hubbard_28

btw....I lived in the Phoenix area for 10 years. ASU grad. How's life in the valley? Hate this place with a passion. My wife is from here, so we're closer to her family. When I lived in Louisiana I didn't think any other state could be as rock bottom until I got here. They're installing traffic camera's EVERYWHERE so they can make more money off the citizens. They've made no secret about it. They have mobile camera's that they can park where ever they want. The state is about to lose federal financing because the pollution here is so bad, and they aren't working on it. All the gambling money and state taxes isn't enough for them to waste, they want more. The wetbacks have it made, but an American citizen doesn't stand a chance, and it's no more blatant in any state.

That's great. Can't wait to see him in the pro's.

Howdy. I'm dying to go to Laguna Seca. It's been a few years since my wife and I first started saying "well, next year."

That's just crazy expensive. When I lived in Egypt, I loved going to Eilat (hope that's the correct spelling) to kind of "get away" from the desert.

He's really fun to watch. He has shown that he is young in a few races, fighting with other riders. I think he'll transition to MotoGP well in a couple years. Maybe Kawasaki will sign him. Fingers crossed (not going to happen). If my wife doesn't watch the race, I still save the podium interviews so she can have a laugh at his fro.

There may be some confusion in this discussion, Cobie. Jaybird and I aren't talking about accelerating through a corner, just putting on enough gas to maintain a speed. I never accelerate INTO a corner. That, I would agree, would probably require you to have nobbies on the bike. And I LOVE braking deep into decreasing radius turns. Lots of passing opportunities.

The MotoGP and WSBK bikes are completely different. That is the GP 990's and WSBK bikes. When they went to 800's, I knew Hayden wouldn't do well, and as soon as I saw what Stoner did with the Duc while Hayden struggled on the Honda, knew that was the only way he could be competitive again. And a year later..... I did think Hayden was going to WSBK. He could be the first to win both MotoGP and WSBK titles if he doesn't do well on the Ducati. By the by, a couple years ago Bayliss did ride as a MotoGP fill in, and dominated. If I remember right he won. I know he did podium. Isn't Toseland going back to WSBK?

Howdy.

Hi Shany, and welcome to the forum! What kinds of bikes do you have there? Are there many decent curvy roads to ride? CF Howdy. You've found the ultimate site for learning to ride. The licensing thing sounds pretty smart. Kind of low on the hp though.

We see guys running wide at turn entry all the time (really) and then they pay for it in the middle or the end, so, yeah, think it does make a difference and you don't have to be doing even 60. But, try it, see what you notice. I have some near closed, relatively safe corners by my house that I was just playing around with, and have to say that not being on some kind of throttle (not under acceleration) is pretty unsettling. That's when I was running wide, and was scared to get on the throttle in the corner. I'm going to try it while I'm warming up my tires (slow couple of first laps) in a couple of weeks after working on it on these corners. They're nowhere near as fast as on the track, but freaky none-the-less.

I liked the cape when he won.

Alright. I was at the track yesterday, and asked a few of the more seasoned racers about blipping. One of them explained it to me in a way I can understand, and made it that much easier. He said that to "blip the throttle," you squeeze the clutch, downshift, and before letting the clutch out: blip. That's it. He said that I can clutch in, shift, coast however long I want, and before letting the clutch out, blip it, and thats it. It's not a matter of shift/blip real quick. Just blip before letting out the clutch. Easy enough. There is no reason to blip between shifts when doing more than one gear, because ultimately it's after the last gear that you are going into that you need to match the neutral transmission to the engaging engine. I hope I've explained it to anyone still with questions (although I may be the only one who was still having problems with it) regarding the specificities of when to do everything and what order it's done in. After explaining that to me, Jace remembered that I'm on an '05 ZX6, and reminded me I have a slipper clutch, and that's why I don't have any of the rear chatter everyone else talks about. That also explains why I was doing so well on my bike, but on my wife's EX 650, I was sliding the rear tire. Duh.

Awesome looking track. I love blind corners. That looks like something that is going to vie for some of the bigger racing organizations.

Howdy.

Howdy. Great site, especially if you're going to start trackdays and will have questions.

In that situation, I will complete most of my braking before executing my downshifts. Normally, I wait until the last possible moment before downshifting. In a racing situation, I would time my braking to end at my turn point so I let off the brakes and immediately turn having already completed my downshifts. OK. You still downshift one gear at a time? What gears would you typically be going down through? In my case I was typically going from 4th to 2nd, but I've lost track so then I worry (spend attention $) that I'm not going into 1st or neutral. I've been watching the races on TV and it seems they click 2-3 gears at once (in one clutch pull). You can go through the gears, but you need to blip with every downshift. You don't have to let the clutch out, just blip while shifting.

A highside is when the rear tire loses grip, normally under acceleration coming out of a corner, and suddenly regains traction. It causes a compression in the rear shock, along with the tires being out of normal position changing the angle of the motorcycle, with a quick release pushing the seat, and the rider, up forcefully. Since you're weight is already forward, and your back end is over the point of launch, it flips you over.

I back off the throttle a little, and when I feel that the bike is starting to straighten, get my butt a bit off the seat. I've seen it on races, and it seems to be the answer. I was trying to keep pace with an instructor (didn't happen), and we went into turn 10 on Firebird East. HARD right with some really gnarly pavement. I watched him save a slide by doing what I've described above. We were coming out of turn 3, and the same thing happened to me. There is a little seem at the apex, and it jolted my rear tire. I did the same thing he did, and even though one of my feet came off the peg when the bike straightened up, I stayed on the bike and continued my trackday. I would love to hear from a more experienced rider the proper technique.

Everything here is debated. Rolling into a corner puts extra weight on the front tire, which isn't good if you're dropping the bike into a turn. You need control of the bike. I don't consider TOTW books to be the bible of track riding, and I'm not going to dig through books to quote anything, but what I've read says you have to have a setup speed (or I think that's what it's called), and you won't find anything in TOTW books that says you should coast into a corner. If you are maintaining a speed into a corner you're going to have much better control of said throttle when you start to accelerate out of the turn. Coasting into a corner then applying the throttle while you're leaned over in a corner doesn't really sound very safe.

"As far as being on the brake into the turn... Isn't the bike harder to turn or flick if you are on the brake? Wouldn't that be a deterant to turning as quickly as possible?" I really only brake into a corner on a decrease radius turn (sometimes on others, but VERY rarely), but I can usually go pretty deep doing it. If I'm coasting (closed throttle) into a turn, I've messed up somewhere along the way.

I usually go by the brake or throttle rule. You're either on the brake or the throttle. There are some corners that I'm still on the brake going into, but on most corners I'm already on the gas going into the corner.

Howdy. I was told by a few people to get better at track before taking the class. I meant to ask about that, but forgot. Question answered.

I was thinking about just what you two are talking about on my way to a meeting this morning. The reason I didn't try it was because I was thinking that if I want the RPM's to match the engine speed downshifting from one gear to another is; wouldn't you want more RPM's to MATCH the higher gear you were in? Does your exercise work? I keep thinking more about track riding than street? Could you find a good entry speed for your corners? I use the engine to find a good speed. My laptimes are consistent. Sorry I'm having such a hard time wrapping my brain around this. I've been riding for 10 years, and when I started doing track I first heard about it (about a year ago). I've half heartedly been trying it, and this chat seals that I have to learn it somehow. I've been doing well, but when I am braking into a slow corner, like to turn into the post office today, I overshoot. Probably because I'm not used to the brakes.

The thing I don't get is that the coaches went months without getting paid. MONTHS!!! What gives. If I was good enough, I wouldn't mind coaching people up, and am at a level where I can give new riders some small tips, but if it's how I made a living I'd be complaining about a couple weeks, not months.

I was trying to learn it at slower speeds, but couldn't feel what was going on because of the low RPM's. I couldn't tell what was working, and what wasn't. 80 feels good because all the way down to 3rd I can feel a difference. I'm slowly trying to bring in squeezing in the brake and blipping at the same time and am not even downshifting, just practicing that basic skill. Smooth so far.