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johnnyrod

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Everything posted by johnnyrod

  1. Bit early I know but I booked the Silverstone GP circuit as once the sun comes out, everything gets booked up. The sun and also because it's the Suzuki All-Star track day, with British leg-ends Jamie Whitham (no-one can brake harder than he), John Reynolds, and Tommy Bridewell, Motovudu (?) inventor Simon Crafar, and adopted Brit Ryuichi Kiyonari. I haven't spun for the masterclass, I'll stick with the normal track day, but these guys will be knocking around. It's a day organised by the track rather than a TD company, and when I've gone with them before they've been really good, just like CSS, so most unlike many UK TD companies. So really looking forward to it, still roaring around on the SV, and will try to get a decent bit of footage this time! It's a fast, wide, sweeping track, but surprisingly good fun with 80-ish bhp.
  2. I hadn't really thought about RPs connected to turning in rate - maybe that's what I need to look at next, as what you describe does sound familiar. In watching it back again, it felt to me (at the time) like I was slow getting the bike leaned over, and I have this in my mind since level 1 that it needs work, but in some places the video doesn't look that slow - I don't know what you think. I could be making too big a deal of it in isolation. Good point about keeping it simple and putting effort into one corner. Yes I missed a few apexes, those bends I either wasn't sure where they went yet (thought a wide apex would suit the next section of track) or found myself going slower than I'd expected so didn't come all the way across to the inside edge of the track. So I'd pretty much lost my way! I had a root through some other videos but the old camera I had is pretty poor so I gave up using it. Hopefully get out again towards the end of next month, watch this space.
  3. Kevin - it's hard to appreciate the steepness of the slope of Paddock Hill Bend without riding it, as you probably know from Rainey curve - it's all you can do as it bottoms out to stop your chin hitting the tank! Hotfoot - True, without RPs I'm shooting in the dark a bit, especially on an unfamiliar track. I think at Brands I was trying to ride fast a bit more than I was trying to ride well and learn my way around, got sucked in a bit to trying to keep up. I've ridden Cadwell Park a good few times and last summer at an outing there it all came together and I really took off. With quick turns, I could probably turn quicker (push the bars harder), it seems to me that it takes too long to get down to a good lean angle, and at times when I've managed to quicken this, I've also been able to carry more corner speed - as it should be. Part of the hesitancy I think is that I'm not really dialled in with how hard I need to push - a basic lack of practice - and how much turning/leaning this will give me. I'm thinking about another track day at a short track like Rockingham which has been good in the past for practice as it's very twisty and wide enough to be forgiving of lines gone wrong. I went there straight after Level 1 and made a bit of progress, but that was years ago! How does this all sound? I'm trying not to answer my own questions too much. Any tips on practising quick turns, other than just go and start getting a feel of it?
  4. Hi all, thanks for your input Kevin - thanks, there are too many of my older videos where I turn in really early. Rights have always been a problem for some reason, I seem to struggle to replicate the same comfortable BP I have on lefts, but after Level 3 things got a lot better. You can't really practice it on the road though so it only really improves with my limited track time. Hotfoot - quick turns are probably the area that slows me down the most; I can reach a fair lean angle but it takes too long. That and turning at high speed is still something I don't do often. I didn't have many RPs for apexes I admit, I had some for braking and turning but few others. I was finding it okay to get it where I was pointing it in the main - you're thinking 2/3-step I think and maybe early apexes but I'll try not to second-guess - but I struggled with an apex on the hairpin and also with vision. In the faster back part of the track vision and apexes felt fine. Some apexes were too tight and it just interfered with my concentration and lines - again it's work in progress. Exits seemed okay on the day (I do have a tendency to try to hold them too tight), in fact the track opens out of many bends which is deceptive when you expect a more constant radius, moreso on the back part. By this I mean the middle section of track from one bridge to the next, it starts just after the long uphill left-hander of Surtees. Anyway all of this is my interpretation so feel free to disagree as we often can't see the wood for the trees. Yes it is a great track, it's a big name one though so expensive (midweek in July was US$275). The first right off the start line is like falling off the edge of the world and when people crash there, they crash big - I was quite hesitant about it all day. To keep costs down though they ran 3 not 4 groups in the day so we had 3x20mins in the morning and 3x15mins in the afternoon on a lap time (for me) of just over 2mins, so not many laps, especially when I need one lap to warm up tyres and brain!
  5. Meant to post before going but better late than never! First track day of the year so slow start getting back into it, and never ridden this track before. Still struggling a bit with right-handers but after last year's successes I really just need more practice. All my CSS stuff was working well though, if a bit in slow motion. If you want to see a couple of laps then check it out: https://www.facebook.com/john.rodriguez.568294/videos/10153535636208829/?l=5267614880506230365
  6. Has anyone used NG brake discs? They make all the usual claims of awesomeness http://www.ngbrakedisc.com/
  7. Yes. If you can stop yourself from leaning on the bars once the bike is banked over, you'll usually find it will stay on its line with little or no input until you want to stand it up again. This can be a revelation for some, myself included as I was more used to riding old bikes that need a lot of wrestling!
  8. I think I finally get Wide Vision - it's not just the opposite of tunnel vision/fixation. None of that stuff was mentioned in my Level 2 which was back in 2009 I think, or the Level 2 we sat through again during Level 3 in 2013 I think it was. i have heard of saccades before but not in relation to scanning like this.
  9. A lot of tyre manufacturers these days seem to advocate 36/42psi but I think that's more for stability, resistance to potholes, and people who don't check their tyres very often. It always was 33/36 and to be honest I don't think anything's changed, and around 32/30 for the track - all generalisms of course but your bike isn't especially heavy after all. All these figures are for cold tyres, just so we are clear. I would check out your rear suspension settings, it does sound a bit like it's being a bit unforgiving. How were the tyre shoulder wear patterns after a day at the track? Maybe even the front rebound, loading up the rear a bit if it pogoes back up? Though I doubt a GSXR can be set that low on anything, even the rubbish springs in the front of my bike as stock never caused that sort of problem.
  10. I think Hotfoot has the answer (again!), it's a bit like the power steering drill but turned up to 11. In answer to the other question though - yep stop pushing. Most bikes have neutral enough steering that they'll stay where they're left. If it's going to go too far though you'd have to nudge the top (outside) bar to stop it leaning further
  11. Intersting Duck, i hadn't thought about that, a bit like the Scandinavian flick I guess. rchase, no camber at all, it was an indoor section in what used to be a warehouse Lnewqban can you expand a bit? I did think that the "help" if you like was only while going from left turn to the central point before the right turn started, the source of the "centrifugal" force beign teh kart's natural desire to go straight on not round a corner
  12. I know not many limeys here but are there any recommendations for dyno tuning somewhere around Doncaster in the UK? I have some ported heads for my SV and I'd love to get the set-up finished.
  13. I would go with level 3 as well. For me this is when it all came together, and from talking to Spider (UK) this is often the case. For us too we sat in on a number of the level 2 classrooms, I not sure how normal that is though. Level 2 skills are good but you can practice them more or less anywhere, level 3 you can't. I'm still working on some level 1 stuff really, but I'd wait for ever to master that before adding some new stuff - some level 3 things helped my quick turns (level 1!) for example.
  14. I went go-karting last autumn, an indoor place in Chester. I'm chuffed to say I set the fastest lap and but for a most unsporting manoeuvre I might have even won it. Anyway at one particularly grippy point in the track, it goes in a 135 degree left-hander, straight into a 45 degree right hander. I found I could pretty much go flat out through there if I could hang on hard enough. I also found that in the switch from left to right, it was very snappy indeed. I think this is because while the kart was turning left, it really wanted to go straight on, so when I turned it right instead, I was going the way it wanted to, at least until it was past the middle point and then turning right. Was this really the case? And if so, can (do?) we use this in chicanes on bikes? I'm quite a slow steerer by any standards so I don't think I'm feeling it happen.
  15. Full GP circuit on Monday 11th August, anyone else going? I'm booked in the intermediates.
  16. Well the weather held and we had a good day. Myself and a friend were in the intermediates group, which turned out to be one of the fastest inters groups I've ridden in. The day was fully booked so there were faster guys in all the groups, who just booked whatever places were left, and a friend of mine who races in Bemsee looked at the pictures and said there were at least 5 race bikes in my group. Anyway had a great time, all the level 1-3 stuff came out at some point except the hook turn (totally forgot) and was feeling good by the end of the day. I only do the odd track day so there is a fair shift between road riding style and track. http://www.alexjamesphoto.com/eventsshoots/cadwell-day-and-eveonline-friday/?sub=92f9ca072c597c148edd953fafb196ac#photo=thumbs All mixed but I'm on the SV650, easy enough to spot that one! To be honest I was riding with a friend so tried too hard to go fast rather than getting a bit of practice in of the various techniques. A real plus though was that most of the time I made a mistake, or felt I was going slow somewhere, I also felt I knew what I was supposed to do about it, so in some cases managed to iron things out. That's what CSS has done for me.
  17. You can use just brake fluid but if you can get rubber grease then it greatly prolongs the time between caliper rebuilds due to road salt etc., by which I mean corrosion. For about 15 years I never used it but I have some now and went through the last two winters no trouble. I think it's castor oil based but I'm not too sure. Don't use silicone grease, i have seen several bikes where they have ended up suffering from the pistons not being well gripped by the seals, and sucking back into the calipers, so giving way too much travel at the lever. You do only need a smear, could you ask someone at a race meet for a little? A teaspoon will last you until you're old and grey.
  18. I had SBS dual carbon on mine for a while. They do need a few pulls of the lever to get the first bit of hear ito them, but that's enough and after that they just get better the harder you use them. No use for the street though, the bite when really cold is maybe half or less of what you normally get, so just dangerous. Personally I avoid EBC.
  19. Just read this, brilliant! I screamed in my helmet last summer when I took someone on a main straight on a much faster bike than mine, I know what you mean!
  20. Anyone here going? Not booked just yet but will be in the inters when I get my thumb out
  21. This is still something I wrestle with, I don't like right-handers. I'm right-handed and I don't seem to have a dominant eye, that or I don't know I do. The best progress I made with it was at Levels 1 and 3 of CSS. Level 1, quick turns, I learned to take my weight off the bars properly, and let the bike go around the corner itself. This really helped with feelings that I might not go where I wanted it to, which uses up confidence and concentration. At level 3 I learned to lock on properly using my outside peg and knee. Even though this isn't an entirely new thing, it all clicked and I felt I could attach to the bike properly for both lefts and rights, and it also makes it easier to get the weight off your hands so you intefere less with the steering. Also I had been using a different Bp on lefts and rights, I looked more MX on rights and racetrack dangly-offy on lefts, for some reason. So that was my story, I'm still working on it.
  22. So far no mention of the UK! Am hoping for a couple of goes, I fancy Brands Hatch, it's a 4-5 hour drive from my house by I have a local friend who wants to ride tehre with me. Also am thinking of going back to Silverstone for the full GP track, I think there is a date in June organised by the track themselves. That's about it. Silverstone is pretty fast and I was getting munched on the straights for a while, but at my level they're not all riding gods so the corners sort out the men from the boys.
  23. As Ballistic says, the corrosion isn't quite liek that with steel where you need oxygen and water - just the water will do it, although the system isn't truly sealed. Tap water with the salts etc. in it will accelerate corrosion compared to DI water. In terms of boiling, one advantage of using pure water is that any hot spots in the engine are quickly dealt with by localised boiling - this takes out a lot of heat by making just a little steam.
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