Bongo

That's right mate, if you power out so hard as to lift the front while leaned, the front can go. You do get more of an idea of this though over losing the front under deceleration, because you can usually feel the bars start to wave and flap slightly. You know you're accelerating about as much as you can then without picking the front up and losing it.

Every bike is a couple of clicks away from being the worst handling bike in the world. Obviously a cbr600rr has much more track potential for handling than something like an SV, or a less track orientated bike, but without the right suspension set up, it could ride much worse. No top racer would ever say the bike rode perfect. It's always a compromise between different factors, stability over turn speed, turn in over braking, etc, so if they say it's perfect they're almost saying they can't improve. For an answers sake though, to me, the rider sets the bikes limit, so if he can lap 1:40 on a 2003 600rr with 120bhp, he could step onto the same bike with 130bhp and maybe get half a second off the time. He could step onto a 2008 600rr and get another second off though because yeah, like you say, developments in the last few years have been huge and the level has been raised, particularly in chassis development, with much more design in frame stiffness, and rigidity research over various parts of frame and swing arm, crank position, engine position, and with the R1's, fuel tank position, all to aid handling. You question is answered at every round of WSB and MotoGP when the previous years records are routinely broken, directly because of development. If perfect exists, and was in a time line, it'd be leading, at the very front of the time line, the latest bike, the latest design. Perfect is now, and last year is old. I can lap faster than bikes from any year, on my 2003 600rr, but that's because I'm not a bad rider, and I'm racing people with more money, hence the better bikes, but not necessarily more skill, so they're not exploiting their bikes improvements over mine. Stick an amazing rider on my bike though and he'll batter my times, then stick him on the newer bike, and he'd probably beat his own times on my bike. Bongo

I think that's Barros, not Schwantz... The give away is Alex, on the back of his lid?

For a minute there i thought you meant on your bike, and i got very jealous of yoru GP skills!!! Actually, even in a car or van i mess it up and end up facing the wrong way lol. Agreed though, everyone should love the snow it's great!!

Lol i know mate i drove out of the big left too much pushing me offline for the right, but with it being day 1, i didn't realise and still gassed it, then couldn't pull myself back on line, blah blah blah, i fooked up lol. Got 8 seconds off these lap times over the next two days though as i learned the place, it was just a case of small error big result! As for the groups, i felt sorry for a lot of them. There were a lot of new riders and first timers, booked in novic, but it was opened up as open pit, which was frustrating as it was tough to get good runs. But then again, it did say from the start that the event would be open pit each afternoon, so they shouldn't moan really... Bongo

In Almeria, Spain, in November, there i was having a great time, staying on the track and everything, when all of a sudden... 1 hot lap, then a small error (2:40 if you're impatient) Apologies for the sound. I had it set on loud when i should've had it on quiet! Hope you liked it though! Bongo

I had a damper, but prefer not to have one. I had to run the bike without it when it broke, and lapped faster without. Possibly unrelated i know, but still, i did go quicker without. In a year of riding i've never felt like it would've helped, so found no reason to spend all that money on one!

Cheers fella's. Bullet, i've not got a steering damper. The wobbles are just on the power when the front lifts a little as i'm slightly leaned still coming out of the corner. The big one i have somewhere in the vid is similar, but added to the mix is the track drops away so it makes it even easier to wobble.

I had the camera on in a few places on the bike around Anglesey last weekend. Some nice shots i'm quite happy with the vid. First try with the camera though so a little bit of a wobble here and there. Just having a practice before Almeria in Spain next week though!! Hope you enjoy. No doubt some of you will pick it to bits, that's what i'm hoping for. I know i'm a right fidgetter on the bike!! Bongo

Lol, it is a throttlemonkey sticker mate yeah. Hi Cobie, i guess the biggest things that helped me initially was things like how throttle application affected your riding. I thin for me it was specific little pointers that helped me one by one. Like not letting off the throttle because it'll make you run wide and getting the throttle correct to get the weight right across the bike through a corner instead of loading the front etc. Things Ibbott teaches like the Pick up drill i use all the time. I also improved through chicanes with CSS knowledge. Also, in TOTW books i liked learning about what the suspension was doing. I used to visualise the fork and shock movements as i was braking, trailing it in, cracking the throttle and opening it from the apex to try to picture in my head and feel what the bike was doing in reaction to what i was putting into it. I'm one of those people who enjoys reading up on things though. Whatever i do, i love the theory. I fish when i'm injured, and love nothing more than reading up on rigs, techniques, baiting options etc!! I've just bought an Starlane Athon GPS lap timer which i'm hoping to use to dissect my riding and get a bit of time off my laps too. Nothing better that some reading and some gadgets!!

Thanks guys. I was having fun in Spain playing with my elbow lol. I do lean off a lot though with my upper body. Apparently i ride like Ben Wilson??? But yeah, i use my upper body more than most i think.

Hey all, i'm Bongo. I'm 26 years old, a Telecoms engineer and an obsessed bike rider! Started riding in 2007 when i got my licence and bought an R6, before doing a trackday 6 months later at Donington in December 07. Got hooked, and over 2008 did plenty of trackdays around the UK. Decided to try my hand at racing in 2009, so sold my R6 road bike, and gixxer 750 track bike i'd bought, and put the money to a 2003 CBR600rr, which i still have now. This year i raced afew sprint races at Three sisters, and rode the Junior 600 series of the Hottrax endurance championship. Ended up making the podium on all but one where we came in 4th, and we finished 3rd in the championship, so a cracking first year racing! Off to Almeria in a couple of weeks to round the year off too. Joined this place just to continue improving my riding theory. I'm a great believer in knowledge creating the basis for improvement, and fortunately i really enjoy reading up on techniques and theories. May well know some people on here already. Hopefully i can add something to the place.... I have said for a while that i'd like to do CSS, after reading the TOTW books to death going through things as i go over the year, but with the racing, money hasn't allowed the training as well. It's an aim though and it'll happen at some point! Anyway, that's my intro Little pic of me in Alcarras, Northern Spain, at the start of the year. Bongo

That rossi picture is very deceiving. The curb is very raised in relation to the part of the track that he is riding. Look at the angle change where the curb begins. He would not be in anything like the same position, if the curb was say, just painted, and the same continuation of the track he's riding on. Still an amazing picture.