tmckeen
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Posts posted by tmckeen
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Can anyone else remember the conditions under which you will not be able to perform a quick turn?
In the wet, or similarly reduced traction conditions IE leaves or sand on the road
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OK so I don't quite have a fleet of motorcycles to tend to, but I manage to go through a pretty fair amount of oil, not quite enough to warrant a 55 gallon drum in the corner of my garage however. So my question is, is there a option somewhere between the 1 Gallon jug and the 55 Gallon Drum ?? I've done some searching on the web but I cant find much that doesn't require a commercial address or applying to be a race team or a vendor of some sort. Any input would be appreciated
Thanks
Tyler
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I would also vote for the 600 over the 1000 myself, the performance you get out of modern sport bikes is just insane, and IMO until you can really push the limit on 600 the 1000 is just masking your own errors
I know I'm in the minority on the fully built vs build it yourself track bike, but for me, building it up from stock myself felt like the better option, I would rather assemble it myself bit by bit and do all the wrench turning and tweaking myself so I'm familiar with all the various bits and pieces on the bike, since long term your going to have to do a certain amount of work on your track bike, unless your the kind of person who takes your bike in to the local shop to lube the chain for you. You can also get a pretty decent deal on a used street bike with some cosmetic damage to the plastics your gonna be pulling off anyway, and if your only starting to get into the track day thing ( which I am ) your probably not going to need the weight savings of the full titanium exhaust and the extra power from the full dynojet system just yet, nor will you be pushing hard enough to make use of the Ohlin's upgrades etc. Next time around I'll probably go the used race bike route but for now the stock R-6 with fairings and clipons is plenty enough to get me around the track
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I'm pretty sure the consensus around these parts is that it's advisable to take C.S.S. courses as often as it is financially feasible
. In all seriousness, unless you've somehow forgotten how to operate a motorcycle since 2008, its never a wrong time to go back for some more coaching at the school. -
Interesting thoughts for sure,
I've always been of the mindset that its equal parts rider and machine , tho in this age of electronic aids I'm leaning more towards more the machine and less the rider, not to say the rider isn't a large part of the equation but without the right machine no amount of skill or natural ability will put you on the top step of the podium. No one can argue that Agostini isn't one of or the G.O.A.T., but his run of dominance was helped a good bit by having a decidedly dominant motorcycle under him, Look at AMA Superbike this year and last, last year Blake's Suzuki had a noticeable mechanical advantage over Haye's Yamaha, and it's what allowed him snag so many last lap race to the line win's, despite Haye's ability he could not overcome that mechanical advantage his opponent had over him, this season however the tables have at worst evened out and at best turned completely, and Haye's has run away with the championship thus far and broken the spirit of his top contender in the process. IMO Stoner's dominating performance last season was help'd a good bit by having the dominating machine on the grid, but this year with the change to the tires Honda has lost the edge to the Yamaha and the results thus far show it.
I would say MotoGP already has a 3 tier race going on just like F1, sure the Tech3 bikes have done very well this year, but IMO that's mostly due to the format change to 1000cc machines, next season when the Factory M1 has another year of development and new spec'd up parts and electronics the Tech3 team will most likely still be running on last years bike and I doubt they will be as close to the front. Honda has already pushed out a new engine and chassis for the factory team, but how long before the San Carlo team gets to use it ? The downside to prototype racing is to stay at the top of the podium you have to constantly improve your hardware or find yourself outgunned, Its what has happened to Ducati, sure 4 or 5 years ago they had a competitive bike with the best rider on it, but they have been far to slow to improve it and Yamaha and Honda have left them in the dust, and I'm pretty sure if Stoner is having trouble beating Lorenzo on the Honda theres no WAY he could do it on the Ducati.
Side note, interesting interview with Stoner in the new RRW, they asked him what his secret to riding the Ducati was and while he doesn't give away his trade secrets he does talk about the mentality difference. His approach to riding the Ducati in a way mirrors some of what they teach at CSS in that you cannot adapt the Ducati to your riding style, you must adapt your riding style to the Ducati
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I went back and looked at the "Riders All Time, MotoGP" list. If you look at the current riders, only Vale, Casey, Jorge, Dani and Nicky have more than 1 win in MotoGP/GP500 (Nicky has just 3 wins). Dovi, Spies, and Elias have a single win each.
I'm curious would you say this statistic is more directly related to the rider ability, or a symptom of a racing series where at best there are 4 bikes in the field with a realistic chance at standing on the top of the podium ?
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Here's my thoughts on the silly season and MotoGP
Rossi: at this point he only cares about 2 things and money isn't one of them. He's had his eye on two records for some time and that's all he wants at this point , 123 wins and 9 titles to surpass Agostini for the #1 spot on the all time list, he got greedy and wanted to win the title for 3 different manufacturers, which I believe would also have been a GP first, if someone could guarantee him the 18 wins and two titles he needs for 0$ salary I'd bet good money he'd take it.
Yamaha: Really wants 1 thing, Rossi to retire wearing Yamaha color's, its seems more so then the other manufacturers Yamaha likes to keep their retired champions around, invite them back for a few parade laps and a photo op and Rossi would be a MAJOR addition to their stable of living legends
I think Rossi will give Audi 1 more year to pull it together and make some changes with the Ducati factory team, and hopefully to give him a shot at the 3 Championships with 3 Manufacturers crown, but will re-sign with Yamaha before he retire's to WSBK
Cal Crutchlow: He has stated he does not want to ride for Tech 3 next year, he wants a full factory ride and is willing to move to Ducati to get it, but he's stuck waiting on the doctor to pick which team he's going with and will take whichever spot Rossi turns down
Dovi: being a more seasoned rider then Crutchlow, I don't think Yamaha would bring him over to the Factory team for fear of issues with Lorenzo, but his performance has been too go to let go so my guess is that they keep him at Tech 3 to help groom Smith for the future
Spies: I think he'll end up in WSBK with Suzuki to help bring them to the front of the pack there, and to prepare for a Suzuki return to MotoGP behind the scenes, I think there just arn't enough seats left in MotoGP and while most of his misfortune this season has been bad luck and technical issues he need's a solid season somewhere to get his mojo back and a Satellite or CRT bike just won't cut it.
Stoner: Take's a season or two off to see how things settle out, he's really disgusted with the state of MotoGP and the CRT issues, his comments after Laguna Seca qualifying really show this, but I think he's going to miss it too much and he'll be back once the rule's shift to something he's happier with
All around racing: Clearly the most exciting series to watch is the one with the closest racing at the front. Last year IMO it was DSB, this year its WSBK, MotoGP really needs to make some drastic changes or its going to keep sinking, you can't base a entire racing series, especially the "pinnacle" of the sport around the same 2-3 guys racing for different steps on the same podium every week,
How would I fix it ? First the electronics, they are flat out bankrupting motorcycle racing at all levels and while they have done some good things for the sport they need to be scaled back, BSB did it this year and it's paid off, I expect most of the other serie's will follow suit, I dont think Stock ECU's or any of the stuff that will work in the other series's would work in MotoGP but I would add one rule to govern the use of electronics on "prototype" machines. "You cannot use any electronic systems that could not be reasonably applied to a production motorcycle" basically no GPS based stuff, no more tuning every aspect of the bike on a per corner basis. Mechanical development in MotoGP trickles down to production bike, so has some electronic aids but that stuff will never end up in a production bike. Also the CRT thing, relax their rules a bit more, give them more Gas and more Displacement to work with, let the small time race teams tweak the hell out of them and when they actually start winning against the might of the full factory effort start to scale back their rules to keep them in line
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Depending on how much the radius is decreasing the hook turn or even just more "body english" can be very useful to tighten your line, but those techniques are somewhat dependent on setting up for the turn properly to begin with. If your not already locked in and shifted slightly to the inside applying those techniques mid corner might have some less desirable results then you intend.
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I would say a quicker turn in can have a number of possible effects on your turn depending on what else to change to match the increased rate of turn in. For example if your speed and lean angle are constant your turn will be shorter, if your turn length and lean angle are constant you can carry higher speed, and if your speed and turn length are constant you can use less lean, but unless your going from a dangerously slow rate of turn in to a world champion rate of turn in I don't think it will have a large enough effect to significantly improve more then one aspect of the corner, IE. both a increase in speed and reduced lean
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I believe the theory behind the quicker steering input = less lean angle is based on using the same turn point, moving the turn point in your corner drastically like you suggest means your taking a entirely different line through the corner and comparing the lean angle used between vastly differing lines is like comparing apples to oranges, or perhaps 125's to 1000's
If your trying to achieve the same amount of turning in 50 meters that you normally do in 150 I would say you will most definitely need a heck of a lot more lean angle, but again I think that's beside the point of the quick steering/reduced lean technique, consider your initial 150 meter turn, if you turn in slowly and take the first 50 meters to reach your lean angle you have 100 meters left to complete the turn and require enough lean angle to do so, now consider turning in quickly in say 15 meters, you now have 135 meters available to complete the turn and require less lean angle to make the same corner.
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Welcome to the Forums Andy,
you look pretty good on the bike there and I will agree with Carey that track looks like quite the workout. They run track days there every weekend ?? Is that a club or do they just open the track up to anyone who wants to pay for admission ?
Tyler
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It really depends on how big of a devil's advocate you want to be, you can change simple variables like reducing speed by 10 mph, adding a few more seconds of following distance, taking a cleaner line to avoid road debris etc. etc. or consider larger ones such as riding 5 MPH slower for the previous hour and not being in the wrong place at the wrong time , or catching 1 extra stop light, stuff like that. I maintain that over 99% of all accidents worldwide could have been prevented had the person simply not gotten out of bed that morning
The Military has a term for your approach to riding , Its called O.R.M. or Operational Risk Management. Its basically 4 steps
1: Identify potential Hazards
2: Develop controls to minimize or negate said hazards
3: Implement those controls
4: Supervise ( most likely Brad's favorite step here
)For example on the Freeway's here in LA I can identify other drivers attempting to invade my road-space as a potential hazard, my control for this hazard is to always ride in the leftmost lane thereby reducing the direction motorists can merge into my lane from by 50% and while I've heard many stories of the Median divider jumping out in front of someone I've yet to actually see that happen
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Just to throw a question in here... have you ever seen an accident that could not have been avoided?
depending on how you look at it there isn't a single accident that couldn't have been prevented if you simply go back in time and change a few variables leading up to the accident
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IMO the best way to fix your problem would be to head out to one of your local tracks and eliminate the wall, along with a numerous host of other variables, from the entire equation.
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So what did you end up going with ?
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but what on earth made the CBR600RR rider crash????
I wondered this myself and watched the video way to many times trying to figure that our, If you watch the rider in front of the CBR closely you will notice he applies a lot more lean angle at the point where the CBR runs wide, so i think the road does tighten up a good bit even tho its hard to tell from the video since they slow down due to the wreck. Its kinda hard to see especially if your not watching it in full screen. I believe the rider on the CBR ran into the mental block of "I'm already at max lean and cant possibly tighten up my line" despite the reality of being nowhere near the physical limits of his machine
and man the Harley's running into the ditch .... I think that's evolution trying to do its job right there
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The time difference for a small increment in speed is independent of the initial speed.
I'm no mathematician and the rest of your post makes my head spin , but I disagree with this statement. The amount of time difference for a given distance with a small static change in speed totally depends on the initial speed ,
Distance traveled : 1 Mile
Speed : 1 MPH Travel Time: 60 Min
Speed : 2 MPH Travel Time: 30 min
Time saved: 30 min % Decrease: 50%
Speed: 60 MPH Travel Time: 60 seconds
Speed: 61 MPH Travel Time: 59.016 seconds
Time Saved: 0.984 seconds % Decrease: 1.64%
Speed 120 MPH Travel Time: 30 seconds
Speed 121 MPH Travel Time: 29.752 seconds
Time Saved: 0.248 Seconds % Decrease: 0.836%
the faster you are going the less of a impact 1 MPH will have on your time over a given distance
I think that unless you have a garage full of tech's that are tweaking your GPS based fuel maps and reviewing your segment times you can pretty much stick to the old advice of "Go fast in the fast corners"
this also reminds me of a old forum signature that I think applies quite well in this case, and also to the older thread on Friction vs Contact patch
"The difference between theory and practice is that in theory there is no difference"
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Adding 1 mph will have a greater impact at slower speed because it represents a larger % of your current speed. At 10 MPH a 1 mph increase will result in a 10% reduction in elapsed time over a distance , at 50 its 2% and 100 its 1% and his math shows this exactly
But consider at 100 MPH 300 ft is barely a corner more like a Kink, In TOTW the slow corner example is a 150 ft corner while the fast example is 1280 ft, roughly 8.5x the distance, I think the rider is digging too deep into the math and overlooking what makes a fast corner a fast corner and a slow corner a slow one,
Think of it not in terms of your entry speed but in terms of the total distance covered, is it better to go 1.467 FPS (1 MPH) faster for 150 feet , or for 1500 feet ?
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I don't think getting blisters is really a indication of having a death grip on the bars, consider how easily you can develop blisters on your hands from operating a shovel for 45 min, you never really death grip a shovel but the constant abrasion on your palms nets you a blister all the same. If anything I would say its a indication of just how active and demanding riding at that level really is. I read a interview quote once, I think it was Rossi but I'm not sure, comparing the state of GP riding now and of yesteryear which was basically that a long time ago it was quite common for GP riders to win the race and casually enjoy a smoke, but now riders finish the race and are physically exhausted, and as the technology has improved through the years the effort required of the rider has increased alongside it.
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I want a helmet for everyday commute. I want a helmet that less than $500.
If that's truly the case one feature I HIGHLY recommend is the built in sun visor. It may seem like a gimmick but I assure you after a few months you'll never want to go back to not having it. Its really great here in SoCal where your morning commute is often cloudy with "marine layer" but your afternoon commute is bright and sunny. And if you find the built in visor isn't quite dark enough for your taste you can switch your main shield to a light smoke instead of clear and darken it up a tad without making night riding impossible. Of course your choices for this option are still somewhat limited, I know HJC, Scorpion, and Schuberth are options, I believe Nolan has started to include this feature in their modular helmets, Shoei also now offers a modular helmet with it. I currently have a Scorpion EXO-500 and I love it, it also helps that it fits my head quite well the venting and weight on the 500 are massive improvements over the older EXO-1000
And definitely don't buy anything without trying one on at a local shop,
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What kind of riding is it for, Track, Touring, Daily commuter, Weekend Canyon Carving ?
Also what kind of price range are you looking for, there are a lot of really nice helmets out there but not everyone can drop 700$ on a new Schuberth C3 or 4,000$ on a Arai
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People who think driving in a circle for 4 hours is the pinnacle of motor sports, they're crazy
also people who compete in the Iditarod
oh and competitive bird watchers
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On the topic of exotic bikes I was always kinda partial to the Benelli TRE, as for Ducati styling, its the Desmosedici RR hands down but damn that price tag
Now for the 1199 and WSBK , I think its mostly due to Ducati not having a factory team, Althea Ducati is a private team, and being a private team decided to stick with the proven championship winning bike over the new model and playing development catch-up all season
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Yamaha's production R1 is far from competitive in SBK
Hayes Lap times at Miller would tend to disagree with that statement
I do find it rather puzzling that the two Brands who dominate in AMA Superbike are non existent in WSBK and the Brands who dominate there are non existent in AMA
Track Bike Seat - Stock Or Foam?
in School Questions/General Discussion
Posted
I heard or read somewhere that most foam seatpads on a Suberbike tail would be thinner and usually harder then the stock seats resulting in less muffling of feedback through the frame of the bike, and since your backside doesn't sink in quite as much moving around in the seat actually requires less effort then with the stock seat.
Armour Bodies sells precut seat pads for their Superbike tails. I decided to go that route and ordered one for my R-6 bodywork. The fit and finish on them is top notch and I've had a few fellow corner workers out at SOW comment on the quality of the seat pad, the grip level is quite nice and I believe its closed cell foam so it wont fill up with water and take weeks to dry out should it get wet at some point.
Tyler