Cobie Fair
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Posts posted by Cobie Fair
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This wasn't really a story. A few years ago, there was an interview with King Kenny. The cover of Cycle News had him fully sideways in the dirt. The bike--a V-MAX!
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I think it was '89 that I started doing some instructing, even though I worked at the school in '83.
I need to get JungleJim to teach me how to drive a car!
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2-day schools have been our most popular--you get it all, and more attention to boot.
I often recommend doing 2 days (whethere a 2-day camp, or two of the one day schools back - to - back) the first time you come to us.
After that, do them however you like!
Best,
Cobie
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Dear Paroxysm
Our normal answer in the office to this is, is the rider still concerned about the control actions of the bike? Letting out the clutch, shifting, etc. If not, you can come. We had a student at yesterday's school--he had ridden a total of 2 HOURS before coming to the school! We were all pretty impressed with him, and he had a great day, learned a lot.
His view was--why learn a lot of bad habits and practice those, and have to un-learn them?
Best,
Cobie
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John,
I've talked with a lot of students about this, I'll go over what we have covered in the past.
For a few students riding their own seems to allow them to spend more attention on their riding, and in the end it's best for them to do so. For some, they are so worried about their own bike, they never fully relax and enjoy the riding/school.
On the other hand, I've had many students that had never ridden a properly set up bike, and have been amazed at what they got out of one that had been set up correctly. Occasionally I'll ride student's bikes and sometimes I get off the thing amazed at how they could ride the thing at any kind of decent pace at all! In fact, it's pretty rare that I get on a student's bike, and have it work anywhere near as well as ours. From the training standpoint, this is an issue, as riders often have confidence problems, and don't know that it isn't them, it's their bike!
In addition to that, how often do you get to ride another person's bike on the track, that is in virtually perfect shape, and you don't have to worry about riding it hard--as hard as you want.
There are a few other minor reasons: one is mechanical. If ANYTHING goes wrong with your own bike (though not likely, it does happen), you could be out of luck. With a school bike, we have tons of spare parts (and spare bikes) so this is not an issue.
Another is the hassle of transporting your own, having enough fuel, or riding the thing home when you are really tired.
Finally, seeing an instructor on the exact same bike, you know it is down to rider, and not equipment, and that can be a factor in training too.
This got longer than I thought, hope it answered your questions! Don't hesitate to pm me if you have anything else you'd like to ask.
Best,
Cobie
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One of my guys sent this to me, and it was cool enough to post!
Best,
CF
..., I dropped 3 seconds off my best Aprilia RS 250 lap times at the Big Track (Willow Springs) over last weekends races. After talking with (instructors) James, Stuman and Will and having them thrash me because I was way too slow, I decided to twist the throttle a little while in the corners and increase my entry speed a little. I think my biggest fear is wrecking a school bike or when I was racing a 750, crashing that. Last weekend, I was on my 250, but cornering as fast or faster than I ever did on my 750 and never seemed to have the same fear. If the wind had not been blowing so hard, I may have dropped another second or two. My goal is to get my Aprilia down into the 33's. I am going to end up racing Sunday at Streets with CCS. I think I can do 33's with my Aprilia on that track since horsepower is not the key. Anyway, I have a whole new desire to get faster and race more. The heck with insurance companies.
Thanks again for doing what you do. Being an instructor is better than I thought it would be. When people ask me what I do for a living, my first thought is to tell them I am a Superbike instructor instead of a professional land surveyor. There are about 3000 professional land surveyors in California. I am not sure, but I think there are only 150 or so Superbike instructors in the world. Both of which I am very proud of. (There are only about 100 instructors currently--CF)
See you at Laguna,
Jaime
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I will also admit that i'd like to see Rossi top Freddie and do both the 250 and Moto-gp in one year, that would be cool.
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I'd do what ever will allow you to get the most racing in!
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Lawson, that's another that was pretty amazing what he did. I was really hoping that he would go on and have a big car career, but that doesn't seem to be happening now. Sounds like he's pretty bad-ass in a cart though!
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I totally know what you are talking about, we get this question a lot. Riders think that we are going to be doing something "too basic" or too slow in ths level. Truth is, if a rider can't do the level 1 most important, key, have-to-have-it-right skills, then how are they really going to get in to awesome control? The very best guys do these skills religiously.
I've been fortunate to watch Keith coaching some world class riders, 1-1. Right before one of them won a world championship, all Keith was working on was one of the Level 1 skills!
Whenever we get a top rider at the school (2 of the 3 Haydens, both of the Bostroms, etc., etc.) they always run through level 1, and on top of never complaining about doing Level 1, they are all ears.
There are no restrictions on speed at any of our schools, we just want to guy to be in control as he adds it!
Best,
CF
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Slowjoe,
Your questions cover a lot of ground! More than I could easily answer in a short post. Maybe if you have a specific question, we could take a look at an area.
Best,
Cobie
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Carrying the brakes late into the turn has messed up a lot of guys, and their chances of winning races. 2 that come to mind are Duhamel tossing it in front of Scott Russell at Daytona, and Kurtis doing the same thing in front of Mladin at Mid-Ohio this year.
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No one brough up Barros either. Not that I think he is going to win the championship, but if he gets in there in the top Honda spot, he could be a contender.
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I guess we are showing our age, or lack of it--no one mentioned Hailwood or Agostini.
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OK, who is your favorite racer and why? When I watched Kenny Sr totally dominate at Laguna in the mid 80's, that was awesome. And he did this after hanging around and playing all the other guys. When he wheelied past Mike Baldwin, when Baldwin was on the brakes, that was it for me!
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Laguna is fun, but for sure the tires have to be warm there. I'd like to try some of the Euro tracks, or Brands Hatch long circuit looks like fun.
Trail Braking
in School Questions/General Discussion
Posted
fastfreddie,
Looks like you did pretty well this year!