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Qualifiers it is! - found them on sale online (€182 including shipping - must be around €80 down on normal), probably a clearance sale thing before the new Q2's arrive. /Tanner: great avatar there. Is that a 2002-2003 model you have as well?

I always wear mine; on the track, in a School or on the street. - ATGATT! I totally agree to the ATGATT philosophy. When I started using a backprotector some 12 years ago, using one was rare among street riders - now it's like "are you stupid or sumthin'?" if you don't wear it on the street. I have a friend still living because he purchased AND used his back protector - let's just say that in the battle between your back and Norwegian granite (as in 'mountain'), it's the granite that wins every time. The Danish car racer Jason Watt crashed his ZX-9R bike ten years ago during a mag photoshoot, while doing a wheelie - unfortunately he slid his back into a curb leaving him paralyzed from the chest down. He has continued to successfully race specially modified cars. We don't know for sure (we can't go and reenact the accident), but it is highly likely that we wouldn't have been paralyzed, if he had used a back protector at the time. Kai

It's exactly the alround choice I'm looking for here. Just a clarifying question: are you referring to the 'plain' Qualifier or the Qualifier RR tires? Which Bridgestones are you using? - my problem with the bridgestones is that there are so many models to choose from (bt-002, bt-014, bt-015, and -016) and their website don't line them up the way Dunlop do. The Michelin PowerOne tires & website has the same issue - basically too many variants to choose from, even with their selector website. Thanks to all for chiming in.

Short version: maximum rpm and thus power. I was going to say torque as well, but realized that they have pneumatic values now (which allows them to optimize the lift profile for all rpms independently). Longer version: With 1000cc & 4 cylinders, the max bore of 81mm will effectively limit the minimum stroke length to 48.5mm. The piston has to travel 2 x the stroke for every revolution, and the average speed of the piston affects the wear and heat of the piston. So in order to keep the wear and heat to a reasonable level, they have to keep the rpms down, or come up with ways of reducing the wear and heat. As an example take a 600cc sportsbike with a stroke of 42.5mm (such as the YZF-R6 and CBR600RR), which has a max rpm of 15.500rpm. Here the max average piston speed is 15500/60*2*42.5mm = 22m/sec, which is close the what has been considered "the limit" for production bikes for some time. For MotoGP race bikes, they can surely bend the limits quite a bit.

Since 2002, I've been using Metzeler Sportec M1 and Roadtec Z6's 2002/2003 Yamaha YZF-R1. The M1/Z6 tires have always given me a lot of grip and lots of confidence in both dry and wet conditions. This year, in preparation for my CSS Level 1 & 2, I bought a new set of tires - Sportec M3's (front + rear). While the old M1's were very neutral and didn't move from lines in the tarmac until they were quite worn, the new M3's felt "nervous" from day one. With the new M3, the confidence is gone (even though there's clearly lots of grip available, even at full lean). The bike becomes very sensitive to longitudinal tarmac changes and white stripes. Also, when turning in the bike, the front feels like it's twitching as if it cannot decide what lean angle to settle on. I've been in talking with Metzeler customer support (they actually called me up!) and they explained that this is as expected, due to different constructions of the M1 and M3 tires - basically the M3 is more pointed, which makes it more "nervous". After a season of driving the M3's, I've decided that I want the old behaviour back. I could go back to the M1's but since a lot of development is happening in compounds and Silica contents these years, I'd rather look forward than back, when choosing a new tire. So here's my question: which tires would you recommend, given the above?

What you just described is affectionally known as "the gorilla factor", since you get this slightly hunched over position while off the bike I couldn't agree more. I had a set of leathers made-to-measure in 1998 (for road riding) and it was just fantastic. My current Dianese 1-piece that I use for track riding is a standard size 56, but it's 4" too short in the legs and 2" in the arms. I guess that at 6'6" and 190lbs, I'm just not measuring up to EU-standard sizes After 12 seasons of riding the leather on the tailored suit is deteriorating and the colours doesn't look as nice, so just before Christmas I had measurements taken for both a 1-piece (for the track) and a 2-piece (for the road). Christmas 2010 should arrive around February 1st :)

Thanks, stevo. Actually, it's just Denmark that weird with the taxes - Sweden don't have any registration taxes on cars and bikes. Legend has it that originally the tax was a "luxury tax" in Denmark, but suddenly the government got caught up in relying on the income. These days the arguments are "vehicle pollute a lot", "Without a high tax we would have an congestion problems", and "we need the revenue". The unspoken issue is also that without a local car production, a high registration tax effectively limits the flow of money out of the country. On the flip side, we do have free (as in gratis) education all the way up to university and free health care. Most Americans go ballistic when they hear this the first time, but when they've stayed for a while in Scandinavia, they come to appreciate they tradeoffs made.

Hi Cobie, I have just today been trying to find out the ratios are between the various bike types (or rider types, if you like) here in Denmark, but I didn't succeed. When I get that info, I'll let you know. Suzuki is quite popular in Denmark, since the distributor normally gets some really good deals on the bikes - combine that with a 180% tax, and they quickly much much cheaper than the rivalling Japanese bikes. Honda had a big market share 10 years back, but somehow they've decided that they were able to demand higher prices for their bikes - big surprise, they weren't. The beemers have always been popular with the guys that want a "two-wheeled bus, cabriolet", in spite of their ridiculous prices. I'm not very much into the cruiser types, but I believe that most people choose the jap wannabee bikes over the Harleys, since the Harleys tend to be associated with gangs and gang related crime (Bandidos and Hells Angels). Trackdays: there are a number of providers, and the total number of days you can attend seems to have gone up over the last 10 years. Probably has to do with the proliferation of the Internet - now it's much easier to spread the message to more riders, so it's easier to get attendance from more riders. Overall, I would say that the trackdays are reasonably easy to get one. There are specific schools which have been around for 10+ years which are hard to get on, simply because they only run 4 schooldays every year. Regards, Kai Reliable months: this is Denmark, are you kidding me? - we get wind & rain at the same sickening rate as the British do. Generally, the motorcycling season is considered to be from March to October, but since we can get night-frost (and the municipality spraying salt on the roads to de-ice them) up until late April, many riders wait until at least April to drag out their bike. Pretty much the same goes for southern Sweden. If you go the 500km due north to get to the level of Stockholm (Sweden) and Oslo (Norway), you can cut out about a month in both ends (Been There, Done That). Go another 400km north again to Trondheim (Norway) and you can at least cut another fortnight away in both ends. Go further 350km and say hello to the Arctic Circle Since they now have the possibility of midnight sun, the 6-7' of snow can disappear pretty quickly - but it can also be quite cold, so best option is to check the forecast even in the midst of the summer.

Right now, the schedule looks a little empty - it wont be like that for long: April 2-5th, Lausitzring (Germany). July 9-10th, CSS Level 4 at Gälleråsen (Sweden). I'll probably squeeze in 1 more day in each of the missing months (May, June, August, September). On top of that, I'll probably spend 4-5 weekends as a safety course instructor between April and August

Not just singles - the Big Four has made a bunch of 400cc 4-cylinder bikes originally destined for the internal Japanese market, but for tax reasons (bikes and cars are taxed up to 180% at registration) Denmark has received quite a few of these such as CBR400, VFR400, RVF400, GSX-R400, and ZX-R400'es. A friend of mine has a CBR400RR and loves every bit of it, since she's around 162-165cm (5'4"-5'5" for the metrically challenged). Biggest problem is the coming shortage of maintenance parts and tires (try getting hold of a decent 150/60 rear).

Actually, I live in Denmark, but that's a minor issue. The lower part of Sweden, which is the part I know, is very much like Denmark - rolling hills, patches of woods, fairly narrow roads. Norway, on the other hand, has plenty of mountains and canyons - pick any 3-digit "Riksvei" (national road) and you're in for a good time in the saddle. But still plenty of narrow roads Denmark has just 3 asphalt tracks, all located on the Jutland peninsular and very rarely open to trackdays. The biggest track, Jyllandsringen, is located next to a bird conservation area and a very large camper area. Well, let's just say that it goes downwards from there. So it's not a surprise that most Danes travel to Sweden or Germany to go track riding. We are fortunate enough to have quite a few Swedish tracks close to Denmark - Falkenberg, Ring Knutstorp, Sturup Raceway as well as Scandinavian Raceway in Anderstorp where Formula 1 and GP500 was held back in the 70'ies/80'ies. I think Wayne's lap record from 1990 still holds (1.31'107). Sweden has quite a number of other tracks, but not easily accessible from Denmark. With the notable exception of Anderstorp (4km) and Ring Gotland (the North loop is 3.2km, with a projected south loop adding 4.2km to that), most tracks are short, technical and often with elevation changes. I don't think that Keith is that well known - you have to be a bit into trackdays or racing to know him. The cruiser guys mostly think that us sportsbike people are nutters . Many motorcyclist go to locally based courses, such as SMC's Braking/curves course (BKK) or the Danish DMC's safe-driving courses. Since SMC have started the sportsbike courses, which has been heavily influenced by Twist-2 indirectly through the Norwegian book "Full Kontroll", Keith and the Twist books are likely to become better known and undoubtedly more popular. Somehow, Denmark has a much more scattered offering of courses, with noone really picking up the gauntlet from Twist-2. We have some that try to teach cornering, but they do not provide a very structured approach - everything depends on which instructor you are assigned. (I can safely say this since I've not only attended the course, but know a number of the instructors first hand).

I would think to make it viable for others to be able to supply bikes, and competively so. I'm only guessing here, but my take is that they thought that having a 600cc (Moto2) and an 800cc class (MotoGP) was too close for comfort - just how much difference in laptimes etc would there be between the top Moto2 riders and the top MotoGP riders, with just 200cc of extra displacement? So in order to be able to market the two classes as being really different, they had to move them further apart - and hence the 1000cc displacement. Slight topic deviation: Since they have replaced the 250GP class (250cc 2-strokes) with Moto2 (600cc 4-strokes), a natural progression would be to replace the 125GP class with something like a 400cc 4-stroke class as well. If they did, it could result in a new wave of 400cc sportsbikes and THAT would be really interesting IMHO.

I can't speak for dbtripple's version of "Long Leg Syndrome", but since I'm 6'6" as well, I can at least add my own perspective: when you have (very) long legs, you tend to have very sharp angles in the lower joints (knee, ankle) and the bike dimensions can make it difficult finding a good, stable body position on the bike. All this can also make it a bit awkward moving around on the bike and cause fatigue on longer drives. WRT your own vs a school bike: I've done all my levels (1-4) on my own bikes. Yes, you may be a little bit more cautious about dropping the bike, but I think that's just a good thing since charging around the track will most likely lower your learning during the day(s). Hope this helps, Kai

Hi Andy, He most certainly did! - I've got both his and your autograph in your "Performance Riding Techniques" book as well as this photo by picman to boot: Hope to see you again at Gälleråsen! Cheers, Kai

I got my drivers license in '89 while studying, and bought my first bike in '95 after graduating and getting a job (cars and bikes are expensive here in Denmark) - a Yamaha XT600Z Ténéré '88. The year after, I moved to Norway and brought the bike with me. In Norway, I started going canyon carving on Sundays with a bunch of people on mostly sportbikes. That led to a YZF600R (ThunderCat) in '98, which I attended my first CSS-inspired course. I proceeded to crash it thoroughly later that year on a local track (Rudskogen) after getting both my right knee and footpeg down in "Storsvingen". When I moved back to Denmark by '99, I got a new ThunderCat, which I thrashed around on both street and track for a few years until I moved to Sweden (where the bikes are inexpensive) - and got a YZF-R1 2002. It got nicked a year later, so I decided to get a dedicated track bike instead - a '01 R6. Come 2004, I got "an offer I couldn't refuse" so I was the lucky owner of a 2003 R1 as well. I still have that bike and loving every moment of it, even though I had to pay for it an extra time when registering it in Denmark, when moving back in 2005. Last year I swapped the '01 R6 for a '08 R6. What a difference! Still trying to adapt to it. Overall, I must have ridden around 90K miles, riding on the roads for around 15 years and on the track for 10+ years now (I'm a fairly smooth and predictable, but not a very fast, trackday rider). Since 2005, I am also working as an instructor at a motorcycle driver safety course here in Denmark.

Hi all, OK, first posting since registering almost a year ago. I've been riding some 15 years now, been reading Keith's books for about 10 years and finally bit the bullet and attended the Level 1 & 2 at Gälleråsen (Sweden) in May this year. Planned for attending Level 3&4 next your, but then I read that Keith was coming over to the UK in July .... well, let's just say it's a 24hour drive from Copenhagen to Silverstone in my van. I do plenty of trackdays but have never been racing. My major priorities are to have fun out there on the track and hopefully improve my laptimes a bit - cut off 3 seconds on Ring Knutstorp this year (down from 1:15 to 1:12 - FWIW, national champ level laptimes are around 1:00 flat). Kai (that 6'6" guy in white leathers & a blue R1/R6)