acebobby

welcome to the forum Dan, I like your choice in bike manufacturer, has Honda been your number 1 choice for a particular reason or only coincidence?

Hi Genevieve, welcome to the forum! I checked out your website and wow you have an excellent site set up. I know what you mean about wanting to ride on a dream track, for me I would really like to ride laguna seca someday!

think of your car, can you just jump in your car and drive somewhere without really thinking about it? when you can do that on a bike then you are ready! In that I mean pull away from junctions, changing gear, breaking for red lights or traffic, generally to be in control of the bike without fumbling the controls!

Try to get Performance Riding Techniques (the motogp manual of track riding skills) published by Haynes! Written by Andy Ibbot! foreword by Keith Code! This book is excellent and should have the information you need, I have it in front of me now and it has sections on overtaking and outwitting opponents along with everything else you need to know when racing!

track time this morning turned out to be torrential rain, still had a good time though never got the chance to improve my entry speed or lean angle, I did however get a good opportunity to work on my level 1 drills, especially throttle control, never got it sliding like Nicky Hayden at Indy but did work hard on keeping it smooth throughout the corners!

Still waiting for the 2009 schedule, but it looks like it'll be one of the tracks in Sweden. I live in Norway myself, mind you I've had like 30 minutes of tracktime before, and that was in a CAR, so this will be a whole new experience to me! You will love getting your bike on the track, you have so much more space to practice your techniques! Do you not have a track near you where you could maybe do a track day before winter kicks in?

welcome to the forum Rick!

I was out on my bike today and decided to experiment with hanging off and body position a bit, was only out for a road ride so I was taking it easy at quite low speeds but I found it comfortable after a while! I also found that my outside leg seemed to fit the profile of the tank much better and in turn this put me in a more natural position to do the calf raise making me feel securely locked onto the bike thanks to the stompgrip. I did however run into a few little problems that I will need to practice out, firstly I found myself trying to turn in earlier than I would like even when picking a turn in point I still felt myself drifting in a little bit early, this slowed my quick turn down, I think this will be easly fixed on the track on monday when I have consistant turn points and the benifit of repeating the same corners over and over on the track! The other problem I had was the urge to pull my head in when the bike leaned over, thats like an SR reaction in its self. So I am looking forward to my track time on monday to practice this along with my L1 drills! thanks for the advice B

I like elevation changes, especially uphill turns, the bike feels really good and stable through them but for me downhill right turns seem to cause me problems the most, It is basicly a case of every SR in the book kicks in, since I realise this I can defeat them by holding true to throttle control rule no 1 and try to keep from vision fixation but always end up taking the turn slower than I would like! I think the problem with downhill turns is that knowing you must try to get 60% 40% weight balance means that in theory you should need more throttle than in a flat turn to get the weight off of the front, and even more if you brake hard before the corner.

Since doing my level 1 with CSS I have really relaxed my body position for the moment to the point where I dont really hang of much now, I do however aim to get my head looking between the screen and the mirror, this forces my body quite low on the bike and gives a nice bend in my elbows for good power in my counter steering, the reason I stopped hanging of so much is that I learned so much at my level 1 day that I wanted to practice my drills without the distraction of moving about and unsettling my bike so much, ironically I am faster and smoother now than I used to be when I used to really hang off,(and I lean the bike less, how strange) so I decided to build on my level 1 drills! you are at a much higher level than I am at the moment and my main concern is that I am worried about messing with my body position to much incase I find a good feeling position then when I do my level 3 find out its wrong and have to change everything, I intend to do levels 2 and 3 early next year and feel that if I have my level 1 drills up to a good standard it will make it easier for myself and my instructor to focus on what is to be learned/taught throughout the next 2 levels. Your picture looks good to me, and to have the ability to ride a bike like that is my longterm goal, It makes it clear to me that by studying and practicing the CSS techniques is opening a big can of worms that will never end, from instructors to students we are all working on something, what can be a major block to one person can be achieved without a second thought to another, but one thing everyone on this forum knows is that when we work so hard to get over a riding barrier there is another even bigger barrier waiting for us! Its great! As for not being cut out for this I maybe just sell my bike and buy a sewing machine and go into the leather repair business LOL! seriously though I know I will never be a racer, riding my bike is what I do for fun and my goal is to be the best I can be and the help and advice from everyone on this forum is an amazing advatage to help achieving that! B

Thanks for the quick reply Kevin, I think that what you are saying is correct about isolating lean angle as a goal, it is becoming a frustrating obsession to me as every time I finish riding I immediately look at my rear tyre to see if I have worn it over the edge. I also think like you say if I pick a corner and gradually enter it a little quicker I will speed up in other corners by default! I feel a little bit of entry speed is the barrier I face here, I have practiced the e.g. procedure I gave in my previous post for cornering for a while now and I believe that to be correct, I think I have spent so much of my $10 of attention on it that I never had any left for more speed, so that where I have been practicing is within my speed comfort zone. Since studying the CSS methods I can see that you can carry too much lean angle as I have been riding with people who do wear over the edge of the tyre but are clearly not riding as fast as me, this re-enforces to me that what I practice is correct, I am riding faster than them and have more lean angle available than them, (imagine how much faster I could be if I could use that extra lean angle)! I think the answer to my next little riding breakthrough is going to come from challenging my speed comfort zone, I need to free up a few dollars of attention, but cannot lose anything from my cornering procedure as this has become a rule I strictly adhere to. Sorry if this is a bit of a mixed up response, hope it makes sense! B

I feel like I have reached a barrier that I am struggling to break through, getting more lean angle! I feel like I'm leaning over quite far but when I see pictures of myself they tell a diferent story, also my tyre wear tells me I could be over further! I use the quick turn technique combined with the 2 step vision drill and by doing this am able to put the bike over the exact area of road that I choose, I know this because I play around with it a bit e.g. I look towards my chosen apex area (where I am going next), chosen turn point is now in peripheral vision, reach chosen turn point, quick turn, relax, crack open throttle and drive exactly where I intended! So is this just a speed SR I am encountering or is it a lean angle SR? I read in one of the books that the human body is happy to be vertical or horizontal but not comfortable with the transition in between the two, could this be my problem? I have booked track time for next week and would like to overcome this so any suggestions are very welcome or would it be as simple as picking a few corners on the track and doing the above e.g while gradually increasing my speed and speed of quick turn every lap! lol that sounds easier said than done

Welcome to the forum! I'm another mainly a road rider with a few trackdays per year and have learned loads since joining the forum! Get the books asap, TOTW2 is my favourite, its like my manual to riding my motorbike. Everytime I go out a run I read a few chapters and then practice them on the road! I have booked some track time next week at my local track here in Scotland and what I'd usually do is go out and go as fast as I can, which to be honest isn't very fast, but this time I'm going to be practicing my level 1 drills!

those pictures are great, I hope I can get to that level after level 3, I have a question though, you look quite tall, I am 6ft 1 and was wondering about where your right arm is resting in pic 2, it looks like its resting on your knee, I only ask as I seem to have problems with my elbow clashing with my knee mid turn preventing me from leaning my forearm on the tank. Hope that makes sence.

I managed to get 6 laps of the ring done on monday evening, it was amazing, the track was dry and it was reasonably quiet! There were a few bikes on and a few super cars, but most of the time I had the space to enjoy my laps. I did the carrousel low on the concrete slabs, I forgot how bumpy that section is but just got on the slabs and immediately started to roll on the throttle throughout the corner, I am happy with the way I took it and I really had good exit speed, on my first lap a dodge viper followed me onto the slabs, wow what a noise that V10 made right behind me throughout the corner, it certainly took a few dollars of my attention from me! The next section after the carrousel is a good fun technical section of track with all types of camber changes and some very steep elevation changes, I really felt good in this area practicing good throttle control and my quick turn is improving loads, I cant wait to return next year as this year was for sure the best I have ever done, I put that down to the CSS and this forum for the things I have learned over the last year! So next up for me is a trackday at Knockhill later this month, unbelievable from nordshliefe to knockhill in a couple of weeks lol I dont think you could get 2 tracks so different but it is my local track and I need tracktime before the winter comes! B

Well tomorrow morning we head of to the nurburgring, I cant wait to get there. This will be my 5th time there but my 1st since practicing and studying the CSS methods of riding, unfortunately I haven't had much track time this year, in fact the only track time I have had is my level 1 at Rockingham but I have done close to 10000 road miles this year and every 1 of them done practicing techniques from my level 1 drills to everything listed in the TOTW books! So hopefully I can now confidently tackle that carrousel without issue, my goal is not for a mega fast lap but for a smooth flowing lap so will not be timing my laps! Thanks guys for all your advice! B

Hi, welcome to the forum! you will get plenty of tips and advice here, check out Keiths corner. The CSS do schools in Ireland at mondello park, a few of us are thinking of coming over next year to do one. definately worth looking into if you want to improve your cornering! Infact they are actually there near the end of this month!

Hi I am also tall (6ft 1) and find it can be a bit awkward getting a good bp, I dont get my knee down but have pics where I am really close, this is not really a goal I focus on! Something I practice to get my head and body lower on the bike is aim to rest my nipple on the fuel filler cap, if that makes sense, left nipple turning right, right nipple turning left and aim to be looking out side of the screen, not over the top of it! If you want to increase flexibility try www.netfit.co.uk for a massive list of streching exercises you can try! B

Thanks guys I am always practicing and improving every time I go out on the bike! Kevin, I cant wait to do the rest of the levels, unfortunately levels 2 and 3 will have to wait until next year but until then I have loads of things to practice! I would like to point out to people on the forum that are not sure if the CSS is for them that learning these skills and doing the school is not only for racers and trackday riders cutting laptimes, I am mostly a road rider and the benefits of understanding the techniques taught at the school have made me smoother,safer and more confident (and thats only after level 1).

I decided to practice only my level 1 drills today as I think I was maybe overwhelming myself a bit with trying all of the other things from the twist books all at the same time, so I headed up to the Scotish highlands for a 250 mile ride through the twisty mountain roads with a plan in mind. Work on throttle control, quick steering, turn later, relax and two step. I also decided to focus on no 8 of the 14 parts to throttle control from Keiths corner (being willing to experement with roll on rates)! What a ride I had today, my bike felt faster and smoother than ever and the more I practiced the more confidence I gained I was completing turns with one steering input, relaxing and rolling on throughout the turn, getting on the throttle a little harder all the time until!The back end slid maybe it was just a squirm but it felt like it slide, It was like slow motion the first time, but I continued to roll on the throttle and it gently regained traction, wow what a feeling! The reason I am writing about this experience here is that not only do I feel that I have overcome a barrier but due to joining this forum I have had loads of good advice from CSS instructors and forum members, I have read the TOTW books and am always referring to them, and I have completed level 1 of the school, My riding is improving and today I slid my bike and knew what to do thanks to this forum!

Yeah hopefully Kenny Roberts gets his Las Vegas deal together and gets a team back in it!

This is good for the motogp if Ducati can have more than 1 competitive rider! This is how I think it will turn out ( fantasy racing)! Factory D, Nicky and Casey how many teams you seen where both riders have won the World championship! ( Ithink that bike will suit Nickys riding style better) satellite D could turn out to be a bit of a dream team so lets say Biaggi and Gibernau! Factory Y of course we have what Colin Edwards calls the GOAT (greatest of all time) Rossi and lets not forget about his team mate Lorenzo thats where there is a twist though, Bridgestone vs Michelin (control tyre any one). This is where P-bot comes in as the only consistant michelin rider so if Michelin get there tyres up to standard on a consistant basis look out for the tech3 guys fighting for the top spot every other week too! Remember when they changed motogp from 500s to 990s Honda dominated for the first few years (until thier own champion moved to yamaha and beat them lol)! But the point is it took a few years for every one to get up to speed, so the 3rd year in the 800 class the bikes will be more even, the tyre issues should be sorted out and we have the top 18-20 guys in the world every one a champion at sometime whether it be motogp, 250s, 125s, WSB, supersport or whatever every guy on the grid has won a championship!

I dont know if you could say that Gibernau has an ally in Stoner, iIf you remember Portugal 2006 it was Stoner that wiped Gibernau out of the race forcing him into retirement, then to rub salt in the wounds he took over from Sete at Ducati! Stoner has had it all his own way at Ducati since he seems to be the only rider out there that can be competitive on the bike! Now it looks like Gibernau is set to return and he tested the bike at Mugello within 10ths of Stoners best lap time so it should be interesting.

Thanks Cobie, it is good to know that what I am practicing is correct, I do spend alot of attention on this at the moment trying to gradually turn faster all the time! atb Bobby

Well good luck with that racer, let us know how that goes!