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chunger

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  1. Darn rain! I'm back at home early and won't be able to make dinner Mon. If you guys are down for Tues. after class (hopefully we'll have class), I'm up for some food. -'Chung
  2. looks like rain tomorrow. . . i went ahead and rented a suit from the nice guy at Helimot since mine was not going to be ready in time. I probably could have just used the school's but it was going to be $95 for 5 days from Helimot and $75 per day @ CSS, so I figured I'd just do the Helimot thing. Rain shouldn't be heavy, but should I go get something just in case? Some frog toggs or something that can go over leather? Also don't have any winter gloves. I've been using latex gloves under summer gloves for my short commutes and that keeps me ok for ~30 minutes on the freeway before I freeze through. I guess if track sessions are 20 minutes, I should be able to make it w/o warm gloves. A bit nervous, but this should be fun.
  3. Hi Coby, It's going to be tight w/ property taxes, but I sold off a whole bunch of stuff while cleaning out the garage and signed up for 3/16 and 3/17 at Infineon using school bike. I also ordered a custom made-to-size -straight-from-pakistan super suit just in case I need to get to track day by myself to practice later on. Plus, I'm sure the school has the process all sorted out, but the idea of getting into someone else's suit didn't really appeal to me for some reason. Also picked up a couple sets of nike dri-fit stuff to wear under a suit (didn't feel like paying for the whiz-bang moto specific stuff if this will work 80% as good and I can have a spare). I think my priorities are straight. If I spend $1000 on bike parts, I'd still be just as bobbly and scared going around corners, but at this stage (zero knowledge), getting some training and direction can probably easily yield tens of seconds at least and a lot more confidence. Well, another newb for you guys to babysit at infineon I'm gonna go ride more in the coming several weeks and read the book again. Very exciting. . . Back to craigslist for me to keep liquidating Porsche parts from my garage. . .
  4. Hi Cobie, Thanks for the continued input on forum. I ended up getting a salvaged '06 SV650s w/ 3600 miles on it. I figured pre-crashed was the way to go because I won't feel so bad if I drop it (most people say newbs inevitably will). . . low miles meant I wouldn't have to spend endless hours wrenching on it. After some minor initial fixing (radiator hose, brake pedal, chain cleaning, oil change), it's mechanically treated me quite well and I haven't had any worries just hopping on and going. I'll use the school's bike. I don't want to have to worry about the machine and want to eliminate that as a variable. Plus, all my other (cage) racing friends always say the best kind of car to race is someone else's car And, I hear the stock SV650's suspension is a bit lacking on the track. Knowing what a correctly set up bike feels like will help me in my later tinkering, but I feel the most benefit will be had investing in the rider for a good while before the bike starts to limits me. Are the classes at Infineon filled up 3/16 and 3/17? What happens if it rains? I know you just go out and have class anyways, but for a newb, is it too scary, cold, and distracting?
  5. More progress. . . I've been riding now for about 600 miles. Still very new to this, but I make my short commute to work rain or shine and hop on the bike to go wherever and whenever I need to go somewhere. I've been taking it easy and leaving a very safe buffer between myself and all other obstacles moving and non-moving. I've not attempted to "take" any corners or do anything remotely testing of the bike's traction capabilities. Just safely moving from here to there. I'm wondering if I'm at a point where I can gain benefit from a class and start to absorb some of the curriculum or if I need to log some more miles and wait for the next round. I don't think the budget will allow for a 2 day camp at this point. Maybe in 6 months or so, but 1 or 2 days of classes is within comfortable reach.
  6. I was referring to the riding gear. . . 5 minutes to get into gear, 5 minute ride, 5 minutes to get out of gear
  7. Made some slow progress. . . bought a "pre-crashed-low-mileage" '06 SV650s, took the MSF course (felt grossly unprepared for the streets after the class even though I passed w/ only 1 point deduction), got my M license, bought basic gear, fixed the bike, and have been commuting to work every day rain or shine (and enjoying the free parking). It's a very short ride only 2 exits or local, and I'm getting more comfortable just putzing around on the bike. . . not particularly interested in pushing any sorts of limits on the street. I'm working on getting from A-->B right now. I hop on the bike every chance I get even to do small errands, and have discovered that about 80% of my riding experience is getting in and out of gear I've been trying to get some basic skills settled like braking and downshifting simultaneously, etc. Yesterday, I added the bike to our Fastrack account and ventured out over the Bay Bridge. Thinking about doing March at Infineon, but not sure yet. I'll just keep riding and see. I've only logged 400 miles so far.
  8. Please define if you can in very specific terms what the basics are which i need to have a firm grasp on prior to moving to the track. What I am hearing is that this is absolutely not a novice sort of undertaking. The parallel in my mind in shooting with my wife is broadly "the ability to safely run the gun" but that can be broken down into particular basics: muzzle awareness, trigger discipline, safe draw out of holster, reloading, malfunction clearing, ability to guarantee hits at reasonable range. Prior to solidly possessing these skills, we did not sign up for any courses involving dynamic movement or team interaction (intermediate level class). I'd like to know what the specific skills are that I need to possess in order to access the information taught at CSS. I need have "the ability to safely handle the bike" which can be broken down into specifics. What are those specifics? Once specifically identified, I can go about acquiring these necessary skills be it in a deserted parking lot, in the dirt, in another more basic class, or on the street. Thanks, 'Chung
  9. Hello all, I've been having a great time lurking and searching here the past couple of days. So much to learn. I've ordered Twist II and a couple of other books from amazon and look forward to reading. I am from the Bay Area Northern California and am an absolute newbie to motorcycle riding in my early 30's. In fact, I have never sat on a motorcycle before. Whenever I start into something new, particularly the kinds of things that can kill you if you point 'em in the wrong direction and twitch, I try to account for proper, guided training on the front end as a must! So, it's probably not surprising that the internet landed me here, and being as I have no experience, I thought it best to find and heed some good advise. Here's what I'm thinking I need to do based on solid, infallible internet advise 1. Go and take an MSF class with my wife (we like to do these sorts of learning expeditions together) and obtain M1 license. 2. Then, I need to get my hands on some safety gear and some kind of 2 wheeled motor thingy that goes. . . preferably one that I don't have to wrench on too much and one that won't launch me into oblivion and beyond. 3. Ride the thing until I'm comfortable going at freeway speeds and have somewhat of a subconscious intuition of how the controls work. . . hopefully without getting hurt in the process. 4. Get out to 2 days of CSS school. We've found that we learn best by taking some time particularly when starting out to get a little bit of immersion to allow some baseline foundational elements to click. . . hopefully some initial barriers are overcome and a solid sense of how much we really don't know and "what the questions are" starts to develop. So, we'd love to do 4 days like we did for firearms, but the budget doesn't look like it'll support that kind of investment, so I'm shooting for 2 days. I'd love to head out to class early enough that we're still largely new and don't have too many ingrained bad habits to un-learn, but not so new that we can't access what is being taught. I really don't see training as an option in my mind. It's something I want to access as soon as I can because I feel not knowing your limitations is dangerous and finding your limitations on the street is even more dangerous. .. and there's all kinds of people who have spent hours thinking about how to teach people this stuff This being the case, I have some newbie questions. What is the difference between the single day format and the 2 day Camp format? This is largely a budget related question for me because I'm looking at a total of $2600 for 2 days of individual class for 2 people. .. . and $4400 for the Camp format. In the end, I want to shoot for the best option (might take longer to save the $$). We live about 40 min. away from Infineon and 1.5 hours away from Laguna Seca. Both well within reach. . . Willow is also completely doable. To come to think of it. . .it's really not a bad spot to live for bike culture, eh? What is a good route to take in terms of bike purchase? I'm 155 lbs. 6' 0". . . my wife is ~5'3" 120 lbs. The options I'm considering and keeping an eye out for are new-ish Ninja 250R (seems most folks think it's a good starter bike but I feel the prices right now are out of line) or a used low-milage SV650 of some type, or a really low-cost beater that just putts me around but is low cost. The reason I ask is this. . . most people on the internet say that an SV650 is too much bike for a beginner, but most people are not shooting for or investing in training at an early stage in riding. I noticed that your schools use pretty darn fast 600cc bikes for everyone, so my assumption is that novice riders given the proper guided environment can be taught to safely handle the power and that it does not significantly hinder the upward path of skills development to be on a medium-displacement machine. But, we have to survive the space between MSF class and CSS on the bike we purchase. What skills do I need to have in order to take a class? My whole family is and always has been stick-driving, so the concept of clutch is not new. I don't know if there's a motorcycle equivalent of double-clutching/heel-toe while downshifting, but do I need to know this prior to class? or will it be taught? I guess a lot of these answers will come when I read the books I have coming in the mail. I will go back now to utilizing the search function. I appreciate the community here for putting up a great resource. Everyone seems very inviting, and I look forward to hopefully taking the plunge into riding wherever that takes me.
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