Spaghetti

I'm the mysterious pasta rider, saving the world from the low carb diet.

You can also add a couple of PSI to the front tire pressure, provided you are within the recommended values. One or two extra PSI makes a significant difference at higher speed, above 80 Mph I would say. Another solution is to decrease the trail.

The overlapping can only be with the rear brake. All flat track and cross riders use it extensively to maximize chassis stability and the traction/power delay is higher than on sport bikes. I can't begin to imagine how to overlap the front brake lever and the throttle.

A major problem with the Hit Air is that it doesn't cover the side of the shoulders (first hand experience resulting in a shoulder separation). As noted in the previous posts is also bulkier, you have to remember to clip it before each session race and it is not really cheap: half the time the textile shreds after impact and you have to replace it with a new one. I rather save money in bike parts than in a suit airbag.

Picking up the throttle slightly at the end of the trail braking loads the rear tire and helps to stabilize the rear grip before accelerating. Like you wrote, overlapping the two controls also stabilizes the chassis on the transition. Of course there is a difference between picking up the gas slightly and cracking up the throttle when you are at lean.

Also an AMA bike has more braking power than a stock bike. The instinct coming from street riding is to rely on engine braking, but once you get used to steel lines and a racing quality master it will come more natural to control speed by focusing on the brake lever pressure.

BeIN is still advertising the 2019 season on their website, so I think they have the broadcast rights in the US. The problem is the provider, I read that directTV dropped the channel from their service. You should be able to watch it in streaming from BeIN online. In the meantime MotoAmerica broadcast went to FS2 for 2019...

Developing a feeling with the tire is half the battle of any motorcycle racer and it is one of the hardest skills to learn. A lot of tire and frame research efforts go into delivering good signals to the rider. If you drive any go-kart at racing pace you already know. In most corners you want to ride as fast as you can without sliding so you become very aware of how the tires are reacting. The knee is a reference gauge for any racer but like you say it doesn't mean it solves all problems. Max lean angle is a function of speed, tire technology, temperature, weight distribution and I am sure many other factors.

The 250cc reaction to throttle is slower than a 600cc, especially on dirt: the engine engages traction, then it has to go up enough in rpms to develop some power, then it has to transfer power to the wheel, then the tire has to come to grip with the uneven dirt surface. All this process takes time (in fractions of a second) and it's slower the smaller the bike displacement and the surface grip (ignoring two-stroke engines of course). The extreme version of this example is a low powered go-kart. I'm sure you felt the urge to apply gas a bit before the apex if you drove one, once you got the wheels pointed correctly. None of the examples in my previous post describe an application of throttle and increasing lean at the same time.

The lower grip on off-cambers is due to the bent on the track increasing the outside force (gravity) and putting slightly more pressure on the side wall. If there wasn't any difference in forces, then the bike and rider would just be on a different plane and the knee would still work as a lean angle reference point. Imaging pivoting the image of the bike+rider at lean from a flat surface to an off-camber one. The profile is exactly the same, you're just tilting the surface line. There is one small grip advantage though: when riding towards an off-camber apex the bike is going slightly uphill ("climbing" towards the apex). It's not always the case, depends how the turn is designed. This is more obvious on a sharp off-camber turn. The uphill ride loads the rear and reduces braking distance, so changing the racing line to maximize the uphill ride can improve bike stability.

There are several reasons why you would want to apply throttle before the apex, but the very important point before considering any of this is that adding lean angle while accelerating put a lot of stress on the tire. In this situation the tire can react unpredictably, losing and regaining grip uncontrollably and shaking the rider out of the bike. At any rate, when giving gas in a turn we transfer the bike weight to the rear making the front easier to handle. In a chicane, peaking up the throttle in the middle of the turns helps with the fast direction changes (but definitely not while giving the first strong lean input). Also when riding on bumps ideally you want to open the throttle, for the same weight transfer reasons. Another reason is engaging traction sooner. Racers tend to give some gas before the apex to start engaging traction and power up immediately after the apex. This is a lot more obvious in flat track or dirt riding when riding through the turns with a smaller displacement bike. Finally in very long turns we have no choice unless we want to park the bike somewhere in the middle of the turn. I prefer the expression "picking up the throttle" to "maintenance throttle", because it the former gives better the idea of a minimal input.

You slide the rear going into the turn (or going into the lean). Visually it almost looks like a slow motion sequence of the rider applying leaning forces on the bike. Once the bike is committed to the turn a rear slide can only cause stability problems. On the exit it can cause a high side.

I'm having a hard time to improve my weak side corners, left in my case. My speed is lower and the lean angle is around 5 degrees less than the right corners. Are there exercises designed to train the weaker side?

I will be at Barber 5/28-29. Would like to meet anyone from the forums, let me know if you're also registered for those dates. Alberto

Yes exactly. Motorcycle racing is not a sprint sport. It requires constant focus over a full 40 minutes race. In facts you want to avoid excessive fatigue, a lot of work goes into that.

Sounds like a lot. I'm skeptical.

In practice I feel that a higher body position causes more side movements and stress on the rear tires. The air turbulence on the upper body increases the problem. Can you imaging riding a 90mph corner with that body position? Also I'm not clear about the physics in the illustrations: in the last example I understand the center of gravity has more leverage because it's taller, but it's also farther away from the center of the tire and the bike axe. Isn't that another source of leverage that works against the bike stability?

I haven't played with enough bikes on the track to tell, but I definitely would like to have more racing bike options available. Buying a racing bike is such a headache: either you purchase a stock bike and all the mods, then dispose the stock parts, or buy a used racing bike, which is never what you exactly want since there are only few options available in the local market (if any). Sometimes I wonder if there isn't a market for fully built racing bikes.

So I was looking at this picture and wondering how it possible to lower your upper body as much throughout a race or even just a trackdays session: Lowering my body more consistently is one of the areas I need to improve. I had some better results using the tank for chest support but I can't imagine keeping that position on every corner for a full race. I don't think it's just a core muscles problem?

Rob, did you try the rev2? There are multiple options, if you don't want to use the progressive wheel you can mount the linear one. For the cost it's one of my favorite upgrades. It changed my riding experience greatly.

This is the product: https://www.motionpro.com/featured/rev2_throttle Street/Road Race Kit (RR Cam) Sportbike oriented cam profile reel for the Rev2™ Throttle Profile acts like a slow throttle to 40% opening, them progressively changes to fast profile from 70% to 100% throttle Allows rider greater control at lower throttle openings, but acts like racing throttle at higher throttle openings Good for all levels of riders, experts will appreciate the greater control at the limit, less experienced riders will like the smooth on/off throttle feeling

I'm wondering why there is only one major producer of after-market throttle cables. Their flagship product is a progressive cable that runs exponentially faster as you open the throttle: at lower speed the sensitivity is almost the same than the stock cable but as you open gas the cable will run faster towards its end. In general, throttle control is more critical at lower speeds (there could be tracks with very fast corners that require the same level of throttle control than slower corners, but I am not aware of any. Please let me know). Ride-by-wire changed a bit the need for this type of upgrade but did not remove the problem (long discussion). But this product doesn't do just that. It also has a smoother, more stable run (hard to describe with words) and removes that dead "play" at the begin of stock cables (I know it can be reduced but not removed). With all the stress on traction control why there would be only one fine offer? I give this upgrade more points than rear-sets and master cylinders, yet everybody jumps on rearset and brakes upgrades but not on a precision throttle cable?

Another thing about club racing is that most races are sprint, about 6/7 laps or a quarter of a regular WSBK or motogp race. Tire preservation is not as critical.

So to illustrate this is one of the videos I had in mind (I can find others). I won't comment, please tell me what you think about exit corners throttle management:

One of the differences I noticed watching many onboard racing videos is that a majority of expert club racers tend to be aggressive on the throttle right after the apex. They seem to be waiting for that magic point in the corner where they can optimize the bike power. WSBK/motogp videos on the other hand look more symmetrical in throttle control around the apex. Deceleration and acceleration change of speed are similar. Is this a valid observation? At first I thought this happens because the fastest riders have higher corner speed. But could it be because of the more sophisticated electronics managing the bike?