Jaybird180

I have some concerns about the discussions on "weight shift" theory. Albeit not telling the entire story, by summarily dismissing it sans a thorough review or questioning of their effect on the motion or change of motion on a motorcycle we could find ourselves lulled into a mindset similar to religious cultism. Is that healthy? It can be readily observed that if a rider moves his/her body to one side of the seat that the bike tends to lean (and change vector) and the rider has to compensate for such tendencies. It is possible to explain it away that the rider is making an unintentioned bar input, however the experience of riding with a pillion (passenger) would seem to betray that logic and provide a rationale that something else is occurring now that we have an asymmetrical weight distribution about the longitudinal axis. Is it possible to exert a force (weight) at a lever point away from the center of rotation and have a predictable outcome? A discussion on Gyroscopic Precession may be able to provide some clues

I've seen a lot of training material suggesting that 1/2 cheek is the goal, however I have observed recently that riders are tending to hang off by as much as 1-3/4s cheek's worth. I think this brings in your question of 'who's right and who's wrong' in that it isn't sufficient to know what to do, but also to understand why and when such actions are appropriate.

The footnote to my above post is that I do think that Ienatsch comes with an amount of communication imprecision. His record vs mine, I’d be a fool to call him wrong. I’d also be disingenuous to call him right.

Logic is good but has limitations. When I signed up for Logic class, I (the Engineering freshman) was astonished to learn that I had to walk over to the University’s Philosophy building to enroll! Of the things you stated above that I hung on is about research process. You also made a point about observer bias. There is also the consideration of observer perspective. I’m certain you’ve heard the story of 3 people who all witnessed the same traffic accident standing on different corners of the intersection- in some ways they each have an occluded view. The two drivers each have opposing agendas to advance their right-of-way in the occurrence. Thats all I have to say about that. I have my own questions and concerns about my path toward riding improvement. And I’m glad to be here.

There's a lot of material available. Some of it good, some mixed and some just plain poorly understood and communicated. (Note: right here would be a great place to insert the video clip from TOTW2 of Keith talking about bad advice, but I can't find JUST THAT online to link here.) Sometimes, motorcycle writers even acknowledge where they could have communicated better and then make the correction, but this is a rare person. As a long time moto subscriber, I've had affinity for reading Nick Ienatsch for YEARS and I'm not alone in that; he's got a huge audience. Someone linked to an updated article in another forum I participate in and I thought the responsible thing to do would be to read it. I finally got around to it this morning and came to this line, reminding me of this thread. This statement is an example of alternate realities on steering that is a cause of much consternation when one is trying to understand what's happening. I think it wise to ask questions, observe, listen and think. This site is a breeding ground for such things accompanied by others who do the same. @Dylan Code I think you perfectly described above the concept of Cognitive Dissonance. Heck, I might even be the poster child for it -LOL But I keep at it; I keep trying to sort through to find usable morsels of truth, what I can use and what might be better reserved for another time. It's a double-edged sword trait. I'm grateful for all of it. And most of all, I'm grateful that I didn't grow up in the "Dark Ages" of motorcycle riding technology. Thank you for reading these words.

Perhaps a definition of high side and low side crashes is in order. To offer this simplistic definition: If the rider gets ejected and the bike has the trajectory to follow it fits the definition of a high side. If the rider is dismounted and the bike is leading the direction of travel it is a lowside. In this case, the rider was trapped under the bike and so it's owner hasn't yet established which definition more closely fits.

I see so much of myself here that I felt I needed to follow the discussion.

I did get the Apex risers and it wasn’t a panacea. Unfortunately weather hasn’t permitted me to ride the bike after a long winter makeover evolution.

In aviation, investigators look for "links" in the accident chain; it's never ONE thing that causes something bad to happen but a series of small things that resulted in the bad thing happening. I suppose the corollary to motorcycles would be to look at the environmental conditions, tire condition and the appropriateness of suspension settings to determine result. For sure the greatest variable is the rider- that MAGIC being can that process all of what's happening and make billions of calculations per second and correct for all other variables. If the rider's data is faulty or application is faulty then certainly best outcome will be uncertainty.

@DLHamblin How is the Healtech unit still performing? I'm down to the wire on closing my winter project and last is deciding on a QS. Because things have advanced a bit since the OP, my considerations are: Annitori Pro Healtech Woolich The Woolich was the favorite for a long time. but since I went about $1.400 over budget for the winter project it's tough to justify, although the Return on Investment is higher than the others. But the other 2 will give me the option of going with Guhl for ECU tuning, bringing my financial investment down. Woolich adds more bling by giving me Launch Control and Pit Speed Limiter options and AFIAK is the ONLY solution for Pit Speed Limiter, but it's kinda yawn (just a little...but lauch control is freaking cool!).

There are a couple guys on a 1000rr specific forum (hint) that I participate in that may be able to help with your QS problem. If you need help locating which forum I'm speaking of, PM me.

Waiting for the post about the 2018 fleet break-in

Anyone care to make any predictions regarding World Superbike and MotoGP for 2018 season? My prediction for MotoGP has in contention MM93, Lorenzo, Vinales, Jack Miller and Johann Zarco. It's a tough field but I've got to go with Marq Marquez to win another crown in 2018. For WSBK, all I'm willing to say is that I think we will finally see the Honda on the box again (I'm a Honda fan) a few times and we also might see the Aprilia on the box a couple times. There is a lot of good talent and good bikes in the series this year.

There's one on Netflix IIRC called ROAD, the story of the Dunlop family. That one is very interesting and talks a lot about the obsession with the IOM TT.

My son started riding his dirt bike on his 4th birthday. A "gift" from a friend included a 1-pc leather suit, but he hardly uses it because we find it preferred for him to wear his body armor. We haven't tried on the suit in awhile and he's likely outgrown it. Upcoming this March he will start MiniGP in the 5+ year old group, which will be held at NJMP. Where can I find children's PPE like leathers, gloves, etc in his size? Preferably somewhere that takes trades because he's growing FAST! Shopping for his dirt bike helmet was a frustrating, time consuming and expensive experience but as a parent, I'm prepared to suck-it-up.

Another example of what you said above about no device working 100% of the time. I believe as you do that it's best to put the odds in my favor when talking about safety. But it doesn't mean that I'm going to cease the activity because it's above most people's risk threshold- I'm instead going to invest in the best safety gear and training my budget allows and then do my best to "not do anything stupid".

AWESOME!!!

I know a guy who refuses to wear a seatbelt because he believes that his friend who died in a car crash might have been saved had he been thrown from the car. He even discounts the fact that everyday people who drive above their ability or in conditions for which the laws of Physics is king have saved potential crashes just because they and the vehicle moved as a single unit and they miraculously were able to make the correct inputs to avert a collision with an immovable or unstoppable object.

I see what appears to be crash protection on that bike. And what's the rig at the rear?

The AGV dealers I've visited didn't have a sufficient selection to allow me to get a good one for my noggin. I recently eschewed my HJC RPHA-11 (only product in recent memory I waiting until product launch to eagerly buy) in favor of a Shoei RF-1200. I'd been looking for just...the right....fit. I've been trying to avoid the whole Shoei/Arai thing (some people believe they are the only helmets worth putting your head into), but I guess they finally got me.

Pickup is a conscious decided effort. The rider intends to lift the bike to vertical at a much earlier point in the turn than allowing a lazy vertical movement later when the bike is decidedly passed the exit.

I'll check out Ch 10 again. Thanks for the catch about the pickup and the change in trajectory, however I'd always thought of it as a way to finish the corner with throttle but the rider ins't yet going down the straight. Or perhaps as a way to quickly arrest the circular trajectory and get the bike pointed straight. Perhaps I've got a misunderstanding about that area....?

I'd like to discuss rear slides a moment. In all cases below, the rider is leaned over in a turn. For simplicity sake, let's say the rider is mid-corner, established in said right turn and the corner is flat, level and symmetrical. Let's also define the apex of the corner as the geometric center of the turn. Let's also say the rider's throttle control is standard. Bike on dry pavement the rear end slides, the rider is loose on the bars and allows the bike to attempt to self-correct. Which way do the bars turn? Bike on a compromised surface and the rear end slides, the rider is loose on the bars and allows the bike to attempt to self-correct. Do the bars turn? Can the rider in either scenario turn the bars to give a corrective action? Is the answer the same for both conditions 1 and 2? If the rider give the opposite input to the bars in a slide scenario will the rider's action aggravate the situation? Is the answer the same for both conditions 1 and 2? After the above scenario #1, let's assume the rider's throttle control isn't standard. In fact, the rider has a timing error with the increased roll-rate and initiates a pickup of the bike post-apex in attempt to alleviate some of the turning forces. Due to the timing error, the throttle comes on at the same time (or perhaps with a microsecond lead) as an aggressive pick-up steering input. The rear end begins to slide. Is the slide in the same direction as above? Because the bike is vertical (or nearly so) but still following a circular trajectory which direction does the front end turn for corrective action? Can aggressiveness of a pickup cause an upset of traction? (I once called this a quick "un-flick")

Anyone know where Suzuka will be broadcast in the USA? How about Japanese Superbike Series? The Irish Series to include Isle of Man?