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daesimps

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Cornering Enthusiast

Cornering Enthusiast (3/5)

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  1. You have me curious about "lenz stars" as no amount of Google foo will reveal anything to me. I've tried working on wide view a fair bit myself but to no avail. I really struggle with keeping the wide view when cornering. For example, when taking a right hand turn (I'm in the UK so ride on the left) I struggle to look through the bend but keep the kerb in the wide view. This usually results in me drifting into the bend and away from the kerb earlier than I'd like. If I move focus to trying to remain out near the kerb usually means my focus of vision comes towards me too much and before I realise I can quick turn I'm already on the way out of the bend. If I try the "look at the centre of a wall and notice the edges of the room" I find that I almost go cross-eyed or out of focus and really do not fancy the idea of that happening at 50mph on a country road I've done level 1 but will struggle to do any more due to a combination of money and medical issues meaning a full day at school is too hard on my body so it's not something that I'll be able to address at school any time soon, meaning I'm going to have to sort it myself in the meantime.
  2. When braking hard (or for that matter when braking at all) I always grip the tank with my knees to stop the weight transferring through my arms and upsetting the front wheel. I grab that tight I swear if you lifted me up the bike would come with me!
  3. You can definitely do it on any bike. In fact the S1000RR, according to BMW literature, is only enabled with quickshift for going up and not down. Put very light pressure on the lever and quickly blip the throttle as you are slowing down. At the point that the revs reach the required level there'll be no load on the gears and she'll just slip right in. Get it wrong and you'll either jerk or simply not be able to change. I do clutchless down shifts on my GS all the time and all my previous bikes (Shiver 750, CBF1000, ZX6R).
  4. Probably not the clearest explanation but: When you are slowing down (and off throttle) the engine is braking and helping with the reduction of speed. In the gearbox there are two cogs meshed together, 1 connected to the engine and 1 connected to the road (via chain, sprockets etc). Since the "road cog" and "engine cog" are trying to move at different speeds they are pressed tightly together and thus make it difficult to change gear. When you blip the throttle you raise the engine revs and during this process the "engine cog" goes from trying to move slower than the "road cog" to trying to move faster than it. There is obviously a crossover point where the "road cog" and "engine cog" are trying to rotate at the same speed. During this precise, brief moment there is no load holding the two cogs tightly together and you can change gear with ease. Since you've also matched the engine speed to the road speed you won't lock up the rear wheel. The opposite is true when changing up without the clutch - you briefly close the throttle instead of blipping it. This is because the speeds mentioned above are reversed in so much as the "engine cog" is initially trying to go faster than the "road cog" so we close the throttle to slow it down and remove the load binding the two cogs tightly together. If we left the throttle closed we'd end up in an engine braking situation so we open it back up again to match engine and road speed. All this happens extremely quickly. If you press the gear pedal very lightly whilst blipping/closing the throttle you'll feel the next higher/lower gear engage at the precise crossover point where the load on the cogs is removed. Make the blip too slow or too large and you'll end up with a very jerky gear change. I hope that makes sense - really easy to understand and really hard to explain! I purposefully avoided terms like "output shaft" etc.. in an a attempt to make the explanation nice and clear (as mud ). Dae.
  5. I have the same issues you are facing. I started video taping my rides, then watching them after. Stepping through the vid very slowly for each turn and keeping my eyes on the VP really opened things up for me. I could see where I dropped my line of sight and when I charged the apex when I actually thought I was going in deep. That sounds like a good idea. I'll see if I can rig something up. Maybe one of the HD keychain cameras that are doing the rounds may help as I don't have a lot of room on the helmet due to having a Scala G4 on one side of it. Don't want it to look like I've ridden through a gadget shop with a magnetised lid.
  6. I agree and always when questioned reply that you'll not lose the front from steering too quickly (save the usual oil, ice etc). However, knowing that it won't happen and believing it when you push that bar quick and it feels weird is quite different. As I mentioned above, on my old bike I'd steer as quick as you like and was always completely confident in the bike's (and my) ability. I'm not sure whether it's the different front end, suspension, geometry, seating position or whatever else, but the current bike just makes it feel like you're much further over than you are. There also doesn't appear to be much feedback - rather like your playing on a computer game and moving a joystick with no real idea of what's happening in real life. I believe if I can get this sorted along with regaining my confidence in my own ability and plenty of practice I'll have it licked. I'm hoping to create some sort of positive feedback loop and the better I get the more I'll believe and therefore I'll get even better. Thanks for the tips, Dae.
  7. I intend to do level 2, but realistically this won't be until next year and will need some careful planning and organisation (see my post post level 1 which described my medical issues). You may be onto something with the VP taking too much attention. My gut feeling was that the 2 step is hard to do if you don't have step 1 (VP) set correctly. By the time I am finding my Step 1 there's not much to step 2 as I'm almost out the other side. Although I do always try and practice my Quick Turn I'm pretty sure it's a "slightly faster turn" than a "quick turn". It's a combination of feeling like the front is going to let go and feeling like I'll be leaned too far over. Initially I thought that it could be due to not getting a good grip on the tank. I've fitted some Tech-Spec which has helped but the lip on the top of the tank if just slightly too high so even if I raise my feet onto the balls I can touch the underside of the lip rather than lock into it. Interestingly enough I never seemed to have these issues with my old bike which I had for 3 years before I got rid of it in March last year. The two bikes are quite a contrast - the old one was a 250kg IL4 CBF1000 (touring type bike) and the new one is a 170kg v-twin Aprilia Shiver (naked street bike). The old bike definitely seemed more planted and offered much more feedback when leaning it over. I could quite easily touch the pegs down and even did it on the hired FZ8 at Silverstone when I did level 1. I've never touched a peg on the Shiver and always feel like I'm much further over than I did on the CBF1000, even though in reality I'm nowhere near. The lack of front end feel is a very common issue on the Aprilia Shiver forum and the majority of people complain about it and make changes. As such I was in contact with a local suspension guru last night and I'm going to have the front springs and oil changed to try and getter more feedback (the Shiver has no adjustability whatsoever on the front). I think the target fixation of the VP combined with the not-quite-a-quick-turn and the lack of confidence/feel in the front may be adding up to much more than their constituent parts. As you said your ability (or perception thereof) to quick turn always rules your entry speed. I know I ramble on a fair bit, but sometimes just thinking about things and putting it into words can start off a chain reaction of thoughts and reveal that the problem isn't actually the one you first thought it was. Sorry, Dae.
  8. Maybe I am being too critical - it's something I'm guilty of in everything I do! I wasn't so much wanting a way to absolutely decide the entry speed, just a way to judge it better. I hope that makes sense. I always ride to stop in the distance I can see to be clear on my side of the road and am familiar with the VP from doing my IAM test. However, even though I passed the test the examiner did say that I could pick the pace up a bit and still be completely safe, it just doesn't feel like it when I'm approaching the bends. As soon as I'm in them, however, it's obvious that I've over compensated and slowed too much. As I said above, I find the VP method doesn't give you a decisive TP or definitive action point. It encourages lazy steering as the tendency is to speed up and slow down as the VP moves away/comes closer. It also makes it difficult to only use 1 steering input per turn. At no point on level 1 did we discuss how to select the TP for unfamiliar roads. We discussed how most people turn early and slowly and discussed moving it further into the turn but there was no real discussion of unfamiliar street riding. This was always 1 of my concerns before doing the school - most stuff is very easy on a track that you go over and over but can be very different on some of Yorkshire's finest roads. I'm not saying that the school skills don't apply to the road, just that it can be a bit difficult to transfer them over easily. I guess I should just accept the way I ride and get over it. Dae.
  9. We didn't do any fill in the blanks in the classroom sessions. The thing that I struggle with is it's easy when you do level 1 as there's a big X on the track, whereas it's much harder on the street knowing where to put the X for yourself. I always practice TC#1 (and did before doing level 1 as I read TOTW when I started riding). Not knowing where to put the X makes it hard to do the 2 step since I'm missing step 1. I always try and keep rider input to a minimum - to the point that my thighs were killing me when I went out at the weekend from gripping the tank so much. I don't have a drill sheet or booklet from level 1. Dae.
  10. No brakes is how I do, and always have, ride. I think it stems from always planning ahead and was reinforced when I passed my IAM test. The main issue I have is that I tend to think that a corner is tighter than it really is and consequently arrive at the bend going too slow. As I mentioned earlier, if I can see the whole bend (over fields etc) then I'm OK. It's bends where I can't see all the way through on approach that tends to cause me issues. I realise that it's always better to be in too slow than too hot and am not wanting to achieve ridiculous speeds. I just was more appropriate speeds if that makes sense. I'm sure I've mentioned previously, but I'll mention again just in case: When I did the IAM we used the vanishing point. Unfortunately this doesn't tend to fit well with me as you are chasing a moving target, rather than having a defined turn point. I feel that "chasing the VP" tends to encourage lazy steering. I normally stay on the outside and turn when I can see the exit, giving a more definite single turn per curve. Unfortunately what I'm finding with increasing frequency is that by the time I can see the exit and turn point the turn is almost over and there's not much turning to be done. I was going to start a thread surrounding post school/between school drills that road riders can do. Whilst doing the school was great, it would be nice if there were some drills that I could do to maintain/hone my new found skills until I can get to do level 2 (which is realistically going to be next year). I'm sure there are many people in a similar situation where the time between schools is quite long due to time, cost, location etc and we'd all benefit with a way to make sure we don't lose the skills between courses. Dae.
  11. I hope nobody minds me jumping in. I was going to start a new thread when I spotted this one. I attended level 1 at Silverstone in April and completed all the drills to the satisfaction of my coach. Since then I've been trying to apply them when I ride on the road (I don't do track and have no desire to). However, I have an issue with trying to apply TC#1. When approaching unfamiliar turns (which most are since I can't memorise the Yorkshire Dales and Yorkshire Moors!) I try and select a turn point. These being Yorkshire's finest twisty roads you can usually be certain that when I get to the turn point I can't see enough of the bend to be sure it doesn't tighten, so I push the turn point further into the bend and maintain an outside position following the curve (which is sometimes tight enough itself, even before the quick turn). Quite often I find that as soon as I can see enough of the bend to be sure it doesn't tighten there's no point picking a TP and Apex RP, nor doing a quick turn as the bend is almost over. It's like my mind sees every bend as a 90 degree bend on approach, but then once I'm in it I find I'm on the way out before I realise it wasn't, and am therefore going much slower than necessary. This doesn't happen on bends that I can see on approach (e.g. looking over fields, hedgerows, to the upward side of the hill I'm going down etc). Does anyone have any ideas or drills? Thanks Dae.
  12. This is something I've been struggling with lately. Once turned in I know you are supposed to release pressure and the bike will hold its line. I think that this has worked on all my other bikes but my current one, Aprilia Shiver, wants to stand up as soon as I release pressure from the bar. I discussed it when I did level 1 and Glen said some bikes are like that and gave the example of the Ducati Diavel. My question is: Is there a way to work out whether it is a handling characteristic of my bike or a problem with the squidgy bit on top of the seat (me)? Adding throttle as per TC#1 seems to help, I think, but the area where I notice it most is going downhill. This is really noticeable for me as I live on a large steep hill and have to negotiate all the turns through the estate every time I go out. It feels like when I release the pressure on the inside bar that it starts coming back towards me and doesn't want to stop until I apply more pressure to hold it in its tracks. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks, Dae. Does it hold a line when on the flat, and with the throttle rolling on? Does it just do this going downhill and what is happening with the throttle at that time? CF I'll have to double check on the way home tonight (all up hill going home). I think it's only when going downhill. It also seems to be at lower speeds (sub 30 mph). When riding in to work this morning I did some playing around and it definitely seems to be the lower speed stuff. Opening the throttle seems to help but not completely eradicate it up to about 25-30mph. Above this speed the throttle seems to remove it in its entirety. The feeling is that the inside bar is coming towards me and it just keeps on coming until I resist it. I seems that if I didn't resist and stop it the bar would keep on coming towards me until it hit the lock stop (or I fell off since I was turning far tighter than the corner!). Does that help?
  13. This is something I've been struggling with lately. Once turned in I know you are supposed to release pressure and the bike will hold its line. I think that this has worked on all my other bikes but my current one, Aprilia Shiver, wants to stand up as soon as I release pressure from the bar. I discussed it when I did level 1 and Glen said some bikes are like that and gave the example of the Ducati Diavel. My question is: Is there a way to work out whether it is a handling characteristic of my bike or a problem with the squidgy bit on top of the seat (me)? Adding throttle as per TC#1 seems to help, I think, but the area where I notice it most is going downhill. This is really noticeable for me as I live on a large steep hill and have to negotiate all the turns through the estate every time I go out. It feels like when I release the pressure on the inside bar that it starts coming back towards me and doesn't want to stop until I apply more pressure to hold it in its tracks. Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks, Dae.
  14. I'll drop you a line about it. I mentioned it to Glen who said "we know about you, speak to Chris". When I mentioned it to Chris she said the only opportunity I would have would be to grab my instructor in the pits but things got a bit confusing as I'd hired the FZ8 but they'd put me on an R6 which I can't ride due to ergonomics. By the time we'd sorted that out it was a bit too late to discuss it at length with anyone. I tried my best to let Mike (my coach) know, but it was a bit of an in the pits chat through helmets so hardly ideal. He was very understanding, but the main issue was just the amount of stress it put on my body and the fact that by mid afternoon my Morphine was wearing off and the pain was becoming forefront in my mind. I'm not really sure that there's anything that you guys could have done to help. Without knowing in advance how hard work it was, which you can only know by doing it, there wasn't really any options available. At least I now know how intense it is and can have a think about what I can do to make it better. It's going to be a while before I can afford level 2 so there's no real rush to sort it out. I think the only real option would be to do level 2 over 2 half days to give me time to recover between sessions. Thanks for the info anyway, Dae.
  15. I've just realised that my posts could have come across as being quite negative about the experience. I just want to make it clear that this is absolutely not the case. I explained my issues to the instructors and they were very helpful. They were constantly checking to see if there was any way in which they could help me. One of the symptoms of my condition is that my joints are extremely loose and unstable. As a consequence my body, at a microscopic level, is always tense in order to try and stabilise itself. These leads to 2 issues. The first is that I get tired quite quickly as even when I am still and "relaxed" my body is constantly working. As I described to my instructor you can see this when I am stood still - I almost always have a slight "swaying" and clenching/relaxing of my butt while my body tries to stabilise itself. I can't really ever stand completely still. The second issue is with things like find throttle control or if talking about non-motorcycle related activities things like writing. When I am using the throttle/writing a letter my elbow and shoulder tenses up to stabilise the rest of my arm. This can make fine control quite difficult - as an experiment try to write a paragraph or so with your elbow and shoulder tensed up. This is compounded by my affected proprioception (your body's awareness of where all its parts are in space). Basically your body knows where all its parts are by the length of your ligaments/tendons but mine are all too elasticated and as such my body can't quite work out where everything is. An example is if you were to reach out to pick something up from beside you on a table or reach out to put something on a shelf - I can only do this if I look at my hand otherwise I miss the object/shelf. Relating this to motorcycles it makes things like trying to fine tune body position quite difficult as something as simple as "move your foot back 1/2 an inch" means I would have to look at my foot to do it and thus take attention away from the road. In the real world where I am riding for pleasure I have overcome most of my problems. This is mainly due to the fact that I ride in a rather sedate manner and only when I know I am up to it. Since I only ride (slowly!) on the streets I'm not concerned with things like BP and as such it never really causes me an issue except for having to take regular pitstops to stop myself becoming over tired. My plan is to try and work out, from reading TOTW2 again, some exercises that I can do when I'm out riding for pleasure that will help with my vision and selection of RP/Apex/TP. Thanks again for listening to me witter on. The main reason for the post was to help determine stuff I can do on my own on a weekend rather than you listen to me complain about my medical history, it's just easier if you understand why attending school isn't a viable/easy option as I know attending school is the answer to most people's problems. Money permitting my wife will be doing L1 later this year so I will be down at Silverstone with her and take it as an opportunity to further discuss with the school what my options are. I tried a couple of times when I was doing L1 but as any of you who've done the course will know it's quite a tight schedule with not a lot of time left for long discussions. Dae.
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