track day in early September at basically a new track (I'd ridden it once 5-6 years ago), honestly didn't think it would take me that long to get back up to speed but I wasn't doing as well as I'd hoped and probably had unrealistic expectations of being able to just get back into it. Add into the mix that I've put race glass on the bike, that was a fair bit to get used to especially as the higher seat completely changing my body position. I was up higher over the front end, less space to "tuck in", it was more like folding myself on top of the bike, I was pushing down on the bars rather than forwards/horizontal. At the end of the first day I lay in bed to have a rest and my front delts were just stinging, so I knew I was doing something wrong! Anyway I was just wondering what others have done to adjust to bike changes like that? And how have you managed to get back up to speed after some time off the bike? It feels like I almost need to start from the beginning and do the school drills one lap at a time as a bit of a refresher. Also with the higher seat - that means I will need to use more lean angle for a given corner & speed, correct? I guess that will come when I'm completely comfortable and confident on the bike again. Last month was my first time on actual race slicks as well - wow they have some grip, I didn't even get close to their limits. I will be doing another track day on Monday at my local track that I spend probably 70% of my time at so I know it much better, hopefully a familiar track will help me get back up to speed easier. I just realised that I had so much going on last month that not once did I take a moment to "flap my elbows" to help stay loose. I was not in the best shape either, put on a few kilos during Covid lockdown. Plus brand new leathers that were fairly stiff and felt like they were limiting my movement. I should probably just write off the next couple of track days as "training days", take it easy and stay in a lower group? Cheers, Conrad
  5. I didn't really think it would be that special until I saw the below video and after reading your post there it all makes sense. Like you say - what they have done is amazing, you end up with a completely different machine building from ground up as a track/race bike rather than trying to turn a street bike into a race bike. Ducati Desmosedici RR used to be my "dream bike", but the way technology is advancing so quickly and with all this being available to Joe Public (if you have the cash...) well let's just say it's a great time to be alive!
  6. Cheers for the tip! I had completely forgotten about leather sliders, read about them years ago but have never seen anyone who uses them. Does anyone here use them or have a preference? I think there's really only two options - Klucky Pucks from Woodcraft, or Asphalt & Gas sliders? I will be getting myself a pair to try out. I also think the sliders that came with my leathers are really low profile to start with (it's a budget suit). At the narrowest section they only protrude about 17mm (0.6") from the suit.
  7. Interesting point! Cheers! One of the reasons that I didn't want to use my knee as a lean angle gauge is that when your knee touches down, it doesn't mean that you can't lean any more. I prefer to spend my attention on feeling traction at the tyres and use that as my gauge. But I guess I'll just have to make an effort to try and stop pulling my leg in towards the bike... if you expect your knee to touch down, that means it can't surprise you, right?!?
  8. This point caught my attention... how many people actually use the rear brake to tighten their line?? No one. Rear brake does not tighten line, if it seems that way it's because there is always additional rider input beyond simple rear brake actuation - such as body position change, handle bar input etc. So don't worry, you're not doing anything wrong and you're not missing out on anything. On the point of not having confidence in the front tyre - if you look at any mid-corner crash that doesn't involve throttle, there is almost always brake involved. Therefore if you remove the use of brakes, you remove a big portion of any chance of error. Taking it a step further - do you know how quickly you can steer the bike (given dry & smooth track, warm tyres, etc.)? You can steer it as fast as you want and the front won't give out/fold/slide. What will happen is that the rear will slide when you start to get to that limit. So if you're steering as fast as you can and there's no hint of the rear sliding, you are safe. Actually I think Keith Code has said that he's tried to crash a bike by using a "too fast" steering rate and he couldn't do it. So that should give you some confidence! Taking that and applying it to a double apex/hairpin type situation, if you remove the main danger (brakes), and you know that you can use as quick a steering rate as you want it opens up a whole world of possibilities. You can carry more speed into the turn, stay out wide and basically ignore the first "apex", it will set you up for a good exit. At least that's my approach now and it's helped a lot! I was in the habit of treating these types of turns as 2 separate turns with additional steering input in the middle, now it's so much easier when you can ride it as a single turn with one smooth steering input. If there is slightly more distance between the "2 apexes" it might mean that you need to tighten your line, but this is more of a continued steering input, definitely no brake or throttle in the middle. For this approach to really work it does mean that you need to carry a lot of speed into the turn, possibly a lot more than you're used to, but just remember that the very act of turning will reduce your speed and tighten your line, and you also have the option to tighten your line with line with continuous steering input as well as technique such as hook turn - when you put all of that together you can really start riding some much smoother and easier lines.
  9. I just did a track day, and during the day I got to thinking that I really need to start using my knee sliders and get comfortable using them. After a lot of big improvements in quick succession (suspension upgrades that gave much better feel & improved confidence, started using tyre warmers so I gun it into the first corner and don't waste time) I've found myself getting surprised the few times a knee slider touches down. Sometimes it's just because my inside leg bounces and the slider almost "slaps" the track over a bumpy section, other times it's just that I'm carrying that much lean angle. I've never focussed on getting my knee down, I've spent all my time working on other areas of my riding which is finally all coming together and paying off big time! Speed is not a problem, today was the first time I rode in the fastest group and I probably should have been there for a little while. I am probably the only person in the group that doesn't get knee down. But my riding style means that I don't have such an exaggerated "leg out" body position, in fact usually I pull my leg in towards the bike. So I'm never expecting it when the slider touches down and it has been catching me off guard, sometimes I actually check up and roll off the throttle slightly, which then puts me off and I loose the rhythm for the rest of the lap and a bit. So the question is - how do I go about getting used to using the knee sliders? Just keep doing what I'm doing... and try to get used to the feeling when it happens? It feels like I'm backwards with all this - usually people put all their effort into getting knee down to look cool, then focus on actually developing good riding technique - I went straight to the technique, "cool factor" be damned. Haha Has anyone else found themselves in this situation - being fast, but totally unfamiliar with getting your knee down?? Cheers for any ideas or suggestions!
  10. Just to be clear - when I talk about "maximum lean" in my own riding I'm talking about my lean angle in any given corner, not the actual possible maximum. But if tyres start sliding a lot more than usual in combination with greater than usual lean angle, it probably doesn't mean that I can't lean more, go faster, etc. - but I'd sure be paying careful attention to that feedback and wouldn't push too much more. Yeah plenty of fast guys don't need a massive knee slider budget for a year of racing. I did some training with Wayne Maxwell once and he goes through about 3 sets of sliders a year, which is not that much... But I am starting to get the idea that using knee sliders might have any benefit now, I don't really slide on corner entry, mid-corner - mainly on throttle. But as my riding changes and (hopefully!) improves I am starting to see how I could use it. Will keep that one in the bag until then. Cheers guys. And yes I think we can all agree that knee sliders are one of the biggest tools in Marquez bag of tricks! Haha
  11. Not using my knee sliders, my thoughts on maximum lean angle and gauging surface traction are that it can be done simply by paying attention to feedback from the tyres and adjusting my riding based on this. For example if I was using more lean angle than usual and noticed increased sliding at maximum lean I'd take that to mean that it's pretty close to the maximum lean angle the tyres can take. The other thing having gone so long without actually using knee sliders is that it's almost at a point where I feel it would be a distraction if I was regularly using them without actually being close to what the tyres and bike can do. If I only have $10 to spend, I'd rather keep as much as I can focused on what the tyres are doing instead of spending $1 or $2 here and there whenever a slider touches down and thinking "hhmmm light touch" or "wow, that dug in a lot..." My exhaust (M4 GP) is the most likely part to scrape (already has) and I have rearsets, so there isn't really a risk of dragging hard parts, so the way I see it using the knee slider for that reason just isn't worth it for me. I'm happy with the way my riding is progressing, I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything not using sliders but it just made me think if there's any other way I could or should be using them after seeing that post from Dave Moss...
  12. Ok so if someone was exploring trail braking (moreso deep trail braking?) or raising their corner entry/mid-corner speed I can see that could be an area where using the knee slider could be beneficial, perhaps mostly as a safety device to save slides?
  13. Wish I had a computer to look at the video frame by frame... but I don't think there's anything too mysterious happening here... For those who have ever done a quick change of direction through a slalom or short chicane you might have noticed that it takes very little throttle (or any at all, if the steering rate is so quick?) to lift the front wheel as the bike is coming upright on the change of direction. This is because the steering rate is so great, you have the inertia of the bike coming from lean to upright, the mass of the bike combined with that inertia means that it wants to keep going up - hence lifting the front wheel. If you're then trying to lean the bike over in the other direction while the front wheel is in the air... well you can guess what happens. I've also seen this with strange geometry/weighting. It was on a work delivery scooter, bit of weight in the top box, a quick-ish u-turn or even just straightening up quickly out of a regular corner would bring the front wheel off the ground and cause a decent tank slapper if not controlled properly. Given the extremes that MotoGP racers are dealing with it wouldn't surprise me if Vinales front wheel came off the ground and caused him to crash.
  14. I thought of this when I saw your post... Dave Moss comes out with some very insightful comments every now and then: Take particular note of your clip on angle as well as the position relative to the forks. To me moving the clip ons 30mm in front of the forks is a fairly radical setup, but what I take away from this is that the riders comfort and ergonomic fit is the highest priority. Move the controls to wherever you need them, the bike is always going to steer better for you if you can use the controls more effectively.
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