Cobie Fair
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Posts posted by Cobie Fair
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Yeah, more low end power then anything I've been on. The power was the most impressive thing, it seemed to come on at almost no rpms and build evenly till redline, which come in a hurry.
Honestly, I was surprised when you told me that. I really didnt' expect it to have much in the basement.
C
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Now to Cobie's q:
... if you start the roll on before the turn. Also, it would cause the suspension to lift, which would increase the trail and therefore the amount of force you need to apply to get the bike turned
What happened to the idea that the rear suspension rises when "on the gas"? Won't this counteract the rising of the front end?
Both the front and the rear go up when on the gas, and the opposite when off the gas.
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Here's a question if you have a minute. I was told this summer that I should wait to go to this school until I have more experience. I've been thinking about it, and I've developed some bad habits that I'm sure will be harder to correct with time. Do you think a newer rider should go to this school. I would think so because it gives him the tools to improve that he can work on instead of change to.
Here's a 100% biased opinion
We've had students with very little experience come to the school and it worked fine. Why get some years of bad habits that have to be worked out? We've had others that we have turned away, too little experience. Here is our yardstick: if they have attention on the control actions of the bike, like shifting, braking, letting the clutch out then they should get more experience. In many cases, if we can get them BEFORE they start their track riding, we can save a lot, in one way or another.
The 2-day camps are the least students, the most help we can offer, its a very nice format, we (and the students) like it a lot. The difference in speed is handled with the passing rule, which is pretty simple: rider in front has the right of way, overtaking rider no closer than 6-8 feet. Firm on that, doesn't matter who. One of our recent Vegas schools we had a returning rider (hadn't ridden in 15 years while having children), and she was on the track with a current 250 GP racer. Both had a great 2 days.
C
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If I can get a spot in January for April, I'm going to do the two day in Vegas. I'll have the money then for the deposit, and my wife will have something to do while I'm at the school is why we're doing Vegas. We lived there for a year and a couple months, so she's familiar with it. I'm not going to get too excited yet, because I've been told these schools fill up quick, but I am keeping my fingers crossed. YAY (maybe).
A question for Cobie, though. If I try to sign up for it and that school is full, will it tell me that there aren't any spots available?
Hubbard,
Easiest thing is just call the office. It can change daily/sometimes hourly, so we don't put the sign up's on line, but handle them all in the office. A deposit will secure the spot, with more than 2 weeks notice you can get it all back (minus 3% refund charge). 800-530-3350.
Right now it's about 25% full.
CF
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UNITED STATES SUPER BIKE INSURANCE? FOR NY OWNER.? hello i have a x-19 super bike Drivetrain Engine: 4 Stroke 110cc Single Cylinder, Air Cooled Fuel : 91+ Unleaded Gasoline (no oil mixing required) Starter: Electric Key Start w/ Backup Kick Start (MANUAL) Maximum Speed: up to 70+ mph Ignition: CDI, Ultra High Discharge Coil Transmission: 4-Speed Manual w/ Hand Clutch or Automatic Maximum Power: 15.5 hp Brakes: Hydraulic Cross-Drilled Disc Brakes Exhaust: Factory Tuned Dual Exhaust w/ Twin Silencers Dimensions Length: 58" Width: 25" Height: 33" Ground Clearance: 5.5" Dry Weight: 140 lbs. Weight Capacity: 325 lbs. Fuel Tank Capacity: 2.25 Liters Cruising Range: 50 miles per tank Tires: Pneumatic Racing Semi-Slick Tires EPA APPROVED & CERTIFIED - OUR X19-CR SUPER POCKET BIKE IS EPA APPROVED it goes as fast as 70 miles per hour i called my local ny( new york) DVM they said id need a motorcycle license and blah blah. registration and all that that's not the hard part the hard part is the insurance. i called gecko and they said they don't insure super bikes i get all these UK insurance sites for Super Bikes but no USA insurance can someone help me. in finding out the insurance agency that i can get insurance from?
Have you tried the normal companies in your area? State Farm, Farmers, etc? That's odd about Geico, I saw in one of their ads they do insure bikes. Did you try an actual agent on the phone, as opposed to via the internet?
Best,
CF
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If you can get the technique right at some pace, then bring the speed up a little at a time. When the technique goes south, how about back it down a hair from there, and work to get it back.
Some at the schools think it has to be a light switch--going slow or going fast. What if some smaller gradient steps could be put in?
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Yeah, we pretty much run the same track for every school out at Vegas. At the two day camps we run it in both directions though, so it is like two tracks
There are tons of places to stay in Vegas, Circus Circus rooms are decent and pretty cheap.
I got a good deal at the Stratosphere one time, but it wasn't very impressive, don't know I'd go back. We stay at Nellis Suites, right next to the track and it is no great shakes, it's just close.
March in Vegas, that'll be a nice time to do it.
CF
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On a corner like that I will, as a standard, get off the brakes just before I start to turn in. Not to start another discussion on when we start on the throttle, but I am starting to get my maintenance throttle while I'm dipping it in. If I'm passing going into the corner, I might use light brake slightly into my lean.
OK, I'm curious to what you mean by "maintenance throttle?"
http://pnwriders.com/general-discussion/41...e-throttle.html
J/bird and I have gone around on this one a bit, but my understanding is the term originated with cars, and I want to see if any really good car guys use that.
What's your take on it Hubbard?
Having the throttle on when the bike is turn, it can create some problems, and one of them is the bike runs too wide after turn in, and more lean angle is needed (than should be used) to bring it back in line.
I was sort of in on this discussion. Just before I dip the bike (I think) I am at the speed I want to be at. I apply enough throttle to keep me at that speed going to the apex. I hope this is a more accurate description. We had a hard time explaining it last time. I have tried it on the street, and this Sunday will on the track, and am not comfortable with the other way. I'm going down for half the day into a slower group to work on this (as well as a couple other things).
OK, so if you roll the throttle on before you turn it or while you are turning it, what happens to the line the bike takes--does it want to hold the line, or will the bike run wider after turn in?
CF
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Here,s a funny thing that happens to me, I am a fast road rider but not such a fast track rider, that is probably down to lack of experience but the strange thing is, I like tracks like the nurburgring where it is surrounded by wallls, trees, and fences (more like a road with no speed limits), but am not so keen when I get on a track with lots of run off area, I think this could be down to a major lack of RP's.
Ace,
That's a good point, and the first time I tihnk it has been brought up. Reference points is something we have to work with riders on a lot. We went to one track in Illinois that had just been pave, it was very new. Part of the track was down a dragstrip porting, and there was not much to look at, particularly entering the turn off the drag strip. We put a cone up on the wall to help with this.
But, most of the time we are taking cones out of turns and such (left by other schools) as they don't have them in a race, and aside from the very rare exception above, there is always stuff to look at.
CF
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King Kenny is still one of my favorites. He did it in multiple disciplines, and he was always looking at the sport from a view of better show, expand, train new riders, etc.. But sticking with his riding:
I watched him at Laguna (not sure what year it was) wheelie past the then current US Formula 1 champ Mike Baldwin, going into turn 9 at Laguna (now turn 11). What made this special was that Mike was on the brakes.
Kenny wouldn't just check out and smoke these guys either, he'd stay around for a while and make it a show, it was great to watch.
So, who's your favorite and why?
Cobie
No dought King Kenny was fun to watch! But my favorite is Dick Mann. He would road race, flat track AND ride motocross.....all on a Triumph!! I watched him race the Sacrameno Mile with a broken foot! Then I watch him race against Roger DeCoster at Carnagie MotoCross, on a Triumph single. He got smoked, but the sound of that thumper going around a motocross track was way cool!!.
Never did see Dick Mann racing.
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OK, so that's about $45 USD per session. Interesting that there isn't much instruction.
CF
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Hubbard - Yeah, I was taking it a little easy on the Duc. Not too easy though, I did spin up the rear a few times
Ace - No the track wasn't wet, Sears point pavement is pretty old and gets a lot of use so it is pretty glassy. Both pics are of me and I was just playing around backing in the ZX10 using the clutch.
Kev - It was really nice of the guy to let me ride his bike and I was NOT going to take any undue chances with it. I was thinking about how much that bike cost a lot even while riding. I did push it a bit as I wanted to get a feel for what the bike was capable of (it is VERY CAPABLE) and even spun up the rear tire a few times (traction control is a $10K option on this bike and this one didn't have it). I was shaking for quite some time after I got off the bike, it was the experience of a lifetime.
Stuman--didn't you say the thing had killer grunt off the bottom? Like more than anything else you had ridden (and where did it start from?)
CF
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Well... interesting... Survival reaction, maybe! For sure I am not scared about crashing... If I was, I wouldn't race! I am more worried about the bike... lollll I am putting so much money on it and it's the only one I have... Yes here, there is schools who teach to keep the head over the tank, but this is not what I am trying to do, I am trying to put together all what I have learn, especialy at the CSB...
Gigi--remind me, what schools have you done?
One question I have is, how early do you begin the hang off process?
Best.
Cobie
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Cracking it on, taking it just from the off position. Then rolling it on. But there is also when does the drive begin, when one is no longer critically concerned with stabilizing the bike, but getting out of the turn well.
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I love to bike ride, but haven't much lately, going to ge that back in. MX riding would be cool, but rarely get on my dirt bike
. Upper body strength seems to help too, for steering. I recall Keith saying when Wayne (Rainey) went to Europe, he came back and had to work on his back muscles. I thought that interesting, with the bikes being lighter.One thing not mentioned yet is some stretching. Tight muscles don't allow as much blood flow, a little stretching would be good too.
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That will put you "miles" ahead of most street riders. Just be careful of creeping street habits onto the track and vice-versa. TC Rule #1 becomes less important at street speeds, which is why it get's violated so often.
Yeah, you can get away with it (bad TC) most of the time street riding, so it doesn't force one to take another way. Might be one reason that all those dirt track kids turned into such good road-racers. I'd really like Nicky to do well on that Duc. Didn't I read recently that he said after he rode it that whatever they were paying Casey, they should double it?
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That will put you "miles" ahead of most street riders. Just be careful of creeping street habits onto the track and vice-versa. TC Rule #1 becomes less important at street speeds, which is why it get's violated so often.
Yeah, you can get away with it (bad TC) most of the time street riding, so it doesn't force one to take another way. Might be one reason that all those dirt track kids turned into such good road-racers.
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On a corner like that I will, as a standard, get off the brakes just before I start to turn in. Not to start another discussion on when we start on the throttle, but I am starting to get my maintenance throttle while I'm dipping it in. If I'm passing going into the corner, I might use light brake slightly into my lean.
OK, I'm curious to what you mean by "maintenance throttle?"
http://pnwriders.com/general-discussion/41...e-throttle.html
J/bird and I have gone around on this one a bit, but my understanding is the term originated with cars, and I want to see if any really good car guys use that.
What's your take on it Hubbard?
Having the throttle on when the bike is turn, it can create some problems, and one of them is the bike runs too wide after turn in, and more lean angle is needed (than should be used) to bring it back in line.
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Hi Teg,
I know Stuman answered, but one point that you bring up is that you feel slightly "lost" for a second.
This is pretty common. What are you going to need to do to sort this out? Will your Level 2 skills help here? Maybe more RP's, 2 step or 3 step?
One thing you might want to know: We've had some really top riders in the last few years, and even at a school in November we had a guy currently racing in 250 GP. He spent most of the 2 days working on visual skills. I wonder if they are the toughest to get really, really good at.
C
yes thanks stuman - i have tried as stuman said as far as the throttle application is concerned treating as 2 turns as opposed to tryin to turn in with the throttle partially opened into the 2nd turn and this has improved a lot .
Onto cobies point about feeling a bit lost i try and tell it like i see it or feel it so as to try and give you some clues to what i,m doing etc . as i,m sure you,ve nearly always seen these problems or versions of em before .
at rockingham un the u.k there is a series of 3 consecutive lefts and it is the first 2 together where i was having most problems 1st left o.k (called pif paf ) the next left (unamed) has to be incorporated with the exit of the first (pif paf ) .
Anyway i went to this track about 3 times and tried different solutions to this .
Interestingly i tried making a wider exit of the fisrt left to give a wider and more importantly LATER entry turn point to the 2nd left .
this resulted in a crash (i got away with it ) here as i was to wide to make the turn and had to stand her up b-4 goin down on the grass .
i thought on this for sometime after jumping to conclusions that i just turned to late --------after reading keith codes books and a bit of thought i believe the reason i went down wasn,t that my turn point for the 2nd left which was also the exit for the first left was particularly wide or late but the problem was surprise surprise me ! my theory is that i didn,t shift my vision fast enough from the turn point to my apex ,,, and the more i thought about it i didn,t have a nice definite apex - end result i ran off the outside of circuit .
i,ve since been back and got a better solution and result to these 2 turns ( lap times have improved ) and better r.p,s
maybe as you say the r.p,s are still not sharp enough here or maybe couple more linking r.p,s or i need to shift my vision in faster stages thro the linking turns
or maybe a combination to these - also now i know that its o.k to roll out of throttle and back on for the 2nd turn this will help me get a more definite end result here .
Teg,
I think you're on the right track with the visual skills there. Sometimes we get guys that think a little narrowly regarding their RP's. Big things can be RP's. The line on the edge, or how far one is from another object. I think some guys can get stuck when there isn't a nice, handy, easy to see RP, right where they want it.
Of course, we knew some guys that would go out with a spay paint can before a National race. (Name withheld to protect the guilty).
CF
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how about the latest ducati 1098/s or the bmw hp2 sport? those ones are very top of the line and since non Japanese they are more pricely and less wide spread to the regular riders?
Havne't yet ridden a 1098. What did surprise me was the high dollar bike Stuman rode, the Desmosedici (probably spelled that wrong, the Italians can give me
).Stuman--what did you think of that bike?
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OK, we talked about this a little before, but it got a little off the subject, so lets take another look at this. What conditioning, training, exercises, and even diet have you found has worked well for agressive riding?
It would also be good if any of the girls would post what has helped them.
CF
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My '05 636 is king. I've only ridden '05 and older, but nothing comes close. Most of the bikes I've ridden were either before or when I was just starting track, so I might feel different if I rode them again. The GSXR's feel like ZZR's compared to my bike, and the R-6 and R-1's I've ridden were smooth, but didn't handle like my bike. More than likely due to familiarity.
I do miss my Triumph. It wasn't a track bike, just a '99 Legend, but it was boss. Smooth as all get out.
I loved the extra torque of the 636's too. And the '05 model was a better riding position than the '03. That was about one of my favorite al-round bikes.
C
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On a corner like that I will, as a standard, get off the brakes just before I start to turn in. Not to start another discussion on when we start on the throttle, but I am starting to get my maintenance throttle while I'm dipping it in. If I'm passing going into the corner, I might use light brake slightly into my lean.
OK, I'm curious to what you mean by "maintenance throttle?"
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Well, my work is done, "A Twist Of The Wrist Volume II" is thoroughly translated into Greek, and is on Keith's hands.
Hopefully, it will be on bookstores soon.
Thanks again Cobie
Costas
Excellent, hope that makes it out soon.
C
. Upper body strength seems to help too, for steering. I recall Keith saying when Wayne (Rainey) went to Europe, he came back and had to work on his back muscles. I thought that interesting, with the bikes being lighter.
What Is Needed To Make A Rider Better/faster?
in Cornering and Techniques
Posted
Let's narrow it down to racing for the sake of argument, at or near the top level, say top riders in the US. Some guys make it to the top, and others make it close. Some guys look like they have it all, and will go all the way, become world champs.
I think there is an ability to adapt, to evaluate information that is a key component. I remember watching James Toseland after we had trained him, and he was still running a very low entry line. This uses a lot of lean angle, and stalls the rider on the gas. He changed it later in his career. Keith told me once that he watched Kevin Schwantz change his line in a race at Laguna after Wayne beat him in that section.
Do you guys have other examples of this that you have observed? (After this, I want to look at the same thing with lower level riders--amateur racers, track day riders, etc.)
C