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BikeSpeedman

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Everything posted by BikeSpeedman

  1. Personally, I do a bit of both. My inside foot is always on the ball but I'll do the outside foot differently depending on the corner and the speed. At a high speed, I tend to use the ball and do the calf raise lock more to the outside of the tank. On slow corners, I tend to use the arch and hold my thigh on the back of the tank rather than knee in the side.
  2. I have no alternative so I pay ~$150/yr to motogp.com for the season pass. I can watch it on a computer or phone using the MotoGP app. Both my desktop and phone can stream to my Apple TV but for some reason the throughput is actually better coming from my phone.
  3. I started watching after buying my first bike in 2009. It was a Ducati so when I learned that Ducati had decided to make a solid attempt in MotoGP and that Stoner had already won the title, it was obvious I should root for him. So I was pretty disappointed that Rossi won it. Then I believe it was the next year where Stoner had a good chance to win but crashed in the warm up lap at one of the last races. Then the next year maybe he went 12 rounds without a single win and people started talking about him moving to Honda. Then finally they announced he was moving so I quit rooting for him. As soon as I did, he started winning. 3 of the last 4 or something like that. Rossi went to Ducati so I started to root for Rossi. We all know how that went. But that's when I quit giving a **** about Ducati. I realized I don't like twins for myself and I no longer respect their racing efforts. I stuck with Rossi and have rooted for him ever since. I will root for Rossi as long as he's racing. The newcomer I admire the most is Marquez. JL's smooth riding is respectable but his win from the front approach is boring. Plus, he's just such an a-hole. IMO he's the least likable racer I've ever seen. I love the ragged edge way MM rides. The way he leans into the corner before his rear tire touches the ground. And he's fantastic at dueling it out on track in traffic. Just like my current fav, VR. MM is in the queue. I'm excited to see if Binder can make it up to MotoGP and have any success there. I'm also excited to see more of Zarco and Folger. I'm never sad when Cal does well. It's kind of a fantastic time to be a fan. Now if my gd local cable provider would add BeintV HD before Dorna moves on to some other network I'd be golden. I hate casting the races from my phone but at least I still have access.
  4. I found an article from 2011 which gave the AFM 600 record at the time as 1:49. Pretty good considering during preseason testing this year, Tony Elias led the way on a GSXR-1000 at 1:46.
  5. Mini Moto has to be pretty cheap. BTW a while back I found a mini moto coach and kept his info with the plans of taking my boy. After I tried to reconnect, it appears he's gone. Any of you guys or gals know of a way to get a kid started in mini moto around here?
  6. Yeah, I saw they were on R10s which might be stickier than Super Corsa SPs. I can't remember. So there's rider talent, tires, suspension (but I seriously doubt a stock R6 has better susies than my 675R), etc. Just to clarify, I'm not thinking it would be wise to go back to Thunderhill and just try to duplicate all of those numbers. But to see if I can treat the line from turn in to track out at 14 as an opportunity to accelerate that shouldn't be wasted. Likewise from track out of 14 to track out of 15. It's not a straight. It won't be full throttle but I'm definitely leaving some on the table. One thing that his lap made me think about is the difference between how much it feels like I'm leaning versus how much I'm really leaning. eg, turning in to 14 at roughly the same speed as Don, I sometimes get my knee down but it's a reach. It feels like I must be at 60 degrees but obviously I'm closer to 45. So if I feel like I'm carrying ridiculous lean, I'll be wrong about how much drive my tire can take before I overdo it.
  7. Don put in a 2:00 around Thunderhill's 3 mile East on the new R6. You can watch it here: http://www.cycleworld.com/onboard-video-one-lap-aboard-2017-yamaha-yzf-r6-at-thunderhill-raceway-park?dom=rss-default&src=syn Okay, so Don is better than I am and he was following Josh Hayes who also might possibly be better than I am. The fact that his time was faster or that his speed was better than mine at every entry, apex, and exit wasn't even mildly shocking. But the lap itself taught me a lot about what I'm doing wrong. I had the benefit of his speedo throughout most of the key points on track and made notes. What I found that was actually shocking to me is how hard he accelerated while still substantially leaned over. He'd gain +20mph from apex to exit everywhere on the track. While I've been rolling on the throttle as I'm lifting the bike up, he's full throttle at pretty big lean angles. I thought that was a recipe for high sides. One thing that blows me away (I really recommend you watch it if you haven't seen it yet) is that it appears he doesn't even roll off a bit to transition from going to the exit of 14 to back into 15. He apexes 14 at 55 and assumes a constant arc that takes him to track-out at 77, back to apex of 15 at 87 and track out at 98. I'm going to start incrementally feeding in more and more gas earlier in the turn and hopefully feel the limit before being thrown off. My goal isn't to achieve Josh Hayes or Don Canet speeds but to mimic their approach as much as I can with my skill level. eg, Thinking of the how to maximize drive from the apex to fully stood up.
  8. Hey, I finally got permission to like a post! *thumbs up*
  9. Not sure if you ever looked into it but it's a bike trainer where you remove your rear wheel and hook your bike directly to it. They have heavy flywheels to help mimic "road feel" and they work great when paired with an app like zwift which let's you ride "scenes" and push yourself against all the other zwifties from all over the world. That said, I found that it's still a bit of a drag to ride indoors. Better than traditional trainers but still not the same as zipping around outside in nice weather. I only used it 6 or 7 times so far. But I'm happy to say I did get back into the gym and even took a good look at my diet. In the last 4 weeks, I've dropped 10 lbs and 5" off my waist. As for riding, I've just been riding my fav mountain road to work every dry day and a few wet ones too. Looking forward to some track time. Traded in my Boxster for a tow vehicle bc riding to a track day is brutal.
  10. Years before even thinking of taking up motorcycling, I was an avid bike racer. In my early days, I read an article about counter steering. I had never heard of it and didn't realize it was happening but I couldn't wait to go try it out. I hopped on my bike and went for a ride. Holy ! I can't believe I never noticed it before. Unlike a motorcycle which is heavy and has heavy wheels, a bike can just be ridden. We're tiny kids when we learn the balancing corrections that Cobie talked about. But by the time we're old enough to think about really working on skills, this stuff is all muscle memory. And I never made the link between balancing and turning until I read the article. In it, I learned these fundamentals of steering a 2 wheeled vehicle: When you want to turn right, turn left. In the middle of a turn, if you want to decrease the radius, turn farther in the opposite direction of the turn. If you want to decrease the radius (or stop turning, turn into the turn. The funny thing is that learning these explicitly (things which I had done on muscle memory before) vastly improved my cornering. I began descending with much more ease. Going back to the lessons of learning how to balance as a kid, you just kinda do what you need to do without thinking about it. But you balance yourself by wobbling. If you watch a kid ride, at first his wobbles are huge. Then they get better and better until he looks really stable and you can barely tell it's happening. But it's still a reactionary method of control. Having a plan and knowing exactly what makes you turn where you want to turn and how much you want to turn makes you safer, faster, more confident, etc. Anyway, when I started riding motorcycles, what shocked me the most was that people questioned and doubted the way counter steering works. "No, I do this" or "Actually, I turn by ...." Nope. You don't. You counter steer. I found the No BS bike video funny bc I couldn't believe it would take so much effort to convince riders of what they're actually doing.
  11. Same. But on the other hand I'm glad he did it because it gave us a legendary comedic moment a lap later.
  12. sounds fun. Wish I had known about it in time. No gear required right? Shorts, t-shirts, no helmets?
  13. I did something similar with my kid. When he turned 4, I bought him the Razor "minimoto" looking thing. Top speed of 20 (not super appropriate) and a binary throttle (not ideal) and a brake lever he didn't have the strength to pull (it's rated for 12 yo and up). He had been riding a bicycle without training wheels since he was 42 months so lack of training wheels wasn't a concern. His feet could reach the ground to keep from falling when stopped so there was no need. I don't think this would have been the case on one of the 50s. Since it was electric, he could legally ride around at our local park so that was one of the few things in the Pro column. He hated the binary throttle and it took him months of being left alone to come around and want to learn it. I started him in the grass fields and I was surprised just how bumpy a field that looks smooth really is. Total lack of suspension another mark in the Con column. Eventually got him on the sidewalks and he had fun riding around and really enjoying it. I gave him time to learn and trust in the process and then tried to coach him to put his feet on the pegs but he wouldn't. I eventually took it away from him until he was ready to ride it correctly. But then I bought a Boxster and thus he lost his chance. :-/ I actually have a big car again so I need to see if it will still hold a charge and see if he wants to start riding again.
  14. It's miserable in NorCal. Either low 40s and windy or mid 50s and rainy. I'm not only losing my fitness but also my mind from being in a car stuck in traffic way more than I can tolerate. Just got a new direct drive smart trainer last night. Will be putting in some virtual miles on that. That should also help when it's too wet and rainy to even go to the gym. But I'm anxious to get back into a routine there too.
  15. Thanks, Cobie. Wanted to hit Like to Jaybird too but for some reason, my quota appears to be 0 bc it always tells me my first attempt is over the limit.
  16. VR just finished 3rd straight season at #2. 2014 his consistency put him in front of JL but he was pretty far from winning 2015 he was much closer, still consistent results, but rarely had the pace of JL and MM 2016 always there with a chance but too many mistakes especially early in the season 2017 as long as he doesn't repeat the crash-fest of 2016, I think he has enough pace for the first time since coming back to Yamaha. I think MM is fastest rider around at this moment in time but I'm concerned that JL on a bike with a huge top end advantage will mix things up and he'll finish in front of MM. MV is my prepreseason pick for 2018. Rossi Lorenzo Marquez Vinales
  17. If you ever feel lethargic on a track day, get your adrenal glands looked at. I'm not surprised you did well with pastas. It's a staple of pro (and amateur) cyclists for a reason. People who cut carbs out of their diets end up with ketosis which can be dangerous and lead to long term health problems - plus, I'd hate to be riding a motorcycle while going through it.
  18. I've seen him struggle on a Honda so you have to wonder if other WSBK riders are struggling because of their bikes. The Kawi is very well developed in race trim. Rea is obviously very good and I won't say he would fail in MotoGP. He has the skills to do well if the right bike/team had an opening. I never bought into the idea that there were only 4 riders standing tall above everyone else. It made more sense to me that there were just 4 bikes (2 Yamahas and 2 Hondas) capable of winning. The 4 aliens proved their talents to secure their rides but surely there were other riders who could stir things up if given a chance. With the spec software in place, this seems to have been the case. Lots more capable of winning and coming close. But the top 3 remains unchanged. The 3 best in the world are still at the top, but on any given Sunday, it is not as certain as it once was. I think Rea would be comparable to CR35 on the same bike. Maybe 3rd or 4th in the championship on a factory bike. The craziest thing I've been hearing is that the test proves the Kawi is good enough to race in MotoGP. I think it proves Michelin has a lot of work to do more than anything. Here's a well written article on the nuances that made the test results possible. http://www.asphaltandrubber.com/wsbk/jonathan-rea-motogp-world-superbike-jerez-test-analysis/#more-124980
  19. All of those are really nice bikes. If you can live with the reality that anyone with a stock BMW can slip by on the straights they are all great choices. I'm currently riding a 675R so having literbikes only slip by me rather than rocket past me would be an improvement. BTW, I need to update my list. I'd love to get my hands on the Spirit GP Sport. Of course, I doubt I'd have any money left over for 2 other bikes. I should also note, I'm currently saving methodically for a single R1 and hope they're still nice by the time I can get one.
  20. I'm actually puzzled by the new carbon framed bikes. If memory serves, Ducati decided CF frames didn't have the flex or the feel to work as well as aluminum. Can a potential SL or HP4 Race owner feel that difference? Probably not but I still think the most expensive sportbike should be the one that works the best. I'd rather have a Graves R1 or even a Moto 2 bike. Another better option IMO is taking your pick of your 3 favorite liter bikes. My list: R1, RSV4, new Blade.
  21. Ummm, I do have problems and I expect to have them all fixed. I've already booked a Level 4 day in mid June so you have a while to prepare. BTW, please please please work in some Thunderhill East schools if possible. I really want some help getting around my preferred home track.
  22. Thank you, sir. As I'm sure you know, you can't get better if you convince yourself you've got nothing left to learn.
  23. No my wrists are fine and I'm still mostly off the bars. But up until a couple of weeks ago, I was able to apply more force on the tank than I can right now. The contact was more secure and the pressure between my thigh and tank was really good. I've ruled out an issue with my position (foot, butt, angle of thigh on tank). I think it's either that I'm not getting as much strength from my leg or my core isn't as stable as it was. This would sort of make sense because lately I've been thinking I figured it out early in a ride (first 5 minutes) and then "nope, I've lost it." So I guess I'm just an out of shape blob that gets tired way too easy. Gotta get back to work. Also bc I've added an inch to my waist.
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