Cobie Fair
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Posts posted by Cobie Fair
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Good pics, and that's quite some leather design!
I've got more grey hair too!
CF
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Hi Sean,
I have talked with Keith about this subject, how long to repeat a level, how much time in between? Keith (if I recall correctly) thinks that over 3-5 years and it would be good to start at the beginning (if no schools in between).
This can for sure vary with the person, riding, how much he studies (if at all) between schools.
I had a student that had 3 years+ in between schools, came back and did level 2, and really should have re-done level 1, and didn't recall that info well enough to get the most out of his day.
On another note, if you guys are coming together, let me know if you want the same coach, or a different one--just shoot me an e-mail on that, or pm or whatever!
Best,
Cobie
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Hi Sean,
Hmmm...need to see your face, that might ring the bell better!
Glad you are up here and posting, look forward to seeing you and your girl, for sure need to come and say hello that morning when you get there.
Best,
Cobie
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Craig,
My second bike (and 2nd race bike) was a ducati similar to that one, 1980 Supersport, black and gold. Neat bike, but long as a freight train!
CF
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i went for a new years day ride with my buddy simon (ironside on this forum). It was a rather baltic 2 degC with snow still lying at the sides of the road. I think i'll put the bike back in the garage until march
Yeah, back in the early 80's I was working out as a gymnast at a gym in New Mexico (meaningless info I know), but the point is riding home it was below freezing and there was a bridge that would ice up...I'm glad the next year I got a truck for the winter (still kept my bike of course). Riding in the winter is just not that much fun (except for those crazies on studded ice tires).
CF
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Craig,
Let us know (when you can
) if you give this a try and what you find happening.CF
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Sorta Off-topic, but here goes:
I have a Starlane Stealth GPS-2 laptimer, and I'm trying to unravel the contents of the DatiRx.bin and gps.gps files (so far Starlane won't tell me) - I'm mostly there with getting Longitude, Latitude, Speed, Bearing, lap/intermediate times and several other things figured out.
If anyone else out there on the forum has a Starlane laptimer and are willing to email me a set of DatiRx.bin/gps.gps files please shoot me a PM.
I'm especially interested in getting hold of data from a Athon GPS-RW/PRO system where the tacho is hooked up, so I can get the RPM /gear datafields sorted out.
My hope is to be able to do an alternative visualization program, over the DigiraceMMX that Starlane delivers.
Thanks,
Kai
No info personally, let me know if you do get a response.
CF
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One point on wet riding (there are a few, maybe we ought to do a whole thread on that), is find the traction limit with the rear tire. not the front. Seems like a pretty basic idea, but we do see it violated pretty often.
Do you mean the rear sides as compared to the centre contact patch ?
Just referring to riding technique mostly. Often with wet days we see more crashes. As I mentioned, there are a few pieces to this: One is simply, differeent turns can have different levels of traction, even different parts of the same turn can be more polished. Another piece of this is upping the entry speed, and making too large a jump. 2-3 mph is a large jump. Up the pace 1 mph, or the smallest degree that you can sense. Then bring on a little more power (again, small percentages).
This will give you lots of warning before you get an unrecoverable slide, you'll get small ones first.
Make sense?
CF
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Hi All,
Had a nice talk with Steve Brubaker this morning, really like his input to the forum, and if you guys didn't know, he doesn't do this anywhere else.
On this subject, here is a request: Steve had some excellent ideas on how to organize data on the forum, creating some handy references for the key areas. One thing that will help is if you guys will chime in on if you like a subject, and what aspect you find helpful. Certainly we can see from the views, but that is a bit broad. Let us know what specfically you like, find helpful, and things you don't quite undertand. Not everyone has the same technical understanding, but often it can be put in terms even a layman can understand, if well enough defined.
I also think often people don't want to ask, thinking they are the only ones that don't understand what's being discussed. Let me forward this idea: if you don't get it, likley others don't either. As a side note, it's part of my ongoing quest to get the lurkers out of the closet
.Urging you to post away,
CF
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Absolutely Cobie,
Will has been kind enough to chime in in the past about mechanical problems, tyre issues, geometry and setup problems, and many other problems that affect our day to day lifes. but if he could do an ask the mechanic section, with his extensive knowledge that would be amazing!
If this takes off, coupled with Steve's tyre info section and the discussions from regular posters about their riding experiences this forum is just getting better and better!
Bobby
OK, just back from a few days off, Will returns later this week, I'll get it up and running.
CF
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Howdy all,
I'm new to the forum. Started reading the tire info posted by the Dunlop man and am now officially sucked in. Great info. I have some questions but need to finish reading all of the posts first.
I've been riding track days since 2001, first on an FZR600 now on a Ducati 748. Done to level 3 with CSS, Loudon, Watkins, Pocono and plan on lvl 4 this coming year if finances allow...
Tire info seems to be some sort of dark secret compared to stuff like suspension tuning so I hope that I can find some more useful info here.
Thanks to the crew at CSS for all they do for this sport.
Hi Glenn,
Glad you are here, hope we see you this year for Level 4.
Regarding any tire data you want: if you don't find it quick and easily, then just post your question. No one's going to think it silly if you don't know where it is, and as Steve sees the traffic on these threads, it will give him an idea of what information he should make clear and accessible.
Post away!
Best,
Cobie
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One point on wet riding (there are a few, maybe we ought to do a whole thread on that), is find the traction limit with the rear tire. not the front. Seems like a pretty basic idea, but we do see it violated pretty often.
So... you mean, panic and grab the front brake is not the best traction test? Darn, that's going to be hard to remember in the rain.
That, but I was also just thinking of the riders that just keep upping entry pace, or continue to add lean angle (and they don't do those 2 in small pieces either!).
CF
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Hello Staff,
It was great talking to Mr. Code at the Long Bch M/C Show. After reading forums for the last few years, I never felt like being a member of one.
So when the Superbike e-mail came and the tire info was so spot on and discussed in a adult manor, I pulled the trigger on my 1st forum...
Thank You for the treasure of information.
1A,
Glad you are here and up and posting!
best,
CF
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OK, hope a few more of you chime in on this, the level of interest will determine how big this gets--in other words, is it just a pinned topic, or a whole forum?
We can always change it though!
CF
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Good suggestion from Pete.
One thing that we address first is riding technique at the school, so you can get the bike to be 100% consistent, and you are not overpowering any aspect of the suspension with your riding--easily done.
Great you are coming in Feb, you will get the key riding basics in those 2 days, that will really help with your ability to get a consistent result from the bike.
Best,
Cobie
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Pretty interesting...what happens when you plug their noses?
CF
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Here is a survey question: about the time we got the tire section up, I started thinking about a section to "ask the mechanic".
When Keith and I have mechanical questions, we ask Will. Pretty darn rare he says he doesn't know something, and this would be from RC cars up to diesel trucks--but we'll stick with bikes on this forum I think.
So, let me know if there is any interest in this.
Best,
Cobie
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Correct! I'd ship you a sticker, but you are too far away!
CF
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I notice when our race tires are cold, I have to hold a little bit of pressure on the bar, but that goes away after they warm up.
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There was one bike we had that had a mechanical issue--the cush drive (in the hub of the rear wheel, the rubber pieces that fit inside) were a little too small. On that bike we added some small pieces of hard plastic to take up the space, problem solved. That's not common as far as I know.
The other issue is of course what Kai is talking about, the transition from off to on throttle that is due to fuel mapping not being quite ideal (in some cases made worse due to too much throttle cable play--that is easily adjusted, only takes a few moments).
Let us know if that's clear on these points.
Best,
CF
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I've see students hit a wall until we told them to "pin it" (half jokingly of course).
Gotta try it on one of these marvellous bikes one day.
What did say the parts deposit was on the bike was?
Kai
Max of $1,250 USD. No money is even taken, just a card number. Parts are a little over dealer cost, and only charged for what is damaged.
Crash numbers have been nice and low on this bike, we are very happy with that.
CF
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A few points on this, did you get them answered?
One thing you brought up is the jolt you get from off to on throttle. There can be some things that will help this. One is how much throttle play do you have? I run very little/none in mine, just so it won't rev up if I turn the bars lock to lock.
Another is some bikes have had a bit of a snatch, and that can normally be tuned out, if it has carbs using a kit, or if fuel injected a different map. On some bikes the cush driver didn't fit correctly, and can be helped there too.
There are other points to this, but lets start with these, let me know.
CF
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Only one point to add, and that is at what speed does countersteering begin to work?
If you are going 2 miles an hour on a bicycle, and you start to fall to the right, what do you do? Don't you turn the bars to the right (push on the left bar) to make bike stop going to the right and change it's lean angle leftwards?
I know we have covered countersteering in more detail in other threads, but this point comes up often.
Let me know if this makes sense to you guys.
CF
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Good news and bad news on this answer: the complete answer is in Level 3, that's pretty much the whole day and what it is devoted to. I'm not trying to just shamelessly pitch the school, but to indicate that there are a number of pieces to this subject of anchoring to the bike and moving around on it, and we wouldn't get anything like a correct and thorough answer up here with a few posts.
But if even the just info from Twist 2 is looked at, the data on rider input will answer what is going to happen if the rider is using the bars to hold on to the bike.
I keep wanting to jump into this deeper...but it just opens a whole can of worms that can't be really answered, and just don't like giving partial/half-assed answers.
Best,
CF
) if you give this a try and what you find happening.
Classes For Mixed Experience Couple
in School Questions/General Discussion
Posted
SP,
Won't matter to the coach, as he will ride with and deal with each individually for the debriefings. Sometimes is better to split couples up, just so one isn't tempted to try and "coach" or interpret what the other is being coached on. Some couples its no problem, they want to do it together. We'll accomodate whatever you like on this!
CF