Leftlaner

Hi guys, I was watching a video on Youtube the other day, and 1:40 into the video there's a guy on a Hayabusa (eye-abuser) who lowsides mid-corner at a very moderate speed and lean angle. The slow speed aside, I can't see that this guy is making any obvious mistakes (such as treating the throttle as an on/off switch)..! Any theories as to why the rear tyre spins out here..?? Perhaps he just had bad karma and ran into a patch of oil or sand?? Link to the video here:

Just for the record, I rode more than 500 miles (850kilometers) to get to the track. Removed the saddlebags, taped the mirrors and had a blast at the track doing level 1 and 2. Then I rode back, 500 miles in pooring rain. Took me 13 hours straight, and my b*alls were frozen over by the time I got home. But all things concidered, this was the best weekend of my life! PS. I ride a comfy Honda Blackbird

For me, the top priority has to do with VISION. Sense of speed, choosing good reference points, sense of lean angle, finding good lines, timing, throttle control... All of that stuff is related to what you perceive through your eyes! A bald statement perhaps, and you might not agree with me. That's fine But just think about it for a second.. Proper entry speed is important on the track, and it can be critical on the road, right? And to set a "good" entry speed, you need to know how fast you're going. Well, the wide vision helps a lot here, right? You also need to know what kind of turn it is. Looking at the vanishing point helps to determine wether the corner is CR, IR or DR.. Target fixation can be 'fixed' (pun intended) as long as you are in control of your vision, and not the other way around! Reference points won't help much unless you look at them before you actually get there, and then using your peripheral vision as you reach/pass them. See where I'm going? IMHO, just about all the riding skills are related to vision. I can only speak for myself, but I'll tell you this: My knee kissed the tarmac for the first time during one of the visual skills (I think it was the RP+timing drill). Heck, I wasn't even TRYING to go faster or lean more, I was just looking "at the right place at the right time" and there I was scraping my knee through just about all the corners within a couple of laps.. I am quite certain that how I perceive the situation, being on track or road, has a tremendous effect on all other aspects of riding. Having at basic understanding of when and where (and how) to look has definately helped me becoming faster, smoother, more relaxed and confident rider, which is what it's all about. On the other hand, I believe poor vision skills is a major contributor to SR's and "stupid" mistakes/accidents..! So when I get to level 4, I'll probably spend most of the time improving my vision skills!

Well, you are right about the bike being inheratly stabile and that it will self correct on most occasions. Which is one of the main reasons why it's so important to be "loose" on the bars, rather than clamping on to them. And smaller rear wheel slipping (like when you hit a patch of dirt/gravel on the road) will also be self corrected as long as you let the bike do it's thang.. The pick-up drill has to do with improving the exit speed in certain corners (not all corners benefit from this technique). The idea is that standing the bike up slightly before the corner is finished allows you to get on the throttle sooner (b/c of the larger tyre footprint). The technique (the way I understand it) is basically to pull on the inside bar, letting ONLY THE BIKE (not your torso) stand more up. Standing (only) the bike up takes less time and effort compared to standing the bike+rider up. Once the bike is stabile, heading in the right direction (at a ridiculous speed), that's when you move your bum and torso back into "standard riding position". Again, this is just how I interpreted the pick-up drill, I can't give any guarantees that this is exactely what Keith meant..!

Some good advice from Belle here..! +1

Quick update on the situation: Workshop said everything was nice and straight (forks, swingarm, frame, alignment), so no problems there. However, they did discover that the front head bearings were a bit too tight, so they loosened it up a notch. That actually improved the handling a bit, especially at low speeds. Made the bike more "flickable". However, the REAL improvement happened last Friday when I got new tyres on (Pilot Power 2ct). No more forcing the bike around corners, she drops down to appropriate lean angle and stays there effortlessly. Problem solved!

Checking the frame is done either by visually looking for dings or by putting it in a jig and measuring. Most shops don't have the capability and will do the visual method, which you can do yourself. As for forks, if you can put the bike on it's centerstand (Blackbird has one, right?) you can pull the forks yourself as well as checking alignment. But if you don't have the wrenching skills I'd recommend making friends with the shops people and becoming a student. It WILL make you a better rider by understanding the basics of how your machine works. Well I've inspected both the forks and the frame VISUALLY already, and I rolled the inner tubes of the forks on a smooth surface. They are both "damn straight" as far as I can tell, but my eyes aren't able to catch micrometer skewedness.. The service manual says I should measure the tubes using V-blocks, but I don't have that at home so.. Anyway, I'll check the bike and the alignment for straightness and we'll see if we find anything interesting..

I'm taking the bike to the local dealer to have the valve clearance checked/adjusted and fluids replaced. I'll ask them to check frame and forks for straightness (and align the wheel) while they're at it..

As far as I know, the bike has been dropped two times during its lifetime (not by me though). The bike was completely rebuilt by professionals after the first incident. The second time wasn't very dramatic (low speed slide), so I doubt that the forks could have been bent.. I'll start with checking rear wheel alignment, and we'll go from there.

I would think that If you experience an unexpected slide you still might need to finish the corner, especially if the rear did not step out enough to line the bike up perfectly for the next section of track. Continuing to hang off would as you say not upset the bike and would allow you to finish the turn more easily. In the Pick Up drill we learn to push the bike up while still hanging off so your thinking is consistent to what I've been taught. Kevin Do you recall if the pick up drill is level 1, 2 or 3?? I'm taking the two first levels in a few weeks, it's going to be sooo much fun, I can hardly wait..!

Yes, this happens in both left and right turns. The bike has a slight tendency to pull to the left hands-off, but not much. I'm using Michelin Pilot Power 2CT front and Michelin Pilot Road 2 rear...

Standing the bike up means reducing lean angle, fair enough. The question is HOW, and I think Jaybird just confirmed what I suspected. You have to steer inwards to reduce lean angle, that makes sense. But what about BP. Assuming you're hanging off, would the best thing be to maintain the BP (to avoid upsetting the bike), or gradually moving the upper body more towards a non hanging off BP??

I've read TWIST 1&2 twice now, but there is one little thing that I just don't quite understand. Maybe it's because English isn't my first language, or maybe I'm just stupid..? When the rear tyre starts slipping in a corner, and it wants to "come around", you're supposed to maintain a steady throttle (chopping the throttle is likely to result in a highside and wacking the gas full on is likely to bring the rear all the way around). I think I get the part about throttle. But Keith also says that whilst maintaining a smooth and steady throttle, one should also "STAND THE BIKE UP". Does that mean that one should steer the front wheel slightly inwards, or does "standing the bike up" in this context have to do with body position? Any thoughts on this would be much appreciated. Thanks

Here's the thing. I have to keep pushing on the inside bar throughout corners to prevent the bike from turning the front wheel in, and thereby stand the bike up (and go straight). The slower I go, the more I have to concentrate on keeping the front wheel pointed where I want to go. If I'd let go of the handlebar, the front wheel would turn in fast and hard. Applying throttle rule #1 does seem to help, but I still have to keep pushing the inside bar throughout the corner to prevent the front wheel from turning in and stand the bike up. I have noticed though that getting on the gas combined with hanging off helps even more but I still have to maintain a little force onto the inside clip-on. I ride a Honda CBR 1100XX, by the way. I tried one of my mates' Suzuki Bandit 600, and I had no difficulties steering the bike "by the book" on this bike (i.e. set the lean angle, smooth roll-on, relax, look where I want to go etc).. Once the lean angle is set on the 600cc Bandit, I don't have to worry about steering any more, as the bike is "steering from the rear" so to speak. I can do minor steering adjustments simply by adjusting the amount of throttle roll-on. So I'm pretty convinced that allthough I still need to practice a lot on my cornering technicque, there IS something fishy about the handling of my bike (as well). I've overhauled the forks recently, and they feel nice and firm (not too hard though, in my opinion). Haven't done anything to the rear damper/spring though. The tyre pressure is OK, and tyres should last throughout this season (street riding, not track). Do you think that dropping the front end down a notch (in the triple tree) would make the bike act less like a H-D and more like a sport bike?? Or should I try something else first??

I don't know the size of this track, but in most cases 3 seconds is quite a lot, and I doubt that hardware ALONE can account for such improvement. Unless of course the bikes were VERY poorly tuned before they were upgraded / overhauled, which is rather unlikely..? Congrats on your lap time improvement!