Jaybird180

I agree with what you are saying but my point was not specifically transferring track riding onto the street, but the techniques that are taught at CSS and explained in Keiths books i.e. TC rule #1 is as important on the street as the track or having the knowledge and ability to quick steer your bike out of harms way among lots of others. I am by no means saying treat the road as a race track or vice versa and fully agree with you about being dangerous, lawless, and just plain stupid, I also believe the safest place to practice new techniques is on a track which is why I like to go to school so much, I get to ride on track, I get to learn new skills, and I get advice from some of the best instructors in the world, The topic asks What is needed to make a rider better/faster and getting educated in the techniques developed by Keith has so far worked for me, so I will be continuing to work through the levels, and practicing the contents of the TOTW books! B That will put you "miles" ahead of most street riders. Just be careful of creeping street habits onto the track and vice-versa. TC Rule #1 becomes less important at street speeds, which is why it get's violated so often.

Ace- I agree with most of what you said, however I have to throw in a bit of caution. While track riding has accelerated my learning curve for street riding, I've found that the many aspects of the mindsets don't translate directly to the other discipline. For example, take a 10 year street veteran's 1st time on the track and watch. Conversely notice than many professional racers are scared (insert expletive "s" word here)-less to ride on the street. Personally, I've found that I can practice some things on the street, but not all of them without being dangerous, lawless, and just plain stupid. Conversely, it takes me awhile to stop looking for potholes on the track.

This is an excellent Question! In practice, I brake until the Apex, however I am working on getting my braking done while vertical. I would imagine that this would be better to do, but...... Brakes are stronger than engine right? So it should be better to brake until apex. (that's my story and I'm sticking to it)

Hotfoot and I talked about this, but it's now clearer what (ahem) Hotfoot is looking for. There's a lo-fi and a "hi-fi" version of the forum. My Hi-fi is set to multi-threaded and I would also like to change the format of the forum to be like my other forums. I haven't found any other setting either. Kevin?

What???? No knee (LOL)

Oh, great! Just what we need: Faster Cops.

Great perspective. Glad you threw that in there.

1: Desire. With out it nothing can be achieved.2: Good instruction. Listen and learn!3: Practice. Put the good instruction to use.4: Persistence. The ability to continue even when it seems like you are not improving.5: A good bike. I have 2 Ducati's, a 749r and a 900 Super Sport. On Saturday my front brakes went south on the 749r, so Sunday I rode the 900 SS on the track for the very first time.....Big difference in the two bikes.6: Natural ability. With the above 5 items you will raise to the level of your natural ability.......period. That's my 2 cents. I'd like to add to your list: Discipline

There are a few guys that have use both tires, and the normal comment is the Pirellie's are much softer, and that requires different suspension settings (as you are finding out). Not familiar with your ride height adjuster, but for sure it was ride height, not preload? Maybe Stuman will chime in, pretty sure he has run both tires. CF Wouldn't running a softer tire, mean that you need more compression damping to reduce "bounce"? You'd change ride height if the tire change changed your geometry. Tire sizes can vary (from what I hear) even among same brand/type (production variances). I don't understand why you'd increase rebound damping in this case.

Try timing some guys, and in different turns. I've noticed the pivot axis is vertically higher the faster the flick. IOW, if flicked quickly it appears the tires move outward at the same time the rider leans in. Lazy turn, the bike moves about the contact patch. It's clearly visible when following.

Not the Original question, but I've been studying this lately in race footage; MotoGP, AMA, etc. It doesn't look like they turn-in fast at all. Maybe I would see something different if I watched qualifying when they were doing fastest laps versus defensive or racing lines.

I cant believe that you could lap a borrowed 600 at nearly the same times as your 1000, Imagine how much faster you could go if it was your own bike! You know, I never had any doubt in my mind that I could ride my friends bike without trashing it because of the lessons I have learned at CSS. One applies the same technics and lessons learned on all bikes. I will tell you though, I would love to go out right now and buy a 600 because I have ridden the 600 and 1000 at two different tracks and had the same results. Unfortunatley, we here in the U.S. are in somewhat of a financial crisis so I will be riding the old girl (1000RR) for another year. P.S. The only thing that bothered me about the 600 was the tight area of power and the fact that I felt a loss of power near red line. My friend has a power commander on it so I am sure it just needs tuning. What year's are the bikes? The issue the 1000RR has been "struggling" with prior to the 08 model is turn-in ability. The 600 turns on a dime. Perhaps your quick turn ability accounts for the difference. You were able to get on the gas sooner/ harder, encouraging you to enter the corner faster, thus your laptimes were same since as Cobie mentioned you had the entry speed advantage on the 600. The selection of track WILL make a difference. Go to a high speed track vs tight technical track. Perhaps I'll review the Portugal FIM races again as suggested above.

It's never the machine that'll bite ya, it's the idiots on the road Q for you Kevin: Since you have both 1pc and 2pc, what influences your decision to wear either on a particular day? (considering you said you wear 2pc at the track)

Dont' forget Rule #2 has been violated too (multiple steering inputs)

I've grown accustomed to wearing my back protector. It's a PITA to wear in street gear though, but sometimes I still do. I'm not sold on chest protectors. They would seem to not offer the freedom of movement I imagine would be required. Perhaps I'll feel different if I actually tried one.

Tease (LOL)

Is it not also the case that slicks can introduce or manifest instability issues in a chassis? IIRC, Superbike teams will often strengthen a production bike's chassis to account of the use of slicks to eliminate or reduce chatter issues.

Better is a such a subjective measurement. Faster is (relatively) measurable. One could be faster, but also become more reckless, riskier and a friggin' danger to themselves and everyone around. In order to be "better" we have to know what were comparing against and what the standard of good, better, best is to be judged on. Keith touched on this in his articles on the merits of training. He also left STRONG hints that training alone won't cut it. But, I digress.

(mischeviously egging it on) I say: Take it to the track and let the laptimes speak.

Yes, it was Doohan and DuHamel followed suit when he broke his leg, too. DuHamel liked it so much he kept the thumb lever after his leg healed. I don't recall if Doohan's leg ever healed enough to effectively use the pedal again. Nicolo Canepa, Ducati's motogp rookie is having to ride with a thumb brake on his GP9 as his size 10 feet are too big to effectively operate the rear brrake with his foot at max lean angle! is he really using it at max lean? I've got a bunch of coaches with bigger feet than that, but I don't think they use the rear brake at all. C I wear 12 US. But since I can't get motorcycle boots that size (haven't tried more brands) I wear 12.5 and don't have a braking problem. But then again, I've never tried to use rear brake in a full lean either. I have on occasion used rear brake to help tighten a line. (bait)

Good explanation. Wish I'd thought of that!

What's the pickup drill?

There's a recent article in Sport Rider mag about scrubbing tires. Seems credible to me. What does the article recomend doing? I normally scrub in the way will said by gradually increasing lean angle untill the shiny surface is worn off! The problem I have at the moment is that the weather here is now below freezing and the roads are all dirty and covered in salt! IIRC That's basically it. It recommended against weaving too. You should read it.

There's a recent article in Sport Rider mag about scrubbing tires. Seems credible to me.

I'd never seen that. I would have been nice to see the front give way as from that angle it looked seamless. I also watched the post-save interview. Youtube is the best thing since sliced bread, wikipedia, google, filtered water (and the list goes on and on...LOL)