Jaybird180

Since you're asking about the shortest STOPPING distance I would say you need a combo of both front and back brakes. Initial rear brake to lower the rear and bring down the CG then the rest of the braking will all be on the front. Sportbikes have 2 brake calipers on the front for good reason. On the track you only need the front to scrub off some speed. I never read TOTW1. Plan to though. Is the effect of engine braking from the rolloff enough to "settle the rear"? FWIW, I rarely use the rear brake, mostly for holding at a light or the rare off-track excursion. It's perfectly fine with me if I never need a new set of rear pads as I'm pretty anal about those front brakes (hey, what can I say, I like to stop).

100%

I don't commute. My bike is strictly pleasure. 02 F4i drinking 87 octane K&N, Muzzy s/o and untuned PC3

This statement couldn't be more wrong. Yes, I corrected myself above. Perhaps you missed it. As for K being insignificant... I'm not a medical doctor or even a health professional. And I only know what I was taught in mainstream university 25 years ago and what was published in JAMA in the 1990's when I was researching these things for my own benefit. And no I'm not going to search for footnotes now. I'd suggest that folks who are concerned about this topic should do their own research and that the best data is probably not going to be found on a motorcycle racing school website in any case. That isn't to say good data can't be found here, merely that unless someone wants to post their qualifications, CV, and relevant peer reviewed research, well... you might take it with a... erm... grain of salt? <g> r I don't think throwing hands up is the right approach either. We can share knowledge. If you have a little, someone else contributes, we can eventually get somewhere. Since medial protocol changes constantly, using 18-25 year old references may not be the best advice. We need new, fresh ideas for a current problem that affects our special interest, quicker lap times. :-)

I can get out 110-120 miles on my F4i on the street for about 3.6 gallons between fillups. Since I dont' have exact numbers for MPG I'm not going to do the math on that. I can get a full trackday of 6 session sessions per tank.

If I understood correctly, Keith says (TOTW1) that for a sportbike, front brake only will produce the shortest stopping distance. True/ False?

I dunno...if I recall his was the only bike examined at VIR so one could speculate but the simple truth is that we'll probably never know. Kevin Yes, you're right. Next rount, all 3 Yosh bikes were broken down for inspection and only Spies' bike didn't require any changes for compliance. I doubt Tom Houseworth used any parts different from Mladin's or Hayden's bike. Mladin said that "everyone" knows that all 3 bikes were identical. He chided Spies for a comment he made. Said it reflected poorly on his character (ouch!). Anyone know where I read about the comments?

shame that his bike (Mladin) was DQ'd. Think it was politics?

yes, I liked the announcers of WSB pointing out Frankie Chili's antics on track. Very fun to watch.

I've always admired the close racing style of Noriyuki Haga. He is unafraid to stick that bike wherever he wants...and has so much control that others are unafraid to ride beside him. He can get 3 inches off your back wheel and hold there for several laps just waiting for a mistake before he pounces.

Your opinion is def. interesting...even if I disagree that one should condition him/ herself to tolerate mild dehydration. The Marines didn't teach me that way :-)

I guess there's the definitive answer I was looking for (LOL)

I realized after re-reading this thread that Mr. Code talks about this bad advice becoming ingrained into M/C culture and not challenged. TOTW2 talks about this in the opening of the book. I read that part really carefully. It's amazing how much junk is out there that sounds credible.

I talked to an older woman recenlty (70's?) and she was telling me to hold the water in your mouth longer, helps hydrate the brain. LOLOLOLOLOL

Now Sir, we are on the same sheet of music. I want to know (like you) WHY they aren't competitive. I don't think it's physiology (although they are more "top heavy"). I wonder if it's a matter of desire and cultural grooming telling them that it's not ladylike to compete. And then you have normal rate of attrition in this sport due to injury and just .....life. I suppose cause we start with more men, more stick. There have been women that have made it pretty far up--who was the German(?) girl that ended up with some kind of championship, Katia-something? Of course we have had Misti doing well, and Jessica Z has been out there, but Misti regularly is 3 seconds a lap faster. There are for sure fewer women that race than men, so pretty small pool to begin with. One could ask the same in car racing--any world champs there? C How many AMA wins does Misti have? Podiums, Top 5's? Top 10's? .... Hey, I'm not ragging on her or anything, she's a better woman than I'll ever be, but I wanna see a woman scrap it out for a championship alongside men. Seems that no one can offer a good hypothesis as to why we don't. Okay.....I see that Misti won the 2002 WMRC 650 Supersport Twins Championship. Congrats on that. So it IS possible for a woman to compete against men and win. Who's next?

You can say that again

Now Sir, we are on the same sheet of music. I want to know (like you) WHY they aren't competitive. I don't think it's physiology (although they are more "top heavy"). I wonder if it's a matter of desire and cultural grooming telling them that it's not ladylike to compete. And then you have normal rate of attrition in this sport due to injury and just .....life. I suppose cause we start with more men, more stick. There have been women that have made it pretty far up--who was the German(?) girl that ended up with some kind of championship, Katia-something? Of course we have had Misti doing well, and Jessica Z has been out there, but Misti regularly is 3 seconds a lap faster. There are for sure fewer women that race than men, so pretty small pool to begin with. One could ask the same in car racing--any world champs there? C How many AMA wins does Misti have? Podiums, Top 5's? Top 10's? .... Hey, I'm not ragging on her or anything, she's a better woman than I'll ever be, but I wanna see a woman scrap it out for a championship alongside men. Seems that no one can offer a good hypothesis as to why we don't.

Now Sir, we are on the same sheet of music. I want to know (like you) WHY they aren't competitive. I don't think it's physiology (although they are more "top heavy"). I wonder if it's a matter of desire and cultural grooming telling them that it's not ladylike to compete. And then you have normal rate of attrition in this sport due to injury and just .....life. I suppose cause we start with more men, more stick.

OK I am sure there will be enough world wide evidence proving your side of the argument since men outnumber women in racing about a million to one (exaggeration), Last year Valentino Rossi visited a primary school in Italy, all the kids were excited getting autographs, one 9 year old little boy asked him- Valentino what would I have to do to become a great motorcycle racer like you? Valentino looked at the boy and answered to him, there is nothing you can do as you are too old! My point here is that the best riders in the world learned to control a motorcycle before anything else, they have competed their whole life, The best in the world are born into racing, As for why dont women compete with men in motorcycle racing, they do, all around the world at club level and above, gradually more women are taking up the sport, but for a girl to be world class, she would need to be racing from a very young age! And I'm sure Valentino Rossi is NEVER wrong!?!?! I guess neither of you are familiar with Troy Bayliss' story? He was a painter until his late 20's. Or how about Max Biaggi, never even been on a motorcycle until his early 20's (or late teens, I forget).

Car racing is a different story. A coworker who fairly reliable was talking about a F1 study where they determined that women are ideally suited (weight and balance wise) to F1. Where they come up short has been on the specific women driving the cars. It's a shame they aren't as competitive then we would have better data and can make better speculation. I wonder what's going to happen when Eleana Myers is old enough to get her AMA Pro License???

Dani's lines would seem to agree with your assessment. Or it just could be Dani's lines. I've noticed that he's never as wide as who's he's overtaking, indicating that he can probably go wider and increase his corner entry speed. He seems to have an advantage in that he can run a slightly tighter line at the same speed as his competition. Re: Women: I am really curious about what it would take to get a woman more competitive. If a woman can turn the bars lock to lock, how can it be a leverage issue?

Didn't we have the discussion elsewhere about the proper way to warm tires??? I think it's also discussed in the current issue of Sport Rider. Or did I forget to take my dyslexia medication again?

Yes, I'm aware that there are women competing in professional roadracing. In fact, I've followed Jessica Zalusky with great enthusiasm. She finishes the season very well. Mostly because she (to my knowledge) NEVER DNF's and that goes further for her championship standing than anything else. However, I'd like to see her (or any woman for that matter) scrap it out for a podium or a win. I'm truly interested in knowing if motorcycle roadracing is purely a physical sport best suited to those with XY chromosomes, or if it's the agressiveness of our gender that's a factor. I'm also a little knowledgeable about the 2 women in Formula 1. They get alot of media attention but....let me stop here before I end up tasting toe jam.

I believe it can be practiced anywhere there is enough space, like in a paddock at a race track or a car park! dont know what sort of speed you should aim to do it at though! Warms the tires on both sides C What's the smilie for a bad joke :-)

Okay, I had imagined just going knee to knee in a straight line or something (silly me). I suppose this can be done in any good set of esses? Yes?