Jasonzilla

I'm eyeing that Nov 21-22 Vegas date myself. I like Vegas, very flat but I like the series of left-right-left-right turns, each getting faster than the last... wheeee! I'm doing 10/31-11/1. It would be awesome to ride with someone from this forum though. When my wife graduates I'll have more money to burn. If she was working I'd pick up 11/21-11/22 also.

Howdy. I'm in Chandler. I've told so many people out there about this site. It's great. Good to have you. I won't be out there on 11/1 trackday because I'll be at the two day in Vegas (I've only done Main once), but if you're at the 11/22 on East, maybe we'll meet. You're not on the gold/black checkered bike, are you? I run intermediate, and if you do also, I'm sure you've passed me plenty of times. If you're planning to do another school, trailer your bike and have room, look me up, and we can get some schooling in.

I've been on this site for well over a year, and these issues have been kicking your butt the whole time. It's a joke that never gets old.

Like the new Dunlops. Are they the Q2's? They were sold out already when I was getting new tires.

If as many people who are saddened by this would OWN a Buell, they wouldn't be going under. I just hope they don't race next year. Otherwise I'm as affected by this as Saturn being phased out (I'm not affected at all).

That two step drill must be something, because everyone brings it up. 17 days and counting. It's always good to hear positive stories from the school, which they always are, and I am counting the days. Everyone at work is doing a countdown with me. "Hey Jason, 20 days," and so forth. I hope I'll be able to sleep the night before.

I'd think carrying more speed through a corner would require more lean angle regardless of how you turn it in.

You've got a scary problem there, buddy. I'm not sure how to brake the habit, but the army saying is "redundance is the best trainer." Most of my answers when fixing a problem starts with "find a big parking lot....." Sunday mornings offer great times to practice, and I'd suggest cones and small sticks. If my wife had this problem, I'd set up some cones and have her practice looking to the inside or outside of the cone, but not AT the cone. If you have someone who could go with you, have them get a stick (something you can ride over) and chuck it in front of you randomly so you can work on looking where you want to go, not what's flying around in front of you. When we're doing trackday stuff in the parking lot, when I have a safe spot in case she over-runs (which she hasn't), I gun it really close to her and pass going into a corner so she can work on where she's looking. I also get going really fast, and once I've passed, I smack on the brake, skid the rear some, sometimes put my feet on the ground, and shutter the bike. She has learned to just look into the corner and putt on by. I stand in front of her, have her ride up to me, and (with room to spare) throw an arm out where she needs to go. I've trained her "head, bike," and as soon as my arm goes up, she gets her eyes off of my and in the direction she wants to go. I've really worked with her on this aspect because when she does a trackday, she can just ride around the track if she wants, but just knowing how to ride around a track isn't going to keep her from getting spooked at least once or twice a day, and that's all it takes to ruin your day. She knows that even if some thing rattles her, she's just going to turn her head into the corner and get by the problem. I'd recommend you go in with the intent to focus specifically on this for a while, because it's pretty critical to you staying upright, be it an on the track or off problem.

I'm still trying to figure all that out as well. The one thing I'm working on is standardizing my BP, and from there I'll learn what the max lean is on my bike. If I need to, I'll get farther off the bike, and increase my max lean, but getting to that point is the tricky part. Different corners are going to affect how you enter, unless you're really that good, but again, practice practice practice. If you're grinding the footpeg, getting farther off the bike will be what helps you. When I'm in a corner I go in with the goal of holding the bike up as far as I can. I adjust my BP to suit the bikes position. If you're grinding your foot, it's not tucked up enough. It could be that you're weighting the inside peg too much, and it's pushing your foot. I like pivot steering, but still think at the most you should have 50/50 weight distribution on the pegs. I don't know how much work you can get in while driving. What I've found is fun is getting my head turned before I reach my turn point. That's just reinforcement though. Video games aren't affective unless it's familiarizing with a track (Spies), or having fun. You don't use the same motions while playing a game.

I'm not too much with tire sizes, but I think what comes on the bike would be the optimum setup tire-wise. It will give you more contact, but you'll sacrifice other things. What, I'm not really sure.

We're just digging in for the winter trackdays. We've just started back up. I didn't get in as many trackdays as I'd hoped, but with my wife working when she graduates, I'm going to pick it up next year. Hopefully get a trailer so I can do a couple more classes.

Sorry, I read that you had felt it sliding.

Wicked riding. I love watching good quality video. I have a friend who if I could buy him a quick shifter, I would. It could make about the same difference with him easily, and that would put him with the advanced racers. I know every time he shifts. It's ugly.

I don't completely push it so I get a lot of slide, and I don't push the rear..... ever, but I hate front end slide. I've worked a lot on proper 40/60, but before that I always had problems somewhere in the corners. I've ridden Pilot Powers since around my second trackday, and they work perfectly for my level of riding.

Urgh. My wrecks were never as elevated as yours, and I'm not even sure I push hard enough to highside (or at least I minimize my risk), but I'm thinking that if four times you got slippage through that section and weren't comfortable with that, you got four warnings. Unless you were doing something differently, like if it were a different type of elevation or radius corner, you probably should have changed where you accelerated by a fraction, or put more pressure on your knee so you weren't as troubled by the slippage. Were you coming off the gas the other times? I'm guessing that if you went that high, it was pretty fast and violent, and you didn't get much, if any, time to react.

I think the problem is I may be too far over. I'm scraping the feeler pegs at this point, plus it's wearing the outside edge, not the top or bottom or inside edge. But I have a difference in right and left turns. If you were too far over you wouldn't be scraping the feeler pegs unless the bike is leaning too far and leaving you behind. In that case, you'd have to get off the bike more so you're scraping your puck first. Either way, it looks like you're shoving your hips too far off the bike and leaving your upper torso behind.

This was my first year following BSB. He was more than impressive. I didn't know other people kept up with it at all. I just watched the WSBK, and the only time his name came up is when he retired the bike with mechanical problems.

This is still my weak point, but let me ask whether you're pushing out or down on the bars. I've found that I tend to push down, and it makes the bike less reactive. I've fixed it pretty easily, but I have to constantly work at it. I did Firebird West, which is very left heavy, and before my last trackday a couple weeks ago, I had a VERY tired left arm, and my hand was numb from riding West for up to a weak. This time: nothing.

You're getting your chest on the outside of the tank. Try getting your sternum to the inside of the tank, and lay your chest on the tank. It will fix a lot. If you look at some of the riders, and I'll use Rossi as an example, they don't get too far off the tank anymore. They have so much clearance that they don't really need to get that far off. Judging by the photos, your butt is far enough off. I'd guess that you'll scrape knee before peg, and that means you're far enough off. I'd keep working on upper body, and if you start scraping peg, get farther off. You may also be too far forward toward the tank. That will shoot your outside knee out like in the photos. See if you can slide back some on the seat. It will also make getting over onto the tank easier. If that's not the problem, you've just got to get your knee farther in. I haven't been to the school, so I don't know what they teach, but getting chest farther over will fix the straight inside arm. Your arm and outside leg position could also mean that you are still putting too much pressure on the bars. Try getting on your bike while your riding down the street or in a parking lot, and get into your track riding position while you're turning, and loosen up your arms. If you can't support your body weight with your legs, you have to change your lower body position so that you can.

I can't really get too far on the tank on a straight because the helmet (Shoei) always pushes in on my face, and gives the top of my vision a visor effect that I can't see past. I'm getting an Arai Samurai when my wife graduates. Arai did me right. I got the Shoei because of the Picotte design. They have some really good designs on the Shoei helmets.

On top of this, shoving your knee down to get it on the ground is also screwing with your torso's position. It has you twisted up while you're leaning off the bike. Work on leaning evenly off the bike and just dropping your knee. It'll get back to the ground when you get farther over. It's what I've started doing, and you won't get the wonderful feeling of plastic attached to your knee sliding over the pavement as often, but it will help you more in the long run.

I saw him do that a couple times, and have been wondering if he even comes off the gas, or if his BP and momentum just set him back down. Until proven otherwise, I'm going to say he stays on the gas. Makes it more exciting. I was starting to get tired of that slow motion camera, though. We get it. Nice camera. Let's see some racing. This one is my favorite Isle of Mann video. Go to HD, if you can, and make it full screen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Avy57Y4NS98

Howdy Mickey. You should really tell us about yourself before we start drawing our own conclusions.

Howdy Dave. I'm glad to see CSS has helped someone so much after a day and a students instruction. It shows how helpful the school is. I'm hoping to be able to pass my knowledge on to a couple of friends after I attend.

I haven't ridden in either one, and I'm just sayin'. I WILL be at Vegas, and I'm signing autographs.