Leaderboard

This thread started me thinking. Dangerous, I know. Some riders, very good ones, claim they just know where the tires are and can hit a tight apex. I can't but I'm happy for them. Knee to curb is workable, or, more descriptively, Knee Over Curb. 9 out of 10 students reap substantial improvements with that drill. AS Hofoot said, she can't see the tank on her small bike and if body position is good, with head low and turned in to the corner, it may be similar on a big bike. The more "GP" the body position the less tank you'll see. One other thing just struck me as a possible

One drill we commonly use in Level 4 is "knee over curb". The idea is to find a point of reference other than your head/eyes to use, to judge distance to the inside edge of the corner. If you approach the corner with the idea that you are going to try to put your knee over the curb instead of positioning your head over it, you can see (looking at your photo) that your tires would be at least a foot closer to the inside, probably more. Another advantage of using your knee as your reference is that most riders can SEE their knee in their peripheral vision, which helps to judge position over the

I liked the sound of this too so thought I would try it out before writing. I like the idea of using the outside peg to 'triangulate' a point of the tyres' contact patches to the peg, to create a better idea of where the bike is placed, pretty much as El Colibri found. Also, that our awareness of using that outside peg should already be 'switched on' if we are pivot steering (which I assume we are). As it's new to me, I did find my attention was then slightly focussed at the rear of the bike, which then felt like it was playing catchup as the bike moves forward - perhaps this is just ho

apparently the Suzuki Boys will take the cake home. Happy for them.

So I've heard this discussed a number of times at the school, both for myself and other students: as you lean the head/eyes will be farther inside the corner than the tires. Intellectually I understand this pretty well but as my pace increases and being able to hit the apex tightly becomes more important I'm finding it's hard to accomplish in practice. While I could try and just slowly move my apex target point farther inside, it feels like this could end badly. For example, a corner without curbing to give feedback you've reached the final part of the usable pavement would mean risking h

Hi guys, I hope you're all doing good. My name is Olivier, and I'm a riding instructor in France. I never took a CSS class, as we don't have a French CSS. But I read the books, watched the videos and been lurking on the forum. This one is the best I've ever seen on motorcycle riding. I trully believe that the techniques described by Keith can be used on the road. I had a flash yesterday. Correct me if I'm wrong, but PS is not rotating around your knee: it's all about pushing your body forward, isn't it? Thanks and have a good day.

On to something valuable is good, that's the way its been going since I started coaching way the hell back in 1976 🙂

FWIW, I don't try to see the tank in my peripheral vision ( I probably can on the BMW, but not on my little bike), but my outside arm is on it so I have a very good sense of where it is without having to see it.

I am no expert in any way on this, but I presume it is about awareness (where are you placed) and confidence (rely on your knowledge about where you are). Some are better at knowing where in space they are situated than others. Personally, I am hopeless, which is why I constantly bump into things. So I need some margins, likely more than you, to feel somewhat in control. Here are some pictures for inspiration about using all the available space, and then some, showing what is possible:

Lebedo; I wasn't worried about you stealing my stuff, everything in the books and videos is for riders to improve themselves, if you see better ways to instruct from the books and videos and you see it helping your students, I'm happy about that. The bike should not stand up once pressure is released after the counter-steering pressure is applied. If the rider is crossed up as you illustrate in the photo then it WILL have the tendency to stand up. This is possible. Also, riders often restrain the bars with the opposite hand e.g., press the right bar to turn right but their left

New from Ohio. Hi

And does it make it harder for the others to get around you...

There is an online article quoting Rossi as saying his people had looked at the times for leg-dangle vs not and there was no difference. The article also had a humorous account of how racers will do odd things because they see other racers do them. https://motomatters.com/opinion/2009/07/22/the_truth_behind_the_rossi_leg_wave.html

The best pressure setting can vary by bike/rider weight, by track, and by temperature and is not always the easiest thing to figure out. Best thing to do (assuming you are talking about track riding) is to ask the Pirelli race tire distributor, and be specific about what bike you have, what pace you ride (A, B or C group at local trackdays, for example, or tell them your typical laptimes), and whether it is expected to be cold or hot out. The Pirelli range given above is a good starting point; if you see any abnormal tire wear (tearing, or uneven wear) occurring, you can ask a tire provi

Lots of good data from some of you and especially Hotfoot’s info. Here’s just a bit more on the subject of Pivot Steering. May be repetitive of some data already written but look it over an do the experiment at the end for fun. My statement in Twist II about getting your weight closer to the center of mass or center of gravity by weighting the pegs rather than the seat and any implication that it alters the center of mass (COM) or center of gravity (COG) was, or helps in any way is, for lack of a better words, junk, incorrect, wrong. Weight in the seat or on the pegs does not change

I have owned bikes from 50 to 1400 cc, from 2 to 130 hp, from 1 to six cylinders, a few two-strokes but mostly 4-strokes. (I do not care for smokers as they do not have engine braking). What I have found personally, is that small, nimble yet stable bikes with about 30 horses tend to be excellent fun on narrow, winding roads with little traffic. They allow you to go through the gears, using full throttle a lot, and they can change direction oh so quickly and effortlessly if and when needed. They are also not so fun in traffic. Especially going up a 10 % incline, carrying luggage, faci

Back in the mid-80s, Kenny Roberts Sr. owned (at least) two street bikes; a Phazer 250 inline four and an FZ400 inline four. He rarely used the latter, finding it just a little bit faster, but not nearly as good handling. He described the 250 to be as close to a race bike as he could come for the street. Also, the limited power (it would still do 120 mph, though) meant he had to be inch perfect and keep the momentum up, simply because he did not have a bunch of power to correct any mistake. In other words, Roberts found the 250 more fun to ride due to it being both easier and more demanding to

I'm a big fan of small, lightweight bikes. To me it seems pretty hard to explore many of the capabilities of a 1000cc (or even a 600cc) sport bike on public roads. You can barely get to third gear. I picked up a Kawasaki Z125 recently and I am having a blast with it. Street legal, but in ten minutes I can have the headlight, taillight and blinkers off it and it's ready for the go-kart track. Is the handling amazing? No, but it isn't bad and it IS fun to ride. It is NOT a highway bike and has a low top speed but if you ride it at 30-40 mph you feel like you are really riding, on the S1000r

I'm pretty lazy, I like the F-800, probably even with saddle bags. Pretty impressive all round bike. Would love more power, like a 1000 version, so I can be more lazy and not have to shift much :). Failing that...the single R (1000) is a sweet ride.

I don't know about Cobie, but that is the only circumstance where I do clutcless downshifts on a roadrace bike, Turn 8 at Willow Springs is 6th gear pinned and I drop two gears for turn 9 without the clutch. At a good pace your leaned over quite far when you do the downshifts. Worked pretty well when I set a lap record.