Bullet

hI Diesel, Nice to have you on here man. A few of us brits about, and as you'll see/find, a really great community from all over the world. As was mentioned, chime in, tell everyone about yourself. Bullet

Hi Kai, The big reason that the we want to do this, (as much as possible), is because the fork (lets take for example), same gos for rear but we also have linkage rations which also complicate this further), rises in it's ressistance the further you go through the fork. This is not because the spring rate changes, as it doesn't, but becuase the air gap between the oil and the forks gets compressed greatly and ramps greatly it's ressitance towards the end of the stroke (hence why changing oil weight and oil gap are fine tuning options on the bike. We obviously neeed oil in the forks and gas in the rear to control the stroke and it's rate of progress through the stroke and I understand this is a by product of the compromise of suspension. We need the suspension to be compliant to allow the wheel to soak up bumps, and also to track the road surface and not transfering those large bumps/ripples or whatever to the bike. I hope this simply helps explain, I don't have the very detailed in depth explanation of it, but it's enough for me to know, appreicate and feel the difference in it when i set my bikes up for it. Bullet

Nothing sounds, nor feels like a Ducati... the end. The BMW is a stunningly competent, and very fast bike, probably by far the best of the litre bikes out of the box by a mile. You can't argue with the value for money of the things either, really, really impressive. If you like Ducati's turn up your speakers and enjoy Oh, this is my Ducati, and it makes about 200HP and sounds very, very angry. Bullet

hi fella, Is that bike of yours finally finished yet? you're doing the cadwell gig in July aren't you? I'll see you there if you are mate. You can show ME around. Bullet

I'm glad you agree. Over the years of coaching, I've met many, many students, looking for complexity and difficult answers to explain there problems/predicaments. In most cases the actual problem is often not the immediate one that the rider thinks it is. The reason we ask questions by the way, is to make you think about your problem and to make you part of the answer, rather than just giving you the answer on a plate. In the riding world, there are so many, many riders full of false advice, (advice like, oh, just go faster, you'll be ok mate), and misunderstandings of "the why", and we like to cement your learning by making you part of it. After all, aren't all the best things in life, hard earned and thus fufilling? Bullet

I have tried putting my attention on different things, and find I do better if I sort of think about trying to "work the tires", i.e., consciously try to build up lateral g's, while also staying relaxed at the bars. However, even then, I eventually reach a lean angle that makes me think "eek, is my boot going to hit the ground?" You can see from the photo that that is not likely! So, in other words, I *try* not to think about lean angle, but it ends up popping into my head at a certain point when I am farther over than normal. What tyres are you running, what level of prep do you goto with them to establish confidence in them? Bullet

I think you've nailed it on the head Mugget, it's a style thing, and actually shows in many ways they're not very stable and locked onto their bikes. All that extra movement goes into the bike as well, and you can imagine it can't help. As you rightly said, it also looks dammned hard work to doesn't it? I also remark when questioned about such things that the very, very best riders in the world (and lets be really clear, Haslam and all the WSB riders on the grid are very, very talented front to back), don't look like they're having a fight with their bikes. Stoner is very active on his bike perhaps compared with some of the others, but if you can spot, he's really implementing many of the drills on a bike we coach at CSS. The difference being, he's doing them mid turn (in some cases), with the bike sliding/spinning up, balancing the bike on gas/traction. That's a different thing to flapping around though, that's intimate skill and feel. Bullet

Can we ask what it is you think the tyres are going to do on you? Do you believe the bike will just spit you off mid turn with no sign or warning? do you think the bike will give you some feedback before you start a slide? How do you think that might be communicated to you? Are you aware of the consequence of the wheels spinning, and their effect on bike stability with speed? What does a bike wheel become with more speed? The lean angle of the bike is dictated by the speed, and it's combined mass of you and the bike. Would it be possible therefore, that your issue with lean is actually related to your sense of speed, your feeling of being comfortable with the speed you're going? i.e. if your brain was more comfortable with the speed, you'd feel capable and able to roll into the turns a little quicker, and thus you'd enter the turns a little quicker, and use more lean angle? I'd wager there's both factors at play here, you're understanding of what your bike will do, and removing your attention from the tyres into the turns might be a massive factor here? How can we help you? Well, certainly the TWII book is a good place to start, it will give you an understanding of the challenges and gives you some of these questions. Your next step up from this clearly is the school. Visiting the school would give you the opportunity to have the problems explained (certainly much of your issues are covered in Level 1), and some answers to fix/remedy them too. Working with an on track coach would enable your riding to be tweaked and be improved where neccesary to make sure you just nail those turns and give you a much greater confidence in your riding. I guess, which is exactly the answer you're really looking for? Bullet

you're welcome to pop round our house Hotfoot, and continue your services.... Bullet

Very.. let us know when you get there, and how you do it, won't you... That's some slide, and if I ever had it going that far out wide momentarily I'd be expecting to be several feet in the air and about wear my motorbike as a piece of Jewellery. The boys definitely got talent, that's for sure, and his riding and style will be missed, by many. Bullet

I guess the point is that we can now agree that every S curve is different, and thus requires an (ammendment) to the technique applied. what's really important to consider is that in most cases, the first part of the S-Bend is the least important of the two parts, and so what we need to make sure is that we can apply the correct throttle roll on for the second part of the S-Bend, and thus get good drive down the next straight. There's very little time to be made up in (the middle of) many S-Bends, but drive off the 2nd part of the turns is everything. If you're initial roll on in the first part of the S bend gives you a bad line (i.e you're running wide and perhaps hot) then would you be able to apply the throttle rule, (in the 2nd part)? If not, what would you do to correct it? Bullet

hi, Great that you really enjoyed the school. So, you've understood why a bike turns quicker in a less stable scenario due to the geometry differences in how a bike performs. Now then consider, are all S bends the same? Would it be possible that you may need to do any of the following if the second s bend is sharp enough? - stop the roll on? (I.e check the throttle) -brake to set entry speed for the second part? -be able to roll on slower? Given the options, is there only one answer? Bullet

Hi Mike, You wouldn't notice any difference in laptime performance around Oulton with that tyre difference. Stick with the endurance, it'll save you a few £ on wear. Anything under 2 mins is nicely respectable, but you could easily go sub 50's on that tyre before you'd really notice any difference from a softer rear. Bullet

Cheers for the ealry welcome back, am looking forward to it. @Kais, well, that's some year you've had, getting faster, crashing and moving to the other side of the world. Sounds like an experience, hopefully it's working out really well for you mate. @Kev, thanks mate, good to be back @Brad, great news, really good to hear you're making good progress, and clearly you're riding and enjoying it, which is really the whole point I believe? Escapism at it's best I like to think. @Carey, liquid sunshine, love it. We get a lot of that there liquid sunshine here in the UK my friend, you learn to get used to it really, really quickly when you coach or race. A lot to be learned from the rain, hope you enjoyed it, and got some great experiences from it? Me, well, I didn't ride much last year after leaving school. My Racebike (a Ducati 1098R), broke it's gearbox and I had to wait a longtime to get a new racebox for it, so that kind of wrote of last year. It was probably a good thing really, it made me really savour coming back to them this year, which I have a lot. My Ducati's back, (makes a nice 18^RWHP), it's lovely to ride, and I've really, really enjoyed riding again. I've done around 15 trackdays already, I've raced it in some endurance racing, (and will be doing a full season next year on her), and I've had a trip with my wife and friends to Jerez, which was really very awesome indeed. (there's some video of it, you're interested, go onto Youtube, Bullet vs Nemo, get a brew and enjoy). Oh, yeah, turned 40 as well. Why do I want to come back to coaching? Well, there's a question? Withouth doubt, the school holds a very big draw for me. Firslyl, I enjoy it, it provides some great escapism from the day to grind of life. I really enjoy the fun and enjoyment of working with my other coaches, my friends really whom I've ridden with and coached for many years, basically missed the guys. Thirdly, well, I really just love helping people enjoy riding their motorbikes, and just getting better. It's quite a thing to see people have a good day, and well, just have fun and improve. I still believe that CSS is the best systematic way to coach people in the world and that's why I wanted to come back and be part of it. really, it's quite an honour to do it really, to interact and help you guys. Thanks for the welcome, I'll try and help when i can, though I'll be ramping up nice and gentle, there's no doubt much to catch up on. Keep smiling peeps, Bullet

So, after an 18 month (give or take), lay off, I'm rejoining the crew in the UK in August 2012. Am very much looking forward to coaching again, meeting up with students, (old friends and new), and getting around Europe helping improve your riding techniques and skills. I'll also be on here quite a bit too, see if I can help out. (we'll see). So what have I been upto? done some racing, been riding my own bike quite a bit, and having some down time, putting efforts into other parts of my life. So, how are you all? what you been upto? what breakthroughs and progress you been making with your riding? Bullet

Yup, you got that right. Effectively 2½ days, since we cut the last day short (didn't want to wait out 4 hours during the races to get our final session + an hour of open pitlane). Oh, isn't that that awful for you that you have to go the the hot GP-track of Jerez instead of coming playing with me on the rural Kinnekulle Ring in cold & wet Sweden? The wear does look worse in real life. Fortunately the tears don't appear to dig deeply into the tire. As for changing back to the Supercorsas, do remember that I've been running them quite happily for the last two seasons - so I do have some experience in them and how I wear them. I did get the Ohlins shock serviced this winter, however. I would have thought it's a Hot Tear from what Dave Moss is saying (tear line goes up into the center of the tire & you can't get a nail into the tears), but I could easily have mixed things up. But I do take your point on the softer tire. Too bad I don't have a tire sponsorship so I could have just dived into the van and grabbed the right compound from my stack of tires Have fun and ride safely on Jerez. Kai (suitably envious) Well, I can tell you've I have seen these similar marks before on GP Racers, that I can confirm, though 4 hours hard work (remember you say you're improving all the time), really isn't that bad. I'm taking 2 fronts, and 3 rears to Jerez for 3 days. Oh, did I mention I'm going to Jerez on Thursday? On my shiny, newly finished Ducati, that's been lavished with love and the finest suspension I could procure, new triple clamps, and rear linkages. (god it better be good). You might find the move to the Motorsport version an even better jump my friend, rather than the GP Racer? I'll let you know how they go. Sorry I can't be with you fella, but I will dig out my notes on my return for you. Bullet

p.s. GP Racers are made in France, (and are machine made) and GP Motorsport N-Tec's (which are more expensive) and can only be bought in either a 190 or a 200, are made (handmade) in UK. Bullet

So you ran the same rear tyre for 3 days? I have to say, I ran the GP racers with a slightly higher pressure last year, after advice from Dunlop UK, though I cannot tell you what it went upto because it's all in my book I make notes in, and it's just got to Jerez for my 3 day blast over next weekend, so I'm sorry about that fella. I think it was more like 26-27 Hot, but I'd like to check to be sure. I don't think the wear looks that bad, though of course it's hard to say from a picture. You also can't realistically say that just swapping to brand X would resolve it either because you've seen another rider doing that on them, it could depend a lot on your bike's setup and your technique, so you could only realistically asses that by doing your own back to back comparison really on your bike, with you riding. I'll be able to tell you the pressure settings, next week mate, but until then, i'm guessing in the dark really. You may actually find a softer tyre is better for higher temperatures than an endurance tire, which would be better when it's colder, as it won't cold tear as badly. Complex stuff this tyre stuff eh? Experimentation is the key I'm afraid. It's good that you've made comprehensive notes and measurements though, as this is key. Bullet

Let's discuss point 3 specifically, given that we have rolling friction from turn in , (i.e. the front wheel scrubs speed went turning in and leaned over) would it therefore be fair to agree then, then the only way to maitain phsycially the same speed would be to roll on the throttle? (hence point 3, is actually point 1)? If you're confusing a checked throttle and adding lean angle, the bike is actually slowing, not maintaing the same speed. Make sense? Bullet

Hi Crash, I'm sorry, but you did say, gas then turn..... in a previous post, hence why I picked you up on this point, I cannot left that unresolved, because it's not correct. There are occasions when you're on the gas before you turn in, in perhaps kinks on racetracks, but as a general rule, we're not rolling on or on checked gas before turning in. (as a general rule I must stress). I'll answer your question in the next post. Bullet

The only thing I'm going to say here my friend is this. Just because you can roll on the throttle before turning in, doesn't make it correct technique. The reason you can get away with this right now, is becase you're not at a pace where it's entirely critical, (i.e you're on the edge of available grip/traction). If you were, this approach would end up in you having to add more lean angle, whilst on the gas, which would end up in most cases in a crash. As riders, we often get away with a lot of errors in our technqiue because we're either not at a high enough pace, and therefore there are no consequences for not bothering to do it correct. We must not make the distinction that because we're getting away with it, at some point it might not turn out to be a problem. The throttle rule is one of the very most important rules of motorbiking, and it must never be forgotten, any variation to it is because of another factor which is the error, not the other way around. Bullet

Ping, we have a winner. Great post Jason. Bullet

If I understand you question correctly then to my understanding of throttle control from level 1, the answer is no. You set your entry speed, go neutral on the throttle, quick turn, and then begin to steadily roll on the throttle maintaining the 40% front to 60% rear weight distribution and keep the suspension in the "sweet spot". It would appear to me that in your example biker B would have an unsettled suspension and would be loading the front tire and demanding more traction from the front contact patch than is completely necessary. If I am mis-understanding or mis-representing the lesson on throttle control please correct me. I am not by any means an expert and am posting as much to clarify my understanding as Crash's! This is true of the way we start to coach students, evolves as you progress and your speed moves on. When you get to level 4, and want to really push on, if you were racing, this approach would be slow and you'd have to ammend it. It works beautifully for riding on the road though. Bullet

I'll let you walk along with this one for a while, see where you go. Wonder what difference you think the throttle has on suspension/geometry and the effort of turning a bike? Could this be a part of the equation you've not considered I wonder? Bullet

I reckon we had a cheeky comfort brake, (just slightly), but we had one for the revs to drop so quickly. Ya see, you didn't need me at all. Bullet