FieryRobot

I would assume the front is going to try to correct itself to bring it back in line with the rear. otherwise, bad things happen.

I have tried it (I have a Sena for group communication/phone), but it's too tinny, and frankly, I'd rather hear my bike :-)

Aha. That was the missing piece (2 groups v. 3). I was wondering how it was otherwise possible to run using the same schedule. And same schedule is very good for me, logistically. Thanks!

Searched a bit, but couldn't find out what the hours were for the two day camps. Is it the same as the single day classes?

I thought the no brakes drill was about getting a sense of speed. That's what I remember being told at least...

That should be illegal. Snow is bad enough in the winter. That's why I don't live back on the east coast anymore :-P If I really want snow I can drive to it.

I think you know the answer :-) But sometimes you need to start turning before you can really see around far enough. Often times it's trees or a grade in the way, blocking your view. I find in the turns where I can see the full turn, I seldom have an issue. However, even in the best of cases, there are times where I don't counter-steer enough (or perhaps too much). So I need to correct.

mugget, with my post above, I'm talking about what to do while already in-turn and you realize your current lean angle is going to take you wide. That is, you didn't quite turn the bike as much as you should have. The times when I get bitten by this most is on a turn which you find out the hard way is a decreasing radius turn. Other times it's just because I really can't see Usually in a canyon road situation where you couldn't see it was decreasing until you were already committed and like "uh oh". Sometimes I'll roll off, repoint and go, but I have to think you can stay flat and lean more assuming you have ample lean angle available and the road is good. Sometimes I do that too. But it always makes me think about what's best. In any case, I think your and Cobie's comments on what to do in those situations answer my question.

I have been thinking about all of this for the past week and gone on some long rides and now want to ask: Let's say you've slowed down for a corner, get off the throttle a bit and do your ideal one-steering-input turn. But then you realize it wasn't so idea and you are running wide. You need to correct somehow. Do you roll off a bit, lean more, and then roll on? The alternative is to hold the throttle where it is and countersteer a bit. I guess I'm trying to find the line between "just a slight correction" and "catastrophic mistake".

Yeah. Manual for my bike says 36/42. When I went to Sonoma they suggested 29/30 for my tires. Quite a difference!

Thanks. Yeah, currently it's 4 all around on my bike. Those all 5 ish, but still, it's all around the middle. Interesting.

I'd love to know the suspension setup of the school bikes too.

I'm still interested in hearing more about this:

Thanks. This was my idle thinking about doing something more fun in a few years. But I can't ever imagine myself racing. Of course, I couldn't imagine my going onto a track either, and we know how that worked out :-P

I was curious what it takes to be a coach at the school. Do you need to be an ex-or-still-racer type, or just really skilled at what you do? Is it full-time/part-time? Can you be regional only? These are merely questions of a musing mind.

Too low an entry speed was definitely a problem I had. I'd come into a corner, slow down, and turn and then shake my head wondering why the heck I did that because then I was going too slow and the bike felt wonky. Not smooth at all. You just always have this fear that you're going to run wide. And on a canyon-type road, there's some real consequences involved if that happens. So you tend to err on the side of caution. The Level 1 class helped me with that a lot in the 4th gear/no brakes round. There were times I would have normally hit the brakes, but I was like "ok, here goes nothing" and amazingly it all worked out ;-) Following an instructor always helps too because you're like "well, if they can do it..." And this weekend I did a route down some twisties both days and applied this and it has helped me immensely.

This topic came up during a discussion and the suggestions as to how to avoid that 'slack' were to either make sure your throttle play is adjusted properly or try playing with your idle adjustment. I have definitely noticed this on other bikes (Tiger 800, e.g.) but not so much on my S1K (unless I'm in too high a gear).

Howdy, just thought I'd pop in here and do a formal hello. I've been licensed for Motorcycles since 1990, but spent a long time away (about 15 years). I've restarted this year and as luck would have it I found out about Twist of the Wrist 2 through a friend and it has seriously helped me improve. In the past 5 months, I've gone from pretty much relearning everything to doing a track day in Sonoma and then CSS Level 1 a week later at Willow Springs. TOTW2 made this possible. I just followed the recipe best I could :-) Am I fast? Hell no. Do I still do stupid things? You bet! But I am absolutely improving every day. I'm very much looking forward to doing the remaining levels next year. Can't wait until the 2014 schedule is posted!

Yes, I think that while I was pretty pedantic about following the rules originally, clearly my use of the skills atrophied over time and I found out at Streets that I was doing something bad. Thankfully, I found out the easy way—being told by my coach! Since that moment I've been really focused on trying to go right back to square one and retraining myself. Since the class, my turning has gotten significantly better on the street. I try to make every ride a practice, even at low speeds (I'm no speed demon). Every ride I practice trying to do things like one steering input, rolling on/off appropriately, riding relaxed, looking ahead, etc. I think the answers above have answered all my questions, and confirmed some suspicions. Thanks!

I think that at that speed being on the throttle would make it very hard to quick-turn. As I recall, it was important to give the bike a bit of 'instability' (roll-off, etc.) in order to be able to get the bike over. This means I'd probably not be able to turn quickly and I'd be in the left lane of the highway before you know it. Thanks for asking these questions, it's really making me think it all through!

I do totally get that we shouldn't add lean and throttle at the same time. I guess my question for #1 is this—can I enter a turn (let's not call it a corner here) with constant throttle, lean the bike, and then add throttle through the turn. I'm just trying to apply this to more relaxed street riding. So assume I'm traveling at a speed where I can enter the corner without slowing down. Can I just leave it where it is, lean the bike, and then roll on? I think from your answer to #2 the answer would be yes. I think the confusion comes over the fact that we are told to get off the gas before a turn. But I think that's in the cases where you really need to slow down to a sane entry speed for a turn. Bottom line: we don't need to roll off just to make a turn if your entry speed is OK, right? Just don't roll on until the bike is pointed in the right direction?

Everyone's favorite topic! First a bit of history: I was away from motorcycles for years. This year I finally decided to start riding again. Thankfully, my friend had found out about TOTW2 and it really helped the both of us. I am a completely different rider than I used to be. But I'm still a noob. This Sunday, we finally got to do Level 1 at SOWS. Awesome. But I was called off for throttling on while increasing lean. I got the message and quite frankly was surprised I was doing it. I later told my friend about this and how it can lead to slides and as it turned out, this exact thing happened to him not that long ago on the street while he was riding a loaner bike (oops). When he reminded me of that it was like a giant light bulb. We had been wondering why he wiped out. Now we knew! But to my real question: what do you do in these two situations: Slow going corner. Can you keep the throttle steady on entry and roll on a bit to maintain speed through it? This would be on the street. I'd imagine you'd roll back off a bit after the corner. Fast moving back and forth, such as 3-4-5 at SOWS. Do you roll of a bit in between as you flip the bike over the other way? I can't imagine you'd want to get back down to off, but rather roll off nice and easy a bit. That's what I was attempting to do while there. Wanted to know if that was correct. Thanks in advance!