ktk_ace

Welcome!!

I keep the throttle flat because I want to be able to catch the front in case I flip the bike too quickly ....when I'm completey off the gas there's this little gap (motor and chain-related) ... never really seen anything wrong with it (well, at least until maybe 2 minutes ago ;-) ) ... Like to hear more! Uli edit: just went for a little testride, what I do is I actually (unknowingly) roll back the throttle a tiny little bit before the steering impuls so that there is still some drag on the chain but no acceleration. (is "drag" the right word? not sure) so that as soon as I reach my lean angle I can roll on the gas smoothly ... IMHO its deceleration you mentioned.~ (engine braking and wind drag)

I would love to have TC and ABS on rainy days and sudden unexpected slippery surfaces / conditions thou

Nice to hear that. learning to read the track and other riders will give you a distinct advantage imho... I do that on the streets as survival practice and i pass an average of 15 riders per my short 2 Km journey for lunch and dinner in the suburbs. 90% of the passes are calculated based on geography and the other's mistakes. Im working on the remaining 10% ?? I fail to see the connection between passing riders on the street and passing them on a race track. One is a matter of how fast you want to go; the other is about how fast you are capable of going. If those two things are anywhere near the same on the street, you are doing something wrong. Perhaps I misunderstood. Passing someone on the street shouldn't be challenging - if it is, you shouldn't be doing it. I think I must have missed your point. Hmm, looks like you have the luxury of considerate and slow bikers/cars in your area. Nice. I dont, every trip is venturing into the warzone whether you like it or not . My area is messed up so to speak.

Nice to hear that. learning to read the track and other riders will give you a distinct advantage imho... I do that on the streets as survival practice and i pass an average of 15 riders per my short 2 Km journey for lunch and dinner in the suburbs. 90% of the passes are calculated based on geography and the other's mistakes. Im working on the remaining 10%

Insurance? 600 classes are pretty hi risk if you ask me.

Im no expert but it looks like the winter weather has cause your oil to become too "sticky" what weather did you ride in while experiencing such headshake/vibrations? pics help alot also, steering bearings

You could always do a safety course to assess every rider's start stop/ clutch engagement / gear engagement skillset at the very start with the older bikes . I was coached and tested on a course that has : 1) 2 circles for left/right turns (touch the lines and the buzzer buzzes) 2) 7 second straight line stability test (touch the lines and the buzzer buzzes + < 7 seconds your out) 3) simulated traffic light stop start (clutch / throttle application + brakes) 4) uphill climbs (clutch / throttle application + brakes) 5) 0-30-0KM/H standing traffic light start and emergency braking within line/area (clutch / throttle application)

Franco, I have an R6S that has a throttle that is very tricky as well. It is very easy to be abrupt when transitioning from off-throttle to on-throttle. I used to hate it but I've learned to appreciate it because it requires a very delicate touch. One that you can't have when you're even remotely stiff on the bars. It taught me that when I was being abrupt with the throttle it was because I wasn't relaxing enough. Now, a rough transition form off to on throttle is my first indication that I need to relax so I've learned to embrace that tricky throttle. It's been a great training aid. Try to relax like you were taught in Level 1 and I bet your transitions become smoother. Benny IMHO I read the 6 months as a bottleneck in learning other skills if you are stuck with a finicky throttle ... Had a similar experience with a Honda NSR125 , XJ6 and NC700S long story short as a newbie (i started from zero on clutch and gear shifting ,had > 5000 miles of self taught Twist2(book+video) SR.line and throttle practice thou on the family scooter ) , 1: the derestricted NSR is so finicky on the throttle that I have near nothing left of the $10 worth of attention to modulate the clutch and do the shifting; I returned to the owner after like 500 m in the suburbs 2: the XJ6 's inline 4 have to be very "revvy" for it not to flame out during standing off the line traffic light get offs. Half of my $10 had to go to modulating the throttle properly... I was physically and mentally exhausted after only 20 mins of practice on that bike. Pitted in early to let the others have a go and for some rest. 3:The NC700S ... the torque was so manageable from 1800 RPM onwards that I only need to spend like what? $2 on the throttle control? I learned loads like smooth shifting, modulating the clutch for uphill climbs/stop starts, front brake modulation (it has CABS which is FAR better than the XJ6's for 30-0 stops, the weight distro is much better as the front doesnt dive as much and less "chopping" of the front tire under ABS) , counter steering , look where you want to go (visuals) etc with the remaining $8 dollars worth of attention... I was still raring to go after the allocated 30 minutes of practice on this bike!! I personally learned more stuff per hour spent on the NC700S than on the other 2 bikes because it lets me have more $ of attention to do and experiment with other things~ but thats just me

Nice bikes!

Girl beginner bike = light (at most 2.5X her weight ) + fits her hence imho > 150KG + 4 stroke + good clutch modulation/ engagement My picks: KTM duke 125/200 Bajaj Pulsar 150/200NS Honda CBF 125/150 The honda CBR250/kawa ninja250 are for bigger guy riders; girls are easily intimidated by the heavy weight fyi the girls around my area mostly ride 100 CC scooters at <100KG + <8HP they find 125/150 SCOOTERS too big + heavy ... most around cant even do one proper push up so Im not surprised . I'd like to add that for guy riders , the CB500/NC700 series packs serious beginner grade overall package for a beginner's bike if you have to go for new. used bikes... too many to mention.

There is a section in the video where it teaches you how to deal with running wide imho ... How many of the steps do you apply or did not apply? And how many SR's did you trigger? This is fundamental to your improvement imho

some of mine "just ride more and ride in the city; You'll improve when you can filter to a knuckle's distance away from your nearest vehicle" > tailgating and not maintaining safe distance Cat: downright bizarre ? "the way you steer is so dangerous! its gonna get you into trouble someday! " > on my sub 1S quick steer ;He sees it as danger, I see it as a usable skill in optimum conditions . Cat: funny ? Per hotfoots Q's "You just need to get more aggressive with your riding." > Misguided? "Don't worry about adjusting the suspension, that really doesn't make any difference." (this was from a motorcycle dealer, BTW) >downright bizzare "Trust your tires." >True but not helpful might be wrong thou

... so just to throw something new into the mix. Now, I don't know whether these really qualify as 'skills', but: 1. A desire to get better. 2. A positive attitude towards learning. You can't get very far without those ... . And I'm sure we all know plenty of riders who don't seem to have much of either At the risk of sounding very snarky and snobbish... I would say that that is the inherent talent avaliable to each rider (confidence AND psychological resistance to your own fears/other things on road/track) For ex if a rider only have 0.5% talent, he would have to work twice as hard as one with 1% talent ... a rider with 2% talent on the other hand ... you get the drill I already have "scripts" for every turn near where I live (ie which turn point (multiple) to take and visual vs throttle delay(ie 0.3S for turn A etc)) I brake drift my bike to get out of sticky stiuations , some say Im crazy but i see it as redundancy to get my ass out of trouble. Skill on the other hand is what can be learned by almost anyone with enough time. just my 2C

You can too with skill (School) and hardware (Programmable traction control catered to your bike , riding style AND track of choice )

Nice description as i encounter similar situations too ~ Im sure a programmable GPS + semiactive suspension would solve these problems In the meantime I set my rear shock to be a bit stiff so as to lower the effect slightly (enough to get by going uphill but far from perfect) As for the R1 ... My self taught mass centralization sense tells me the position and weight of the twin rear muffler compounds the problem (esp uphill) A RC8R with underslung exhaust (lower COG + mass centralization) would experience less understeer going uphill imho Just my 2c

Some doesn't seem to have much in the way of SRs, like Schwantz in my post above. Or like Marquez, crashing at 320 mph and still have presence to decide how to crash to reduce the risk of hurting himself, then going back out, bruised and battered, and riding even faster. Most people would hold back just a little after such an episode, but if you do, you will not win. Can you learn to be this fearless, or would you have to be born this way? You seldom see idiot drivers/cyclist/bikers on the track do you? Or stray animals/leaves ... Riding 90% like MM or ANY of the top gp champs on open roads is a death wish imho They are just what they are: inspiriation. As Mr Keith said: would you like to learn golf from tiger woods or from the instructor who taught him? I automatically considered the question to relate to being a racer, and not a question about basic riding. It could be a made the wrong assumption, because if we are talking about riding in general or road riding in particular, my answers would be totally different. For street riding it would be: #1: Being very careful. #2: The ability to understand traffic situations and place your machine where you are the most conspicuous while retaining the best possible observation spot. #3: Understand how fast you can ride while being able to stop within the distance you can see to be clear. Being very careful on the road is more important than being good at controlling the bike, since the good rider tend to ride quite a bit faster. Of course, being both good and careful is better than just being careful I apologize for misinterpreting... And i do agree with your points

Some doesn't seem to have much in the way of SRs, like Schwantz in my post above. Or like Marquez, crashing at 320 mph and still have presence to decide how to crash to reduce the risk of hurting himself, then going back out, bruised and battered, and riding even faster. Most people would hold back just a little after such an episode, but if you do, you will not win. Can you learn to be this fearless, or would you have to be born this way? You seldom see idiot drivers/cyclist/bikers on the track do you? Or stray animals/leaves ... Riding 90% like MM or ANY of the top gp champs on open roads is a death wish imho They are just what they are: inspiriation. As Mr Keith said: would you like to learn golf from tiger woods or from the instructor who taught him?

Hi there! I take that the G-forces are kinda similar eh?

Sag Front: 33mm ( Travel 120 mm ) = 27.5 % of total travel >which is within range for a track day setup ~ (25-30% for track , on streets I personally use 30-33% as its bumpy around here) I recently read an article by dave moss, seems that you like your bike to have less "pogo"-ing Quoted from his FB: 3. Weight transfer can be visualized as a clock face, the front wheel at 9am the rear at 3pm. As we brake the weight will move from noon towards 9. How far & how fast? Spring tension and compression damping will determine that. Therefore the same is true under acceleration with shock preload and compression. Do you want to go from 3-9 with weight transfer or 10-2, or 11-1. That's your choice and you set the bike up to your needs.

the mid -1/3 is DURING CORNERING the MAX OUT 90% of the stroke is for BRAKING

1) Throttle control (which directly and indirectly affects SR's) ability to use it in the most optimal way + see where other people go wrong = huge advantage on public roads for me 2) Steering ( turn point + how quick 50/50) Think fruit ninja , you start and complete a turn of your own choosing and efficiency like a blade slicing thru a blueberry type of precision 3) Vision hazard and road assessment to optimize the 2 above

Now is a good time to write down questions on your notepad!

you might want to have a look doc! http://www.webbikeworld.com/motorcycle-helmets/motorcycle-helmet-shapes.htm

A good read imho while you sign up for lessons ~ CODE BREAK | Small Steps, Big Leaps By Keith Code http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/features/columns/1309_being_relaxed_in_the_saddle/