GregGorman

Street? One of these http://www.aerostich.com/aerostich-suits/r...piece-suit.html with one of these http://www.aerostich.com/aerostich-competition-back-pad.html The easiest way to ATGATT.

Just take a track tire and run it for, oh about 130 laps. That assumes your suspension is setup decently and your tire pressure is correct. It will slide, slide predictably - get it warm first - and slide often. You won't have to be going at your full speed so you'll have attention left to spare and by the time you get that many laps in the tire you won't be to scared of what it's going to do either. Just don't do this in the cold, it slides too easily then - scary actually.

Where in FL?

I don't understand. Yes, you can have two points the same. I thought the question was regarding the third point, the exit.

Oversimplified and kind of counter-productive and even dangerous. It lacks the critical "how". And the "how" is going to be different for each rider. For some riders it'll be a visual skill they need to fix - they're simply not seeing the space for some reason. For others it could be a lean angle/traction issue - off camber increases lean angle. Yet others may be riding over their heads, very tight on the bars, and stuck in a rut. Telling them they can go faster is asking for a crash. Using the same TP? I don't think so. If you're using the same TP and hitting the same apex you're on the same arc, right? Until sliding comes into play, speed doesn't matter if you're hitting those two points. Something would have to change to get you to the curbing. Try the opposite. What happens if you slow down (20mph) and hit those two points? Will that change your exit?

Thank you!

Cool! Good job on getting your buddy to go too. The K1200S is an impressive bike, I rode one on the Nurburgring back in '04. I can't wait to get on the S1000!! Maybe I can finagle one to race next season.

Well, the racing season is over. The last races were held at Homestead-Miami Speedway December 6th. There was a fairly big turnout that included AMA racers Jeff Wood, Eric Wood, Michael Barnes, Santiago Villa, and Andres Londono. I never really got my head in the game but I kept the bike upright and finished 10th in GTO, 7th in Unlimited Supersport, 4th in Unlimited Superbike, and 10th in Unlimited GP. But those results improved me in Florida Region Championship points to: 2nd in Expert Unlimited Superbike 3rd in Expert Unlimited Supersport 3rd in Expert Unlimited GP 6th in GTO A huge part of success in racing is simply being there. Thanks to the tremendous efforts of my wife Susan, Shirley Keenan (Mom), Ray Atchley (mechanic), David Bruce(mechanic), Jon Utely(mechanic), Chrissy Bruce(photographer), Luis Schomaker(painter/sponsor finder), Steve Brubaker(Dunlop Race Tire Service) and Jay Galvin (owner of the Waterin' Trough) I was there. Thanks to the skills I've learned as a student and a coach with The California Superbike School I had only one crash the whole season and that was due to a boneheaded, lazy, cheapskate tire choice on my part and it occurred in practice at a very low speed. Every race I started, I completed - thank you Ray and David! Without the sponsorship and support from The Waterin' Trough and Race Tire Services this journey would have ended in February. Thank you Jay and Steve for jumping out on a limb and supporting me! And thank you to all of you who have watched my videos, sent me email, commented on Facebook or Flickr and someway let me know I was reaching people. You are what makes it worthwhile! The Way to Happiness Racing Team is making plans to return next year! Contact us; find out how YOU can be part of the team wherever you are!

Not sure I understand the Q. I only skim read the book maybe I need to reread it to understand what your asking. Well, actually you answered my question. You might want to read, not skim, the World Plan. There's a bit more to it.

Hmm... sounds like there's something missing here. Is the world plan always to use mid-corner adjustments? Or is there a bit more too it?

Thank you! I guess you could say we fill in the gaps if you really wanted to. But look at Twist II, Chapter 24. Under "Practical IMPROVEMENTS " [emphasis added] There are four points. Point two says: "2. Radial tire technology allows for steeper lean angles while braking. So, while the maximum straight-line forces are pretty much the same, the technique of carrying some braking down deeper into the turns entrance has been improved and you find many riders using it." So I say there's no gap to fill in. It's just that sometimes your find yourself looking for some great, complex technique that will make you the best. And in looking for the technique you miss the simplicity of it. The simplicity is: The more lean angle you have, the less brakes you can use. Add that to planning for a mid-corner speed in addition to a turn-in speed and you pretty much have trail braking. What you don't want is also in Chapter 24. You don't want to be trapped on the brakes. In other words your turn-in speed was wrong. We teach it all, on an appropriate gradient for the student in front of us but with a set curriculum as Bullet mentioned. And it is in the books.

I think I leave a lot of room for error on the street but I've had others tell me I'm nuts. Eh, my definition of safe is different than most other people. The thing that gets them is that I commit to turns. I respond with yeah but I'm going into the turn so slow I can see if it's safe and I can always pick the bike up and stop within my line of sight. For your viewing pleasure I present two videos of Deals Gap. One done on an R6 by an ex-racer that runs about my speed at a track. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WbqmFIEGSg The other done by me on a 2001 FZ-1 in 2003. One is practically full on race speed. The other, fast but definitely street speed.

Welcome aboard!

Oh man... the slide bike is going to be a 1000?! Yeehaw!!!!

You're telling me, while practically falling off the bike, having only his thigh on bike as a contact point, he can push hard enough with his knee to do anything other than keep himself from falling off completely, if that? Maybe that's what "save it on the knee" really means. It should really be said, "You see my outside foot came off when the bike slid away from me suddenly. I practically fell to the ground but I just pushed on my inside knee hard enough to keep from falling off while the bike continued to slide. I was just being dragged along with it! Man, I thought it was GONE! Then the bike regained traction somehow and I was pushed into the seat hard enough by G-forces to pull myself back on the bike. Talk about rider input man! I was GRABBING on to the bars and anything else I could!" Yeah, that was too long winded. "I saved it on my knee," is much better.

That's Thomas Luthi, we'll just have to have Andy ask him.

There's no way in hell that rider is holding the bike up. Holding himself up, maybe. But not the bike.

Got it. "braking is done" is mostly interpreted as the brake lever is fully released which is an incorrect understanding. Braking done means you've reached the speed at which you can turn-in and begin releasing the brakes. You're speed is set for turn in. The rate at which you release the brakes is dependant on your plan for the turn. If you watch racers in a kink, a turn with say a 40 degree arc and a straight before and after it, you won't see trail braking. It's simply a controlled release of the brakes. Watch racers in a 200 degree decreasing radius turn with a fast straight before it and an opposite direction turn after it and you'll see a careful release of the brakes as they add lean and adjust their track position and speed for the turnpoint of the decreasing radius part of the turn. Whether or not you're on the brakes the bike will continue to slow until you get on the throttle. Any good racer is planning on this - it's part of their sense of speed. They're planning for what their speed will be at their RP when they get on the throttle. Where that RP is depends on what the racer wants. To do this a racer needs a sense of speed, a sense of traction, good visual skills, body position, and some idea of what he wants out of a turn. As for students and coaching, how do you train someone who consistently overbrakes, never hits the same turnpoint twice, turns the bike too slow, has no real concept of reference points, and is fed a lot of bad data about body position? You have to seperate it into fundamentals. You develop their sense of speed by removing the brakes, their sense of traction and bike stability by throttle control, quick turn, one turn rule, etc... You give them the overall concepts of what the ideal is and why it's ideal so they can think about it and develop their own data and how it relates to their riding. If a person only does level one, doesn't read the books and relate them to their riding, they could definitely think there's a lot missing - there is. But, if a rider read the books, does the levels and relates it to their riding, they should see there's a whole package there. Twist of the Wrist I, the concept of getting a product out of a turn was introduced - having the idea of doing specific actions for a whole, overall result from the turn. Soft Science covers several plans for taking a turn and what techniques are used to produce them, their limitations and their benefits. Twist II has the specific techniques and methodology to analyze and improve your riding from almost ground zero. Like the throttle, the more lean angle you have, the less brakes you can use. The Code method, if there can be said to be one, has never been to blindly apply one technique to all of riding but to break down the skills and techniques needed to accomplish what you want by careful analysis and using all of the data available.

When is a rider "done" with braking? Is it when the rider fully lets go of the brake lever? Or, is it when the rider is no longer concerned about his entry speed?

Right so the rider is releasing the brakes in a controlled manner. There's a great sequence of pictures of Eddie Lawson doing this at the top of the corkscrew in Twist of the Wrist I. What would happen if the rider just let go of the brakes at his turnpoint?

Well before talk about "Trail Braking" we have to agree on what we're talking about. Otherwise we'll talk in circles. I know what I mean but I don't know what you mean. So I'm just wondering what your definition is.

Really, this would be one to test on the Lean Bike - see what the real deal is. Personally, I know I'm not going to be holding a bike up with my knee or elbow. I mean, lay on your side and try to lift your body off the ground. I don't know about you but I can't move much at all just pushing straight down with my knee and elbow.

Sorry. I just want to keep the signal to noise ratio high on this thread as it is fairly common question. Otherwise it just be a repeat of the other thread we have on trail braking.

I figured I've been away for long enough. I'll give you a break on one or two.

oh, and so this doesn't quickly become a "What is trail braking?" thread like we've already had. Stumpy only please.