harnois

I was watching a race on SPEED a few years ago and I think one of the racers was injured and therefore was sitting in as one of the commentators. I think it was Aron Yates but not sure. The other commentator didn't seem to know a damn thing about motorcycles. Anyway the commentator noticed this sliding and asked the racer about it. It went something like this: commentator: "so are the racers using the rear brake to slide the rear wheel into the turn like that and why are they doing that?" racer: "No, you don't use the rear brake on a street bike. Ya don't really even try to make it slide like that but sometimes it just happens and you ride it out." Of course that is one racers opinion. Some racers I imagine do intentionally make it happen. My understanding of it is that it happens as a result of being hard on the front brake, which takes all the downforce off the rear wheel. Then the downshifting provides just enough resistence at the rear wheel that it drifts out a bit. I was watching another race recently where they showed an onboard camera shot. The rider in front of the camera bike backed it in and couldn't get it resettled in time to make the turn and ended up going just a little bit wide, and lost 1 or 2 positions as a result. One of the commentators who was obviously an ex-racer, said, "that is the problem with backing it in like that." I am not enough of a badass to actually do this maneuver, so don't listen to anything I say.

Making smooth body position transitions is a whole 'nother subject. The subject I am interested in addressing is acknowledging that having the body in a static hang off position will cause the bike to lean and turn in that direction unless counteracted with a steering input. That is what the original post was about. Right. I did that. And the result is that the bike will gradually lean and turn in the direction you are hanging off. At 40mph it is very obvious. At 70 it is less obvious, but still definitely there. I tried it 70mph, and it is still obvious that the bike leans and turns in the direction if you are hung off the bike and does so solely from the static positioninig of the body off center of the bike. Public road riding and many race tracks will involve riding below 70mph. If it happens at 70, it is possibly relevant. But generally I agree with you. It isn't that relevant, not something one really needs to put much thought into while riding. But it is relevant to the original post is all. The bike is designed to be balanced left to right relative to the steering axis and wheels. Once your weight is positioned off center of that, it will lean. Hanging off properly has the same effect as if you were carrying a heavy saddlebag on one side of the bike. It will make the bike lean in that direction (gradually). If you were crusing down a highway with one saddlebag, you'd have to counteract that with a constant steering input, and if you were riding for hours it would get really annoying (don't ask ). In most track riding situations you'll be braking when appraoching a turn. While braking hard, we'll be using the handlebars to hold our weight back to some degree (although I know it is best to try to do this as little as possible) and therefore we'll be pushing forward on both bars, and in this scenario hardly anyone is going to notice that they are pushing slightly more on one grip than the other. Therefore, it is not really relevant. On the other hand, while crusing around the track during a no brakes drill, approaching turns off-throttle and in the hang off position, it is definitely very noticable that I have to push on the bars a bit to counteract the lean if I want keep it upright and going straight. While riding on public roads it could be relevant too since charging the turns and going hard on the brakes is not necessary conducive to keeping your license and staying out of jail. I don't even bother to hang off most of the time on public roads anyway but I know some poeple do.

Here's Will (superbike school employee) stating the obvious that I've been trying to state: http://forums.superbikeschool.com/index.ph...tart=#entry1548 "No one will dispute that if you through the balance of the bike off by moving to one side it will change direction (lean)" Aparently, there are people who will dispute it. lol Here's Keith Code stating the obvious again: http://www.r1-forum.com/forums/showthread....1254&page=5 "everyone can get to bike to veer off in a direction my shifting body mass." Does this mean they are recommending body steering? Of course not. But back to answering the original post on this thread: being in the hang off position will cause the bike to lean gradually in that direction. If you want it to stay upright and keep going straight, a simple subtle countersteer will be necessary.

That is no doubt a very good attitude to have. Anyone that comes on this forum probably does so because they recognize the value of the advice given by the school. No one here including me has recommended a "combination of body steering and counter steering." When you want to lean, just turn the handlebar, anything else is a waiste of energy.

There are a couple different things I see happening with the rear end of the bike during braking. 1. The rear end shakes back and forth. Sometimes this gets quite violent. 2. The racers smoothly drift the rear wheel towards the outside of the turn they are approaching under hard braking. This is also called "backing it in." Which one are you asking about?

Yes when we let go of the handlebars that means letting go of the throttle. The original post is about appraoching turns. So it is OK to be off throttle during our test. The example of a bicycle is an extreme one because the bicycle is light. The motorcycle and it's wheels are much heavier yes, therefore, we can not effect is AS MUCH, but if it can be done on a bicycle, it can be done on a motorcycle, just to a lesser extent. And remember, I'm only arguing that there is a slight affect of hanging off, not a major effect. The 500-pound weight is another extreme example, but if having that much weight that far off the side of the bike has such a major impact, then having less weight less far off the side of the bike will have a slight impact. I just rode my bike to work this morning, so I did the test again and again and again and the result is always the same. I can remove my hands from the handlebars and still adjust the direction of the bike by leaning back and forth. Leaning off the bike in and of itself causes the bike to lean in that direction and turn in that direction. Just go out and do it yourself. At 40 mph the effect is not really all that subtle at all. I could be going straight down the road in the hang off position with my hands on the handlebars, then let go, and in seconds I'd be almost in the ditch. At 70mph is was much more subtle but still quite obvious. If you are appraoching a turn off throttle, already in the hang off position, the bike will gradually change its lean towards the direction you are hanging off, unless you counteract that with a steering input on the handlebars. That is what the original post was saying and it is correct. If you have never noticed this before it's because you either do not hang off prior to turns, or you are subconsciously counteracting it. And since you are doing it subconsciously, you will of course argue that you aren't doing it at all. The first time Keith told me in a classroom that I could turn my handlebars to the left and it would lean the bike to the right, I thought he was a nutcase, until I went out and tried it, and then it was obvious that he was right. Then he told me that I could release all presure on the handlebars in the middle of a turn and the bike would just maintain its lean angle. No, I said, for sure it will sit up and go straight. Then I tried it, and obviuosly he was right again. So we can debate this all day long or you can go out and ride your darn bikes and take your hands off the bars and lean back and forth and then you'll see. I think it is very very important for people to understand countersteering and understand that it is like a 1000 times more effecting than "body steering." What we can do with our bodies alone I would hardly call "steering." But there is some effect.

Have you never ridden a bicycle with no hands and noted that you can steer somewhat by just leaning? Have you never just taken your hands off the handlebar of your motorcycle to stretch your arms while cruis'n on the highway or down pit lane, and just lean back and forth a bit to keep the bike going in the general direction you want it to? Have you never watched a race on TV and noticed that after the 1st racer crosses the finish line, sometimes he take his hands off the handlebar, and while waving to the crowd and participating and various celebratory hand gestures, he just leans back and forth a bit to keep the bike generally on the track? Obviously, when it is time to do a real turn you gotta reach down and turn the handlebars. But, hanging your weight off to one side of the bike does cause it to lean gradually in that direction. But you wouldn't exactly call that steering. To really steer the bike quickly and accurately, you need to countersteer. And in the No B.S. video, notice that the rider never hangs off? He moves around a lot, shakes around, but still during all of that generally keeps his weight centered over the bike. And watch that video really carefully and you can that every time he does get his weight a little off the left or right, the bike moves slightly in that direction. If you attached a 500 pound weight to the side of a moving motorcycle, several fee off of its centerline, you gonna tell me it wouldn't pull that bike over? Of course it would. It would pull it over just about as fast as gravity will pull that 500 pound weight to the ground. So compare that to the rider hanging off the bike, it's less weight, and not as far off the centerline, so the effect will be a lot lot less, but it will still be there.

Well getting wrapped up in this will certainly be more fun that going back to doing real work. I understand that riders can "inadvertently create steering inputs" if they are using the handlebars to pull themselves around on the bike. I like to say, handlebars are for steering, not for holding yourself onto the bike. And I understand the possibility of "unconsciously applying pressure to the inside handlebar." That is why I suggested removing your hands from the handelbar, as a test, in order to rule out all of these possibilities. Please go out and do the test before you argue with me again. It is so obvious. You don't need a no BS bike. Just put your hands up on the mirrors or fairing or something, then hang off to the right, you'll end up headed for the ditch. The effect is so slow and uncontrolable that it is basically useless. So I am not suggesting that people should steer their bikes with "body steering." But acknowledging that there is some mild effect is necessary in order to correctly answer the original post. I think the effect is so mild, that most poeple just don't notice it, which is why we can't agree on it. That is why I said, in my original response, don't worry about it unless you actually notice it.

Cobie, The concept of using the throttle to balance the traction between the front rear wheels is something I wish you guys would have emphasise more during level 1. I took the school in like 2001 or 2002 so maybe you already do emphasise it more. It was obvious immediately during level 1 that the bike was more stable with the throttle on, but WHY? The question of why drove me nuts for a long time. The most common answer I seemed to get was that the suspenstion is more settled, but that answer always seemed like not the whole story to me, because couldn't the suspension be designed or adjusted to work better in a different place? Another answer I got was because the rear tire is bigger so you want to shift weight onto it. Again, seemed like not the whole story. If you were riding an old bike that had equally sized front and rear tires, would you not want to increase speed gradually through turns? Of course you still would. Patches of gravel seem to be one of the most common hazards we have to deal with on public roads. When I first started riding motorcycles, before any formal training, my natural reaction to this type of hazard in the middle of a turn was to go off-throttle but not on the brakes. The front would step out big time and send me into panic mode. Conversely, if going through a turn with lots of throttle on the rear tire will step out big time when going over the same patch of gravel. Somewhere in the middle is a place where both tires share the load equally, and when the bike rolls over the patch of gravel, both tires slip equally, and both slip a lot less. Once this realization is made it doesn't take that much practice to get a feel for just how much throttle it takes to get the balance right. With this understanding I have noticed that my natural reaction to seeing gravel is now different. Instead of getting nervous and going off throttle, I just go to slightly on throttle (enough to create slight acceleration or at least maintain speed) if I'm not already there. I have managed to change my natural reaction because I intuitively understand that I can use the throttle to balance the slide between the front and rear wheel. The amount of confidence that this has brought to my riding really makes riding more enjoyable. I feel that I'm doing what is intuitive rather than getting into a battle with my survival reactions. No doubt level 1 was the beginning of my realization but I had to figure out that last part on my own from my own riding experience. And now it seems so obvious! Most recently I even noticed a slight drifting feeling as both front and rear wheel drifted evenly over the rise at the exit of turn 7 on VIR North Course. Probably nothing anyone could see from the outside, because I'm not that much of a badass, but I could certainly feel it. I think it is a great example of when you understand WHY a certain technique works, it becomes intuitive, and that can then change your reactions for the better. Another example of this would be countersteering. Most poeple would say it is counter-intuitive. But once you understand that you are moving the tires from side to side underneath you, it is actually quite intuitive and becomes easier to use it effectively in all kinds of situations.

Why not let go of the handlebars first...... then get into the hang off position? I don't see that it really make much difference. But the suggestion I made was a test to isolate a specific cuase for a specific effect. The test that I suggested exactly as I suggested it demonstrates that being in the hang off position with the bike close to upright will cause the bike to lean gradually in that direction. If you let go of the handlebars first, then move into the hang off position, it introduces the possibility of a different cause to the effect - that possibly the motion of you moving from one position to another is the cause of the lean. I wanted to demonstrate that being in a steady hang off position with no presure on the handlebars will cause the bike to lean gradually in that direction. I just watched the video on this site where no B.S. bike is ridden along the track and the rider moves around on the bike to show how little affect it has when the hands are not on the handlebars that are attached to the forks. http://superbikeschool.com/multi-media/machinery-videos.php (Click on the NO B.S. video) The bike clearly moves back and forth across the track somewhat even when his hands are on the upper handlebars. It's subtle, but it's definitely there. I'm not saying the effect is useful, actually I think it's more of a nuisance, but it is there, and it has to be counteracted when approaching a turn in a hung off position if you want to maintain a straight line. But it takes so little presure on the bar to counteract it and most riders will do it naturally anyway, so I think it is not worth getting too wrapped up in.

Here's the link: http://ivansperformanceproducts.com/tre.htm I think what the manufacturers are trying to do with this sort of thing is dumb down the controls. Yes it is high perforamance machine, but the majority of people who buy it are not exactly high performance riders. To have such a light and high powered machine with a such a sensitive throttle could be a problem for beginners, so they make the throttle less sensitive in lower gears. Beginners should not buy this kind of bike in the first place but we all know that they often do. For the riders who actually buy the high performance machine to do high performance track riding, yes, BOGUS is pretty much it. The effect of this throttle desensitizer is blatantly obvious when turning and simultaneously pulling away in 1st gear, like when pulling out onto a highway. There's this weird dead feeling and you have to open the throttle way more than one would expect. The same bike also has other evidence of dumbed down controls. The amount you have to turn the throttle to get to full open is just rediculous. It forces you to consciously reposition the hand on the throttle to get it to full open. This I had to fix by adding material to the throttle sleeve where the cables wrap around it. There are aftermarker throttle sleeves to deal with this problem too. The other thing is the rear brake pedal requires a lot of pressure to get just a little bit of braking. Not sure how they accomplished that but this I actually like, because it gives more feel and in the rare event that I actually want to use the rear brake I only want to use it lightly anyway.

I suggest learning to blip the throttle on downshifts without using the front brake first. Then once comfortable with that, and able to do that smoothly and consistently, then add the front brake into the mix. One step at a time. I also adjust the throttle cable freeplay to almost zero. When the bikes come from the shop they almost always have huge amounts of slop in them. But I wouldn't go quite to zero, leave just a couple mm of freeplay. Turn the handlebars all the way both ways while the engine is idling. If the engine revs change, you need more slack in the cables. In regards to shifting at lower rpms to make it easier, it might be worth noting that on some newer bikes they are doing some rather strange things that affect throttle sensitivity that might make this more difficult. I got a new 2006 GSX-R600 recently and have always had a hard time with this particular bike with shifting smoothly (up or down) when riding gently at lower rpms, like when riding on public roads. When riding aggressively on the track no problems with shifting. So I did some googling and read that the bike has a "timing retarder" which reduces the throttle sensitivity in the first 4 gears and in the first half turn of throttle. The timing retarder might not allow the engine to rev up quickly enough, and the amount of blip necessary and timing of the blip could change depending on which gear you are in. It's quite annoying actually. Downshifting and blipping at high rpms seems to work fine, but at low rpms it seems almost impossible to do it consistently smooth.

It is fun to go fast, but you learn how to go fast through training and practice, not by riding "hard" or riding over your head. You have to calm down. Ride at a pace where you are 100% comfortable and focus on your skills. Do this and the speed will come OVER TIME almost like some unexpected side effect. Many people have noticed that when they try to ride "harder" they end up going slower. Take the school. It doesn't do any good to focus if you don't know what to focus on. Take level 1 and then get a lot of practice and focus on the things they teach you there. That will dramatically improve your learning curve. I know it may be hard to imagine what it is they are going to teach you, but there really are some very specific things they'll teach you that really do make a huge difference, and you might never come up with them on your own, even though afterwards you'll be thinking "geeze that makes so much sense." I was really surprised at what they were able to teach me. They changed my way of riding so much that in the following couple months after the school I felt weird on the bike because I was riding in such a different kind of way. I could have been lazy and gone back to my old ways but I knew if I stuck with it, it would start to feel second nature again. The guys out there riding circles around you have a lot more experience than you. You have to be patient. There are just too many things to think about while riding a motorcycle on a track - judging your speed and lean angle, when to shift gears, how to shift gears, where to turn in, how much to turn in, how to turn in, where to brake, how much to brake, where to throttle on, how much to throttle on, body positioning, visual skills, bla bla bla. And then on the street you have oil, gravel, and stupid drivers to attend to. You can't concentrate on all these things at the same time. More experienced riders can do a lot of those things without much thinking, because they've already done them enough that they are second nature or ingrained in their muscle memory, thus they are much more comfortable on the bike, with less to think about. When you take the school they will do some things that will make it easier for you to focus on fewer things. You have to accept too that there will always be people out there who are faster than you, unless you become some top notch MOTO GP racer. There will always be riders with WAY more practice than you will ever have so they damn well ought to be a lot faster. I mean if you played a few rounds of golf you wouldn't expect to beat Tiger Woods. You wouldn't even expect to beat guys who have played a few hundred rounds of golf. Stick with it though man, because the more you ride, the better you get, and the better you get, the more fun it becomes! It just keeps getting better. Forget about who's faster than you and ride your own ride. Take superbike school because it will make you a better rider and that will make riding more fun.

How do you know? How could you not know? ...well experience for one. I have marveled at how stable the bike is when I stay off the seat between two turns that are in the same direction. CSS Coach John Robshaw told me that I was wasting time and energy getting back on the seat when I took the School at Pocono a few years ago and suggested staying off between corners; I have used that technique ever since at every track I had ridden and the bike does not "fall in" until I push/pull on the bars. If it did, then it would be Body Steering and my experience on the No B.S. Bike convinced me that body steering does not work. Kevin Just go out and ride your own bike. Get into the hang-off position and then let go of the handlebars. The bike will change it's lean angle GRADUALLY towards the direction you are hanging off. The faster you are going the more gradual it will be. You have to hang off with both your butt and shoulders, not just your butt, else it will be less obvious. Acknowledging the above behavior does not mean that I am pushing the idea of body steering. The only way to quickly and accurately change the lean angle of a bike is countersteering. I have also ridden the no B.S. bike. The point of it is not that there is no effect whatsoever of moving your weight around on the bike, but that the effect is too subtle and too inaccurate to be of much use.

How do you know? How could you not know?

During my track days at VIR last week, I noticed that the rear end of my bike was wiggling back and forth as I was braking. It was subtle but it was enough that riders behind me could see it happening. It was mostly approaching Turn 1 on VIR North Course where the speed goes from around 150mph down to 50 or 60. I just got a new GSX-R600 and this is the first time I've had this bike on the track. I've exerienced this subtle wiggle before on my previous bike but only when I was really on the brakes hard. This time it seemed to happen even when I really wasn't braking all THAT hard. I was having a good fun spirited ride no doubt but I wasn't really trying to push the braking points that much or anything. Could it be the way I'm holding onto the bike during braking? Suspension settings? I'd like to have the option to brake a lot harder without that sort of instability.

<<Lee Parks, who gives props to Keith all the time, recommends the following in his book: In approaching a turn, begin hanging off and weighting the inside peg prior to your turn point. Now, if you're going into a left-hander, put a little pressure on the right grip, to counterbalance your body mass, which is already hanging off the left side. This keeps the bike upright until you reach the turning point, at which you push left to initiate your turn. I've not seen this in ToTW2. Is this a bad technique?>> If you are hung off the left side of the bike in preparation for a left turn, and you are not putting any pressure on the handlebars, the bike will have a tendency to fall to the left ever so gradually. All he's saying is, add a slight countersteering force (by pushing forward gently on the right grip) to counteract this tendency so the bike will keep going straight until you are ready to turn in. If you don't already fully understand countersteering and how it works and why it works, then that last scentence is probably going to sound real strange. But anyway, I think most poeple will naturally do what he's talking about, so maybe it's not worth overanalyzing unless you are actually having a problem with approaching your turns. The most important piece of advice in that is to go ahead and get into your hangoff position prior to the turn.

It has already been pointed out here that the front brake alone can lift the rear wheel off the ground, thus nothing could be gained from rear wheel braking. On clean dry pavement and travelling in a straight line, this is true. And since I tend to do most braking in a straight line and on clean dry pavement, I use only front brake almost all the time. As has also already been pointed out here, there is something to be gained from rear wheel braking on slippery surfaces such as dirt or gravel or wet pavement. This is because the front tire in this scenario does not have enough traction to transfer all the weight off the rear tire. And in this scenarios I do use some rear brake. If you are in the middle of a turn, even on clean dry pavement, leaned over a lot, can you use the front brake so much that you take all the weight off the rear tire? No, you would lock the front tire and crash before you could lift the rear. It is essentially the same as the slippery surfaces situation. So theoretically, if you have to or want to brake in the middle of a turn, while leaned over a lot, there is something to be gained from the rear brake. I'm just pointed this out as food for thought. I do not actually use the rear brake on clean dry pavement regardless of lean angle, for all the reason others have brought up here (the risks and complications outweigh the benefits). But could this be one of the reason why some racers use it, since they are trail braking a lot more than casual track riders or good street riders? Another point: http://auto.howstuffworks.com/motorcycle4.htm "According to the California Highway patrol, locking up the rear brakes is a factor in the majority of motorcycle crashes."

If I described some of the things that I do on a motorcycle, or things that just happen during a ride, to non-riders or perhaps just a more easy going rider, they may say that I have some serious cajones. Hell many non-riders would say any of us have cajones just to go near a motorcycle. But to me I'm just doing my thing and not feeling like its brave or scary while I'm doing it. Then we watch racers on T.V. have their slides and twitches and other "moments" and think man that takes cajones. But I'd bet they are just doing their thing. Ever watch that DVD called "Faster?" It's 3 hours long and it's all about MotoGP. Narrated by OB1. Anyway there's a bit in there where they put heart monitors on Rossi and on Biaggi during a race. Rossi's max rate was 120, and that was only when something unexpected happened. Biaggi's max was like 180. That's a huge difference considering that resting heart rate for a young healthy adult is around 60, and the highest possible is around 200.

You'll be using up some front wheel traction for braking, and using up some rear wheel traction for throttle, they'll be using up traction just fighting against each other, and that at the moment when you need all your traction for cornering. This is really not sounding like a good idea to me. Even if that is not the intention of the technique, seens to me that you sure would be risking getting into that scenario. Plus, are you really loosing "reaction time?" A reaction time is the time it takes to react to something UNEXPECTED. A car pulls out in front of you and there's a delay (reaction time) before you actually get on the brakes. On the track, when reaching the point where you let off the brake, the point where you turn in, and the point where you start the throttle on, you know all these points are coming ahead of time, so I can't see why one would loose time due to a delayed reaction. The transition more worth focusing on would be from full left lean to full right lean, or full upright to full lean - being able to do that very quickly but smoothly could improve your speed on a track by probably a lot more than a few tenths of a second. I hope you don't mind that I answered even though I am not the Guru.

Imagine if you were Rossi and came on here (and no doubt other forums) and found people discussing what you think and see. I guess as a celebrity though one would get used to those sort of things. I wonder how much of Rossi's ability is just raw talent? How much of it results from consciously analyzing riding technique or from good formal training? How much is from just having an enourmous amount of practice?

"Learning to match engine revs before adding the front brake is a good idea, but, the complete skill is operating the front brake lever while you are "blipping" the throttle to match revs for downshifting. The goal being to keep the brake pressure even while "blipping" the throttle." Right. To me there are 2 skills here: 1. Blipping the throttle to get quick and smooth downshifts. 2. Using the front brake effectively (even brake pressure) while blipping the throttle. To try to learn both at the same time just seems like a bad idea. There'll be some jerking from getting the blip wrong, plus some more jerking from getting the brake pressure wrong, the rider will not be able to evaluate and adjust with all that nonsense happening simultaneously. There are plenty of opportunities on public roads to downshift while not braking. And while a student (or cornerworker) at superbike school, there are opportunities during a "2 gears no brakes" drill, or really anytime since you can choose to do laps with no brakes whenever you want. I recall learning this skill myself. I remember first learning the timing and severity of the blip. This I figured out quite easily. Next was trying to do it with the brake, which took a lot longer to figure out. I remember a short phase where I would release the brake to do the downshift and then get back on the brake. Learning the blip was more of a conscious, analytical, mathematical process. Doing it with even brake pressure was more of a technique and muscle memory learning process. At this point it's all muscle memory. I just think "downshift" and I'm in the next lower gear like the flip of a switch, brake or no brake, I don' t even think about that. Here's another old forum discussing a similar topic: http://www.nesba.com/TrackTalk/bb/Forum2/HTML/000476.html They mention an interview with Jake Zemke, which I also saw, I think it was on Speed Channel with Greg White, where he explains that he doesn't do the throttle blip. He said he just eases out the clutch going into the lower gear. For me I prefer to be able to just get the downshift done quickly, whicih requires the blip. I still haven't figured out the heel-toe thing in my car. That just seems way too hard. :-D

I had the same problem when I took level 1 (dragging pegs) for the same reason (crossed up). I think most riders end up in that position unless they are trained to do otherwise. I suggest you keep looking at new pictures of yourself and/or have other good riders evaluate your position, because even after being told about it, I found that I perceived that I was hanging my shoulders off a lot more than I actually was, and I was still somewhat crossed up. I really had to hang them out to the point where it actually felt weird before it started to look right. Get the shoulders out and low. At first it may feel weird but later it will feel weird to be crossed up. When you make this change it may be tempting to start holding your weight on the handlebars, which is bad. Buy the stomp tank grip things sold on the products page of this site so you can grip onto the bike with your legs really well. Pushing on the bars inadvertently mid-turn would make you crash just as easily as dragging pegs. Of course the best thing to do would just be take the course so you can work with the coaches and know you are getting it right. I have a yzf600r and I did put shorter pegs on it with no feelers, but I have not found it necessary to have rearsets, and I'm sure the stock pegs on this bike are not as high as some other more aggressive sportbikes.

Most riders quickly learn to upshift quickly and smoothly. It is interesting to me that so many riders do not in turn learn to downshift smoothly while braking because, if you can upshift smoothly, you're only 2 baby steps away from downshifting smoothly, and then one more baby step away from braking while downshifting smoothly. To complete a quick and smooth UPSHIFT, a rider does these 3 things at the same moment: 1. Clutch lever is pulled in and immediately released 2. Throttle goes from ON to OFF and immediately ON again 3. Shift lever gets PUSHED DOWN and released (on normal street shift setup) To quickly and smoothly DOWNSHIFT, a rider needs to do these 3 things at the same moment: 1. Clutch lever is pulled in and immediately released 2. Throttle goes from OFF to ON and immediately OFF again 3. Shift lever gets PULLED UP and released (on normal street shift setup) So if you can already upshift smoothly, you are 2 steps away from downshifting smoothly: 1. Reverse what you are doing with the throttle. 2. Reverse what you are doing with the shifter. At first learning how to upshift smoothly felt like rubbing my tummy, patting my head, and shaking my foot at the same time, yeah a little weird. But eventually with practice, the muscle memory is ingrained, and upshifting quickly and smoothly becomes about as difficult as pushing a single button. This learning cycle is repeated for the quick and smooth downshift, but it is not much different. So why do so many riders delay learning this skill? I'll admit it is a bit more difficult with donwshifting because it won't work slowly. It has to be done quickly in order to be smooth. And secondly, there is the added challenge of learning how far to blip the throttle (more for hard downshifting at high rpms, less for easy downshifting at low rpms). But just first practice while sitting still with the bike turned off, then practice while going in a straight line in an empty parking lot and don't worry if it's a little herky jerky the first few (dozen) times ya try it. Here's another 2 step way to get to the same place. If you ride a motorcycle, then you must already know how to downshift with no throttle blip (by easing out the clutch). You are just 2 steps away from making it a smooth quick downshift: 1. release the clutch quickly instead of slowly 2. blip the throttle at the same moment you hit the shifter and go in-out with the clutch. I remember learning this throttle blip downshifting method on my own many years ago. The only thing that is really different about it compared to the easing out the clutch method is the throttle blip itself. I had trouble at first and the only thing I knew I need to experiment with was the timing of the blip. I quickly realized just to do the throttle blip at the same moment that I pump the clutch and hit the shifter. Now all that learning can be done without worrying about the brakes simultaneously. Just add those at the end. This will also take some practice to avoid changing brake pressure while blipping the throttle but therei is not much more to it other than practice.

I used to feel uneasy in downhill turns as well and now I feel as confident as with any other turn. So I hope I can help. (On the most sever downhill mountain switchback turns, I may still not be able to throttle on through it, but there is a point where you are just no longer within the kind of conditions that the bike was designed to handle.) 1. First consider a fixed-radius downhill turn: In superbike school the first lesson you learn is to roll on the throttle as soon as you lean in and keep rolling it on gently through the whole turn. You obviously know this already. The same is true for downhill turns. But, since you will have some added acceleration from gravity, you are obviously going to accelerate faster in a downhill turn, therefore you need to enter the turn slower. In my opinion it is just that simple. A bike is most stable under mild acceleration. However, the acceleration you get from gravity will not add any stability to the bike. That added stability only comes from that mild acceleration due to the bikes own power. So you are going to be adding up both acceleration from gravity and acceleration due to the throttle roll on. In sever downhill turns, I end up entering very slowly, but it is still fun because I come out fast and execute a smooth corner. I also find on downhill turns that I have to be more conscious about making sure to look through the turn. 2. Now consider the reducing radius turn: My opinion is, save your throttle roll-on until the sharpest part of the turn. Obviously that is the point where you need the most stability, because that is where your lean angle will be the most severe. This is true downhill or not. If you try to roll-on the throttle through an entire long sweeping reducing radius turn, you'll have to go akwardly slow in the large radius portion of the turn and stupidly fast in the sharpest part. So just go through the first part off-throttle, you won't be leaned very low in this portion of the turn anyway, so you can get away with it, and you can even get away with some gentle front braking if you need to slow down a bit more for the approaching sharper part of the turn. The important thing is to understand that you do not have that added stability when off-throttle, and you are loading the front wheel, so it will step out if it runs over something slippery, so watch the surface carefully on public roads. Once you get the sharper part of the turn, lean in further and roll-on the throttle as usual. Don't begin your roll-on until you can roll it on and keep it on through the rest of the corner. Do not get into the situation of being leaned very low and still off-throttle. 3. And finally the reducing radius downhill turn: Do same as any other reducing radious turn (number 2 above) but enter the sharpest part of the turn at a slower speed (number 1 above).