Cobie Fair
-
Posts
4,215 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
77
Posts posted by Cobie Fair
-
-
We run 31 front, 29 rear on our Q3+.
I'd only go higher on the rear if I had a larger person, or riding 2 up.
I often hear higher pressures for increase life of the tire/mileage, don't think that wise.
After tossing my first bike down the road, partly due to riding the tire way past when I should have, makes one think...what's the smart choice, optimal traction (at least the possibility of it) or a few more miles? I'm somewhat thrifty (or I think so), but that's not a good investment.
CF
-
Hi Pitts,
I follow you on all the points above...it's a big subject (the visual skills, and what cause problems with being able to continually keep them working well for you). I"m just going to touch on this with a few comments.
I'd say one element in keeping one from target fixing, is familiarity with the environment. Is one less likely to have target fixation on a road/track that is known well?
Another will be controlling that environment, at a suitable speed for each person. Some can handle a quicker rate of this than others. Then gradually increasing that speed.
Some just go too fast on the street for what I consider a speed that allows for enough margin for error. I just don't go fast on the street any more (had a few close calls, don't care for that).
Lastly, what condition is the person in physically at that time? Well fed, well rested, not dehydrated, etc., can have a huge effect on a person's mental state. And the mind is a whole other subject!
This are all pretty big stabs at this, so I might just be opening can here :).
Best,
Cobie
-
1
-
-
See you soon Rick!
-
We had an exercise we had run at our military schools:
Rider approaches a set of lights, one set on each side. As he goes through a trip light (while looking ahead at a radar board indicating his speed), one light goes off on one side, and he learns to steer the OPPOSITE direction. This was quite an exercise and would be performed at higher and higher speeds. Riders would make up their minds before they got there and often turn in the wrong direction (towards the light).
This would train them to hold a wide view visually, not pre-decide which way to go, react and also turn quickly. This was the culminating exercise in an intense 2 day program...often took a little while to gradually get riders to do this at higher and higher speeds. Valuable exercise!
CF
-
1
-
1
-
-
Had a question from a student that's racing, about tires and pressures. Ended up exchanging some e-mail with a Dunlop engineer today on that subject. First point was on tire pressures (this might be known, but not sure how well known).
Tire pressures are higher in the wet. So (since this student was not going to be able to get rains for this weekend) for a Q3+ for example, it would be 35 front, 33 rear. In the dry we'd run 31 front, 29 rear.
The engineer recommended rain tires (of course he would, he'd have to fire himself if he didn't). But...a point he made is that for a racer (and he is), a set of rain tires might last a few seasons.
Since I'm inherently thrifty (but also like to have good tires) this seemed worth considering. Maybe you all have already done so :).
CF
-
You won't be unhappy with either. VIR might be one of the staff favorites. NCM is good too, challenging, like it. Both are in excellent condition.
CF
-
Just sent JJ a text..
-
Man, if you like the canyons on that bike, come to the track! Best "canyon" ever :).
Best,
CF
-
Typically about November 10.
Best,
CF
-
Don, have you done the Superbike School yet?
Best,
Cobie
-
All good suggestions, including The Ridge.
CF
-
1
-
-
We love Mid-Ohio, tried to go back but couldn't work that out.
As for PIR, that's been discussed, but would have to work in with our whole tour. When you get a tour, and tracks give you dates for years on end, not so easy to change that. Our VIR and NJMP dates are set months out...that all being said, the schedule can and does get looked at every year, and Keith is the one that finally sets it (with input from the core team).
Hope that doesn't come across as a non-answer. Doesn't look good for MO, and just don't know about PIR.
CF
-
1
-
-
Just finished a fantastic road trip. Last day was at Barber and BMW was setting up for the following day's press release of the 2020...and we will get that fleet! Nothing wrong with 2018's we have, still love my coach bike. But...looking forward to the new model.
Weather looking perfect for this upcoming weekend (and Mon/Tues) school days. Finally, I'm tired of cold :).
There is room at this point for the 2-day camp (might even get a deal on it if it's not full).
Come look at the HR4RACE, and we should have a pretty 2020 on display too. I got a chance to test ride it at Streets, and noticed the handling was even better than my '18.
Or stay home and watch Friends re-runs.
Best,
Cobie
-
On a CRT tube...
-
1
-
-
Good observations on your part...and yeah, treat oneself a bit more kindly--not an uncommon recommendation!
Best,
CF
-
I guess I'll need to come out of the stone age...
-
Let's see if we get others interested in this. I don't want to promise something we can't do really well, or half-ass it
-
Let us know what happened? What was the temp? How long into the ride? What kinds of roads ridden? What kind of bike? What tires.
We just did the school at Vegas, in the mid-40's on day 2. I was quite impressed with the Q-3+...did even better than I thought.
-
Copy on the above, I'll get with Hotfoot. Love to see a few more people sound off on these things.
I'm a little nervous on the posting ride/share, split hotel stuff, but maybe that's me just being paranoid about personal info.
OK, I'll get with Hotfoot, see about bringing another section back in on the hardware stuff (bike/tires/riding gear, etc.)
-
Good observation on your part on the no-brakes format. Riders mostly over-brake when they start to add more/harder braking, and loose entry speed.
Your overall goal if good, nothing wrong there; the other steps that go in that direction are smaller bites one would take to achieving that.
As for braking and then realizing you could have gone faster...that's a not uncommon situation that occurs. Front brakes are the most powerful thing on the motorcycle, consider that a much smaller single rear brake can stop the engine. How about approaching the braking with the idea its a fine adjuster, capable of great force, but in the end, getting the entry speed correct for you (no too slow or too fast) is the key.
There are a few pieces to this, we can work on them for sure.
Best,
Cobie
-
1
-
1
-
-
A tour sounds like fun. I'm pretty spoiled with my lightweight KX-250 though :).
-
Next question:
Should we do a separate section for the gear questions, like:
Tires, helmets, leathers, etc.
One more easily searchable?
Any thoughts on this? All of you can answer on this one, everyone has an opinion even if it's, "uh, leave it alone" or "yeah, get a few more categories up here."
CF
-
1
-
-
Fossil! I've been remiss in my forum participation, good to see that you made it up here again!
-
It'd just scare the hell out of me.
Done a few, I actually work to see the person has an enjoyable time.
It's hard to do, if a decent sized person is the passenger, the smaller the person the better as far as I'm concerned, but too small has the helmet in the rider's back.
Heavy Steering
in Cornering and Techniques
Posted
What year is your bike, and to confirm it's a Speed Triple, not the smaller version? If it's the bike I'm thinking off, it's a pretty heavy bike. As I recall when I rode one a while back, it wasn't a heavy steering bike, but it was a heavy-ish bike to start with.
CF