rchase
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Posts posted by rchase
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I imagine the physical limit is pretty darned high. On the other hand, what's the point of turning faster and faster if you:
A. Don't need to turn that quickly
B. Scare your passenger half to death (sorry, thought we were talking about street riding for a second), or
C. Turn so quickly that you can't set your lean angle properly and either bounce up and down or scare your own self silly and blow the rest of the corner.
Lately, I've been seeing how SLOWLY I can turn and find I'm more comfortable leaning slowly and therefore I can lean further (carry more speed?) into the corners. But maybe that's just me.
Quick turn is about a lot more than just the speed in which you get the bike turned. As several people mentioned it gives you better ground clearance and uses less lean angle. I had a track day in the rain where I stopped doing the quick turn because I had some pretty major concerns on traction. I lucked out and it got a little wet for one of the sessions at the school when I happened to be practicing quick turn. I started out conservatively using the quick turn in the rain and really fell in love with the fact that I could use less lean angle to get the bike turned which is a major plus for the wet. While I never got up to a super fast snap into the turn the technique really helped a lot. I honestly can't wait for it to rain again on another one of my track days.
In one of the videos (I forget which one) there's a segment that discusses where the quick turn is appropriate and where it's a bit over the top. I remember them showing a fully decked out Harley quick turning in traffic at an intersection. On the track and even on the road it's a very useful technique but it does have places where it's appropriate and places it's not. When I'm on the street on one of my sport bikes I tend to use that time to "practice" things I learned at the school. I practice quick turn pretty frequently. Like other techniques it's a tool that has the right time and place.
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Welcome. I think it's awesome having so many different people of different cultures with the same passion!
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My trusted mechanic loves Honda bikes but is quick to point out their shortcomings as well which is electricals.
Have you gone through the bike's wiring and cleaned all the contacts? As well an 02 model year bike is likely to have some sensors that might be going bad and it might be worth replacing questionable sensors if for anything for future peace of mind and reliability.
If you give up in your quest Kevin at Caylormade motorsports (my trusted mechanic) also rides a VFR himself. Give them a call. They might be able to help out. Tell him that Robert Chase sent you. And if you end up in the shop say hi to my two R6's that I am desperately missing right now.
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Welcome! Lots of great riding tips around here and even more out on the track with one of the coaches.
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Level 4 is setup a bit different than the other 3 levels. You work with an on track riding coach and an off track riding coach that both work together. The on track coach provides feedback on your riding and the off track coach helps you determine drills to work on. Because of the way it's setup you could theoretically take all 4 levels back very easily. Levels 1-3 you would go through the curriculum and then Level 4 you would go back and work on specifics that you need extra help with.
This year doing Level 4 we completely crushed some of the apprehension I had with passing and I gained the ability to pass effortlessly with a much bigger margin of safety. We also worked on getting my corner entry speeds up. I'm already looking forward to next year.
If you think the BMW is easy to ride on the track you should try it on the street sometime. For a 1000cc 193hp bike it's easy to ride in even bumper to bumper traffic. The biggest displacement bike I owned before the BMW was my 750cc MV Agusta F4 which is quite unhappy at low speed. The BMW could care less if it's cruising at 5mph or 100mph+.
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I need to work on those myself. There's ALWAYS room to improve.
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Ah. The ones I have the most trouble with. Knee to knee and the hip flick.
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Hmmm. Repeat offender here. I'll give it a guess.
Are you referring to pivot steering?
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That's a really good point in regards to the grip pads. I rode my S1000RR for a few weeks on the street without them. When they were finally installed it helped out massively.
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I've ridden at VIR and Thunderbolt with CSS, though I have fairly easy access to Mid-Ohio and Summit Point during the rest of the year. I have a 2011 s1000RR that I picked up with about 2000 miles on it early last year. I don't think anything was done by the previous owner, as he didn't own it long or race it, but I can't seem to get it set up comfortably. With CSS, I imagine their bikes are set up to accomodate the wide variety of users, yet their bikes always just feel 'right'. So in short, I'm searching the forum on previous topics dealing with bike set-up.
What specific issue are you having with the setup? I had issues with the stock rearsets myself. Changing them out for Woodcraft rearsets adjusted as low as possible helped a lot with my long legs.
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Hey Mike,
Welcome to the forum. There's LOTS of great information here!
Atlanta here as well. I was at Barber taking Level 4 and riding my new S1000RR. I did the single days.
Cobie is a great guy. He was SUPER helpful during my Level 1 and 2 for me as well.
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Welcome Josh. You will be amazed with the great information you will find here.
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Just an update on this in case anybody else is wondering for future reference.
I did not end up setting up a canopy in the student bike area. We were lucky enough to have a nice bit of shade near the stair well and did not really "need" to put up a canopy. There was a gentleman that was running tire warmers and put up a canopy to protect his electrical cords and warmers from the rain that was brewing. He was able to leave it up all day and it did not get in the way.
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All of Hotfoot's suggestions are spot on and work like a charm. Visual skills can make passing amazingly easy as can learning alternative lines.
One of the huge things I learned this time at CSS was that it was all MY fault I could not pass in the corners on my FZR400 rather than the bike's lack of power. I focused on the rider in front of me and did not take advantage of my corner speed and ability to take an alternative line through the corner. I could not see the open space because my attention was focused on the bike in front. Visual skills are very powerful. They can open up space or close it up depending on how you use them.
I recorded a bit of video from a few trackdays where I performed particularly poorly. One of the huge things I got from reviewing the footage was being able to see "where" the other riders were getting by. By brutally passing me and wrecking my confidence they revealed to me many of their secrets. BRuuuHA HA hahhhh...
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Interestingly enough I just got to do some quick turn on a slightly wet track and got some interesting information from my coach Chris. He sent me out to do the quick turn drill and it started raining and he was REALLY happy to see me when I got back to start finish. Honestly I have never been happier to see a rain shower even though I LOVE the wet.
There are two elements to the quick turn. One is the pressure used and the other is the duration. The more pressure you use the faster the bike turns. The duration of the pressure determines the lean angle. Both of these can be varied depending on conditions. Once you release pressure on the bar the lean angle is set.
Previously in the wet I completely stopped doing the quick turn because of my concerns of traction and the front tire. This CSS on the damp track I was able to utilize quick turn and it helped me out a LOT! I never had any issues with the front end and probably could have gotten away with a faster quick turn but did not want to try my luck with a brand new bike. I did notice that utilizing the quick turn I was able to use less lean angle and the steering was a lot more precise.
When I do the quick turn here are my parameters.
-Body already in position.
-Braking completed and off the brakes.
-Downshifting completed for the turn.
-In the wet. Reduce pressure, Less duration for less lean angle.
Hope this helps!
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Thanks!
I have a lot of time to decide now.
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So the story is not over yet. This weekend I had the time of my life again with all the great coaches at the school. I made some amazing progress and achieved every single goal I had in mind and even some that I had not thought of. A VERY productive two days.
Special thanks to Laura, Dylan, Johnny, Chris, Will, Lyle and everyone else that helped me at the school as none of my progress would have been possible without you! I even was able to put some screen names with faces and really enjoyed meeting people from the forum. Thanks again to everyone on this thread who helped me with the advice to get the bike from the showroom to the Superbike School.
Before anyone says "Pix or it did not happen" here are a few from this visit. See you guys next year!!!!
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Thanks ScrmnDuc. Literally just walked in the door from the dealership. Going to load the bike here in a bit and hit the road. So much to do. So little time.
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That's pretty amazing. One of the thing that strikes me the most about the kindness of people on two wheels is their willingness to help out anybody. It's quite possible that guy was helping out "the competition" by jumping the battery for you. That probably never even entered his mind.
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I agree with Hotfoot. One of the things I really admire about the school is the way they always look at the positive in everything. That positivity has helped me a LOT!
I'll start. I was at a trackday and got some really simple and frank advice from one of the coaches. I was struggling with holding onto to my FZR and was trying hard to work on body position on a bike that was a bad ergonomic fit for me. Possibly the biggest mistake I was making was one of the simplest. He suggested that I actually turn my head to look into the turns. It was amazing the corner entry speed I was able to regain right away and how much easier everything became when I was reminded of one of the most simplest of things I learned at CSS. I was gobsmacked that I was making such a simple mistake. Stress will do it every time. The big take away for me was that all the little things matter in big ways and when you are frazzled you should make sure that you are still paying attention to fundamental things like visuals.
One other important thing to keep in mind. It's really easy to look at one simple mistake that someone makes on a trackday and develop a lot of apprehension from it. The trackday groups that I ride with all have the safety of their customers as a top priority. I would not ride with them otherwise. People are human beings and make mistakes. Some of those mistakes can look massive when taken out of context. Trackday riding is overall extremely safe and enjoyable.
If you have not tried a trackday you are really missing out. Beyond the actual track time you meet some pretty awesome people in the paddock. I brought my MV Agusta as a backup bike for one trackday and it attracted some interesting friends. On one side I had a group of Italian guys with a bunch of Ducati's and on the other side a very nice gentleman was wheeling out a ultra rare MV Agusta F4 1098 Mamba track bike. I had more fun in the paddock than I did out there on the track with the conversation and camaraderie from people with similar Italian powered passions.
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Thanks Nic. Really looking forward to doing some good learning. I'm just glad to have a bike I won't have to worry about. I love the older ones but they are not without their problems.
As well. Thank you to each and every person who helped guide me along the way to getting this bike out of the plastic and ready for the track. Without the input and suggestions from the members here I would be a LOT less prepared. I don't think you guys realize how much your input helped me.
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Whewww... I did it.....
610 miles on it as I rolled into the service department. They took it right away into the waiting service bay to get to work on the 600 mile service. Big box of goodies are going to go on it this afternoon and it should be ready to go. I also requested they safety wire the bike so I don't have to worry about it on my next track day.
I'm going to pick it up tomorrow and get it loaded into the trailer and will head down tomorrow to Barber.
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OUCH!
Ironically this video made it's way around on some of my Track day forums. Blame was squarely placed on the person in front for "rolling out of the gas suddenly" because of the red flag and not the Control rider that was too close and should have known better.
The track day groups are not "too" bad if you prepare yourself. If you leave tons of room and expect the unexpected you will be fine. My Trackday group had a massive pileup at Barber. Red flags waving many riders did not back out of their pace and when they needed the additional track at the end of turn 2 they found a gigantic oil slick from a blown engine. It helps when you don't ignore the flags. The Rider on the R6 obviously saw the flag.
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So. 569 miles as of this evening. Got my suspension done this afternoon (looks crazy with no forks). Tomorrow is 600 mile service time. It feels a lot more planted now that the suspension has been dialed in.
The Efi Rodeo Aka Surging At Constant, Low- To Mid-Range Throttle
in School Questions/General Discussion
Posted
No problem. And you would be AMAZED at the magic you can do just by re-seating connectors. I had a bike that was blowing it's main charging fuse after a ride at the track. Someone on a forum suggested I re-seat all the connectors and I did it and the problem went away. Something that simple made a huge difference.