acebobby

good to have you back mate! Bobby

Thats spooky stuff, that doing things but you dont know it, got that little tune from the twilight zone stuck in my head now! Really though, I remember speaking to a guy and he told me there's 2 types of counter steering, he called it passive counter steering and active counter steering. Passive being the people that dont know there doing it and active being well us really or the people who use it to set there bikes direction intentionally. As for that little no hands video, things like that dont impress me one bit, we all know it can be done and as mentioned earlier is easily do able on a bicycle, if the guy could direct the bike with precision then It be different! Bobby

The guys that do the setups Greg are for sure an option, especially to get a base setting, but understanding whats involved and you soon see that these guys are making easy money, and why not, there is a market after all! The bigger problem happens when your riding improves that setup might not really work so well for you, thing is you dont know what the bikes trying to tell you so you go back to your suspension dude give him another £80, he twiddle's some knobs then your happy again, this could end up getting expensive! I read alot about suspension for a long time but my brain never really took in what I was reading, I knew the buzz words, thought I knew what changes did what for the bike, but it wasnt until I taught myself what happens inside the forks and shock that I really started to understand how things work, knowing exactly what happens inside when you move a few clicks one way or the other really helps me to understand that never ending search for the perfect setup! I would encourage people to discuss their setups on here, some people like it so the bike feels loose and moves around underneath them, others like a secure feeling of the tyre being forced into the ground then there's about a million different preferences inbetween! Its a subject rarely spoken about in depth on forums though! Bobby

What are the benefits of aftermarket clipon handlebars opposed to the stock items on my bike, are they worth getting or best just waiting until mine break then replace them. Bobby

OK, a few good coments here but I wasn't really thinking of the braking forces heating the tyre but more the fact that the front contact patch will be deformed under braking forces momentarily increasing the size of the contact patch, so if you have a turn where you have managed to finish your braking exactly at your turn point, would the bigger contact patch created at that moment not give the bike more front end grip? As I said if you have managed to have absolutely no coasting between off the brakes and your turn point! Bobby

You mean you were joking, dam, sounded like such an easy plan to follow. Oh well I will go with Stuman's plan then, thanks for taking the time to put that up Stuman, it looks like a good fun way to pick up a new track! Bobby

I'm loosing sight of what I tried to say here but let me try to put a couple of examples of what I mean up, picture a corner, maybe entry speed 60 mph, scenario 1 you go no brakes, arive at your desired turn point at 60, turn and do the corner! scenario 2 you brake very hard from a high speed approaching your turn point, arrive at your turn point at 60, turn in and do the corner! No trail braking or anything, just simply getting to your turn point and turning, would scenario 2 not give a bit more front end grip than scenario 1 right at the turn point? hope this makes sense Bobby

I am a big fan of the techniques and procedures taught at the CSS but this procedure has been messing with my head lately and I would like experts opinions on the subject! With onbike camera technology at the level its at these days in Moto GP and WSBK we can see how much the front tyre deforms on the brakes effectively increasing the contact patch on the front tyre at the turn in point, this must increase grip levels at that point in the turn! would these guys be able to take the turns at the same speeds if they were riding no brakes or do they need the braking forces to give a little extra grip at the turn point? Bobby

Welcome greg, I love Almeria, first place I ever got my knee down! Bobby

Hi guys n girls In just over a week I will be doing my first trackday at Oulton Park, As always I want to improve my riding throughout the day, so I was thikning what would be the most productive way to do this? I will have 7 X 20 minute sessions and level 1-3 drills up my sleeve to use and practice as required! I was thinking on my first and second sessions I would get my visuals working and look for some lines that work well with throttle control rule #1, using light brakes and a couple of gears! I am trying to write up myself a little track day schedule so to speak, rather than falling into that old trap of riding as fast as I can and not improving! So any idea's are welcome, maybe thoughts on how to spend my attention on the first 5 sessions, then have a bit of fun on the last 2 sessions! Anyway Ideas welcome from all the forum! Bobby

Very impressive Talan, It goes to show that if you want something enough, it is always possible to achieve your goals no matter what. I wish you all the best with your racing. Bobby

OK dont know if there's a way to edit the title but if it could changed to just trackdays or something that would be cool as I dont want to start a new thread for every day I do! This time I'm doing Cadwell park on the 12th of Aug, will be camping in the paddock the night before! Bobby

I was at the Silverstone Moto GP recently and I have to say RDP was the most exciting rider to watch at the sections of turns I was sitting at anyway! There was a tight left followed by 2 rights then down a straight, now when RDP came around that left his bike went into a highside situation, all you could hear was the crowd gasping, then he apparently saved it and took the first right, after a few laps I realised that he was intentionally taking the series of turns this way and it was spectacular to watch. It reminded me of a post Will put on here a while ago about how he used a similar technique to get through a chicane at willow I think it was, so maybe when you think someone is riding on the edge of out of control, perhaps they are doing exactly what they intended to do. I know before Will ever posted that I would never have imagined using a highside to line the bike up for the next turn, still wouldn't try it! You also have to remember Casey used to be labelled as a crasher on the LCR Honda then dominated the following year on the Ducati, maybe Randy has discovered the limits of the equipment he's got, I for sure would like to see what he could do with a factory bike! Bobby

Hi crash I like this topic, I think it affects everyone at one point or another in their riding life, I remember a time not so long ago where every time I got off my bike during street rides and the first thing I did was take a look at my rear tyre to see how much chicken strips were left, it used to really mess with my head! In all honesty the best thing to do is forget about it! I want to mention a couple of things to you, first off just because someone in front of you can make a turn at a certain speed does not mean you can too, there is about a million variables that come into effect, from throttle position to how relaxed you are on the bars, basically thats a whole different topic but just think for example the guy in front enters a turn at 80 mph he's relaxed, gets on the throttle right away and smoothly takes the turn, you follow him in at 80mph, get scared, tighten up on the bars and hesitate with the throttle, both of you have the same entry speed with a very different outcome. Another thing I would like to point out is it sounds like your more keen to lean further on the road. This is something I do when I'm out in the twisties, rather than trying to ride as fast as you can try riding at 50-70 mph, rather than accelerating towards the corner full pelt and grabbing the brakesto slow for the turn, take the time to look at the turn, where your going to turn, can you see the whole turn? Take in as much information about the turn as you can, this is similar to the no brakes drill at the CSS. It is more about average speed, say for e.g. you approach a turn at 80 mph then brake down to 40 mph for the turn (usually thinking you could have taken it faster) opposed to approaching the turn at 65 mph studying the corner, maybe slowing to 55 mph, then nailing the turn and really feeling that you took it well, similar average speed, more controlled faster entry speed, no hasstle from the law, and a by product of riding like this is your lean angle will increase, just keep reminding yourself to relax! I am currently very tired so forgive me if this makes no sense whatsoever! Bobby

Hottie; I have tried that with little success. I ride a Ducati 748 SPS on the track with a 996 for the street. They are the same year, have about the same RWHP, have the same rear sets, the same mag rims, seat height, clip ons, brake pads and both have a GP shift patterns. The SPS has a few more tricked out parts but from an ergonomic perspective they are nearly identical. My goal was to be able to transition from the street to the track as seamlessly as possible but the physicial similarities does not make up for the situational disparity. The environments are simply too disimilar. I cannot access my track riding mindset on the street without creating foolish risks for myself and others. I posted a story about almost rear ending a lumbering dump truck I found halfway up a totally blind uphill curve that really sent a chill up my spine. It was on a road that I have never seen any traffic on in years so I realized that I needed to rethink my approach to riding on the street. Beyond maintaining good throttle control discipline, I still look to two-step/three step but without the corresponding pace to necessitiate it, it seems like a wasted exercise. I try to quick turn where I can but without being able to run it out on the exit, the drill gets lost in translation. I do use the wide view and the vanishing point exercise but there are too few opportunities to try the hip-flick/knee to knee or the pick up drill without over riding the road so I have decided to tone it down big time on the street. ...but that's just me. I'm sure others here have mastered this transition and I am anxious to read what others have to say. Rain I think mastering the transition from track to street is an accident waiting to happen Kevin, I agree with mostly everything you say and I remember reading about your near miss with the lumber truck, its an all to common scenario! The thing is on track you circulate the same corners continually, you know what is around the corner and you can make a confident decision on the line your going to take and where your going to exit before you see it! If you ride like this on the road, oh no, thats not going to work, even in a corner we know like the back of our hands, the information we dont have is whats going on around at the middle and exit of that turn, there could be a lumber truck, tourists taking photos or a dead animal etc etc If you fully commit to the turn like on the track you could end up in big trouble! But all off this does not mean the skills taught at the school cannot help you become a better road rider, after all this is what brought me to the school in the first place! Go back to the beginning of the twist 2 dvd, and look at how they show you 1/ a late turn in so that you can see as much of the road as possible before commiting to the turn 2/ making that turn quickly and decisive 3/ The importance of good throttle control 4/ relaxing on the bike! watching that dvd shows you how much the new riders improve even before they go to the track, It shows me that when you do ride on the road, dont do it in full on track mode but go back to the basics of your riding technique and work on that! Hotfoot I would say that if you have an opportunity that you know you wont be on track for a while then yeah, stick your road bodywork on, you already have road legal tyres, get some throw over luggage, look at a map and head for a trip towards some twisties for a couple of days! Bobby

Hi oz have looked into a similar trip as this myself but the school doesn't hit florida on their east coast tour for whatever reason, so barber motorsprts park is the closest but not sure how close! Sure one of the US guys will be along soon and give you a better answer!

This is an interesting question, I dont get as much track time as I would like, but then what really is enough track time, for the coaches you get loads of track time but you are coaching so its probably not quality tracktime so to speak! But then what if you did have all the track time you wanted, I remember a time where Andy Ibbot quoted Keith Code as saying "practice is like toilet paper, the more you have the more you waste" that made me think that every track sesion I have I should use that time to practice a specific drill and not just circulate! I dont time my laps yet so I dont get the satisfaction of seeing my times drop but I do get the satisfaction of the feeling that I've nailed something that I felt was hindering me, like maybe getting the knee to knee spot on through esses or getting the pickup drill perfect at an exit! I do hovever still ride on the road and I cant see me giving that up, I still love the adventure of travelling by bike, meeting people by chance and chatting about where they've been or where their going, I just have to remind myself sometimes that the roads not a racetrack! Bobby

Hay Jay when you say you feel compelled to countersteer to keep the bike leaned over, what exactly do you mean? Why do you feel the need to do this? The scene in the twist2 dvd where Cobie is riding the no bs bike and its getting steered from behind shows and proves without a shadow of a doubt that steering inputs are not required, the bike will hold line by being totally relaxed! Bobby

OK Kai and Bullet, I agree that I should probably be using tyre warmers and that they would benefit me with a bit extra track time but are there any negative's to using tyre warmers with road tyres? Can road tyres be affected by heat cycling, I always aim to keep my tyres at a 5-7 psi increase from cold to hot so not to cook them! Bobby

Hope you get evrything sorted out just fine mate! Take it easy Bobby

Hi Bobby, I'd say as long as you have 4 inches of movement in either direction, that's about enough. The reason they do is to try and stop the bars smashing into the tanks in a fall, (should such a thing ever happen).. Bullet Thanks for the quick reply Bullet, that makes sense to me, hopefully no more falls in the foreseeable future though, dont know if my bones or my wallet can take it! Bobby

more perhaps if the ambient is very low like it can be in the UK from time to time. + 1 on that Bullet Here is something I have been thinking about for those that dont use warmers, warming tyres can sometimes be frustrating, especially when your getting passed by dudes that you know you are faster than but you need to rise above that! The thing is if you look through your CSS books you have 15 drills to work on, can you remember what they all are? I'm not going to list them all here but as Keith said, not a good idea to quick turn on cold tyres, so were down to 14 drills! You see every time I go on track I pick a drill to concentrate on but I'm tweaking that plan a little so now I will concentrate on a drill that will work with cold tyres for the first 5 or 6 laps, going through my books, the majority of drills will work with cold tyres e.g. all the level 1 stuff except the quick turn, all the level 2 stuff, and pretty much all the level 3 stuff, OK when I began writing this I thought I could eliminate more than 1 drill from the list, thats a testiment to how good the drills actually are so for me anyway my first 5 or 6 laps will be focused on throttle control rule #1 staying relaxed and all the visual drills! Bobby

OK this must seem like a weird question but I have been rebuilding my trackbike and have fitted a race fairing mount, this is the first time I have used one of these and I have noticed it has lockstops on it that seriously restrict the steering lock compaired to the standard road mount! Now I know you dont need so much lock on a trackbike but just how much do you need, and why do the manufacturer's of these mounts do this? Bobby

I have Andrew Trevitt's book "Sportbike Suspension Tuning" Think of it as twist of the wrist for your bikes setup, it is for sure one of the best books I have. Then take notes of your settings, set your sag either for road or track, dont be scared to make changes, if a change you make feels horrible, or great, note it!

The thing about front tyre chicken strips is that everyone on this forums riding style i.e. the techniques taught at the school, throttle control rule #1 and sitting a bit further back in the seat actually unload the front a little making it harder or almost impossible to get rid of front tyre chicken strips. If you see someone at a trackday without front tyre strips you can bet that their riding style is the coast to the apex style which loads the front end more while leaned over! The other guys that you see without the strips and you know they have good technique, the coaches etc, they will most likely be scubbing the side of their tyre while trail braking! Bobby