Hotfoot

My pleasure! I wish I had known about it sooner.

It has recently come to my attention that it was not possible to reply to or comment on Keith's articles in the "Articles from Keith" section. It was never intended to be that way and it is FIXED now, so if you have read the articles and found them interesting, post up your thoughts, I'm sure Keith will love to see what you have to say.

Hi there! You may have noticed some recent changes in the forum. We are experimenting with categories to see if we can find the optimum number of categories to keep the forum as easy as possible to use. We are definitely interested in your opinion about what topic sections you'd like to see. As you may have noticed we have re-introduced a New Members area (if you are a guest or lurker, join up so you can post and tell us what you think!) and a Racing section to talk about races and our racing heroes. Let us know if you are happy to see those categories back, or if you liked the simpler format, and if you think we need additional categories, post up and let us know! Thanks in advance!

Spaghetti has given good info above, and I will add that a good way to get experience with using more lean is to get a small bike (50cc, or 150cc, for example) that you can take to a go-kart track. Easier to get your knee down, safer environment, and you can lean way over at much lower speeds to get "used to what it feels like" and develop a sense of traction and feeling the feedback from the tires.

Can you be more specific in your question? The basic throttle rule (see Twist of the Wrist II) is the same. If your specific question is in regards to Spaghetti's comment above about adding lean angle while accelerating - that action is not recommended, as it is a classic way to overload the rear tire and lose traction, but generally speaking a smaller displacement bike (assuming good tires and suspension) would be easier to manage because it has less available power to feed to the rear tire. It is pretty easy, on a modern 600 or 1000cc sport bike, to break the rear tire loose by adding throttle and lean at the same time. It is tougher to do on something like a 250cc or 300cc bike, but certainly not impossible, if you lean it over far enough and especially if you are abrupt with the throttle application. The traction control available on the S1000rr helps a great deal in avoiding applying too much throttle while leaned over, as it manages the power based on measured lean angle, however if a rider aggressively ADDS lean angle and throttle together, it is still possible to overwhelm the rear tire. I must say, though, the S1000rr is amazingly easy to ride, even for a rider new to high HP machines, the electronics in it are amazing, it has been an incredible training tool for the school.

Introducing more trail braking will absolutely increase your front tire wear, and on a lightweight, relatively low horsepower bike like yours it is certainly possible to have the front tire wear out first (compared to the rear) just from this change in riding style/habits. It makes sense, of course; by trail braking you are considerably increasing the load on the front tire in the corners, and instead of the braking forces being applied primarily with the bike upright, you are now putting braking forces on the tire while leaned over. So now the front tire has to handle steering/cornering load AND braking load on the sides of the tires, and that is where the wear is showing in your photo above. Additionally, that change in style could affect when and how hard you are applying the throttle in the corner, and how much you are, or are not, leaned over when driving out of the corners, which would change the wear on the rear tire - potentially decreasing it if the trail braking is causing you to delay your roll-on. There is not a lot of wear on the sides of the rear tire in your photo which would imply that the gas is not being rolled on very much while leaned over. I have a 250cc bike and at one point I tried doing a lot of trail braking on the track; I was racing other riders that were doing it a lot (in nearly every corner), so I decided to try that and see how it worked for me. I was very surprised at the change in my tire wear; as you just experienced, my front tire wore out first, and much more quickly than expected, where in the past the rear would wear out first. After that little experiment I changed back to using trail braking in the corners where it was appropriate but NOT in the ones where it wasn't needed, and I went faster and was a lot less worried about crashing. Most of the other riders I was seeing on track were WAY overusing trail braking, braking too long and too much for most corners.

Cobie has posted a detailed description of requirements, etc. here: To answer your specific questions (which would also be answered in the above), racing experience is preferred but not absolutely mandatory, there are both full time and part time coaches, and part-time coaches can be regional. See the above link for a detailed description of what sort of qualities and motivations are sought in coach candidates.

Welcome to the forum! Looking forward to seeing what questions you have; you will find this forum community very friendly and welcoming and we would love to hear from you.

Where you located? How old are the kids? You can try doing an internet search for a local minimoto organization or a school on small dirtbikes, they are more often geared to young riders.

I can see why that would be confusing, especially if there was not a exact explanation of specifically WHEN to roll on the throttle and WHY. What, exactly, was the stated purpose of that before turn roll-on you describe in that mantra you mentioned? "Maintenance throttle" is s term that is thrown around a lot but different people seem to have different ideas of what it is supposed to mean. I personally have heard at least three different definitions. Twist of the Wrist II gives a detailed and straightforward explanation of good throttle control, might want to have another look at that if you haven't in a while.

Some riders, when learning about quick turn, think a rapid steering change is accomplished with a quick jab at the bars. Sometimes that quick jab does not have enough force to turn the bike quickly at speed, sometimes it is too roughly applied and upsets the bike, sometimes the rider does not (when trying to "punch" the bar") hold the pressure long enough to achieve the desired lean angle. Bear with me, I am just asking some questions to explore your understanding of various techniques, to see if anything comes to light that will solve your challenges through the turns you describe. You mentioned a "fear or inability to lean the bike far enough when going fast(er)". I'm going to fire some questions at you and let's see what comes up: Do you have a concern about traction? Are you concerned about ground clearance? Are you comfortable that you know how much you want/need to lean the bike to get to the apex in T1, for example? Do you know how to stop the bike from leaning over any farther once you get the desired lean angle? How much visual information do you have before you turn the bike? Do you have an apex chosen, and do you look at it early enough before you steer the bike to have certainty in your steering input? If you roll off the gas or go flat on it, are you finished steering the bike before you roll back on? I am not discounting the idea that there could be things that could be done, mechanically, to the bike to make steering it through those turns easier, however you asked about techniques that could improve things so that is why I am exploring to figure out what you are doing now, and if there are things that could be changed to help you get to the apex on these turns... without having to slow down too much.

OK, got all of that. Good that you are putting your focus on countersteering to get the bike turned effectively, and pivot steer is a very good technique for that. So, if you are going into a turn with a lot of speed, and maybe are on the gas also, it will for sure take some effort to turn the bike. If you wanted to turn the bike more quickly, to make it to your apex, would you have to push on the bar FASTER, or HARDER?

"Pulling the bike down to the apex" is an interesting description. What EXACTLY are you doing, physically, to get the bike to turn? For sure it is harder to turn the bike at higher speeds, and also harder when you are on the gas. By "harder" I mean more actual physical effort. What must you do, EXACTLY, to change your steering input to deal with that additional effort?

Most likely the coach at the track day was trying to help riders avoid the common error of braking (which compresses the forks) then releasing the brakes (which allows them to extend again) then turning the bike (which compresses them again). This bouncing up and down is, as you can imagine, counterproductive to accurate and predictable steering. In a simple corner the ideal scene is to be coming off the brakes as you are turning the bike, so the forces transfer from the deceleration forces to the cornering forces and keep the forks compressed instead of popping up and back down again. As far as telling you how exactly how much effect that is going to have, it is not realistic to think anyone can do that for you, there are far too many variables (suspension setup, rider and bike weight, braking style, steering input rate, surface traction, shape of turn, and so forth). You will have to experiment with it yourself, on your own bike and observe it. Almost certainly YES you can improve it with riding technique (have you been to school and had the Hook Turn material yet? Or the slow brake release classroom session?), unless your front suspension is extremely stiff in compression or has rebound damping set excessively low. Definitely you can sharpen up the steering on a bike by lowering the front a bit, but if taken too far this can compromise stability and you can get headshake, or twitchiness in the steering. Not sure the GSXR750 would need much changing on geometry, though, my impression of those were that they had nice handling. In the specific turns you describe (T1 and T3), are you trying to turn the bike while still on the gas? For sure that will make it harder to steer. Are you ABLE to steer it now and just noticing the amount of effort required, or are you running wider than you want in those turns?

Ha, I think most of the local organizations would kick you out if you tried some of the passes I have seen on TV.

That is my exact list of top three favorite tracks to ride.

Great to hear that you had an amazing experience and thanks for the great feedback about the school. Josh is awesome, an excellent coach and truly a pleasure to be around. Very nice photo (isn't VIR a fantastic track and facility?), and we look forward to seeing you in Level 3 and 4! (Tip - Level 3 is even MORE of a workout - get your legs in shape before the school, especially if you do a 2 day camp!) What is your dream track for your next school?

I have almost no experience with V twins, but there are some things that can help with that problem in general, that might apply to your bike. Have you tried turning up the idle? This is a common thing to do on a track/race bike so the rpms don't fall as much when off the gas and it can really help make the roll on smoother. It does have the effect of taking you into the corner a little quicker so be cautious when you first start riding it that way. On an inline 4 I believe typical advice is to turn it up 500 - 1,000 RPM, but you should Google recommendations for your bike. What gear are you using entering the turns, are you a gear lower than you need to be? Sometimes just entering a corner in a higher gear makes enough difference in smoothness to be worth it, especially on a bike with a lot of torque that can handle coming out at a lower RPM. I assume you have checked for play in the throttle and cable, to eliminate any jerk or effort from just taking out the slack. An aftermarket tune is, in my opinion, a great idea. The other suggestions above don't cost anything, and this does, but you can get a really nice improvement in throttle response from working with a tuner and a dyno. Tunes that I have done on my bikes have yielded performance in power but MUCH more benefit in the area of getting better throttle response. (Better meaning, working how I wanted it to work!)

Yes, it could be that you are at your desired lean angle (steering action complete) but not yet pointed in the direction you want the bike to go. Sometimes there is a pause as you wait for the bike to come around onto the desired line. Turn 2 at Laguna is a GREAT example of a turn where it is VERY easy to get on the gas a little too early in the second part of the turn and miss the apex - which is punished immediately upon the exit because it is tight and forces the rider to make a correction to avoid going off track. It is also really easy to come on the throttle a little bit too early when chasing a faster rider, trying to catch up, or keep up.

What do you mean, when you say you leave some turning margin?

Speaking of timing... something else to take a look at is exactly WHEN you crack the throttle on. If a rider is running a little bit wide a little before the apex (not able to make it to the desired apex) what could that tell you about the rider's throttle timing? Next time you ride pay attention to when the throttle comes on - is the bike on its line (fully leaned and pointed in the direction you want it to go) before you start to roll on the gas?

Not only is this very entertaining, it gave me some good ideas to share with my son for next year's science project!

Here is some info from Dylan that you might find interesting: Dunlop just released a new sportbike tire, the Q4. This tire is different from what many think it is. It is NOT an improved Q3+ but rather a whole new category of tire. Its purpose is to provide a street legal tire with excellent grip, no need for warmers, that is at home on the track or on your favorite twisty road. Essentially it fills the gap between the Q3+ and the street legal race tire, the GPA Pro. So the progression looks like this: Q3+. Best all purpose tire. Harder center band for commuting, with sides well suited for cornering. Q4. Best for trackdays and canyons/twisty roads. Warms fast, less sensitive to pressure settings. Single compound across entire tread. Any loss in overall mileage is gained in grip compared to Q3+. GPA Pro. Essentially a race slick with grooves. Warmers strongly recommended particularly when cool and pressures checked and set before riding. Street legal. Poor choice for commuting but good for twisty roads and very much at home on the track. Slicks. Pure track only tire. Warmers strongly recommended with pressures checked and set before riding.

Couple of questions: 1) To clarify, when you say you had "zero feedback" do you mean there was no warning, nothing felt different about that corner in that lap versus the others? Or do you mean the front end felt vague or disconnected right from the beginning during that corner on that lap? 2) You mentioned high temperatures and a fast pace, did you look at the tire after the crash, or have a tire guy look at it? I'm wondering if there is any chance it had gotten really hot, melted on the edge and you leaned it over farther and got onto some melted rubber? 3) You mentioned dehydration and HOT temperatures, any chance there was some tension on the bar due to fatigue? 4) It sounds like you went faster and felt better on the softer tire, which would support using that compound again.... but will you have attention on the tire, worrying about grip or feedback? Would you feel more confident on the previous compound?

Wow, Adam, this is a REALLY good post, I was focused on the "things" to bring and didn't even think to address the mental aspect of preparing for the school, but what you wrote here is terrific, on point and I imagine it will be really helpful to new students.