tmckeen

The sensor in your quickshifter isn't exactly a "Strain Gage", its more of a momentary actuator switch, It only needs to detect the application of pressure, not measure how much pressure is being applied. I'm not exactly a mechanical engineer, but I have some experience in testing force and strain gauge's, IMO the best route would be to make custom clip on bars with a setup similar to how a throttle tube slips over the right bar, place some strain gauge's between the inner and outer sleeves on the front and back, so you can measure force applied in both directions. You can then look at the pull, push and combined force for a given steering input. The guys at Omega would probably be able to give you much better insight on what kind of strain gage would work best Tyler

Welcome to the forums Rafael, the school only operates at Streets of Willow in parts of the year where the weather is going to be mostly reasonable, that said here is my personal opinion of what the weather will be like when they are there, March and April school dates will be pretty chilly in the morning and moderate and comfortable during the day, but you have a slightly higher chance of rain June school dates will be very hot and require you to pay a lot of attention to keeping properly hydrated, there is a lot of good info on that here if you look for it, there is virtually 0 chance you will see any rain September dates are probably going to be the most reasonable, not quite so chilly in the morning, not crazy hot during the day, IMO this would probably be the "sweet spot" weather wise October your going to be looking at very chilly in the mornings and moderate temps during the day This graph might help give you a idea of what kinda temps to expect http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USCA0955 as for accommodations, there are several good choices in Lancaster and Palmdale, I've stayed at the Hampton Inn a few times and its pretty nice, the school staff I believe stays at the Inn of Lancaster Tyler

great stuff Eirik, good find

I believe the reason you don't see more of these protective jackets in use is a matter of redundancy, The majority of even entry level race leathers have CE approved armor in the elbows and shoulders, so trying to wear the fully armored jacket would mean you need to remove the armor that's built into your leathers, The same goes for most all motorcycle specific jackets, why spend the extra $$ on the full armored under suit when most of it is already built into your leathers or jacket. If however had some custom suit or bought a brand of suit that had no armor whatsoever in it, wearing a protective vest or jacket under it would be a major improvement The back / chest protector combo I believe is much more widely used than you realize as the majority of both jackets and racing leathers do not include a CE rated back pad, though many include a lower grade PE pad Here in LA the most common riding apparel I see on sport bike riders is probably the Icon Field Armor vest, the predecessor to the one you linked, over a sweat shirt or tee shirt, and while its no where near all the protective gear, its a step in the right direction. I give Icon a great deal of credit for making wearing some protection while riding a sport bike "cool"

Based on the product description over at Traxxion Dynamics, the gas charging of the fork cartridge is less about using the air as a progressive spring rate, and more about keeping the oil under pressure at all times to reduce or eliminate cavitation in the fork under some certain road conditions.

err... shouldnt that be the other way around? I think it is important this question gets cleared up because there is clearly some mis-perception on this subject so here goes... 1) What gives you a wider radius through a corner... an early turn in or a late turn in? 2) If you can steer faster (i.e. quick turn) can you turn in later? 3) So, what effect then does quick steering have on your line choices... more choices or less? Benny So IMO this is a rather tricky issue to give a definitive mathematical answer for and heres why if you look at the corner as a whole, the quick flick technique means you could use a later turn point, be leaned over for less of the corner. This would straighten out the corner due to the line choice over a earlier turn point with a slower steering rate. In this regard the quick flick line could be considered to have a larger radius because of you have straightened out more of the corner. BUT if you look simply at the inputs, same entry speed, same turning point, the quicker steering input would achieve full lean angle sooner, apex earlier and exit tighter, while the slower input would apex later and run wider on exit, In this example the quicker steering rate would give you a tighter line and smaller overall radius for your line then a slow steering input. So I believe a quicker steering rate will always result in a tighter line, therefore a smaller radius, when compared directly to a slower rate of steering, however relocating your turn point in the corner based on that quicker steering input can result in a larger radius for your line through the corner when compared to a earlier turn point with a slower steering rate. Tyler

I agree with all that Mugget, but I would say there are defiantly some passing technique's / skills you will only ever get to practice in a race situation. I find when I'm track riding at CSS and I have to be extra cautious to not disturb students with a close pass I think in my head all day , "I could just slip up here or by there", but I wont cause its not a courteous clean 6-8 foot pass. That's totally not the case at a race weekend, though I still find myself erring on the overly cautious side.

I believe what Hotfoot meant by " full lean angle " was not achieve your maximum possible lean angle, but your set lean angle for a given corner, be it 15 or 45 degrees

The effect if competition can be seen in a number of other circumstances, take running for instance, if you run alone you may struggle to complete a 3 mile run in 25 min, but given a partner of similar ability you can easily beat your solo pace. Mental roadblocks are much much easier to overcome in a competitive situation

the quicker your steering input the tighter your radius will be, on the overall topic of is trail braking faster then not trail braking you simply cannot look at a single corner, you have to look at a minimum a segment time, one technique carries more speed into the corner whilst the other carries more speed out of the corner, depending on the exact nature of the track / road you are on one may be faster than the other through a section of track, and depending on machinery one may result in a better overall lap time. The " Best Technique " changes constantly depending on a number of variables, it's actually part of what makes being on the podium in MotoGP so difficult now, you can no longer ride with a single technique around the entire track, but have to tailor you technique to each individual corner

Be your own judge http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EE94nHsAD0Y Impressive stuff, but it also proves my point, I didn't say they are never Knee down in corners on the TT course, but they are not on the limit 55+ degrees of Lean in nearly every corner like a MotoGP race, the nature of the course is such that you simply cannot push the limit everywhere like you can on a race track. Its a completely different style of racing, and as such the techniques differ some

How many corners at the IoM do you see them knee down at full lean vs a MotoGP race ? Techniques tend to vary depending on the racing style and machinery, in MotoGP it is necessary to trail brake, even at full lean, to load the front tire enough to make use of the Bridgestone slicks, attempting to use the same technique on a street tire could easily overload the front and result in a crash.

Some of the older AGV Sport leathers that the school has seem kinda bulky and the one time I wore them they weren't the most comfortable, though that was probably due to the amount of use they had received, HOWEVER some of the coaches have a new version of leathers from them, I think I saw Hotfoot wearing a set last time I was at SoW, and they look like a much better fit and finish suit, I think at the high end of their respective lines, AStar and Dainese are going to be pretty much identical in terms of protection and quality, the only real difference between them I can see is that perhaps AStar offers apparel in the entry level segment while Dainese only offers apparel in the mid level and up segments

This question is for Steve, What's the recommended cold pressure on Q3's for track riding ?? I have been using the same pressures I ran my Q2's at, 30F 28R and have been quite happy with that, however a Tire Vendor recently recommended a MUCH higher cold pressure and stated that the pressures I was using would over work the carcass and cause the tire to become greasy. For reference this is at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway and ambient temps in the low 90's Thanks Tyler

I think the big thing to be gained in a race versus a track day is that what you thought was your 100% isn't really your 100% at all, your mindset switches from one of personal improvement to must go faster then the guy in front of me, which gives you the added incentive to push your own mental barriers that a normal track day just doesn't have. I would bet that the simple act of getting your race license and putting your own race number on your track bike will knock a second or two off your personal best lap time just from the mental aspect of being a "Real Licensed Motorcycle Racer" YellowDuck a small mistake is much easier to capitalize on then you think because if you're right on someone's tail when they make a small mistake it instantly becomes a much bigger mistake as they will have lost their line or given up the inside etc etc and most likely have to yield to you, IE their own mistake caused you to show them a wheel and now you have the ideal line, forcing them to give way. Of course if your focusing too much on the rider in front of you then you may very well make the same mistake he did Tyler

I don't think its so much the training as it is the "infrastructure" motorcycle racing is a national pastime in Spain, when a Spanish rider wins it's front page news, its a big deal. Here in America, your LUCKY if there's 5 words about it in the news crawl on ESPN, unless someone dies and then it gets some gruesome highlight reel time. Marquez, Lorenzo, Pedrosa are one in a million talents, and the only way to find the one in a million talented kid is to put a million kids on bikes and see who filters to the top, figuratively speaking of course. Its the same reason the same few countries dominate Olympic gymnastics, they have the infrastructure to find and cultivate the few really talented kids. Just my crazy opinion of course, not intended to be a factual statement and all that Tyler

no they are strictly dirt and clay tracks, the biggest bike they have for students is a TTR225

Whenever I talk to a potential new rider I try to make the point that engine displacement alone is a VERY bad indicator of a bikes potential, For example a R6 is only a mere 100 CC's bigger than a Buel Blast, and a Whopping 283 CC's smaller than the baby Sportster, The latter two would both make decent first time bikes, while the former is a rather poor choice. Engine potential can also vary widely even between similar size and configuration, The R6 and the FZ6R are both 600cc Inline 4's yet one has just about double the power of the other. I usually recommend a good used SV650 or FZ6 to someone looking to start riding, upright seating, comfortable and good brakes. You need to let me take that F800 for a lap or two around Streets sometime, its one of the few bikes I can find that actually meets all of my criteria for my next commuter bike Tyler

Also apparently the Honda's TC system is set so that if something fails, IE severed electrical line, it automatically defaults back to FULL POWER, so in this case I wouldn't say so much that Pedrosa's skills have been dulled, its more like someone went and switched his engine from a 600 to a 1000 between 2 corners and didn't tell him. he was most likely doing the exact same thing he does every time around that corner but the bike did something violently different. There was a race I believe last season where Nicky Hayden's Ducati got "lost" on the track and its GPS system went haywire so all the fuel mapping and traction control settings, and possibly suspension settings were completely wrong for the positions he was on the track. He said in a press conference after the race that is was near impossible to ride and very dangerous. Now as for the overall argument of if electronic aids make use better or worse riders, I'm pretty well in the make us worse camp. I'm also of the belief that Turn By Turn GPS is making everyone stupider by the day. They both have their place, but blindly relying on them makes you nothing more than a lemming IMO Tyler

I believe according to some race commentary I've heard the spitting flame is excess unburnt fuel burning off in the exhaust. So it would stand to reason, bigger engine = more fuel = more flames

Hello and welcome to the Forums, As a newer rider I'm curious about your feelings towards something thats probably unavoidable where you live, Rain, Avoid it like the plague ? or No big deal part of life in Seattle ? Tyler

One other thing I would HIGHLY recommend if you're kinda on the fence about club racing, or even if you're set on it but want some more background before you jump in the deep end of the pool. Go Pit Crew for someone for a day and get a inside look at how the club operates and what the race day routine feels like. You can gain some valuable insight, pick up a few tips and put a lot of the first time jitters at ease. I personally had the privilege of being Hotfoots pit crew for a WERA round at Autoclub Speedway about a month before my first race weekend and it was very informative, from sitting in on the riders meeting to watching the starting procedures, getting a feel for how quickly the day runs once they start racing and how soon before my race I should be suiting up etc. etc. Tyler

Thus Far I have only attended CSS out at SoW, but the one school that I really have my eye on attending that isn't CSS is Colin Edwards Texas Tornado Boot Camp, I would imagine the curriculum there is very very different from CSS as its entirely on dirt bikes and dirt tracks. Of course I also want to attend it between the 2 American MotoGP rounds when all the MotoGP riders are there guest instructing ... Tyler

While I lack the experience that Hotfoot has, I can give you some perspective of a new racer who just started with my vast experience of 6 races over 2 weekends. Personally I would describe passing in racing as "Pursuing and Engaging" it seems like a accurate description to me, but its definatly not a game of chicken, unless your ego is the kind that makes everything you do into a game of chicken. When you chase down ( Pursuing ) someone with similar but slightly slower pace you get to study them for a lap or two and see where your stronger and try to translate that into a advantage ( engaging ). Definitely not chicken, more like chess. What Hotfoot says about not focusing on the rider in front of you is very good advice. I found myself doing that and basically just rode around behind a slower rider for 3 laps in qualifying because I was too focused on him. Im pretty sure in racing you're still going to be looking for clear track to set fast times, at least that seems to be what Lorenzo has doing of late, the difference is there are going to be other riders who are trying to do the same thing. For me the biggest difference in mindset from a track day is being comfortable being VERY close to other riders, and being more aggressive passing them, the second there being one of my bigger weaknesses. At a track day if someone makes a close pass and forces you a little off your line it's his bad and you can complain to the organizers. but in a race your only recourse is to chase after and try to re pass him. From my limited experience there is a pretty broad range of pace at the club level and the pack quickly spreads out into groups of various paces. My last race this past Sunday there was a 15 second difference in the best lap time of the first place ( 1:54.873 ) and last place ( 2:10.990 ) finishers. In all four of my races I was battling with the same 4 or 5 riders with similar paces to mine, none of us were close to the leaders, but we all had a good weekend. Odds are you will have someone to race against regardless of your personal pace and how hard you're willing to push the limits of yourself or your machinery. Sure trophies are pretty sweet, but you don't need to be with the front runners to enjoy yourself nor to you need to be willing to risk life and limb. You also don't have to run in the most competitive class, 600 super-sport might require more risk than you're prepared to give but you might find racing 250's or classic lightweight twins to be much more enjoyable. TLDR: Get out there and give it a try Tyler

I was in a discussion at work the other day trying to convince one of my coworkers who is a new rider not to go buy himself a R1, a third co worker, a long time cruiser rider, chimed in with this bit of advice " Crotch Rockets steer completely different from cruisers, they're backwards or something, but its totally different " I'm gonna file that one under destructive advice