rchase

Tracy, On the suspension setup you should be fine. I had similar concerns and asked Will how they handled sag adjustment and he was a wealth of information about the suspension setup on the school bikes. I'm also "American sized" and never had any issues with the schools S1000RR's suspension setup. Not sure on the shift pattern. All of the bikes I rode at the school were standard shift. Since they have a quick shifter it's probably not really easy for them to go back and forth unless they have the reversed sensor but one of the coaches will probably chime in soon and say for sure. Even if it's not an option to change the pattern going back and forth in your mind is easier than you think. My track bike is GP shift and all of my road bikes are standard shift. A few minutes of keeping in mind "this is the weird one" and I'm effortlessly shifting the bike.

I agree with the two above answers. Does it also tighten the line? I felt this first hand on my MV Agusta when all the angry Italian horsepowers were overwhelming the grip of the tires. The line seemed to tighten.

I'm stumped on this one. I don't do much at all with my bars once the steering is completed other than use the hand grip to start my throttle roll on and then pick the bike back up on the exit.

Better ground clearance and a better line would be my two guesses. Just to clarify. When I mentioned "adjusting" quick steer I did not mean to stop doing it. It just seems as though you can't get away with as aggressive quick steering in the wet. I may be quite wrong in my assumption but that's what the seat of my pants was telling me out there in the wet.

Hey Tracy. First of all you are going to have a GREAT time! When I did Level 1 I had zero experience on the track and not much street riding either. As for being prepared I only have a few suggestions. -I would grab a copy of "A Twist of the Wrist 2" and read over it as a lot of the classroom material covers stuff in the books but adds a new dimension to the learning as you go out and experience it on the track right afterwards. The video is also great and covers a lot of the stuff in the book with the ability to "see" what they are demonstrating. You can practice good throttle control and some of the visuals on the road on during your commute. Amazingly enough during Level 4 I found myself reviewing a lot of the fundamentals in Level 1 and 2 and finding those drills even more helpful than before further demonstrating to me why the fundamentals are so darn important. -Whenever it's offered get to the lean bike as soon as you can. I found it to be very helpful. Before I did the lean bike I was not very comfortable hanging off of the bike. I put it off until the end of the day and eventually revealed to the instructor my fears of hanging off because I might upset the bike. They spent a lot of time with me and showed me the "right way" to hang off the bike they also revealed to me that my worries were not completely unfounded as doing it "wrong" would indeed cause problems. They touch on hanging off towards the very end of Level 2 as a segway into Level 3. -As for exercise. Doing some work at the gym is never a bad thing. Level 1 and Level 2 is pretty easy in comparison to Level 3. I prepared by doing a lot of squats and other preparation at the gym and I was still sore halfway through the day with all of the work we did on body position. If you can only do one single thing to prepare my suggestion would be to get a good nights sleep before the first day of class, have a good breakfast and clear your mind of life's troubles so you can focus on learning. You can walk in completely unprepared at CSS and their awesome coaches will get you where you need to be.

My first "official" track day outside of a CSS school was in the rain. When the rain started I was disappointed but then once I got out onto the track and realized my tires still worked quite well I had a GREAT time. I pitched the bike in several times expecting it to loose traction and was amazed every single time. The other super cool benefit was at the end of the day I was one of two Novices left. I had Barber Motorsports park all to myself and went 10+ minutes without seeing a single rider on the track. It was wonderful. Riding in the wet does require "some" adjustments. Hard braking, quick steer and other dry techniques need a bit of adjustment but other than that good technique will reward you with great traction. One thing to keep in mind is puddles. I went through a small puddle on the straightaway and was absolutely amazed how quickly riding gear filled with water at high speeds.

Rodney, Check these people out. I have seen people send them stuff that looked completely trashed and they worked some miracles. http://www.racingleather.com/repairs.html

Hey Rodney! Was great meeting you at Barber! Welcome to the forum. Great people and lots and lots of great information lurking here.

Welcome! Very nice Monster. I love the snarl they have. Before I headed to the school your statement of being a "lousy biker" might have been something I said as well. I started riding in 2010 and went to my first CSS in 2012. With the time and patience of the coaches at the school I now feel VERY comfortable on both the road and the track. If you have the chance I would check out Keith's books and some of their videos. You can grab them on Amazon or through the school's website pretty easily. They are GREAT and were what eventually brought me to the school. As for the dates they only head to my favorite track Barber Motorsports park about once a year close to June. Despite the warm Alabama humidity it's an enjoyable time. You won't be thinking much about the weather once you get out on the track and are amazed at the improvements you are making.

As much as I hate to admit this I don't currently ride with a back protector. I'm planning on picking up one of these for next riding season. http://stores.sportbiketrackgear.com/Detail.bok?no=15532

Be prepared to have the time of your life! That reminds me. I need to go ahead and get a deposit put down on the Barber time this June. P.S. Welcome to the forum. Friendly folks here FULL of great information and things that make you go hmmmmmm...

I thought this myself. I was not really happy when I discovered that the School used big 1000cc bikes for school bikes. After 4 levels with the S1000RR I discovered I was VERY wrong in my initial thinking. Here's why. 1. The S1000RR's power modes allows anyone to ride at a power setting that they are most comfortable with. 2. The S1000RR's traction control system inspires huge confidence and it's nice that it's there. 3. The S1000RR's ABS brakes are great at saving you from yourself if you hit an SR and grab a hand full of brakes. Don't ask how I know this as I'll never tell.

1. Knowing and believing 100% in my equipment, training and ability. 2. Not very at the moment. 3. More track time, Better equipment and more training.

Welcome Matt. Lots of good info here and great people as well.

I'm a slowish Novice track day rider at the moment. I always buy the stickiest tires I can get that will stay warm at my pace. Most of the time they are DOT track day tires as I don't run warmers. I have read the logic of "you don't need X Y or Z tire at your pace" but personally I would rather spend the extra $$$ on tires than on bike repairs and hospital bills if something goes massively wrong or if I make a mistake. One day I'll become more comfortable with sliding but until then I feel safer on reasonably sticky tires. Of course if I started "burning them up" I would talk to the tire guy and get his advice on a better choice. Speaking of sliding. I took my MV Agusta to a track day at the last minute (my regular bike was not cooperating) and spent a small fortune on the suspension. My tires "looked" brand new but they were several years old. The old tires had lost a lot of their grip and the MV with it's massive power was sliding around in the turns. It ruined my confidence but if it had not been for the really good training I got at the Superbike School I probably would have freaked out and crashed. The very next session I bought new tires and the difference was amazing.

I guess it all comes down to how competitive you are. Many people are driven just by the competition itself and become obsessed. Whatever they are competing for is immaterial to the ability to compete against others. Personally I'm not a very competitive person. For example if you offered me the opportunity to race against similar skilled riders or have the entire track to myself I would pick the private track every single time. My interest is the track itself and the internal battle against myself and my own fears rather than how that compares to others. People driven by competition would probably want the race and would be bored out of their minds left out on the track by themselves. This may sound strange but traditional racing has always bored the heck out of me. The battle for position and other details just don't register as interesting to me. Time trials however are immensely fascinating to me. IOMTT with people riding flat out on an insanely dangerous road is mesmerizing for some reason. When I watch TT races I don't have interest in the times at all. It's that moment when a bike screams by at 180mph and you know the person on it whoever they might be is doing everything they can to the best of their abilities to go fast. Makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck even on Youtube.

Very good analogy. I have had similar experience with my own career path. I had a passion for it when I started but many issues similar to yours have slowly sucked the passion I had out of it. Money truly does change everything. I love riding motorcycles as well and would never want to compromise that passion for anything. I have seen other riders at track days so obsessed over lap times they don't look like they are having fun anymore. It's great to try to improve yourself and have fun in the process of course but when it's not fun anymore what's the point? Why are you doing it?

I'll bite. I think the "ability" lurks inside of everyone and it's merely the environment that shapes the truly best riders. It really comes down to several factors. 1. Physical Attributes. Good reflexes, Vision, Balance and sense of speed. 2. Passion. You have to truly want it and be willing to give everything to achieve it. 3. Resources. Bikes, Gear and track time cost money. It's not cheap. 4. Time. The more the better. Many of the best of the best started riding very early in life. 5. Training. Even with all the items on this list completely covered your not likely to discover some of the nuances of riding by yourself at random. 6. Luck. Being in the right place at the right time. Getting noticed by the right people. Making the best business decisions. Eirik. It sounds like your lacking on #2 a bit from your own admission. I also share that fault as well as #4 since I discovered motorcycles late in life. Not to say we don't have passion. We just don't have "as much" as others might. Many other people who have the passion fall down in other areas such as resources or luck. This of course does not prevent us from wanting to improve the skills that we have. You don't have to be a world champion to enjoy riding and enjoy improving. The really cool thing here is the Superbike School trains ALL riders regardless of their potential. It's very rare opportunity in life that you get the same caliber of training that "the best of the best" do. Of course that list does not cover the X factor that many of the truly talented people have. That X factor gives many people an edge and sets them apart from everyone. Although he's an F1 driver Aryton Senna personifies that X factor. Being able to control an 1000hp F1 car in the wet and sense the traction like he did could be described as insanity and luck or a superhuman ability. Personally I like to think of it as superhuman ability.

Steve. Thanks for the wealth of information. Can't wait to try the Q3's.

No criticism here but I really hope I never get to the point where I am "bored" not running at 100% of my limit. I really enjoy being on the track regardless of the pace I choose to ride.

They say you learn something every day. I just did. They are as Italian as they can be. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpinestars To answer one of your questions about humidity. I wore my Dainese Stripes in the pouring rain with no ill effects. Just let it dry completely and it was fine afterwards.

I started off in an entry level Alpinestars suit, which I was really happy with until I tried on an entry level Dainese cowhide suit, which I was really happy with until I tried on a Dainese dskin leather suit. I think you see the trend here. I'm up to 4 suits and avoid motorcycle stores like the plague. I picked the expensive route by picking the cheap suit because I did not know any better at the time. The cheaper suits seemed like a better deal because I had no idea what I was buying. You get what you pay for depending on the features you are looking for. As the price climbs you get suits that provide more protection and that are lighter weight and more comfortable to wear. Cheaper suits are going to be made out of thicker lower grade leather and will take more energy to move around in on the bike. If your looking for great no nonsense advice on the features that matter the most to you I would suggest taking a look at Sportbike Track Gear. http://www.sportbiketrackgear.com/ Brian Van and his crew provide a LOT of information about their products in their videos even if you don't buy from them it's a great place to pick up information. They are also riders as well and do lots of track days. I saw Brian Van out at Barber in October. If you want a lot of data about crashing find a leather repair place and ask them. They see suits regularly crashed in and can give some objective advice free of brand preference. As for gloves. My favorite gloves these days are Knox Armor Handroids. They provide really good protection and on top of that they look super cool. I have two sets and probably will be picking up a 3rd for the sheer fun of having color options. I prefer Dainese stuff personally but mostly because they are an Italian company and I ride an Italian bike and I'm also part Italian myself. A bit biased to say the least. Another Italian company that the Superbike School seems to like is AGV sport. They seem to have good quality at more reasonable pricing than Dainese does.

What's interesting as well is the way that the bikes have changed shape over the years to support the evolution of riding style. Modern bikes have large fuel tanks with plenty of area to grab onto with the legs and areas to rest the body on while hanging off. The older bikes lack some of these ergonomic helpers.

Great bike. Those BMW's bend time and space when you pin the throttle. Truly amazing and absolutely terrifying.

You may be quite right about that on the tires. Whenever I hear carbon fiber it's usually followed by someone describing how an $800 part saved them x grams of weight. Looked over the Dunlop site and did not see any references to the weight of the tire. What is kind of neat is their Intuitive Response Profile that gives you a big contact patch when you have the bike really cranked over. I'm sort of glad I bought them for my R6 now.