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My experience is that physical size doesn't have that much to say in this respect - I ride a 2003 YZF-R1 on the streets and a 2008 YZF-R6 on the track, and I'm 6'6" (&190lbs). I don't find either bike as "cramped", although I need to put my elbows on the outside of the knees in order to get room: What I have found to help, is to make sure that you are well anchored for the braking. I move into the hang-in position (well) before applying the brake, but keep the inner knee "into the tank" so I can keep myself from sliding too much to the front by using the thigh muscles. In fact, getting thrown into the tank is more of a problem on the R1, since A: the seat is a bit slippery, and B: the seat(s) have a downwards slope towards the front, so any minuscule bump will throw me slightly up into the air and forwards . On the R6, the seat is flatter and more "sticky" so I don't get bounced around that much. Hope this helps, Kai

It's funny but I used to have that same problem. I'd use 1 finger for turn 1, my whole hand for 2 and then 2 fingers for the next. All over the place. Ty got on to me about it so I settled on always using 2. No matter what 2 finger. I don't blip the throttle. The ZX6 has an ok slipper and I feather the clutch out to help it. I use two fingers as well, using the ring-finger and the pinkie to blip the throttle (both on the street and on the track - I don't feel my R6's slipper slips). However, be warned that if you run into a situation where you suddenly need to brake very hard (e.g. an emergency braking manoeuvre on the street), you tend to use all four fingers. I would have sworn I'd never do that, due to 10 years of 2-fingered practice on street and track, but when came to showdown (had to brake for a car in rush-hour), I grabbed the front brake with the full hand. Cheers, Kai

Ah, now that WOULD explain the TC issue as well

Could you try again? - I didn't find a link in that posting :-) Cheers, Kai

I didn't spot any glaring errors the first time around I watched the 2nd video (but then again, I wasn't particularly trying to spot the error), but as I re-watched it today something stood out to me: the throttle roll-on happens only when you're almost at the apex! Just to satisfy my own curiosity: was that the "glaring error"? Besides that, I can only echo the words of other posters - Thunderbolt looks like a very nice track indeed. Dang, I miss going to the track (it's been since beginning of April). Maybe on sunday, if the weather permits. And then 3 days @ Anderstorp the weekend after Cheers, Kai

My friend I would love to be coming to Sweden, but I only get so many holidays from work and cannot out. They expect you to WORK at work ??? Can't imagine what you're talking about I still owe uploading videos from Lausitzring. Actually, I need to review them first and my computer isn't fast enough Cheers, Kai

Well, it was dry when I did Level 3, but not the day after, when I did (my first) Level 4. Are you coming to Sweden (Gälleråsen) this year? I'm in for two days of Level 4 on July 9th-10th. My photo-trigger-happy friend who took 5000+ pics in two days will take Level 1 & 2 on the same days. The plan is to hang around and just shoot pictures on the last day (11th). Cheers, Kai

Nice track indeed! It seems that you're accelerating much harder out of the corners than your friend. Also, he seems to almost consistently miss the apex for the second part of the chicane as well as the following right-hander before the track starts to descend. It being the UK, you were obviously quite lucky with the weather Cheers, Kai

Hey, its fixed the Firefox editing problem I had. Good work :-)

I use a Panavise suction cup mount (you can see it halfway down the page http://vholdr.com/contourhd/accessories on the right side called "Windshield Mount"), either mounted on front fairing like this: (snip) The Panavise mount isn't as stable as I would like it to; from the videos, the mount arm appears to be shaking a bit as the entire video is shaken. Maybe I should go back to the "a bunch of duct tape" method that I used on my old miniDV cam /PS: if anyone has found a way to convert/scale videos down from full-HD to, say, 0.5x, please let me know through PM. I've tried umpteen ways with VLC without success, and the graphics system built-in to the motherboard of my computer is not fast enough to show the videos with dropping lots of frames :-( Kai

I use a Panavise suction cup mount (you can see it halfway down the page http://vholdr.com/contourhd/accessories on the right side called "Windshield Mount"), either mounted on front fairing like this: or on the gas tank (the cam gets a little in the way): Oh, pics are from my 4-day frenzy at Lausitzring during Easter, taken by www.racepixx.de Hope this helps, Kai

(snip) Awesome, thanks Cobie. Kai (camera loaded and ready to rock :-)

There is a video on youtube where Keith explains the first part of the suspension tuning process, adjusting the spring sag. Ohlins has online guides on how to set up and tune the suspension settings - basically all their manuals for the rear shocks contain a section on suspension setup. http://www.ohlins.com/Checkpoint-Ohlins/Se.../Underrubrik_1/ As Cobie said, start with the preload and then work from there. The exact compression/rebound settings will depend on the road/track condisions, your riding style & weight, and even surface (track) temperature. Regards, Kai

I'll call a fault on that "trivia" - we have a braking force (deaccelleration) measurement box* and we see just under 1.0G on normal asphalt (heck, we just saw a 'Busa do 10.1m/s^2 on average, which is >1.0G this weekend). *) http://www.bikeview.de/ Cool to know. I'm assuming the bigger/longer bikes (Busa, ZX-14) have excellent braking numbers/distances, due to longer wheelbase and weight--any data on that, say compared to a 600? Agree on the longer bikes. We had another instructor do 10.0 on his BMW K1100RS (with the ABS kicking in, not doing him any favours) and I recall having a student last year who did 10.0 too on his ZX-9R, with his GF as pillion. I've done 9.7-9.8 on my 2003 R1, which should be close enough for a 600cc as things go. Cheers, Kai

I'll call a fault on that "trivia" - we have a braking force (deaccelleration) measurement box* and we see just under 1.0G on normal asphalt (heck, we just saw a 'Busa do 10.1m/s^2 on average, which is >1.0G this weekend). *) http://www.bikeview.de/ Cheers, Kai

I finally got the streetbike back on the roads after the winter period, and I played a little with doing clutchless downshifts on it today. I must say that I was surprised to find how easy it was in the taller gears (3->2 could get a bit rough), even here the first day into trying it. Thanks to all for sharing and discussing it, Kai

Greg, I think your observations are quite common. In Denmark/Sweden, we usually have 4 levels called something like Green, Yellow, Red and Black (written in increasing speed). It usually goes like this: Green group: First timers. The riders have a very low speed, but most of them don't have a clue about lines or TC, and they are all over the place. Few accidents - most ppl either run straight into the sandtrap or outbrakes themselves. Yellow group: The "big desperado" group. Most have a couple of trackdays under their belt and/or think they're the next Rossi (they're not). Speed is significantly higher than in Green group and crashes are abundant. Lines and laptimes are wildly erratic. There's a large disparity in laptimes and riding in such a group either requires ignorance, a very high skill level, or nerves of steel. Or all of them. Red group: in this group most riders rides with fairly consistent lines and laptimes (the're still a few oddballs). Crashes happen, but at a fairly low rate. Black group: usually riders who either have a (rookie) racing license or is running at a pace close to that. Lines are very predictable and consistent. More crashes in Red group, since they are here to push their personal limits. But as stuman points out, the particular trackday provider can also make a huge difference. Kai

Can you do it, yep, on both a bike with or without a slipper clutch, though, it's quite a bit trickier than upshifting. How do you do it? Same as an upshift really, slightly lift of the throttle and press or pull up your shift lever (depending on race of road shift). I often use it when I'm going moderately slowly, and briskly, but for full on race speeds, clutch all the way.. I'm a little confused by the description of the throttle action - are you slightly increasing or decreasing the revs, when it's time to do the downshift? My normal action for a clutchless upshift is this: 1) apply pressure on the gear lever to select the next gear up 2) do a short but quick closing of the throttle to take the power off the tranny for a split-second - next gear will engage. Where in the rev-range are you normally when you do a downshift? - you sure need to be far enough away from the rev limiter, for the engine revs not to bounce against it when the lower gear is engaged Kai (gotta do something while I'm waiting for the snow to melt away)

Well, Christmas 2010 came a little late, but still in time for the season - picked up both of my suits today and they look and feel awesome. The photo of the 2-piece road suit is pretty bad due to the reflective material fooling the light sensor on the camera. The yellow 1-piece is of course inspired by the Yamaha Laguna Seca 2005 team colors (a tribute to the "bumblebee" colors used by King Kenny in Ye Olde Days). Woo-hoo! Kai

I ended up with the ContourHD 1080p + a few paraphenalia. I've done a few test videos, but real testing will have to wait until the biking starts - i.e. that the white/brownish slush-ice out on the streets goes away and the temperature goes up with 10 degrees (celcius) or so. Kai

Great race, stu! Is it just me or were you suffering a bit from having less power (or more weight for the same power) than #1 and #3? Kai

teg, I'm not a tire specialist, but the general rule I have been told is that tires should be less than 5 years old when you first mount them and once you start using them, they should be replaced after (max) 2 years. This is due to chemicals that are put into the tire compound (to make the tire more flexible) that tends to evaporate with heat cycles and time. Kai

I have found that covering the front brake with two fingers at all times makes things awkward, especially during roll-ons, so I don't do it (anymore). If I'm braking or I am in a situation when I need extra quick reaction (for emergency braking), I do cover the front brake with two fingers. Hope this helps, Kai

Crash, that's a tricky question. If she is very hesitant at braking and evasive manouvres (basically counter-steering), then I would advice that she starts with a course that focuses on that*, to bring her up a couple of notches. Once she is comfortable with those manouvres, bring her on to CSS. *) You didn't state where you're living, so I can't recommend a course for her. All the best, Kai

Dude that's is ancient history, and there are very few witnesses to this, so did it really happen? The more CF resists, the more it sticks Kai