Jump to content

Leaderboard

Popular Content

Showing content with the highest reputation on 07/19/2018 in all areas

  1. I can't tell if you are serious or joking with this post. Tensing your gut to steer the motorcycle? Turning your head to steer it? Pull the inside bar outwards? Regarding you comment about the No BS bike, the further you are from the center of mass of an object, the more leverage one has on it. The No BS bars are quite high, therefore have more leverage and still can't get the bike steered with any efficiency.
    1 point
  2. A skill I learned as a young rider, is best explained by an anthropology text discussing the relationship between research and imagination. It spoke of “soft vision, hard focus”. Ones hard focus is on the road well ahead, this is maintained while also allowing oneself soft vision out in the periphery of ones vision. on your bike this means that one remains actively aware of what’s going on outside the focus of ones attention. Thus although my focus is often ( on rural roads) two corners ahead watching for oncoming vehicles, landslides and road debris. In my soft vision is placing me on the road, alert to surface and random animals walking out in my immediate viscinity. In terms of cornering it is my soft vision that marks my arrival at the turn in point already. I can tell by three or four inches whether I hit my mark. When navigating blind corners. The hard focus varies between 2000-300 metres ahead to the next corners, right down to 30 metres on those nasty closing radius blind corners. On those corners the eye follows the vanishing point alert to the need to radically change my chosen line. But.soft focus deals with all the little details of road placement. It is all very active and meditative, especially when I’m fully in the groove. Dodging unexpected sheep, and oncoming trucks that cut corners is handled almost entirely by the soft vision aspect. The hard focus in those instances looks to those avenues of escape that I spotted previously: hunting and tracking the gap. Hard focus turns my head. Soft vision looks everywhere else. another comparison is player of ping pong, or boxers neither focuses on the ball, or the fist, they look hard at the opposing player, and rely on soft vision to hit the ball or block the fist. hope this helps those who get lost vision wise.
    1 point
  3. Personally I love riding in the rain. Less traffic and at the end of the day it's like having your own private track when everyone packs up and leaves early. When other riders are angry and horrified about the R word I'm thinking "heck yea"! Some of the things that change in my riding in the rain. 1. Braking. Earlier, lighter, longer. Stretch out the braking zone and leave yourself a buffer just in case. 2. Lean angle. Less is more. You stay on the fatter part of the tire and maintain more traction. Hang WAY off the bike to reduce lean angle. The more you hang off even at slower speeds keeps you on the more stable part of the tire. 3. Line. It's critical to use ALL of the track available to flatten out the corners as much as possible. 4. Less aggressive quick steer. I have found that you absolutely still can quick steer in the rain if you stay reasonable with it. I worried the heck out of a CSS coach when he assigned me the quick steer drill in the rain. I performed the drill too. I even got a hug when I came back in one piece. 5. Throttle. You have to be a lot easier on the throttle especially when the bike is leaned over. On "analog" bikes once the bike is straight up and down you can use the throttle to "sample" traction. Give it gas and you can feel where the tire wants to spin just a bit. That is the fine line of where the traction ends. Don't cross the line especially when leaned over. (I would approach this with caution!). On bikes like the S1000RR in the right mode the bike will protect you for the most part on the gas. I find that I prefer sport mode or higher in the rain but rain mode is more protective and best to start out with. 6. Smooth counts. Abrupt and sloppy inputs that are ignored because of mega grippy tires are not tolerated at all by the bike in the wet. Stuff to watch out for! 1. Curbing. It's fine to run over curbing in the dry but in the wet that stuff becomes really slick. You have WAY less traction than you do in the dry on painted parts. 2. Panic. If you end up overdoing it don't panic!!!! With less traction the bike is much less willing to be forgiving for sloppy and abrupt inputs. If you enter a corner too fast just extend your braking past the optimal turn point and use the track you have available. Bring the bike down to a manageable speed and turn where you can. Yes you essentially "blow" the corner but by using the track you have you keep it on the pavement. 3. Tires. It's COMPLETELY true what was said about tire temps earlier. Your tires won't maintain temp. Not only are you dealing with the slick surface created by a wet track you are doing it essentially on cold tires. I set a cold pressure and leave it there. You can even experiment a bit with dropping the pressure but I'm not really sure it helps much and can potentially make the bike feel a bit mushy and imprecise if you overdo it. You still won't get a lot of heat in the tires. 4. Your physical condition. Riding in the rain seems easier but you do still get tired. Since you aren't sweating like crazy the fatigue sneaks up on you. I rode every single session of a wet track day only to figure out during the last session that I was a lot more fatigued than I realized. This fatigue can be both mental and physical. Stay sharp!
    1 point
  4. Do you have a copy of Twist of the Wrist II? Chapter 19, Pivot Steering, goes into specific detail about weight distribution on the seat and pegs, explains what to do, how to do it, and why, with specific explanations and examples of the effects on the bike. It's far more complete and informative than what could be typed here. Take a look at that if you can and let us know what you think, or if you have any additional questions! BTW, if you are like me and want answers as fast as possible, Twist of the Wrist II is available as an e-book now, here is a link to it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Twist-Wrist-II-High-Performance-Motorcycle-ebook/dp/B00F8IN5K6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1461194283&sr=8-1&keywords=twist+of+the+wrist+II+kindle
    1 point
×
×
  • Create New...