Bullet

How do you know? You can't tell yourself, pics or external observation is the only way to be really sure....! Bullet

Thanks for your great note, really glad you had a great day. I'm sure you'll have questions, so please do ask Bullet

Hi mate, welcome to the forum. I'll be at Silverstone next week myself, so I'll get to meet you in person then. Any questions you have, please ask, though I think some of the generic things have been covered already. Looking forward to it. Bullet

Hi Andrew, Ok, answers to your questions vary on many factors really, one generally a consequence of lean angle/speed combination. 1) Generally only when riders have poor body position and little lean angle. 2) most confortable option I'd suggest 3) sometimes. Is it possible to drag knee against fairing? Only if you're carrying really big lean angles and you have super sticky tyres. I'd suggest for most people, option 2 is the way to go. Bullet

hi aly, welcome to the forum and so very nice to have a fellow norverner join our ranks. To many of these suvvern'ers on hers so your participation is greatly welcomed. Glad you've decided to come and do a school,I've no doubt you will enjoy it greatly. am sure you'll have many questions so please feel frre to ask, myself or some of our faithful devoted members will happily chime in, share thei experiences and views. enjoy, have a look around, see what other great info you can find. Bullet

Hi carey, Thanks very much for your post. I'm really not sure if you can use Textile wear, as in the UK we do insist on zip together leathers. Now, for students in the UK, we offer the opportunity to hire leathers, and perhaps this is something that's also possible in the US? I'd suggest you ring the office, and ask this specific question my friend, as it'll just remove the ambiguity of it for you, give the solid answer that you need. Please do let everyone know though. Bullet

It is for a lot of people, hence why it's drill No.1, the biggest thing to fix. Keep working at my friend. Bullet

Hi nic, I'm really pleased you enjoyed your day, sounds like it was excellent fun. I spoke with the guys last night, and they said it was cold, but good fun. Now you're an official member of the team, you can understand how we work, understand how we can systematically help you out. Hope to get more questions and interaction on here, and we'll be seeing you again soon if I remember correctly. Bullet

Hi peeps, I've just come back from testing my CBR600FV (1997) race bike at Angelsey in North Wales and a friend of mine has some video of me riding around, thought a few of you might be interested in some of the video (which is taken from behind, my bike is blue and i've got white leathers on) on my friends GSXR750K7. I didn't know the video was actually being taken, so I wasn't showboating or anything, just trying a few things as we race at this circuit. My main aim was to test a few things, bed my new brakes in and get used to my new race tyres, more of in a moment. So, for some context, this was taken in 2nd session of the day, I'm running my race bike, which has about 110bhp at the rear wheel, (which is good for a steelie racer, which is the class I race in with Wirral 100). My friend's bike is about 140bhp at the back wheel and you can see it's noticably quicker in a straight line, but I hope I do him in the turns. This is the fast session of the trackday, most of the bikes are 1000's the occasional racer and 600. I'm fresh out of the pits and to note, I didn't use tyre warmers so just had to bed my tyres in and get them upto speed. The tyres are new to me and I shall be racing these now for the remainder of the year. They're Dunlop D211GP Racer NTEC's, in medium front, and endurance rear. Pressure from cold for your techno weenies is around 21 rear, and 29 front. Oh, and they're absolutely fantastic things. You'll see a very fast race bike at one point, he's running a superbike with about 195bhp at rear. The last 30 seconds of the video the more observant of you will notice a lad with one arm, (he's a superbikeschool student too, and races. top fella). This first video is session 2, there is another one to come later on which is session 3, when I up the pace a little, and my friend struggles to keep up a bit, but you'll get the point, and see what a wonderful circuit Angelsey is. For those of you in the UK, come and ride, it's fantastic. http://www.youtube.c...u/0/pZAn2CI8vC8 (session 2) http://www.youtube.c...u/0/L_p8IqbvnyM (Session 3) http://www.youtube.com/user/mclucker#p/u/0/PoPwqwcZMqY (sessoion 4), Last one he tried to keep up. Hope you enjoy, please post comments/observations, I'm always up for some input. I know I need to work harder on the brakes, but it's a trackday, and i'm trying to be relatively courteous. Bullet

I'm sure the answer to this question will depend a lot of factors, like road surface, what bike you ride, which tires you use, etc., and I won't try to address that part of the question. But, since I think Cobie is on the road right now and might not be available to respond to this, I'll repeat something I've heard him say lots of times: the danger of adding lean angle and throttle at the same time, is that if/when the rear tire DOES run out of grip, you don't get any warning, and it can toss you suddenly. And it can be a nasty way to fall. You are, after all, adding TWO stresses on the traction at the same time, inreasing lean angle AND throttle simultaneously, easy to shoot right past the "warning" stage and into the airborne stage. On the other hand, if you are standing the bike up as you roll on the throttle, you are putting stress on the rear tire with the throttle, BUT you are also IMPROVING your traction by reducing lean angle, so you wouldn't be approaching the limit as rapidly. You would have a better chance of getting some warning if the tire starts to slide, and if you are already raising the bike more upright, you have a much better chance of recovering from a slide. I'm curious, what was prompting you to add lean at the end of the long corner, versus driving and standing the bike up? Also, how did you know that you were at the edge of the tire? Thank you for stating what I pretty much assumed to be the case. I just feel I am safely within the realms of the grip the few times I do this. I've done it around a couple of corners for many, many years. The reason for the action is that these two corners that spring to mind where I ride this way, is that they both have a change of direction going into them and both the way their shape is initially and the fact that they start out as off-camber corners and gradually gets into positive camber makes it fun to accelerate through, but scary to attack from the onset. Did that make any sense I know that I were on the edge of the tyre because the sidestand was just touching down, which is as far as I ever lean - and I do not have any chicken strips, only a tenth of a mm here and there around the circumference where the tyre isn't absolutely even The other thing is, as the bike leans further, the suspension becomes less, and less effective. Whilst you can get away with this riding issue because of lower speed and modern tyre grip, the reality is that increasing lean angle through a corner with throttle roll on indicates an issue with either in appropriate roll-on (timing, too much, etc, etc), of your line was wrong. Whilst it may feel very exciting, and it's a comment I get from a lot of students that do this, it's bad technique all the same, and can get you into a lot of trouble. Bullet

Hi mate, OK, what you need to do..? Well, step 1, make sure it's roadworthy, tyres are ok, chain, levers and footpegs those kind of things are all ok, not about to fall off, etc, etc. You'd be suprised, but these are the things that will be checked by the guys on the day. So, as for mirrors, either take them off, bend them in, or they'll be taped up for you on the day. Lights don't need to be taped up, niether does your number plate, though if you don't want it in your shots (and they also go up on the web), then you'd need to do that aspect yourself, (again, tape or remove). You can bring your own tools if you can on the bike(mirrors are usually just an Allen key), or if you ask Gloom nicely, you can leverage ours, though make sure you bring em back... ;-) Hope that covers it mate. Bullet

Hi bobby, Sorry to hear about your off mate, at least you're ok, you'll ride again, and get past this. I watched the Video, and it's tricky to tell, you did look like you had a lot of lean angle to me. If you were on the throttle, it does have cold tyres written all over it really, if not, then perhaps some weight on the inside bar? I noted your pics in your other thread though, and to be honest, I wasn't seeing lots of weight on the bars, but you'd know better than us..? How old were the tyres? Do you use warmers? Done many trackdays before? How many heat cycles they been through? Bullet

If you don't look before you turn, how will you know where you're going? It'll be a nice suprise. Bullet

You'll get to do this on Level 1 in the next couple of weeks... Nothing like waiting for the understanding of why before trying to apply I always find.. Bullet

Bullet, speak English, will ya? LOL I think you'll find old boy, that I most definitely speak the Queens english, not quite so sure what slang you lot speak myself, but I try and keep up. Please find definition of codger.. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/codger Bullet

Ai, you pedal alright for an old codger! Welcome back as well. Where ya been...? Bullet

How I deal with that is you need to drive off the turn so much quicker, and get yourself up in the inside by the next turn. So if your competitor is slow mid turn, I try and turn in later, get the bike stood up and squared off earlier, and get the bike stood up and driving earlier than your compromised friend who's slow mid turn. Trying to go around the outside is almost always going to end with you getting squeezed, unless you're brave, so following this advice, as you're counterpart runs wide, you'll be able to get out tighter, but crucially faster. The other I find is you'll usually be quicker at some point than your racing counterpart somewhere? I'm often better at one spot than another racer, and perhaps vice versa. Bullet

I like racing in the rain, as everyone hates it, and is scared.......... Bullet

Yeap, you're being too critical. The application of the drills is more important than speed, as you only have a certain amount of attention. You don't need to have the inital drills upto 80-90%, we're going to work on those, though, 2 step drill does indeed get built upon, so keep on working on this, as it's very, very key. level 2 is all mainly visuals with a physical drill thrown in for good measure. Oh, and going back to one gear no brakes is a very good idea if you cannot give the drills the right attention, we often do this with students who is getting carried away a little a looking a little unruly. Hope that helps Bullet

I think to race at any level really competitively, you need to have self belief, and at world class level, it would lead to nigh on arrogance I'd suggest. Arrogance/Ego Hinderance? I suspect only in getting on with people, not in your racing results. Bullet

Hi mate, Really glad you enjoyed your day, it was great weather (which always helps of course), and the new Stowe circuit and facilities are dramatically improved to say the least. Your coach would be Trotter, Aka Jet, who's the Chief riding coach and a top bloke to boot. Mediteranean he is not though, he just has had a few holidays of late. I'll pass on your comments and remarks. Bullet

What are the component pieces that make a good student, in this sport, or really any other for that matter? There's a number of coaches on the board here, so what can a student to to make your day!? Best, Steve How interesting. Is this an attempt to get us to say what really pisses us off about certain students? Well, I think it's probably fair to start by saying that the coaches all have different personalities, (obviously), have different coaching experiences, have different backgrounds in terms of racing/speed, etc, etc, so there ideal student does vary a lot as well, but in an attempt to try and generalise it a little of some over all things i personally enjoy in working with a student, we can use that as a starter for 10, and others can chime in when they see this thread. So... here's my list of things that make s a great student.... : - - Don't think you need to be a racing god, a trackday hero, or an aspiring racing weekend warrior. You can be a normal road rider of any level, and often we get incredibly great results from the most modest of riding abilities. - Try, and I say this to those that are new, realising it can be hard, try and get a good nights sleep, try and keep of to many beers or whatever it is that floats your boat, it'll impede your ability to learn for probably the first half of the day. - Arrive early, get yourself well prepared for the day ahead. It's a long day, rushing into the circuit 10 mins before the days starts is really not a fab plan for either you as the student, (sigining on, getting your kit checked, us checking your bike, you being late, can make our lives harder as well as your own). - Come with an open mind, be prepared to take on the observation and input you get from the coaches. In your mind you're close to Valentino, that body position mid turn is awesome for those pics, that weaving mid corner is so damn exciting, but all joking aside, if your coach advises you it's not doing you much favours, take it pretty much as read they're advising you for your benefit. -Don't think we have a magic pouch of pixie dust in our school kit bag. By just coming to the school, sitting in the seminars, going on track and progressing through the 4 levels wil not automatically turn you into a riding god. Much as we'd love to be able to sell you that one, I'm afraid it takes lots of dedication, practice and work to refine the skills we coach you on when you go away from us. You're dedication will be rewarded though. - Don't have an agenda, arriving having done many trackdays or other schools perhaps, thinking, well, I need to work on this aspect of my riding, and this alone, (usually body position by the way!), and just thinking, well, I don't need to work on any of these other aspects of the course, I know it all, I'm all good thanks. As essentially, you'll get frustrated, and we'll make little progress. I'm almost certain everyone can improve all aspects of their riding to some degree, arrive with that in mind, see what we can do for you, change or ammend, and you'll get a lot of out it. Remember, we coach all levels of riders, novices to world class level! - If you're not having a the day you'd hoped for, you're not perhaps engaging/connecting with your coach, mention it, talk to the Cheif Riding Coach or your seminarist . We're very aware of it ourselves as coaches, sometimes it happens, we won't take offence if you want to swap and try another coach, we often reccomend it ourselves, so don't think you can't do that yourselves. We want you to get the very most from your day. -Please don't crash, it's not ideal for you, and niether is it for us. So remember it's a school, ride at a level you can learn at, not thinking you need to try and stuff your mate up at the next race meeting or trackday. - Last but not least ( and this a personal goal for me at a day at the school as well, baring in mind this is my vacation time), have fun guys. Hope this serves as a good starter for 10. Bullet

Hi mate, So you think I owe ya, is that what your saying? Inferring..? LOL? Interesting thoughts, though I'm afraid I cannot coach ya at Brands, as I'm not going to be there mate. As i'm a Norvern'er, it's a long, long way from me, and I can't take the journey, well, not on the way back, and then go back to work. Call me soft, whatever, but I guess i'll just have to owe ya! Let us know how ya go mate, be very pleased to know to be honest. Bullet

Well you'll feel it for yourself in a few weeks time then, so lets leave it till then. We don't sell bottle am afraid, though i prefer to think we give people confidence and skills, which is way more important I assure you. Seeya soon, though I won't be at Brands am afraid personally, my friends and colleagues will definitely look after you. Bullet