PittsDriver

The Level 1, first skill, Throttle Control was a real eye opener for me. I kinda knew that was the goal but didn't fully appreciate how the bike's suspension and traction at each end could be more consistently managed by eliminating transitions or oscillations in brake & throttle. That practice has led me to a place where I feel like I'm carrying a lot more speed into the corner. Since I'm off the brakes and won't add more than a crack of the throttle until my line is set and assured, I'm only asking the tires to corner and it seems easier to me to tell when I'm near the limit. My goal now is to coast less. I guess coasting at high lean angle is my security blanket and I'm hoping to make that less and less so.

So a question about trusting the tires - and that was a great tip to read "Bands of Traction" - How is the slide bike used at the school's that have it available? Can it be used to feel what the edge of traction feels like as it progresses to a full power-on drift?

Great videos - thanks for posting! Kenny Roberts and Fast Freddie where my heros back in the day.

I've just started something called PiYo with my wife where it's a combination of Pilates and Yoga but I may need a coach when it gets tough. I'm just getting back at this since racing my 20's and I'm 56 now. I'm going to be working pretty hard this winter to set the stage for 2015 and I'm using that as my motivator. Thanks Keith! Wes

CoTA for me in addition to Laguna Seca. I went to the Barber museum last summer but didn't get on the track. I'm really looking forward to getting back there for the CSS camp. The place looks pristine with vast areas of kitty litter and some interesting elevation changes. And one of these days, I hope to get some time on the Nurburgring long course before it goes away.

Last winter, I did daily workouts on a Bosu ball. The balance training is good for the core and a zillion squats moving side to side on this thing left me feeling pretty good after my first couple of days in CSS camp but even still my quads were barking at me. Thanks for the tips!

It's my understanding that CSS Level 3 focuses on BP work - I'm really looking forward to a couple of days at Barber working on this. Being an old coot, I'm wondering if anyone has a flexibility and conditioning program that will help me get the most out of this coaching? Wes

CodeRace fills up really early. Thanks! When it fills up do they sometimes add additional dates? This past year they offered a Code RACE in NJ which would be a lot closer for me and I thought I remembered some additional dates popping up on the schedule later in the year but maybe that was for the CSS camp/classes.

A question about camps in the fall - how soon do they tend to fill up? I'm going to do some additional classes in the fall but not sure yet if I'll do another CSS camp or Code RACE. Just wondering when I should jump on the reservation for fall ops.

Confirmed for Barber May 31 - June 1. Suddenly it's a long long time until the end of May...

Has anyone else here signed up for any dates next year? I've sent in my registration for the 2 day camp at Barber on May 31 - June 1. I visited the museum with my family in tow this summer but didn't get out on the track. I promised myself when I was there to come back so I'll be there in the Level 3 & 4 camp. Any one else here going? Wes

I asked Cobie about this at my level 1&2 camp because at the time they were planning to have a Code RACE at NJMP not too far from me. The main take-aways I got from that conversation were that there was a baseline set of skills needed and but that it's more about what you want to do? Are you feeling the need to test your skills against something other than a clock? I'm hoping Cobie or others will chime in here too. My plan for next year is to go back to a level 3/4 camp at Barber and then decide if more level 4 days are in my future or Code RACE in the fall (or both). I'm thinking I'll likely be a repeat offender at the level 4 days after that - at least until they get tired of seeing me. I really like the class/camp program that CSS offers.

There was no change between '13 and '14 that would have affected handling. The '15 is a new bike with different geometry.

I noticed in the announcement for next year's schedule that the fleet of school bikes will be 2015 S1000RRs. Will they have the shift assist pro (up and down)?

Judging from the Ducati 2015 product launch, they seem to have taken a step beyond BMW's DDC - if it works. The DDC reacts to what it feels is happening to the suspension without any consideration to what the rider is doing to the bike (braking hard, accelerating, turning in, etc). The Ducati system is reported to be event based (derived from their MotoGP technology) and takes into account that the rider is on the brakes hard and proactively adjusts the suspension instead of reacting to the result of hard braking. That was the gist of it that I gleaned from the announcements. If it works will it be better? Who knows - they seem to think so. I'm looking forward to the supersport shootout articles comparing the new R1, H2, BMW, and 1299 Panigale. I love all this new competition and looking forward to some good times ahead!

Well, it's obvious that their weight is on the outside peg here leading up to the turn. Does this, in effect, act on the bike similarly to the hook turn weight shift?

I'm kinda curious about this as well.

The way he was moving back and forth on the bike, as he was demonstrating body position, it looked like he was showing the classic crossed up position - i.e. his hips rotated back into the bike instead of properly into the turn; and, he was leaning back into the tank with his upper body. Now, in fairness, he's on a stationary bike and someone as big as him might tip the bike off the stand if he really got in the proper position, maybe? Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I thought the peg weighting was to get your body into position and then once in position for the corner, you're trying to become a relaxed, dead weight with relatively little weight on either peg until you needed to change the attitude of the bike back upright or over. Is that right?

Oh great. Now that my BP is coming along and I'm getting a knee down the bar got raised to needing a helmet slider.

That's exactly the feedback I was looking for. I was wondering if this was hard on the transmission and it sounds like it can be if the shifter pressure is not closely correlated with the blip. I'm definitely coming back to a camp next spring for level 3-4 but you've given me a drill I can work on for this in the mean time to get more consistent with the brakes. Thanks! BMW is making available on the '15 bikes a shift-assist that includes the blipper for clutch less downshifts. I guess at some point in the future when the school upgrades it's bikes, some thought will have to go in to if this is available of the student bikes. I can see arguments both ways for having/not having it available since a lot of students will be going back to their own bikes that don't have blippers.

YellowDuck, this is how I do it - and I'm happy to get critical feedback if I could do this better: I stab the brakes and start slowing the bike down at my breaking marker. Then as the bike slows I preload the shift lever enough so that when I blip the throttle, it snicks into the lower gear and because I'm on the throttle a bit, it matches revs (more or less) with the speed. The tranny is loaded initially by the engine braking and by preloading the shifter just prior to the blip, it's set to shift when the blip unloads it from the engine braking. It works like a charm on the S1000RR though as I said earlier in this thread, I'm still working on holding firm and consistent brake pressure when I blip. I'll sometimes release the brake a bit for the blip and I end up slowing more erratically than constantly. This doesn't happen every time for me but often enough that I was starting to think about going back to the clutch especially when I want to drop 3 - 4 gears like when coming off a long straight into a hairpin. All of my downshifts in this video that I posted in another thread are clutch less: http://youtu.be/lX0pxXMDF5g?list=UU1QkXTbxY9px_OVg0BX8Hig What I'm hearing Hotfoot say is to just keep working on my blipping technique until I iron out the occasional glitches I'm having. Have I got that right? Wes

I've been doing clutch less down shifts blipping but it's harder to do under hardest breaking. I've been wondering if this is the best technique or if I should go back to using the slipper clutch to improve the breaking force I feel comfortable using?

It was around Thanksgiving last year. I was stalking them last fall

Update, I did a 195 mile, 4.5 hour ride today and took the SR-1 with my leathers on the ride. This hat is comfortable, quiet, and just works for me. I'm feeling great about this purchase and this is going to be my hat for all rides going forward.

Thanks for that tip Sarah! I've been using it almost exclusively for my local rides and it's now the most comfortable and quiet helmet I own - most likely because I bought my last two helmets in the "instantly comfortable" aisle of the helmet store. There are kids on the S1000RR forum that are complaining about noise and I've been giving this hat my rave reviews for aerodynamics and acoustics.