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Gr8Dane

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Everything posted by Gr8Dane

  1. Emergency braking: Practice, practice, practice. Here's what I do : If you don't have a a helper as mentioned, pick a spot up ahead and see if maximum braking will get you stopped before you get to that spot. Ignore the rear brake. It will just lock up on you and get you sideways in more ways than one. . How do you achieve maximum braking? Practice, practice, practice. Always 'cover' your front brake with 2 fingers. Be aware that if you slam the brakes on, you may lock up your front, and you will be on your ear in no time. Instead, gradually apply increasing pressure. This allows for weight transfer to 'plant' the front tire for maximum adhesion and THEN you can really get on the brakes harder. It's kind of a fluid motion. Here's another shameless BMW plug: These days, all BMW's come with ABS, some of them even have power boosters. My K 1200 GT will stop so hard it feels like running into a wall, withou any risk of locking up the wheels. In race mode the S 1000 RR will brake hard enough to chirp the front tire!
  2. 10 track days on the tires and they don't wear? Sounds like you have old, hard tires! I would guess your tires are at least 2 years old then? Also, your pressures seem kinda low to me, given that you are putting over 600 lbs weight on them. As an example, on the BMW K 1200 the manual calls for 36 front and 42 rear, simply because it is a heavy bike. And I can feel a distinct difference between 36 and 32 psi in the front, at the lower pressure the steering is heavy and sluggish. Your rear tire pressure should not be lower than your front, because you carry more weight on the rear than the front. TWOT says a happy bike has 40/60 weight distribution front/ rear, logic would then dictate higher pressure in rear than front.
  3. And interestingly, if you equip your bike with lighter wheels, such as the BST carbon fiber wheels, it will flick faster due to less gyroscopic force int the wheels. A really abrupt countersteer input will flick the bike much quicker. I really wrestle with the bars on the big heavy K 1200, especially when standing it up on corner exit as I get on the gas. It's loads of fun to man-handle that thing!
  4. I'm surprised you got the tires to slide. Was it a cold day? Or was it a death grip on the bars? The rear slide was due to aggressive throttle input or? What pressure are you running front and rear? Maybe you have too much pressure in the tires? How much is do you weigh and how much does the bike weigh? Tire pressure is directly related to the weight they have to carry.
  5. Looks like a double apex corner? If so, you don't really want to add throttle between the 2 apexes....in any event, judging by the horizon and the still shot's it's a pretty steep angle for him to be adding throttle. He chops the throttle only after realizing he's going sideways. I don't think he had a chance of saving it after that. He could have stood the bike up more before adding throttle, but maybe he was counting on Traction control to over-ride his errant throttle input?
  6. Many riders don't have a conscious understanding of the effects of counter-steering. They do it anyway, because that's what makes the bike change direction. When I encounter a rider who says they do not counter steer, I have a little experiment that's quite the eyeopener: Try riding your bike with your left hand on the throttle....within 5 seconds you will figure out that you have always counter steered!
  7. I think a small animal could have been the culprit, but never did see any evidence. Who knows? Been riding for almost 40 years and that's the first time I have ever had something in-explicable happen. Especially on a bike that's inherently as stable as a rock.
  8. Riding the BMW K 1200 GT down Mulholland a few days ago, after dusk, just cruising, minding my own business, straight line, 50 mph. SMACK! SHAKE, RATTLE & ROLL! Massive tankslapper, right, left, right....dunno what, why or how! Thought for sure I was going down. Bike straightened itself out, I stopped, my left wrist painful from the sudden, twisting impact. Figured I had blown a tire,,,nope, tires fine, pressure fine. I doubled back, checked the road surface, no sand gravel, nothing.....next morning, I check the bike thoroughly....all good, except for scuff marks from my right knee-slider on TOP OF THE TANK! Which would indicate that the bike went from vertical to about 45 degree lean angle and back while my body remained upright. Wheew, that was close! I still don't know what happened, but I have to say I credit loose elbows and no death grip on the bars allowing the bike to correct itself....there's absolutely nothing I could have actively done to save it. Page 46 & 47 of TOWTII pretty much explains the dynamics.
  9. I don't buy this one either. When you are in gear and moving, the whole bike is the flywheel. You would have to pull in the clutch, not merely close the throttle, for the weight of the flywheel to matter. Me neither. A low flywheel weight would make it less likely to lock up the rear wheel. I'm thinking extremely high compression. Snappy throttle response ? Use the gearbox more or lower the gearing and or lose weight
  10. You guys nailed it. There's two camera angles of the high side, the camera shooting uphill shows the rear wheel collapsed all the way up into the the tailcone, and when the pick the bike up, you can see the rear wheel flopping back and forth. Probably linkage failure. Inexcusable in my opinion....
  11. Rewind the tape and watch what really happened. Ben didn't cause the high-side--he knows not to get on the gas hard in the corkscrew, yet the bike stepped out from under him. Viciously so. The tape tells the story. It's fairly obvious, yet none of the commentators caught it...so, what happened?
  12. Crazy acitvities? Stunters. Standing on the seat facing backwards going down the freeway. While playing with your Iphone, taking video's. No thanks! I'd rather jump out of a perfectly good airplane. Actually do that on a regular basis. After it has rolled to a complete stop and prop isn't turning, that is.....
  13. GOLDWING tire tester : 180 lbs on back ? His wife/GF isn't that BIG! LOL
  14. Hmmm, maybe I should get round to bolting up that turbo that's been sitting on the shelf......
  15. Fun video Dane. I love the remote control camera car. That wipeout was epic! And methinx you are correct sir. Something tells me our Bavarian friends who put it together for you would not approve. You will have to post up videos Mug!
  16. Hmmm....me thinx lengthening the swing arm and drive shaft on the BMW will not be worth the effort www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYpOFimB7ZA
  17. The Snake is just about the worst place to be hot rodding the bike. Not just because most of the corners are blind, but also there is precious little room for mistakes. Fueling the danger factor are all the yahoo's out there doing what you are doing. Having said that, it's a fun road, but you really ought to take it to the track. Since you're obviously local, shoot me a PM and we can go ride somewhere much safer. If you have or can borrow a go-pro, we could shoot some video so you can see what is going on.
  18. Tires were bought and installed by Cycle Gear. New valves. Rubber, no nuts. Valve wasn't seated correctly, centrifugal forces sucked it into the tire!
  19. 1 Bar =14.50 psi 1.9 Bar = 27.55 Psi - way too low for the rear tire - check your owners manual there may be a sticker on your bike. Beware: The max tire pressure indicated on the tire is for mounting purposes only, and has nothing to do with the operating pressure.
  20. BTW 1.9 BAR rear seems too low...again depending on your weight.
  21. Tire pressure: Consult your owners manual for a base pressure setting. The correct pressure depends on the weight of the bike combined with your weight. A tire cannot function properly if the profile is deformed due to either over-inflation or under-inflation. If you weigh 100 lbs, then you should probably reduce the pressure in both tires. If you weigh 300 lbs, you are going to have to increase the pressure to compensate. The weight distribution of a sport bike is pretty much 50/50, yet most manufacturers call for slightly more tire pressure in the rear than the front. Why is this? Because a modern sport-bike spends an inordinate amount of time transferring weight AND torque to the rear wheel, which must therefore carry a heavier load than the front. A rear-engine Porsche needs far more pressure in the rear tires for the same reason, it has truly f-ed up weight distribution. How much do you weigh?
  22. Scary......I stay the heck away from the painted stripes and the rumble strips at the track, especially on the gas, way too slippery! So the question remains, how do the pro's do it ? Engine braking combined with slipper clutches that slide the wheel just enough to allow it to step out without locking up and creating flat spots on the tires????.
  23. I have never done that on a street bike, only on dirt-bikes: Getting the rear wheel to step out sideways helps to pivot the bike and get it pointed down the track quicker. That's done by locking up the rear wheel. What's the best way to that on asphalt?
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