rchase

The biggest limitation I find that I have is just me and trusting my own ability and skill. I suppose that's true for a lot of riders out there but it tends to be a particular problem for me since I started riding so late in life. I have a decent amount of knowledge but eventually at a point that knowledge has to be applied which is what I struggle with. I'm sure you all are familiar with my overthinking by now. Other than my overthinking I'm pretty average in virtually every way. Every single second in that 14 second figure was just my own internal doubt and lack of comprehension of the performance characteristics of my bike. Being able to see there was an ocean of available performance that I had not even scratched the surface of really helped me. Even using cutting edge tools like my datalogger and DTC system where I could quantify grip and know that the bike had a safety net were not helping me push beyond my own self imposed limitations quickly enough. Don't get me wrong. Those are powerful tools and help a lot but I lacked the frame of reference to equate the numbers and indicator lights with the seat of the pants feel involved. The ride with Nate was an amazing demonstration to me that the RR performs well beyond my level of comprehension and wildest expectations. To me the most striking thing about those 14 seconds to me is what part of the day they came and my situation at the time. The eye opening ride with Nate and the humid 100 degree day both took a lot out of me. The improvements came when I was "taking it easy" and not making any effort to actually go faster because I was tired. The tension and apprehension I had went away. I finally had a reference point to work from and that eliminated a lot of doubt. Yellowduck. I have actually thought about that. I have a feeling though that if I ever did write a check and mail it he would just hand it back to me the next time he saw at the track. Nate runs a small track day org that I have yet to miss a single day at since the first time I rode with the org. He regularly gives his time and knowledge to anyone who want's it no matter their skill level or logo affixed to their tank. Just like the coaches and staff at the school he's motivated only by the opportunity to help people. On the suspension question. My bike had been setup by Nate prior to the 2up ride. I had been riding on those exact same settings for quite some time. P.S. I have made similar improvements riding with the school. The coaches help me an incredible amount every single time I attend. Without you guys here on the forum I would have never discovered the magic world of distorted time and space above 150mph. I have been helped greatly by coaches and fellow students by being able to discuss problems without judgement or shame. I'm in debt to many of you and being the kind people you are you would never accept a dime for the help you provided. Thank you!

Connor. Looking forward to Barber this year for sure. Unicycles? 200hp ones or pedal powered? Inquiring minds want to know.

Heh heh. I actually have pulled Nate's data a few times and have had a look. VERY different than my data. As for sharing I would have to ask Nate first. For someone with his amazing ability he's a bit modest. As for the speed thing it was really amazing. I know Roebling Road like the back of my hand. There were times I had no earthly clue where we were. I saw "a corner" and just moved my upper body and changed my grip on the grab handle.

Hey Connor, Welcome to the forum. Glad to see you here. As a repeat offender student I have to say I'm always amazed at the dedication you guys have and the efficiency in which things get run on school days. Not having to worry about fuel in the bike or the condition of the tires is amazing for helping us focus 100% on just the learning. Look forward to seeing you guys at Barber this 2016 season hopefully.

Sorry to hear about the noise issue. That always is a challenge especially with a greedy right hand. He's a lot of fun to ride with out on track for sure. It always gives me a chuckle to see him blast by on the rear wheel so effortlessly.

Thank you for the kind comment. It was an amazing experience. It also was a really vivid reminder of why I love bikes so much. That man/machine connection is the strongest on bikes than any other machine. I have been on tracks with professional drivers in cars and even done aerobatics in small planes. None of those activities were quite like this. The scary thing is Nate was likely taking it easy due to the extra weight and what i experienced was not even close to what he does by himself. That reminds me of a quote from Twist I. "Kenny Roberts has often said that you must go slow in some place in order to go fast in others. His "slow," of course, would put most of us into cardiac arrest"

Hey guys and gals. At the BMW Double R fest this year I got a chance to do a 2up ride with Nate Kern the BMW test rider. It was an amazing experience and with some inspiration from a work friend I wrote an article about the experience. My article ended up being published by BMWRA OTL Magazine. I asked the editor at OTL Magazine if it would be ok to share a copy of the article here and he was more than accommodating. Check them out http://bmwra.org/. Here's the article itself from the magazine. As much as I tried to put into words the experience as you can imagine there's a lot that you can't really describe with words. If you have a few minutes I promise it's an interesting read. Hopefully the forum software will be kind to me and display the images in a way where people can actually see the text.

That's an interesting thing as well to consider. Observation of clues that riders are about to do something before they do it. I'm going to pay a bit more attention to that myself as it would help you "predict" what they are about to do. I agree with Spike in regards to organizations speaking a bit more about on track communication. However this is a bit of a controversial topic with a lot of organizations. For safety purposes they want all riders focused ahead of them rather than anyplace else to prevent incidents. Observing other riders takes away from this in their minds which I can't say I disagree with. Everyone being on the same page would reduce incidents but with so many new riders doing their first day with an orginization discussing it openly would be a lot of information and lead to confusion. They focus on the super important bits such as flags and technique which are more crucial in the grand scheme of things to keep people safe. People eventually figure out the non verbal on track communication themselves. What's interesting is the car side of track days do discuss openly non verbal communication. Drivers of cars at track days pay attention to their mirrors and give faster drivers a "point by" to let them know it's safe to overtake. This is mostly because of the physical size of cars. On bikes you can be 4 across during passing and still have plenty of room on most tracks. For some car tracks you can only be two cars across without a lot of room. Hence the need for the point by.

That's AWESOME! I love what Mario said. I bet that guy is wishing he had not opened his mouth. The prize of free track days is pretty darn valuable. You could use the heck out of that for sure!

Two piece suits certainly do offer some advantages. I tend to prefer 1pc suits myself. They generally offer more flex panels and make it easier to move around on the bike. Where the gear is being used is probably the most important aspect of what to choose. On the street 1pc leathers are slightly cumbersome and often attract more attention than you want. On the track 1pc leathers make more sense. Some things to think about when it comes to perforation. Unless you do a lot of riding in the cold I would avoid a non perforated suit. You can always add layers under a perforated suit but you can never add perforation and air flow to a non perforated suit. That one warm day with no air flow is pretty miserable. When I do cold track days I wear an insulated under layer. It's pretty good at blocking the air flow and providing warmth. All of my suits are perforated. Keep in mind too that track riding is a lot more physically exerting than street riding. It might only be 20 minutes for a session but every single bit of comfort you can provide yourself makes a huge difference on a hot day. I also live in the deep south and it's humid here so take my suggestion with a grain of salt and base your preference on your climate. Removing the top is the main advantage of a 2pc suit for cooling on a warm day. 1pc suit people have a few tricks up our sleeves when it comes to that. Several places make a "belt" that you can use around your waist over the suit to hold it up while you have the top section off. It just hangs there and the belt holds it up. I'll admit this is less than ideal but it certainly beats sweating it out in the heat. That also would get you some weird looks in public though with your arms hanging around your waist. A lot of the "old timers" at the track don't even bother with a belt. I have seen people using bungee cords and tie down straps as belts to hold up their suits on hot days. Trying on lots of different types of gear is really helpful. Years and years ago when I knew absolutely nothing of riding gear I bought my first 1pc suit. I ended up with well known maker's bottom of the line cowhide suit. I wore it for a while and then one day tried on a higher quality suit. I was astonished at how much lighter, flexible and more ventilated the higher quality suit was. When I bought the first suit I did not understand the value you get for the money on the higher quality suits. They seemed like they were the same but in reality they were VERY different. I was happy with the higher quality suit for quite some time until a friend of mine asked me to get his suit out of his car. I picked it up and was astonished at how light it was and how much more ventilation it had. I made a quick mental note of the brand and eventually found one in my size I could try on. It was like wearing Pajamas in comparison to mine. It was also close to double the price too but you often get what you pay for. Regardless if you go one piece or two piece, perforated or non perforated. Don't neglect the under layer. A good under layer can make ANY suit 100x more comfortable. Under layers can provide warmth and block wind but they can also wick away sweat and eliminate pressure points that can distract you while you are riding. Good socks are important as well to keep your feet cool and dry. BTW. Welcome to the forum!

I would rather hear about it twice than not at all. Thanks for sharing Cobie. Some really amazing technology.

Rather than completely eliminating ABS I would tune it with the Calibration Kit and see if you can get it where it still gives you a level of protection while allowing you to maximize braking. Unless you can't find a happy medium there I would keep the ABS system onboard. There is a minimal weight savings removing it but the first time you need ABS and it's not available that weight savings becomes a false economy. Avoiding a crash could win a race. I'm going to share my super secret S1000RR bodywork supplier with you via PM. They are out of Italy and do absolutely amazing work. For an amazingly economical price you could get full carbon fibre bodywork, carbon tex or fiberglass bodywork for your bike fully painted in whatever scheme you like. Anybody else who wants to know PM me and I'll send the link. A few guys at the track have this bodywork on their bikes and it looks absolutely amazing. I'm considering doing the full carbon bodywork on my 2013 but I'm on the fence at the moment as I might leave it alone and go with one of the new model bikes and do pretty much what you are doing with yours. As for Data. The BMW system provided by 2d gives an amazing amount of information and adds very little weight or wiring impact to the bike. There is even a laptimer add on that adds a tiny IR sensor under the dash for lap times in the instrument display that's fully integrated and has a "best lap time" green light.

BTW. If anybody is going to do well on the KTM 390 with the first time riding it probably be Hotfoot.

The people who have ridden them have seemed to really like the 250 handling with a bit more grunt. When I was at Barber yesterday there was a guy there with his younger son who will be racing a KTM 390 cup. They mentioned the same thing about the bike.

I have not ridden it myself but people I know who have seem to really like them.

Despite Mario being one heck of a rider my votes will always be for you Hotfoot. Nothing useful to add but an amusing observation. It's interesting to see sometimes the different challenges we deal with for ergonomics on bikes. I can't get far enough back in the seat. While sitting on the passengers pillion would not be much better the though has crossed my mind.

I wanted to report back. The feedback and suggestions I got here were quite useful. I had an opportunity to face my "arch nemesis" corner armed with a bit more understanding. While it's yet to become my best friend It no longer bothers me as much as it has in the past. Here's a few of the things I did on my first lap out I made it a point to identify some visual references that could tell me my position in the corner. These visual references were not places I took action but they provided me information about where I was. I did not focus my attention on them but kept my view wide so I noticed them as I went by. I did a bit of reading before I went to the track and realized to run out of revs in 3rd gear on a stock RR I would have to be traveling at least 134mph. The wind resistance alone at that speed with me hanging off the side would be substantial enough to notice. I decided that no matter what in that corner none of the instruments exist at all. Looking down and seeing the tach climbing provided no useful information at all and only made me tense. This worked quite well for me and I ended up only looking down at the gear indicator a couple of times (not in that corner). I already ignore the speedometer pretty well already. These things worked very well and I developed much more of a comfort zone which helped me a lot. Then the most interesting thing happened to me. I found myself out on the track riding without the usual "noise" in my mind. I had navigated some of the most technical corners of the track without my usual checklist of things that I normally think about. I suddenly had that "have I forgotten something" feeling. Yes. I did forget something. I forgot to clutter my mind with distractions and doubt. Hopefully in the future I can continue to forget about that. It's a much more enjoyable ride without it.

When I tried the small netbook I found that the only way I could really look at the data was to use remote desktop to connect to the machine and display it on a bigger machine. On the smaller display with a track pad it was a lot of work of scrolling and zooming trying to see what I was looking for. Think of it like trying to use a flashlight on a pitch black track to try to navigate your way around a corner. It's possible but it's not the easiest or fastest way.

Minor issues aside I'm completely impressed. As technology evolves one day we might see this inside a full face helmet. Imagine being able to "see" your visual problems and know exactly what's getting your attention? It probably won't be long either. I remember hearing about the school riding around the track with video decks trying to get footage for some of their original films. Now virtually everyone has an action cam on their bikes. What's even more impressive than the video is the school's dedication over the years to exploring cutting edge technology that can help people learn. Keep up the good work!

VERY cool video. I have a feeling that if you were able to read any of our minds you would probably see that same video playing on our specific bikes. All of those good memories and some bad ones mixed in there too.

Just a though. Nice helmets, gloves, tire warmers and stands rival the price of cheaper laptop computers. They don't walk away. Personally I would not want to lock up my laptop as I feel this would send a crummy message to the people I'm sharing the paddock with. As well the probability of it being accidentally knocked over is much higher than theft anyway. Just go with a "disposable" laptop you would not be upset about losing and you will be just fine. The track is not really the perfect environment for them anyway. If someone accidentally smashes mine or it gets stolen it's not really a big loss. Quite honestly if someone backed a bike over mine and offered to pay for it I would graciously not accept their offer as I have already come to terms with the fact that's eventually going to happen to it one day. I bought mine at best buy. When I told the sales person what I wanted "the cheapest possible 15 inch you have" they quickly pointed me in the right direction with a bit more explanation of it's intended use.

Just signed up for May 28th and 29th at Barber. Decided to lock in my spot early this year.

Glad it filled so quick. Sad that I waited to long and missed out. Good luck with COTA. That's one HECK of an exciting track! See you guys this year at Barber for sure. I'm going to call and lock in a spot ASAP!

One other thing to consider. CPU and disk. The data files by themselves don't take up a lot of space but when you get a lot of them together they can start to add up fast. Many of the data logger packages are doing a lot of calculations processing the data as it comes in to do your visualizations and other stuff. The Netbook with it's Atom CPU could handle it but it was slow. The cheapie Toshiba with it's Celeron does it a lot better. You might end up loading other stuff on the laptop as well. Google Earth for satellite images. Power commander software for loading maps. Race Calibration software. Service manuals and other stuff. You also end up using it for internet access in the hotel and for other tasks. I went with the cheap one because I frequently leave it unattended in the paddock. The data is backed up so if it's not there one day I'm not happy but it's not that big a deal. Keep in mind for large public track days you might trust your fellow paddock mates 110% but often the gates are open to other people who have no association with the track day. Over the years I have heard stories of bikes, generators and other valuables being stolen. Even a cheap laptop is a high potential theft item. Beyond theft mine's seen it's share of pavement and has it's war wounds. People in a hurry to put helmets, gloves and wrangle tire warmers can accidentally send a laptop flying. A paddock is not a good place for an expensive computer you care a lot about. The good thing is decals and stickers hide war wounds pretty well.

I live down south and can ride all year long but some bikes aren't really that great in the cold. I never "fully store" bikes but I do take a few precautions that prevents issues after a long time of sitting. Towards the end of the season run the fuel tank close to empty. Adjust the tire pressure to the maximum manufacturer pressure. Clean and lube the chain. If you have stands use them. A cover is good too if you have it. Once a month or more frequently add a bit of fresh fuel to the tank (slightly more than you need) and start the bike and let it come completely up to temp. This helps get a charge back in the battery and lube the engine. If you aren't using stands roll the bike out of where it's parked so it's not sitting on the same place on the tire. It's also a good idea to park the bike on a bit of carpet if you can. Prevents flat spots. At the beginning of the season. Go get enough fresh fuel from the store to fill the tank. Fill the tank completely. Adjust the air pressure. Clean and lube the chain and start the bike and let it idle and come completely up to temp. It's ready to ride. If you started it frequently enough it won't even be grumpy for the first mile. The low amount of fuel you kept in the bike allows any stale fuel to be dilluted completely in the first full tank. It will burn off and be gone quick. Each time you add fresh fuel for startup that also keeps the fuel from getting too bad This does not work for bikes with uncoated tanks as you will have a ton of rust. On bikes with uncoated tanks do the same thing except keep the tank completely full. At the beginning of the season siphon the fuel out of the tank and fill it with fresh fuel. Any of the nasty stuff will be completely dilluted. Lawnmowers run just fine on stale fuel.