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racer

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  1. Mm...ok. I'm not sure I follow your question. Are you saying that the superbike class as a whole is much faster than you are? And you are trying to determine if slicks would account for or make up for the diference? Superbike/formula classes allow much more modification than even superstock/supersport classes. Typically, they are faster due to more horsepower and increased acceleration due to mod's that reduce weight from the crankshaft and machine overall, ie. removing the stator from the end of the crank and running a total loss ignition system. This can reduce crank weight by as much as 3-5 lbs and can add as much as 5 bhp instant horsepower, depending on the model. That said, if you can qualify for the superbike/formula classes, why not run up a class? Or two? Lots of guys run production or superstock/supersport spec machines in superbike/formula classes even though they might not be very competitive. It's a great way to get more track time and push yourself trying to keep up with the faster machines. Just be careful not to push too hard... lol. The slicks WILL allow them (and you) to corner faster, so, I'd say get a second set of wheels and mount up some slicks to run in the upper classes and that way you'll know you can at least keep up in the corners. Plenty of guys do surprisingly well that way. That said, if I had to choose, I would upgrade a stock suspension before buying slicks. Not only will a good suspension do more than a fast motor to increase your cornering speed, the slicks will work your suspension harder than the DOT's. So, if you are running stock suspension components, I'd definitely think about a race shock and at least have your forks done by a pro before adding slicks. racer
  2. Yes. Absolutely. That's the whole point. To choose your line and lean angle to follow standard throttle and steering. As the point of least camber is your point of greatest potential lean angle, you would choose a line/lean angle that allows you to not need to make mid-corner adjustments for the change in camber. Sorry if that wasn't clear. So, if it happpens that the point of least camber is right at the exit, then, like any other corner, you would want to be oriented so as to be able to exit with the best drive possible, ie. "coming up" for the exit.
  3. I'm sorry, Kevin, but, I don't take your meaning. Jaybird didn't follow my statement re: a WR250 being 1/4 of a YZF-R1 motor, so, I explained it to him in more detail. What's the problem? Regards, racer
  4. That would depend mostly on your riding skills and how hard you are riding now. If you aren't already pushing/sliding the full race compound DOT tires, there isn't much point to spending the extra money on slicks. You aren't going to see any difference except perhaps for whatever confidence they might give you to ride harder. Ultimately, if you are already riding at the limit of the DOT tire's traction, you might gain as much as 1-2 seconds per lap, depending on the track.
  5. I suppose you could ask somebody for permission. But, I can't imagine why anyone would mind you practicing in the race track parking lot or a clear paddock area. Or any parking lot for that matter. And, if you are transporting the bike to the track, you can transport it to a more convenient parking lot anywhere. In any case, you sound like a resourceful person. I'm confident you can find a safe place that fits the criteria. As for "going over the fairing"... I suggest grabbing the tank with your knees to keep your weight off the handlebars. The front wheel will also have less tendency to cock off to the side when it skids. (That's actually a standard riding technique for increasing control in any situation and reduces the risk of amplifying head shakes into tank slappers. ) It's also a good idea to be going fast enough to have some gyro effect from the rear wheel to help stabilize the bike. I understand that having the outriggers would probably help you to feel safer doing it, but, as long as you keep your weight off the bars and release the brake when you feel the skid, the bike should remain fairly stable. For what it's worth, I practice stoppies and slides on the race track all the time. I've never had any complaints... In addition to learning the limits of your braking system/traction, being comfortable with front wheel skids and knowing how to handle them is a huge benefit. I'm sure Cobie or one of the other instructors can offer more insight, but, you can also read more about this practice drill in Keith Code's book A Twist of the Wrist. If you don't have a copy, you can order one from the online store here: https://secure.echoalley.com/superbikeschool/store/ Good luck, racer
  6. I would define a controlled environment as being closed to through-traffic. Preferably a wide open area with a clean surface, free from unexpected vehicular or pedestrian traffic, ie. the outlying region of a mall parking lot, furthest from the store front, free of greasy spots left from leaking motors of parked vehicles. "Stop bike", eh... it's the outrigger bike that they utilize for a couple of different drills. They might call it the "slide bike" or something. So, did you do the drill where you practice bringing the front wheel to the point of locking and then release the brake lever?
  7. If you have never locked the front brake, it would be a good idea to purposely do so in a controlled environment to experience what it feels like when it happens and learn what to do to handle it in an emergency. In fact, the school has a special braking rig bike and standard drill just for this purpose where students learn to gradually ease out of the brake lever to smoothly re-gain traction and allow the wheel to rotate again.
  8. I don't understand your reference about least camber and greatest lean. A line change solves the camber problem. I also realized that I may be placing too much attention on this crack, allowing IT to dictate my line selection. Camber is "banking" on the track. Camber can be positive or negative. Or both if the road is crowned (high in the middle) or troughed (low in the middle). So, the least amount of camber is the least amount of banking. The road surface can "fall away" from your line or the apex and this is called negative camber. If the corner is banked early and it goes away, it is the same as a decreasing radius and the point where least camber occurs is your limit for the corner, ie. if you hold a consistent line, that is the point where your max lean will occur by default as the road will be leaning up to meet your inside knee. If the corner is banked early and you are at max lean, you will need to lift up when you get to the point of least camber. However, if the corner is more banked later in the turn, the corner acts like an increasing radius and the lean limit is only imposed by the lower camber near the entry.
  9. TOTW 1 talks about variable camber. The bottom line is that you want to plan your line through variable camber corners to be at your greatest lean angle at the least amount of camber. Or, in other words, the line that allows you to follow throttle rule #1.
  10. We have a very similar group here in Allegheny County. Stay in touch and we can trade tips on how to handle spouses... and soon to be ex-spouses... lol.
  11. Yes, the two-stage "pre-braking" technique transfers weight to the front tire so you reduce the chance of locking it up when you get into the brakes full force. Even just gradually getting into them is better than "snatching" a handful of brakes.
  12. As I recall, Jaybird's Bohemian rearsets did not include a rear master cylinder relocation bracket plate for his '02 CBR600 F4i and he was unable to get the brake pedal to operate with the peg position he chose. Every model specific rearset kit I'bve ever purchased included a rear master cylinder relocation plate, but, if your doesn't, it should be a fairly simple affair to fabricate a flat piece of metal with two sets of offset holes drilled in it to relocate the rear master cylinder.
  13. Um... actually, it's probably not that dot. Now that I think about it, the last Dunlop slicks I bought were color coded with a thin stripe down the center line, or just off-center, of the "tread" surface. So, once you rode on them, the color wore off. The yellow dot you are looking at is probably the indicator for valve stem orientation when you mount the tire, ie. that dot shold be next to the valve stem on the wheel. Sorry, dude. My bad. I didn't mean to mislead you. You know what they say, the memory is the first thing to go after 40. Then the eyesight. Then the wedding tackle as Andy would say.... lol. racer
  14. Dunlop typically uses a color coded dot on the sidewall of the tire to indicate compound, ie. blue is soft, red is hard, green is medium. I don't know for sure the color code for your tire, but, you can ask RTS about that and NTEC pressures here: http://www.dunlopracing.com/rts_home.htm
  15. What are you talking about? What email?
  16. Yeah, that pick up drill rocks. I can't believe I never figured that out on my own before. Not the pulling part so much as putting it together with the spin and using the larger circumference to attenuate the spinning. That is SO fraking sublime. Brilliant!
  17. Yeah, that's true. Hence, the name: WR250. Was there something more you wished to add? Sorry, just pointing out that the R-1 is 1000cc and the WR250 is 250cc, therefore the engines have no similarity. Do you know what "1/4" means? It's called a "fraction". It can also be called a ratio or used to symbolize mathematical division. But, in this case, it means one out of four. So... "The WR250 motor is 1/4 of a YZF-R1 motor" means one cylinder out of four or "one quarter" of a YZF-R1 1000cc motor. 1/4 of 1000 = 250. Get it? I don't know if the new R1 has Titanium intake valves, and I'm guessing the cam timing is a little different, but, the measurements, the bore, the stroke, the ports, the piston, the direct ignition coil, etc etc etc are exactly the same as an R1. Hence, the WR250 motor is 1/4 of a YZF-R1 motor. The similarities are, in a word, major. r
  18. I just finished watching episodes 5 & 6 of Andy Ibbot's CSS-UK TV show broadcasts and, although the emphasis was presenting the school in general to the motorsports public and there was some time lost trying to hear garbled discussions between helmeted students and instructors, overall the production was good and I definitely learned a couple of new riding tricks. Specifically the "knee to knee" technique and spinning up the rear while pulling on the inside handle bar, lifting the bike onto the larger tire circumference to control the spin/slide and (as I understand it) get a better jump off the corner as it gets the bike pointed down the track sooner. I guess this is Pedrosa's trademark move, or so they said.
  19. The last street bikes I rode were a GPz750 and a 440LTD. Both averaged around 55 mpg. The 440 maybe closer to 60 mpg.
  20. Yeah, that's true. Hence, the name: WR250. Was there something more you wished to add?
  21. LOL I read Soft Science years ago when it first came out, but, I lost my copy and definitely need to replace it! I've obviously forgotten much of what it says.
  22. Yeah it does. A WR for the street, eh? Yamaha's answer to the KLX250SF? http://www.kawasaki.com/Products/product-s...ons.aspx?id=370 From what I've read about it, it's a detuned 1/4 YZF-R1 engine. The bore x stroke is much more oversquare than the KLX with the same YZF piston (I think). And the reduced compression is still almost 12:1. With the EXUP exhaust/ignition and variable intake, it should run like a raped date on race gas with a few tweaks. From what I hear, it makes WAY more horsepower than the KLX straight out of the box. Like 50% more! (And weighs about the same as the Aprilia RS125!) Of course, horsepower isn't free. With all those extra hi-tech bits, the MSRP is almost $1000 more than the KLX, too. And over $2000 more than the '09 250 Ninja. I accidentally erased the other half of this post, but, it was something like: "Kawasaki hasn't released any estimated MPG for the KLX, but, everyone says it should be great." And, I can't remember the rest... darn.
  23. Leaving an open class twin with a flat torque curve in a high gear will make throttle control easier and reduce the chance of spinning up and high siding. It will give you more confidence while you get a handle on the general idea of track riding. But it will not give you the skill to "turn up the wick" or anything else. That is the whole point. While I respect your right to disagree, please consider the advice and wisdom of senior racers, coaches and instructors. While the Buell is certainly better that a ZX-10 or an CBR1000RR for a newbie track rider, 146 bhp is really not tractable power for a beginner racer such as yourself... yet. And while the v-twin might not spin up as easy as the I4, that isn't the only consideration. The track gets way more narrow much sooner approaching a turn at 150 mph rather than say 100 mph. No matter what configuration, it will still bite you... hard! That's why it was suggested you put it in high gear and leave it there in the first place. Riding a couple of years on the street is good. But it really isn't enough. That's why Keith wrote a bunch of books and why CSS is here. Perhaps for an expert racer switching from an inline four making 146 bhp to a V-twin making 146 bhp, one could say that the twin would be more tractable, comparatively speaking... for that expert racer. But, whether you realize it or not, IMO, you are almost certainly not ready to skillfully handle that kind of power in a racing situation. I don't mean to be negative and I'm not trying to scare you or saying this to put you down or belittle you. I'm saying it to hopefully save your life. The best thing is to get to a superbike school and get a handle on your current level of skill and at least consider that an 1125ccc bike might be just a wee bit over your head at the moment. If you don't respect that kind of power, I promise that that bike will do it for you. And I'd hate to see that happen. Look, I understand how you feel. Totally jazzed after your first track day or whatever. Believe me I do. Because I was there myself. Twenty-five years ago. I'm not looking to "be right" or "win" an argument. I simply care that you don't get hurt anymore than necessary to learn the lessons that bike has to teach you. Restraint is a good place to start. But it isn't really a skill. It's more a state of mind. And a healthy one to be sure. Just please don't mistake it for skill or think for one second that it will be enough. In any case, I'm glad you are having fun. That's a great bike you have. Keep the shiny side up and do let us know how your first real race against other 146 bhp machines works out. In the meantime, I urge you to grab yourself copies of Keith's books and sign up for CSS Level I ASAP. Sincerely, racer
  24. Oh no. Not again. The AMA tried switching Mid-Ohio to mid-July back in the 1990's and eventually switched it back to the traditional first weekend in August a few years ago. The problem with mid-July is that it ALWAYS rains that weekend. I don't know if that is why they finally switched back to the traditional August date, but, mark my words, bring your rain gear and full wets.
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