JohnCBoukis

Your observation is correct. Lowering the front end increases the instability of the bike. Part of stability is the bike acting neutral while leaned over, a phenomenon that you described. Neutral means that it leans only when the rider countersteers and that it requires little or no effort from the rider to remain leaned over. As the geometry is created by the full suspension it behooves us to consider the shock. A good suspension tuner will create an ideal height for the shock. Depending on the model of the bike they can many times add a few millimeters to the stock height. That raises the rear, creating the same type of geometry change as lowering the front. As they do this they make a judgement and avoid making the shock too high. Otherwise the bike will become unstable, fall over too easily, and require work to keep the bike leaned, the same problem that you experienced from excessively lowering the front. A benefit of setting the fork at or near the recommended height and lengthening the shock is that the bike will have the most road clearance possible. It would be educational to hear from the riders and coaches here with regards to making any such compromises in the bike's stance for competition.

Everyone is allowed to post so do not worry! Cobie may be checking on your specific knowledge and what skills you may have been exposed to, for example if you had attended the school.

"Racing" could refer to racing techniques, but I think it means discussions of races and riders. If so, I would use this opportunity to rename it to something more meaningful like "Racing League", or "Professional & Amateur Racing Leagues", or such. I do not feel strongly about the whole naming list. The Techniques forum is the big one for me to revisit and search. I will be ecstatic with any improvement in research capability.

I do not see the "sort" option until after I do a search. It would be nice to set the sort up front rather than as a second step (I could be missing something here.) If there are choices for the default sorting of search results then I would prefer oldest posts to newest posts. Many searches today prioritize the relevance of the results. However, if you can accurately group posts by topic and return a high percentage of relevant results, the "relevant" part may already be taken care of. Also, the built in forum search engines tend to be terrible. When I search this site today I many times use a search engine, and put in "site:forums.superbikeschool.com TOPIC HERE". That issue might be solved with meta tags or other changes. Otherwise you may be able to insert a search engine plugin or apply a script which does this same thing

Perhaps separate expendable bike hardware such as tires, brakes, and fluids.

Yes it is gone, thanks a lot Hotfoot.

"Welcome to Pages" still shows up for me. Thanks for the effort. If this forum software has the capability of article categories or meta tags, those tools might help group existing articles with minimal effort.

Can you delete or hide the "Welcome to Pages" article? I have no security access to enter it and so it will show in perpetuity to us users as an unread article. As new content appears I navigate via the "unread content" link. So for brand new content, the organization is moot for me. To your point about using the site as a reference, I revisit content just like periodically reading TOTW. I would love to have the entire history of technique articles organized into categories such as throttle, braking steering, road conditions, etc. so that there would be an inherent helpful path, like reading through a book. But since articles tend to wander a bit and cross over to different topics, I understand the reality that online forums do not really lend themselves to that level of organization. In that light I think the current form works just fine.

You must believe me when I say that I was extremely cautious before asking about this, painfully aware of how the topic of steering has generated an infinite volume of counterproductive babble. Jaybird, I do have potential riding conditions. I might even test this today. I have tried the push-pull method. In my initial attempts I inadvertently generated excessive grip/tension in the pulling hand. I find that feeling the pressure of pulling on the throttle was particularly disconcerting and made me question if I was altering the throttle (I do not think I was, I think it was a mental block, but I also shudder to think of potential problems that I may generate with the more sensitive throttle on a race replica.) Also, I read all of Hotfoot's advice with enthusiasm and she provided this: http://forums.superbikeschool.com/topic/2856-countersteering-push-or-pull/ "Having said that, I try to use only pushing when riding hard on the track, because I can get a more consistent input using a push with pivot steering. If I try to pull, I am more inclined to yank on the bar and get a bit of a wobble at the end of the input." Admittedly somewhat uninitiated, but with the above input so far, it seems counterintuitive to me that one would steer more accurately by introducing two hands into the process that a single hand could otherwise accomplish. It is most helpful for me to hang onto what you said Dylan, that you have witnessed every combination of how riders address bar pressure.

Dylan, I have only found fleeting statements in TOTW where Keith writes that one can use pulling of the bar when steering. Can you expound a little on the topic? Is there a need to become skilled at push-pull steering, particularly if pivot steering is working well?

Is there a vacuum synchronization on this bike and has it been performed regularly? An imbalance in vacuum between the two cylinders will exaggerate the V-engine's poor off-idle response.

I did not think much about the fact that you were perfectly attached still, but should have. Here is a scenario: You are turning left but now countersteering up and come across the spring. It nails the outside of the front tire, perhaps lodging underneath, forcing the wheel to go hard left. That would countersteer you into the ground on the right. You would have perceived the sensation of a severe steering jerk methinks. Does this sound plausible? Is there any evidence of impact damage on that front tire or wheel?

I am no expert, just a rider. Since no one has responded as of this writing, I will happily chime in. If the rear slides out and continues sliding unabated, this will result in a relatively slow lowside, the same that you expected. If the rear begins to slide even for a moment, then regains traction, that can generate a rotational torque that flips the bike outward in a couple of milliseconds, resulting in a highside. That event is so fast and powerful that once it is initiated there is no recovery. You pointed out several traction hazards from that day. If too much throttle exceeds the available traction: Once the rear starts spinning, keeping steady on the throttle may keep the tire spinning, allowing one some chance of recovery as the bike sheds forward speed, while countersteering the bike upright. Alternatively once the slide has begun, certain actions like shutting the throttle quickly or using the rear brake can stop the rear tire spin, resulting in the regaining of traction and the bike flipping outward. I think that giant spring could have hit the bike in a couple different ways causing a momentary loss then nearly instantaneous recovery of traction. It could have hit the rear tire or acted like a kickstand hanging due to a band spring launching the bike upward briefly. Is the spring painted? If you could find such paint on the bike, that forensic evidence might be helpful. Here is a video of a highside. After the slide begins we can hear the rider chop the throttle, the tire chirp, the throttle rises then chops, the tire chirps a second time, then the highside. The sound and view of the erratic throttle and the tire gaining traction while moving sideways are the hints of why the bike then violently flips. https://youtu.be/JwlZiArfnYg

The question is difficult because the problems are not obvious to me, some of the riders appear steady on the controls, and also some of these appear to be going uphill (although that could be the camera perspective) which would add helpful load to the rear wheel. This has me thinking about the bicycle coasting question. Are several of these riders coasting from too little throttle? You asked for force nomenclature, the rear would be unloaded, generating less friction than the centripetal force of the turn. The front wheel would have excess weight and thus adequate traction.