khp
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Posts posted by khp
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If you can't get a regular off-the-rack set of leathers to fit, you can have custom-fit/made leathers at quite reasonable cost and with good quality. (Once you do this, you will never want to go back...)
I know it's in Keith's books, but it was such a revelation to me that I want to mention it here: being in control of the bike by using counter-steering and throttle roll-on in the corners.
Getting your reference points to be precise (and have enough of them) pays huge dividends.
Lower body lock-on. My driving instructor never explained why it was so important to lock your legs/knees onto the bike.
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Hi Hans,
It's virtually impossible to tell you what to expect, since it depends so much on the organizer and secondarily on the attendants.
You should be fine with a standard shock. As for tyres, just make sure they have a lot of fresh rubber.
Enjoy yourself
Kai
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Speaking of bent shift forks, Joe Roberts had to miss the 2nd race of the CodeRACE school due to a suspected bent fork :-(
At least it made for more exciting racing (and I didn't have to get lapped) ;-)
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I use all four fingers on the clutch, and don't see a lot of reason to change. It's like arguing about whether to use two or four fingers on the brake - even at the MotoGP level you will see both styles applied with success, so learn about the pros and cons, but don't get so hanged up on the details IMHO. Use what works for you, until it is limiting your riding (I'm sure we can find something that is higher on the "riding fix-it" list, like vision and RPs).
Kai
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Rolling off the gas will move the weight forward, so the front fork will compress and thus the bike will tighten it's line.
HOWEVER, rolling off the gas will also reduce our ground clearance, something we'd rather avoid.
JET's demo in the video is quite clear and the simple movement of your upper body mass has surprisingly large effect on the line!
You often don't notice it being used in MotoGP, since they apply the Hook Turn right from the beginning of the turn (since this is where it has it's biggest overall impact) . As I recall, Dani Predosa uses the hook turn quite clearly.
Kai
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Hi,
As others have said, this is most likely your SRs firing.
Since it's the twisty sections that is causing you problems, I have to ask: How good is your vision in these sections?
Kai
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Fossil,
That's just smokin'!
Kai
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First off, clutchless downshifting is (in my experience) very dependent on the bike... or should I say gearbox.
On my Yamahas, clutchless downshifting requires a lot of attention to rpms and sequence.
On the school BMWs, it was almost effortless to do the same.
Here's how I do it:
1) Close the throttle (you are slowing down, right?). This creates a load on the gearbox from the rear wheel.
2) Load the shift lever (down or up, depending on race/street shift pattern)
3) Do a small blip with the throttle. This makes the engine and rear wheel match in speed, and thereby removes the load on the gears that keeps the gear engaged.
If there is a large mismatch between the gears, getting the downshifts to be smooth can get difficult. As I said above, in my experience there is a BIG difference between bikes in this area.
As I recall, this is not the "Official Superbike School Method" - you have been warned
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First, getting to ride a bit (both road and track), which means "outside of China" should anyone be in doubt
Secondly, keeping the rubber side down ALL YEAR! (grumble).
Thirdly, get better at explicitly identifying RPs instead of relying on my intuition.
Fourth, be more greedy on the throttle roll-on (now that I got an idea of what it takes to get the rear to slide, thanks to Jon and Johnny).
Fixing my racebike would be nice too, but won't happen the next twelve months since it's in storage.
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I have it (bought it in '09 when I was in the UK and got both Andy and Keith to sign it) and I have read it too.
Note that the book is also branded with the MotoGP name, so there are more ties than just to the school.
As I recall, the book is quite OK, but doesn't provide any earth-shattering new information. From memory, the book more talks about 'all the other things' in racing (ie not cornering): passing, braking, physical fitness, the mental game/plan, a bit about bike prepping. It also shows telemetry data from Andy and Hopper doing a lap on the (then) Suzuki Rizla+ MotoGP bike. Andy's comment: "Where am I slower? - everywhere!"
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I stayed at the Inn of Lancaster at the recommendation of Hotfoot and it was nice with friendly staff.
Turned out that the school staff stayed there as well :-)
Kai
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Still on the phone:
S1000RR impressions.
Rain mode: docile beemer. Yawn.
Sport mode: hey, this thing is actually has an engine!
Race mode: becomes finicky and touchy on the gas.
Slick mode: No DTC. Slip' Slidin' Away!
Ergos are close to other sportsbikes, so no surprises here.
Sidestand appears to be reused from a supertourer. Big, heavy and impossible to pick out with your foot.
Gearbox : very smooth and nice. Is much more willing to make clutch less downshifts than my Yamahas. Minus:hopeless to find the neutral when you need it. But I did find a false neutral at least twice.
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Hi Frippe.
Welcome to the forum. You don't need to travel to the US to do the school, since SMC is arranging for the UK branch to come to Sweden once a year. That's how I did my first levels :-)
Check SMC's school pages for CSS.
Välkommen åter!
Kai
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Just a quick update: I'm now sitting a breakfast diner in Las Vegas after 4 great days at Willows.
Interestingly, I was much more knackered after the first two days at the big track than after the Race school.
I had so much fun at the race school that they had to charge me an extra $1100 :-\ (the front tucked after the apex of T12 going into the skidpad).
Thanks especially to the coaches that I directly worked with: Pete, Dylan, Jon, Johnny and Chris. The rest of the team was great too, of course :-)
Joe Roberts did a 1:16.2 in qualifying on the 2nd day - a 1.5 sec improvement over his race time on Saturday. Where did he find that? "The Kink"
My best laptime was a 1:28.8. Best non-Joe rider did a 1:22.x as I recall.
I'll summarize later when I get off the cell phone and get to a computer.
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It's difficult to judge distances/turn radii from the map, so allow me to ask back: would the length of the straight after the horseshoe affect how you would attach the horseshoe itself?
I am sorry man I am kinda lost on your question, I am having a hard time understanding what the straight after the horseshoe affects the horseshoe itself. Am I misreading something?
OK, let me be less Socratic and more direct, then:
Would you say that there are multiple good lines that you could take through the turn?
Would it be likely that some of these lines would sacrifice drive out of the turn (ie exit speed and acceleration) in favor of spending shorter time in the turn itself?
How would the length of the following straight affect your choice of line in the turn, if you're trying to lower your laptimes?
HTH, Kai
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I was overlooking the race track map for the local track here and saw that from T7 to T8 on the black course (short course) where it has that horseshoe looking part of the track. Now how would you take a turn like that with either a qualifying line or racing line?
I don't know if this will make any sense but just from looking at the track map this is how I would interpret the turn: from T7 to T8 I would be more towards the outside of the track and follow that into the black portion of the track and try to go as straight and upright as possible and then into a quick turn and take the inside of the line once the turn decreases. I would do it this way because I would spend less time leaned over, more traction, more throttle and carry more speed throughout the whole turn.
It's difficult to judge distances/turn radii from the map, so allow me to ask back: would the length of the straight after the horseshoe affect how you would attach the horseshoe itself?
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Now, towards end of the day I realized I have a problem with braking. Sometimes I would approach the turn entry point a fast enough to require some hard braking, and once I managed to lock it up. It felt like bike was sliding, but was not unstable - ie it kept going forward with no noticeable wobble. I released front brake pressure a bit and it stabilized itself (obviously I was not using rear brake at all).
Coach was riding behind me, and didnt notice anything wrong, and wasnt able to offer any explanations. I think my problem is not fully releasing the throttle while braking & downshifting. This sometimes happens to me whenever I start to push the envelope a bit - not exactly fear but just insufficient attention towards full throttle rolloff. Obviously I need to work on my brake/down technique.
I am trying to understand what happened... could it be that my front tire was not locked, but rear was spinning & loose due to the throttle not being completely off? I was in 3rd gear for pretty much all turns, Kawi Ninja 650 (all stock).
Peter,
I'm not sure you have a braking problem (you did very well to catch the locked up tyre before crashing), but let me turn your questions around:
What If the bike was in perfect balance - how would the bike reacting to a locked up the front tyre?
Could you think of application of the front brake, that would lead to sub-optimal traction?
What makes you think that you are not releasing the throttle completely while braking/downshifting, and what effect would it have on the bike?
Cheers,
Kai
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Do you have a routine for the evening after a hard day of riding, or the next day?
Nope, no routine of "after-riding". I don't know if it's because I'm getting lazy on the bike or just better at being relaxed (maybe a combo), but I have no problems going riding 2-3 trackdays in a row without getting sore.
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I have also added a slipper clutch in the mean time. There are three corners at TMP where I am wasting brain power and time letting the clutch out slowly on downshifts in order to control the rear wheel (remember, 1000-cc V-twin). Hopefully the slipper helps relieve me of that inconvenience. On the other hand, the new clutch is totally untested (track-only bike!), so maybe it will not work at all and ruin my day! My mechanical skills are somewhat mediocre, although so far they haven't got me into any real trouble.
I installed a Sigma slipper in the R6 up to 2011 season, and I have never opened a motorcycle engine (OK, only helped my friend open his, but his was fried) before taking the clutch apart. All I did was to follow the instructions and it worked perfectly.
YMMV.
Good luck with the trackday.
Kai
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I think looking at chicken strips as a gauge of how much grip you have is a bad idea and will probably end in tears! In all my time riding/racing bikes, I have never worn a front tyre all the way to the edge. I just don't think the profile allows it.
This is also my experience.
I have previously worn a front tyre (supersport/road type) to the edge, but that was due to scrubbing off speed (but not sliding) with the front tyre all the way to the apex (not recommended).
Kai
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So basically if you have tire warmers you can just go all out once the flag drops and if you don't have tire warmers then you have to work the tires in each lap and build up the heat. This brings to mind when Rossi hit a chicane and the left side of the tire wasn't as hot and he ended up lowsiding. That brings me to another question, let's say the track has more right hand turns then left hand turns. Do you have to work your way into the left hand turns to build up heat on that side of the tire before pushing deeper lean angles?
You have to remember that Rossi and his friends use the traction to the very last percent (and less than that), in order to turn competitive laptimes. I sure as heck don't do that, so not having quite as much heat in one side over the other normally don't mean a thing to me. But the left-vs-right turns is important, as Luke points out.
Case in point: Anderstorp has 5 right-hand turns and 3 left-hands. But the two of the lefties are really short, and the last left-hand is a big 190 degree sweeper, coming after 4 right turns and lots of straights - so the left hand side of the tyre will be a lot cooler and that turn has caught out quite a few people (I just got a big scare out of a slide/grip/slide some years ago).
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Great write-up, Greg!
Congratulations on the successes!
Kai
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everybody's body is different
what works for a certain demographic might not work for others imho.
i have long legs for my height and that makes me ###### out of luck on most yamahas. Kawasaki's... i find it MUCH more comfy. YMMV
Really? I use 38" inseam, and have never owned anything but Yamaha bikes.
But clearly YMMV.
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...I will usually on purpose drag my knee in the first corner on the first lap without any slides, squirms etc.
But you're like 7 feet tall...don't you drag you knee in the straights?
Nah, actually not.
Nah, actually not.
Adapting The Bike To Me
in School Questions/General Discussion
Posted
Setting money aside for changed springs might not be a bad idea, but I would start out by checking what the current preload is and how much adjustment you can do as-is.
For the front fork, lowering the oil level can increase the adjustment range.