khp

Stoner left MotoGP by the end of 2012, so it must be 3-4 years ago. I think the tire technology has changed quite a bit since then, and especially the arrival of Marquez have shown that the fast way around the track is to carry a lot of lean angle these days, simply because the tires are so sticky.

Kevin, I noticed that and quickly decided that I shouldn't try to replicate those lean angles myself, no matter the tires.

Right, I forgot to mention that the store had just taken part in a maintenance training for the new R1, and not only does it have some very non-standard bolt heads (they look like torx, but with more edges on them*) but Yamaha recommends to replace the bolts once you've been loosening them, like stretch bolts. Seriously, Yamaha??? Edit: *) Looks like either Spline or triple-square when looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_screw_drives

I saw the new R1 in a shop this Saturday. My goodness how fugly the front/headlights design is! And I say this as a Yamaha stalwart!!!

Well well weel! It's looking to be one of the most interesting MotoGP seasons in a long while! Ducati is back at the top with their GP15 bike, which is significantly faster and has gotten rid of that dreaded understeer I understand. Dovizioso put the GP15 on pole, with the Repsol Hondas on #2 and #3 - but with Pedrosa ahead of Marquez. Yamaha seemed to be struggling with Lorenzo in #6 and Rossi on 3rd row as #8 - "as usual" I would add, since it's never really been Rossi's speciality to set the fastest pace during Qualifying, but boy is he there during the race! And and "old fart", at 36 years old! The Suzuki's aren't half-bad, but they still have a while before they are up there with Honda, Ducati, and Yamaha. Aleix Espargaro was +20sec down in the race. Aprilia, on the other hand, might as well have waited for 2016 to join. Melandri was about 4 seconds down - per lap, every lap. Marquez almost wrote himself out of the race at the very first corner (he went wide across the astroturf and turned on the asfalt on the other side to rejoin at the very back of the pack), but was able to rejoin and end 7.0sec down on the winner in 5th spot. THE RACE: The two Ducatis took off from the field together with Lorenzo, with Pedrosa not able to match their pace. Rossi clawed his way through the field from 8th and hunted the trio down to make them a quartet by Lap 8. It was only on Lap 20, when Dovi and Rossi was able to pull away from Iannone and Lorenzo, with Rossi winning by 0.17sec ahead of Dovi. I didn't check the stats, but I'm sure it's been a long while since it was an all-Italian podium last time! Marquez is by no means out of contest yet, but he sure didn't make it easier on himself this time. Looks like it was the right year I got a MotoGP season pass :D

Very odd way of wearing the tires. Does anyone have knowledge about if a new track surface (with no/little rubber in it) in general wears tires like that? I'm wondering how this way of "powder" wear would impacts the grip, for better or worse.

T, I finally got to view the tire picture on the laptop (previously only saw on the phone, and a 5" screen isn't ideal for scrutinizing such a picture). So it's a street tire, not a track/race tire. I wonder if the wear pattern (the very fine graining of the surface) is due to the compound (designed for longevity, not max traction), which can is designed to accept a lot of wear without tearing. Regardless, the very even wear pattern (no bands of tearing) indicates a good throttle control and nice progressive roll-on as you stand up the bike.

I ain't no guru.... Here are a couple of observations: First, the tire is a Dunlop tire. Secondly, it doesn't seem to be worn very much. Maybe you're not riding hard enough to cause a lot of wear, but at least the lack of tearing etc (only a very fine graining) suggests that the suspension is well set up for your speed, the track and the temperature. Thirdly, I noticed the raised back lip on the sipes at the edge of the tire, but when I look at the sipe in the center of the tire, the back lip seems lowered. If I recall Dave Moss right, this is seen when the rebound valving (the shim stack) needs adjustment (pls check with Mr Moss for the details, I don't remember how you should modify the shim stack. What do I win? ☺ Kai

It's been a while since I took Level 3, but as I remember the classroom training on the hook turn, it was about moving your CoG forward by lowering your entire upper body, not (just) the head. The point is that we want to shift the mass of the upper body forward to get the front fork to compress slightly, so the steering geometry changes to make the bike make a tighter radius turn.

Stroker, it looks to me as you are not bending your right elbow as much, aa your left elbow. So your entire body position becomes much taller. On the left-turn pictures, it also looks like your pelvis is pushed up against the fuel tank. Try sliding a bit back (about a fists' size), this should allow you to move easier from side to side and possibly also make it easier to crouch further down.

So, a classic case of "Good Twin, Evil Twin" here rchase?

Congrats, so happy for you

I've been running the SportSmarts on my R1 road bike, and been doing (unintended) knee-downs on the outlap at CSS in Sweden. So those tires should have plenty of grip available, even when "stone cold". I did have a very surprising low side the first day I used them, where doing very gentle 'snakes' caused the back end to step out to the right and never gripping again. That was less than 50 meters from my home, where I had mounted the tires. Seems that this was caused by oil on the road. Since then, I never ever had any indication of the tires slipping. Honestly, I doubt that this is your issue.

Are you saying that Will is leaving the school? I'd be sorry to hear that

Taz, I put the Sportsmart on my R1 '03 a couple of seasons ago. I use the bike mainly for leisure riding (twisties) as I have an R6 for trackdays. However I used the R1 for 2 CSS school days in Sweden, and found that even when the tires a stone cold, there was grip enough to do brief knee-downs on the first lap out of the pits, with no wiggling at all. Mind you, these have now been replaced by the Sportsmart2's, which undoubtedly will be an even better tire. I do not know their longevity, since I haven't replaced them yet (due to lack of riding in '12-'14).

From what I know, no school bikes have slicks on them. Not even the slide bike (exactly because we want the tire to loose grip)

I agree with rchase on preferring the 1-day classes for exactly the reasons he mentioned.

Grit is definitely also part of the equation. Yes, you need talent, yes you need practice, but without the grit and ambition to see things through when the going gets tough (and it will get tough), you will not make it to the top.

The Ring is difficult for mental/memory reasons. Of course, downhill S combinations in the wet with armco 3 feet from the road does have it's... hmmm, charms. Please do not consider it a racetrack.

Yup, makes the bike taller in the back, effectively making the steering angle sharper. Alternatively, lower the front, but this will reduce your free height so you'll scrape parts quicker

@rchase: was forged rims part of the race trim or did they "just" change the geometry/shock setup?

Didn't Joe break the record? He was flying around the track in '12 when I was there at the fall CodeRACE.

Agreed, go up to Intermediate next time. I presume that you're allowed to pass in the corners as well in the Intermediate group? As for the 150 down the main straight, I believe I saw you clock 143, so that should be easily within reach.

If you have an action cam like GoPro or Contour, a GPS logger, then it's only a matter of getting your gps data to DashWare in the right format. I ended up reverse engineering the Starlane format to create my own overlay videos. But it all takes a lot of time to shoot, combine and review, so I would be cautious about using it during a school day.

That's because they are made by Kawasaki Heavy Industries :-P