tmckeen
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Posts posted by tmckeen
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I was watching Crutchlow in the moto gp today and he has virtually no contact with his outside foot on the peg. I dont know how he can do it without hanging off the inside bar. Short of selling the R1 and buying a CBr600, i'm kinda stuck
Pro Racers are able to hang off without any significant "lock on" due to the ammount of G force they carry in the corner. Consider If your carrying 1 G of cornering load there is just as much force holding you on the bike horizontaly mid corner as there is when your sitting on the bike fully upright.
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I think the lap times would not be as impressive as you'd think, but It's prolly a BEAST off the line
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You mentioned that it was raining "Cats and Dogs" could you possibly have hydroplaned the front briefly, also do too the overly wet conditions I would imagine that the sliding the front would actually be a lot smoother then in the dry since there is less friction on the front tire.
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Don't your leathers chaff something fierce when they get wet?
Nah, you just wear a wet suit underneath them
How far in front was the cross over the lines ?best guess is 2.5-3 car lengths in front of the rider
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Curious did you order a precut pad or fashion one yourself out of some stock foam material ?
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T - Is your question about fault in the legal sense? Or in a less formal sense?
Legal, Ethical, Moral, Philosophical ... doesn't much matter I was just curious what some other "educated" riders around here thought of the situation. Clearly without the car the situation never would have happened, but the rider did have enough time to react and avoid the accident but failed to do so. Its basically the same as asking did the debris in the road, or the riders bad riding cause them to crash.
As for the legality of lane splitting, I do believe California is the only state where its legal, and I've read that the law used to give a set speed range but they removed that wording to give officers more leeway enforcing "unsafe lane splitting"
By virtue of lane splitting alone the rider is putting himself in a precarious position and is definitely responsible if something happens. The rider should know that most people don't check or care if a motorcycle is lane splitting, or even not lane splitting for that matter. Our safety is definitely our own responsibility, and we understand that in some case safety can be out of our control, most especially during street riding. I hope the guy is OK and wish you would have gotten it on GoPro.While I agree 100% that our safety is entirely our own responsibility, I have to ask if you have much experience with lane splitting or riding in and around the LA area? Having ridden on both coasts and in the middle of the pacific ocean I can say without a doubt the number of motorists who move out of your way and actually look for motorcyclists here in LA is significantly higher then anywhere else I have ridden. Something I attribute to the increased number of motorcycles on the roadways and lane splitting between traffic on all of the heavily congested freeways. It by no means makes riding any less dangerous as it only takes 1 driver to not seeing you to ruin your day, but I would disagree that the act of lane splitting alone is putting a rider at significantly higher risk then simply riding in a lane with traffic.
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This morning on my way into work I witnessed a fellow motorcyclist involved in a accident right in front of me, thankfully its resulted in no major injuries. I had a pretty good view of the events unfolding and am curious which of the two parties involved you think were more "at fault" for the accident.
The motorcyclist was splitting lanes between the carpool and leftmost lane, ( as was I ), he had become stuck waiting behind a delivery truck and a car that were a little to close together to fit between and when he had enough room to squeeze through he accelerated quite quickly to a pace that could be considered unsafe given the traffic conditions, faster then what I felt was safe anyway. Several hundred feet down the road a car quickly changed lanes from the carpool lane to the leftmost lane in front of him, crossing the double yellow line to do so, and I believe without signaling. In response to the car pulling out the motorcyclist first swerved slightly to the right, putting him on a trajectory headed right into the middle of the leftmost lane, he then attempted to emergency brake, but given the ridiculously raked out front end on his motorcycle his attempt to quick stop was insufficient and he plowed squarely into the center of the car, which by that time was completely in the leftmost lane.
I'm fairly certain that had he not swerved to the right and just applied the brakes he would have missed the car completely.
so who do you think is more at fault for the accident, the driver who cut across the double yellow or the rider to target fixated and ran into the car ?
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I think along with all the practice everyone has mentioned you also need good instruction and coaching, for example if you have a bad golf swing all the practice and time is only going to net you so much improvement since your practicing a bad technique to begin with, at some point your bad swing will become so ingrained in your muscle memory that when you do learn the proper technique its all but impossible to relearn it.
Also to truly become a master of something I think one of the most important parts is to start extremely young, the number of top world champion riders who started riding at Age 3-5 is astounding, lots of practice is great, but lots of practice while your brain is still learning how to interact and interpret the world around it is much better.
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Interesting Side note,
Per the lovely article in this months RRW on the Dunlop Facility here in the states. Dunlop is soon to release a new Dual Compound Slick, KR451, which is designed to be "flipped". With a softer compound on one shoulder of the tire you can run it in either direction based on the majority of the turns at your local track.
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The Hook Turn is indeed a great technique to have in you "toolbox", the amount you can tighten up your line simply by shifting your upper body forward is a good deal more than you would expect. It is of course somewhat dependent on being properly set up for the turn, locked on and shifted over slightly on the seat, good body position etc. etc. I find its very useful when I turn in too early and end up on a wider line then I normally use and can tighten it back up to my normal line mid corner, but it definitely takes the presence of mind to think clearly mid corner and apply it. If you panic and SR's start taking over your most likely not going to even consider the hook turn as a option.
As for the comparison of the hook turn to MotoGP riders and lines, that is kind of like comparing a Camaro to a F1 car. Those bike have SO much tech in them they are ridden completely different from a normal production based platform. They can hold insanely tight lines cause the GPS based electronics are modulating the engine braking to keep the bike on that line. There was a good article in RRW a month or two ago about the difference a full on WSBK Traction Control system makes, and I belive its most significant advantage was not the anti wheelie or the anti wheel spin or launch control, but the back in control that modulates the engine braking and adjusts the idle mid corner.
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I would imagine this is highly subjective to the design and materials involved in the back protector. Certainly Rubbers and Foams will lose their elasticity and break down over time, reducing their ability to absorb a impact. I would reckon to guess any back protector that is "reusable" has a effective shelf life before the materials degrade to a point of no longer being effective, and of course care use and cleaning would have a effect on that shelf life. Aluminum Honeycomb based back protectors most likely wont suffer from the same degradation over time that rubber or foam would, but would be much more susceptible to accidental damage rendering its single use, used so to speak. Much in the same way a fall from enough height will render a helmet "used" anything that would compress the aluminum honeycomb could have the same effect reducing its ability to absorb a impact.
FWIW I have one of the Dianese aluminum honeycomb style with the shoulder blade protectors
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Michelin actually has a "Pilot Power" and a "Pilot Power 2CT" in their lineup, one being a single compound and the other a dual compound tire. and I wouldn't consider either of them Sport Touring, I believe their sport touring tires are the Pilot Road 2 or Road 3. I've been using the Pilot Power on my R6 and have put about 6 days out at Streets on them, I felt their grip was plenty sufficient but I'll most likely be replacing them with a set of Q2's before my next track day as I feel my pace might be ready for something a little stickier
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HI and welcome to the forums,
I have a question for you and please don't take this the wrong way, but how are the road conditions over in India ? The only thing I've ever seen pictures of is insane traffic in cities, are decently paved windy roads common outside the major cities or are they few and far between ?
oh and definitely try to make it to CSS when they stop by, you wont be disappointed with the experience
Tyler
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Coaching humor! I like that. I can guess how that debrief would go..."How did 'The quick brown fox' drill feel? What areas on keyboard do you feel went well?"
Repeat after me: "One the quote box is turned on, its used evenly and smoothly throughout the remainder of the thread"
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1. Do you use any kind of tank pads?
2. If so, which kind and why?
3. If so, what have you noticed with them?
4. If not, how come?
1: Yes, only on my track bike at the moment tho
2: Newer style Stomp Grip
3: Control under braking and ability to lock onto the bike is vastly superior on my track bike as compared to my street bike
4: cause they don't make them for my street bike and I dislike the look of the generic square pads
on a side note I was already planning on looking at the assortment you guys have for sale at the school this weekend for a set to put on the street bike
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Hi and welcome to the forums, if your looking to improve your motorcycle technique you have definitely come to the right place, and to be honest I think your English is probably better then a good portion of the population here in america anyway.
Tyler
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Sounds to me like Hotfoot needs to follow Cobie around the forums for a few posts, little professional coaching should have him sorted out in no time
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Great too hear you had such a fantastic experience, as for your FZ1 not being as much fun, give it a few weeks. After 2 days of riding the S1000 coming home to mine it felt downright slow and under powered, I'd swear someone broke in and de-tuned my engine while I was at the track. But after a week or so I re-adjusted myself back to it and while in the back of my mind I know its not the fire breathing monster the S1000 is, I also know that my local windy roads are not a racetrack either.
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I remember when Crutchlow had his injury and his left leg (outside leg in a right turn) was just almost dangling off the peg.
Cal has stated in interviews that this is a result of his just being too short, his outside leg is dangling off the peg quite frequently.
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A double apex turn or wet pavement would be my best answer.
Wouldn't reducing the lean angle required for the turn be beneficial in both of these situations ?
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I wouldn't say the idea of quick turn revolves around turning in as late as possible, it's simply to go from fully upright to fully leaned over as quickly as conditions allow, you can choose to move your turn point back a good ways compared to a lazy turn in and apex later,which is very good for blind corners, or turn at the same point and use a lot less lean angle for the corner, or carry more speed into the corner. Your turn-point, line and apex can change depending on any number of factors
as for learning when to quick turn and when not to, can you think of a situation where you wouldn't want to set your lean angle as quickly as conditions allow ?
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I wouldn't say your confusing "Quick Turn" with "Quick Flick" unless you mean "Hip Flick" which is something else entirely, I would say your confusing us mortals with the "Aliens" of MotoGP. They appear to be turning in much slower then would be possible, but that is a byproduct of their being on the brakes, crazy hard on the brakes at insane lean angle according to Johnny Rea's recent test, right up to the apex.
there was a recent discussion on the subject of how "Quick Turn" applies in racing conditions Here
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I think a good understanding of what and how counter steering works is required before you can really apply the quick turn technique, and the best explanation of it I've seen here is the baseball bat example,
A motorcycle is a Inverted Pendulum, aka a upside down grandfather clock, now if you were to balance a baseball bat on the palm of your hand it too would become a inverted pendulum just like a motorcycle, Now to make the bat, or you motorcycle lean over in one direction or the other the only way to achieve that is to move the base of the pendulum, shift your palm a few inches to the right, the bat falls over to the left or vice-verse. This is exactly how a motorcycle actually steers, you have been doing it all along inadvertently, but knowing what is actually causing the bike to turn gives you much much better control over accidentally turning the bike. If you want to turn to the left, you first turn the front wheel to the right, this causes the front of the bike, or the base of the pendulum to drive out to the right, which causes the bike to lean over to the left, once you have achieved the desired amount of lean angle you release the handlebars and apply enough throttle to achieve the desired weight ratio on the tires and the bike will continue on the set line until you stand it up. Now quick turn is simply applying that initial steering input as quickly and forcefully as can be allowed by the conditions.
Tyler
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I can't say if it was learning to steer quicker that did it , but post CSS my average commuting mileage before the white line shows up in the center of my back tire has improved to the tune of at least a extra 1,000 miles a tire, it might take a decade to do it , but the schools would pay for themselves eventually
What About After You Ride?
in Cornering and Techniques
Posted
I'm curious Hotfoot, when do you Start hydrating for hot days in dry climates ?? are you drinking lots of water and gatorade two days prior to prepare for it or do you wait till the morning of to do it ?
When I was in the Marines some guys raved about the effectiveness of Pedialyte for recovering after especially grueling P.T. sessions, tho if you can get it a few bags of Lactated Ringers works wonders too