Spaghetti

The factory models are around 20k for the 1000cc, and they have racing quality suspensions of course. I was curious to see if other models (600cc or 1000cc) at a price tag of 15k or lower have racing quality suspensions. Electronic suspensions adjustments is indeed very interesting to climb another learning curve. Btw, does the school allow a "setup" day, where the student is focusing on suspensions and geometry adjustments?

There are two main problems with an aggressive body position like this: 1) the outside tight and knee might loose contact with the tank and 2) the overextended arm might transfer tension to the handle bar. Also it comes a point where separating the body further from the bike doesn't lower the weight as much, so the extreme body position effort doesn't pay off. In the end it's more about lowering the body weight and rising the bike than moving the upper body away from the bike.

As I am upgrading my CBR600RR piece by piece, I'm becoming more sensitive to suspensions quality (and their price). I want to buy a new bike and my choice will be skewed towards the suspensions package. Which stock bike offers the best track/racing suspensions, other than the factory models?

Do you have to use racing fuel with a racing ECU?

I think of it as riding a monocycle. Most of the time we're "riding" the rear tire and the front is for directional changes. Front tire "riding" is only dominant when initiating braking up to the apex.

When you say great in the wet what do you mean exactly? Because I tried to ride on track in the rain with Q3s and I had almost no grip on the side wall. The center grip felt ok, but I guess that would be the same even for slicks?

I watched many highsides in motogp and WSBK this year and the last but I can't remember a single airbag opening. I know they have chips to analyze the g-force change but how can it be that the airbag protection is never required in all those crashes? The hit-air vests are more widely used this year in my trackdays organization and I hear positive feedback from riders: it seems to help against neck strain, chest and also collar bone injuries.

If the tires are always slipping when we corner, then isn't the real question when is the bike falling out of balance? From moderate pace tires slipping in the corner to the extreme Marquez turns it's a wide range of fine riding. I think the bike falls out of balance when the two wheels have very different grip conditions: the front is gripping well but the rear is not (low side), or the front lost grip but the rear has high grip (high side).

Interesting thread. Then again when you look at it from a track/club racing experience a liter bike will cost more in tires (extra power), parts (more sophisticated technology), service and repairs (higher labor costs). I agree the value compared to a midweight is better, but in absolute $ terms a 1000cc bike can cost a lot more in maintenance. You can make the same argument between a 600 and SV650/Ninja 650.

The general feeling I get is that he anticipates throttle opening and body position movement compared to what I would normally do. Then there is the impressive braking at the end of straight. I think I hear the tire scratching just a bit.

I had birds standing on the track by a puddle, bees, lane cones flying through the middle of the track... They're rare events but they do happen and they're part of the sport. After you've gone through them a couple of times it will make less of an impact on your riding. One mistake I made once seeing a cone in the middle of the riding line was to signal with my hand and slow down my pace too much. In hindsight it's better to just avoid the obstacle and let the other bikes figure it out until track direction decides to flag.

Haven't seen Held sponsoring riders in any WSBK or MotoGP category. Maybe that's the only reason they're less popular.

This kind of suit damage can be repaired by a specialized shop. Mine was fixed after a couple of slides by checking the seems, recoloring and adding a coating product to let the leathers slide again. I didn't realize this last problem before the fixing, but a scratched suit won't slide on the asphalt as well. It costed me $300 all together, it was in a similar state than yours.

I wonder, with all the good reviews the held gloves hold (?) why we don't hear more about their suits? Are their racing suits as good as their phantom gloves?

BeIN doesn't broadcast all categories and races though. I prefer Supersport than Superbike, but could only watch one race on BeIN last weekend. Also I remember Superbike races delayed until Sunday night?

I don't remember having major technical issues with fanschoice.tv but it's true that they don't have a broadcast schedule so you have to guess from the racing schedule or listen from the commentators. By the way, I forgot their names but I find them very good. They manage to stay on the top of the race with the limited camera visuals they have and are plenty knowledgeable about the riders stories and paddocks development. A good tip with fanschoice.tv or the WSBK/MotoGP passes is to use a web tv to stream the contents on your living room big screen. I have an AppleTV and run Airplay from an ipad. It works amazingly well and I enjoy the race like any other hd TV channel.

BeIN Sports should be on Dish too. www.fanschoice.tv was broadcasting most MotoAmerica races last year. I don't even begin to understand how it is possible to put together an effort like MotoAmerica without insuring the races have free TV broadcasting first.

Echoing what's already been said, I heard from club racer at my organization that dunlop slicks (211 I believe) are less progressive than pirelli superbike. A few crashes after they all moved to pirelli. They also said good things about metzler racetec RR, claiming they're very similar to pirelli.

Can you develop an approx. idea of the corner grip based on a visual of the asphalt? I heard riders talking about some corners at my local track having less grip than others because of the way cars approach them. I could be very wrong but I think I saw a less rugged surface in some of them.

I lost my wallet during a lunch break, after I went to the food kiosk and then passed by the bathroom before the next session. At that time I was keeping my suit on all day, opening up the chest zip during the breaks and carrying keys and wallet in the inside pocket. This problem of the car keys and wallet (especially car keys) puzzled me for a while. Where do all these riders leave their keys when they go on track? Now I care less knowing the risk of somebody picking them up is very low. I guess everybody leaves them unattended in their garage space. As for the care after a crash, I noticed exactly the same thing. I think it's something with extreme sports, where life acquires a whole different meaning. Before I never understood people climbing mountains for days or rowing across the ocean, now I see why somebody would pursue that goal, repeatedly. It's not just for the pleasure of climbing.

Left my wallet in the track bathroom once, was returned to me with the cash it had.

I want to add an external mic to my action cam to record exhaust and engine sound. I have both a Sony AS200V and a Hero 4. The Sony is a great camera but a pain to attach an external mic on after it's locked in its plastic case. There is no opening at the bottom of the camera where the mic input is located. I have looked at a number of options but would like to learn if others already went through the experience. These are some go pro mic I've found: Looks good for a high speed mount: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B01A3LUBWC/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2LSZTOQRVEQ76&coliid=I2MY4R56OTBWIR Another nice mount adaptor but I doubt the arm will survive at 140mph: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00XU0DLLM/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pd_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=2LSZTOQRVEQ76&coliid=I2BU7JP3AY197U Another one: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1195285-REG/polsen_gpmk_22_gopro_production_microphone.html

Great thread idea and clips, but the sound recording quality leaves me a bit disappointed. There is so much echo, wind and mic distance from the engine that it's hard to appreciate the clips. Also isn't the sound in the clips mainly an exhaust sound? Running a lavalier mic low on the bike close the engine, wouldn't the sound be a lot different? I'm planning to use external mics for my cameras next season. I'm still not sure what could be a good combination of mount and mic quality. I will start with one of those omni mics for voice and a sticky cable clip...

What did you find?

I definitely heard of a national insurance company inquiring about a brief hospitalization a friend of mine had after an accident at the track. He avoided mentioning the track and eventually (after many phone calls) the inquire was settle as a "parking area" motorcycle accident.