hubbard_28

Given the space between Spies, Biaggi, and whoever is in 3rd, they're probably taking the fastest lines through there. Defensive lines are slower, but keep you from being passed. Neither rider is concerned about being passed, and are trying to get through there as fast as possible, so what they're doing is probably the fastest line that can be taken through this corner. And it looks like Spies is diving in right at the white line.

Howdy 650R. I'm in Phoenix, and am familiar with Arroyo. I haven't been there yet, but lots of my friends go out there. If you make it out to Firebird, I'll probably see you. My wife has a 650R and I'm helping her improve her riding because she wants to do trackdays, and I'm starting to LOVE riding her bike when I'm showing her to do certain things. It's a very comfortable bike, and I can find the perfect BP on it. We've lowered the bars, but she doesn't want to get clipons. I think it would be awesome. Just don't like the shifter though. Only flaw.

With the advancements in BP and cornering, Freddie's BP would be considered poor, no matter what type of corner he's going through, or where on the corner he is. With our groupings, even most of the superstreet riders will have their BP sorted better than that before moving to the intermediate group. I'm sure he doesn't look anything like that now. Back in the day, that's what they looked like. The way the new riders are trained, you won't see another Moto GP rider who works his way up through 125's look ANYTHING like that. I'm 6'2, and it gives me an edge if I just want to stick my knee out and grind away at the pucks. If you have any pics of you, it would give us something to work on if we are going to properly diagnose your problem.

I'd say throttle control would be the most important. Helps balance the bike, set corner speed, get through a corner (40/60), accelerate on the straight. Good throttle control also increases safety. Knowing how to stop/keep from lowsiding, highsiding. Helps with both. Second would be working the clutch. I tried to help a friend of mine who doesn't have a quick shift get it right on the straight. There were two races in one day where if he could shift better on the straights, he would have finished at least one place higher than where he was. He would pull in the clutch and bog the front. He almost looked like he bottomed out the front once or twice. WHILE UPSHIFTING ON A STRAIGHT. It can manage speed for the positive or negative. Not getting it right could screw up an entry, missing gears or shifting too much is also a killer. You can get around the track without braking, but managing braking, adjusting speed, managing your way into corners makes you faster than not using the brakes (obviously). Most can make it through pretty well with just the front brake (and a slipper clutch), but knowing how and when to use the rear brake can also effect entry speed. And managing brakes also goes into play during off track excursions. Proper BP puts everything together, but you can be plenty fast with mediocre BP, as lots of racers at the tracks and on TV have. If anyone would pick three of the 4 listed, and pick BP and leave out anything else, equivalent riders learning the first 3 would be much better off. BP is something that can be continuously worked on while learning other things. I spent my first year focusing on BP while my friends learned how to ride the bike, and while I have better BP than all but one, everyone else is faster than me on most tracks we ride. I'm getting faster as I learn the bike more, and am catching my friends, but it really set me back. I don't know if understanding lines and track design is a skill, but if it was I'd put it above BP. A person can have perfect BP, but if he doesn't apex early on turn 3 on Firebird East, I'm going to eat him up on the short straight going into a sharp turn regardless what bike he has. If understanding of traction control were a skill, I'd put THAT above BP, and probably higher still. If you're wrecking and injured, you're not riding.

Howdy Bull. You pose a good question. I'm sure someone will come along and have a good answer for you. I was wondering the same thing, but never really got around to ask. I am coaching my wife about track riding during the summer while the tracks are closed, and I have a friend at work who just bought a Harley. I told her I'd work with her on the basics, and that's how my curiosity came about. What can I help her with, and although she'll never get on the track, can I use basic information from the book to help her along. A few months ago we had a couple motorcycle cops on the track during our brake, and they were tooling around. One was probably as good as you can get on those bikes on a track, and he kept having to slow down for one that was frankly kinda scaring me.

I can do most of my trackday without getting my knee down. It's an old pic, but if you look at my avatar, there is absolutely no reason to have my knee down other than I knew the photographer was on that corner. On Main, the last track I did, there were only 4 corners that I actually got my knee down on when I was riding really tucked in. Firebeast, unless it's the angle, I'd say that you could just stick your knee out and it would drag.

You nailed it on the head with the inside foot. Your boot was probably open toe by the end of the day. Consistency also. You've got to try to keep your body down more. Your BP is otherwise very good. You won't see many riders at a trackday with BP like that.

Just by looking at the photo I can tell you that one of two things is going on. First let me say that his BP is otherwise great. His spine is angled just a little more than the angle of the bike, and this is something that takes some riders a VERY long time to achieve. Some never do. I love using Mladin for an example here. Top AMA rider who's body is crossed up in every shot. Great job, Vio. Otherwise, by the angle of the shot I can assume that either his foot is in the wrong position (not tucked in enough), and it will scrape before his knee, in which case he needs to pull his foot in and stick his knee out more, or he just doesn't have to have his knee down there. The angle of the pic makes it hard to tell either way. He could, by looking at the pic, just have to get his butt off the seat a little more. It's used by riders who are really in sync with their bikes to tell them they've just about reached the limit of their bike. You can see some riders, like Rossi and Lascourz (?) doing it a lot. You'll be able to see some riders in MotoGP are 55 degrees leaned and don't have their knee down. They know how far out to have their knee, and scraping it tells them that they've max'ed out their lean angle (63-65 degrees for Pedrosa). Most stick it out to gage as they go. They'll let it hang, and when it grabs, it'll give them an idea of how much more clearance they have. Knee down can act as a gage for lean angle, and helps a rider use it as a crutch, so to speak, in certain instances. Also, as mentioned above, it never gets old. After a long hiatus from the track when I start dragging knee again I can't help but giggle under my helmet. Wait till you have to buy new ones. http://resources.motogp.com/files/images/x...01.original.jpg

Funny you should say that, Mark. At the end of the day I sort of take advantage of being tired, get off the gas, and work on relaxing. Nothing better at the end of a hard ridden day than relaxing. Depending on the time of year, it gets REALLY hot here, even September/October time frame, I cruise the last couple of sessions working on taking pressure off the bars.

WOW!!! That's REALLY head down. I'm guessing that took quite some time to even get comfortable doing. Awesome. Are you still able to get your weight on the outside of the bike, or do you have more on the inside? I've tried weighing down the inside, and it's not a comfortable feeling at all.

If I'm riding a familiar track, I don't really worry about cutting down to any certain percentage. During my siting laps I'm concerned with warming up the tires with acceleration and braking (because I'm going out as soon as the siting laps are done) and looking for "temporary" RP's. I know it's frowned upon, but if there is something on the track that wasn't there, and possibly won't be there the next time I ride that track, I will still use it as an RP for that day. I also look around at my RP's and am riding my line to refamiliarize myself. I also have the bad habit of having my hands on the brakes even when I'm going into a turn that I don't even need them on. I'll usually even tap them. I probably would benefit more than most on this forum by learning the no brakes drill.

Howdy. Another "New To The Forum" post was started recently by markSTer. Sounds like he's been to a couple schools, and could possibly help in this discussion. As Kevin said, please do come back and let us know what you thought. I've skipped lots of local schools, and am putting all that money together to attend a two day in Vegas, hopefully at the end of October. And thanks to Adam for explaining it the way he did. I never thought it was a "beginner" level, and you've really clarified.

Maybe burning out the clutch is why other 600 riders start at 7 instead of 9 grand. How do you position your feet from a start? Sounds like you would prefer keeping at least one foot a peg?

First of all; Howdy. Welcome to the site. Sounds like you have tons of riding education, and will be able to share some great experience. I'd love to know how consistent the other schools are in their information, and how it fits in place with what CSS teaches.

It lessens worrying about balance changes. That's a lot more weight to shift if you have to shift your pelvis and adjust the arch your back while trying to keep weight over the tank. Keeping the left foot up just means you have to pick up your right foot and you can be on your way. The weight is over the tank already, and it lessens the adjustment to be made. While I was working on this and taking off with both feet down, I would have one foot up before the other anyway. Keeping one up before the start just made more sense. I used to keep my right foot up. Go figure. Still working on correcting it to this day.

I'm one of the slower intermediate riders at the track, but on the street, I can't even keep up with the superstreet level riders. I don't know what kind of barrier I have when I'm not on the track, and really don't care. I don't do anything dangerous, and barely get the bike over. That's why I do track so often. Safe, fun, and fast.

I found it to be more comfortable, and gave me the feeling that I have more control over the bike in turns, like Jay said. It's really helpful in fast turns, and maybe it's because of the weight distribution. When your head is down (you can refer to the pic at the top of the page), your shoulders are forward, and your weight is more over the front of the bike. There are plenty of pro racers who ride in the heads up position who do quite well. The pic below has Mladin and Spies going at it. Mladin has a real twisted, awkward position, but it works for him. Hodgson does also. Figure out what works best for you. And the 125 racers who have such great BP are the ones who have attended some MotoGP school. I can't find anything about it on the internet, but from the announcers I've picked up that the better riders are invited to attend. Cluzel was booted from the school for some reason or another. Lascorz, who rides Kawasaki in Super Sport, has some of the best BP I've seen. I could watch him and Pedrosa ride the track all day just to study their BP. http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1051/120898...b5aae2b.jpg?v=0

I haven't done it in a really long time, but will practice it for a while Sunday when I go out. I think it's around 6-7,000 for our bikes, but I keep it in the powerband, so I stick it up to 9,000 and try to keep it there while accelerating.

I think it goes both ways. There are times you need to know when to let go.

.....and have a point in the sign turns (that's what we start from unless you have lights) when you get your RPM's up before the start. When the light goes off, you're ready to go.

You need to raise your RPM's. Slow your clutch release, and try to keep your RPM's up until you are topped out and need to shift. Going to the drag strip is the best place because you can learn from other riders and measure your progress, but it's understood that there aren't drag nights every week.

There's this guy who races CCS who absolutely cracks the throttle and throws his body into the tank simultaneously. It's a spectacle to watch. If you don't want to try that, you could just find a spot that's secluded (I used to practice at some loading docks behind a warehouse on Sundays) and practice. Learning the sound of the RPM's and working to keep them up during launch. Just doing it in first will get you better. If you have someone to practice with, and/or someone to time you at a certain distance will be a good way to measure your success. Someone to flip the signs to signify a start will also benefit you. Redundance is the best teacher.

I thought we were supposed to get back on the gas after we've made the turn. I brake before going into a corner, then clutch and downshift, turn, let out the clutch, and go. Now, I'm really bad at my entry speed, but the one thing that showed promise before the summer hit was that initiating my turn happened while I was releasing the brake. That makes when I got on the throttle in the turn easier because it was one motion for the front suspension. Braking compresses the forks, starting my turn keeps them compressed, and being off the brake and on the gas eased me up to the 40/60 ratio. I'm never on the gas when I start a turn now. It's a pretty big difference, and for my riding style, an improvement.

Howdy. Glad you've joined. You've probably got plenty to share.

Howdy. There are a few people on here from all over. Most just introduce themselves then fall off the forum. Hope to read some enlightening posts from you. Smart fella, that Cobie. He really seems like good people.