Kevin Kane
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Posts
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Posts posted by Kevin Kane
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Personally I hope the Panagle is a success, at least commercially - I think that is better for the sport.
Carey;
I will be shocked if it isn't deemed a success; especially since Ducati seems to be selling a lot of bikes at least here in the US; their sound alone will be a marketing gimmick. The one big change I have read (somewhere) is that it's torque curve is more curved than the 1198's (or its predecessors) and the power delivery is more like a I4 and less linear than a L2 but I can't remember where I read that.
Kevin
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... was anyone else dissappointed in the lack of cooperation shown by Ducati? They wouldn't allow the Panigale to be tested on the spec tires being used for all the bikes. I realize it's their bike so they can make the rules under which they allow it's use but it does seem to reflect some of the corporate mentality that may just put Rossi on another bike next year.
I wonder if Ducati is suffering from an "OMG, what did we do?" dilemma. They appear to have bet the house on a design concept that they just abandoned at the MotoGP level; then they held it out of SBK this season so they could test it in Superstock. Checka and the 1198 are struggling this season handicapped by a couple of DNF's so the decision to hold it out is curious under the circumstances. Having watched Dylan Code wring one out at NJMP back in May however, I can say that I finally heard a bike whose sound exceeds that of the RC51 which up until that point had been my most favorite sounding bike on the track.
Rainman;
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...definitely need to remember I'm not on the track. How does everyone else keep themselves in check?
Mike
Mike;
By constantly reminding myself "I'm not on the track". When I ride my street Ducati it is a real struggle to maintain this approach but there really isn't a choice IMHO.
I also have an old Triumph Bonneville I restored that I ride with no such pretensions so no desire to push it like my 996; It can't do what a sportsbike can so I don't even try - and it's all good!
Having said that however, I am stunned at times but how much more I push that old Bonnie after all of my CSS training.
Rainman
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For some reason, the secondary title line doesn't show up when I'm reading this on my android phone, so I was rather baffled the first time I saw Cobie's post.
In what class did Joe qualify 2nd on Silverstone? I didn't see anything on motogp.com
Edit: I forgot to say "Well done"
Kai
Kai;
The FIM Red Bull MotoGP Rookies Cup Series. I too say congrats. Spoiler alert: www.RoadRacingWorld.com has the results from yesterday.
Rain
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Rainman, I would very much value your input, too. Could you comment on my reply?
Vorontzov;
You found the details in Twist II I was alluding to...but do you understand the distinction that Hottie is asking you about?
Rain
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OK; I think we can all agree that crashing is no fun and that no one wants to crash whether we learn from it or not. I know from personal experience that crashing will haunt a rider like nothing else can and it does affect (my) confidence big time. When I know why I crashed (braking too much at too much lean) it is easier to move on from it; when I don't have a clue why it happened it is very hard to trust again. At least that's my sense of this thread and clearly it does provoke some strong emotion in the process. It's more like a new topic we could label: "How I didn't Save My Bacon"... if you know what I mean?
So let's see if we can stay focused on helping Yellow Duck to the Promised Land of Cornering Nirvana shall we?
Rain
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A case to the point. One Rule to Rule Them All: "Once the throttle is cracked open, it's rolled on evenly, smoothly and constantly through the remainder of the corner". (I swear I actually didn't copy and paste, but typed the whole thing.)
And yet, I recently experienced a situation in which only by accidentally breaking the Master Rule I saved my bike's plastics. I was playing with it, running small circles at a lean angle of about 45 degrees at a speed of about 10 mph. Think of it as a "Lean Bike" drill minus the Lean Bike. The front wheel hit a bump and tucked in, and I went down. As I was falling, I let go of the throttle grip and was about to slap the asphalt with my hand in order to minimize the overall impact... but there was nothing to slap, because the ground sort of moved away from me: as soon as I got my hand off the grip, the throttle rolled off, and the bike stood up. As I said, it happened at really low speed, so the bike didn't high-side, but just softly got vertical. I praised the Lord and Sir Isaac Newton, and kept having fun for a couple more hours. .."How I saved my bacon by accidentally not following the most important drill.")
Vorontoz;
Does the throttle rule no.1 have any exceptions?
Rain
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Okay...but I'm still not getting much in the way of advice. How do I stop the alarm bells from going off when I reach that higher lean angle? How do I convince myself that I can carry 45 degrees of lean or more around a slow corner and not lowside? What is a good method to build up my confidence?
YellowDuck;
The reason that other Forum Members believe they can corner without low siding is that many have been trained how to do it. It really is that simple IMHO.
I have offered my opinion up here many times before that much of what it takes to corner a sports bike at any speed is counter intuitive; starting with the concept of counter steering. Consequently and I will only speak for myself here, I had to learn how to overcome my own survival reactions (SR's) to allow me to do this - and that's why I went to the Superbike School.
There are many many components that the School teaches and they all build upon each other; it is the sum total of those pieces that taught me to "trust" not only my tires but my suspension (and how to settle my suspension with the throttle), my position on the bike, my position on the track and a myriad of other techniques I can use to keep the bike planted and my mind off of worrying "can I really do this?"
Unfortunately, I have no shortcuts to offer you. If you can't get to a School you can read the Twist books and watch the Twist DVD and try to practice what you learn but it isn't the same as having someone coach you - on the track - on how you do these drills…but if that's all you can do then you now have one person's opinion on how to approach your fear. BTW, I don't know a single rider who hasn't been in your shoes when they were first learning how to corner, but that's just me.
Good Luck with it.
Rainman
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Now here's the real question; Do you remember what you did that caused the front to wash out?
Stewal;
7 is one of only three left hand turns at NJMP/Thunderbolt and I believe it had to do with not enough heat in the left side of the tires coupled with a little too much drive out of the corner.
...at least that's my belief.
Rain
...or maybe I was too far up on the paint? This arrived about two hours after I posted this.
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So, after an 18 month (give or take), lay off, I'm rejoining the crew in the UK in August 2012. Am very much looking forward to coaching again, meeting up with students, (old friends and new), and getting around Europe helping improve your riding techniques and skills. I'll also be on here quite a bit too, see if I can help out.
Bullet;
Man, welcome back! The Forum hasn't been quite the same since you left us.
Are you going to be doing any US School's this year?
Rainman
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doing so develops a following habit, which in turn leads to developing the "follower mentality".
Vorontzov;
Great quote;
This has been a strong thread.
Rain
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Now here's the real question; Do you remember what you did that caused the front to wash out?
Stewal;
7 is one of only three left hand turns at NJMP/Thunderbolt and I believe it had to do with not enough heat in the left side of the tires coupled with a little too much drive out of the corner.
...at least that's my belief.
Rain
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I had a recent track experience that got me thinking about how often things like this happen to other riders and whether we just kind of take it for granted or can we see the link to our training.
For me it was right after the apex of turn 7 at NJMP when I felt the front start to tuck and the weight transferred to my knee. The rumble strips are very smooth there so without even thinking much I just pushed back with my knee and with the lightest adjustment to the bars the front picked up and I resume rolling on the throttle - it was all over in a nano second. There was a time I would have chopped the throttle or maybe just let go but I remember thinking as I drove out that my reaction was an ingrained response and not at all what would have been intuitive. So I know that the School's training saved my bacon but I'm not sure I am alone with this experience.
How about anyone else - do you find yourself dodging a bullet with your training?
Rainman
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I was starting to go a bit faster, but ran into a consistent problem in the hardest braking zone, right at the end of the longest straight. I would get this fairly violent chatter through the bars under hard braking, and so would have to wait a long time for the bike to settle down before I could turn in. Completely sapped my confidence in the brakes and prevented me from making any progress at all.
Yellow Duck;
I had the exact same problem at the same point in my track riding experience and the same reaction to it. For me, I swapping out the heavier fork springs installed by the previous owner and that solved my problem completely. I continued to use the rear brake but the front fork chatter was gone. I also ride a Duc so I was surprised by how your solved your problem.
Rainman
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Who thinks you can influence the handling of a bike hanging off?
Jay;
Timing the GL from the first cone entering T3 (he's at Loudon) he's doing about a 1:54 lap so he's a bit off the track record. Clearly he can ride so I would have loved to see what his lap time would have been had he attacked the course on the second full lap instead of working to drag his knee; that would be a cool comparison. I think many here might agree that dragging a knee per say doesn't indicate much more than dragging a knee.
Rainman
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Will;
I need to address a couple of minor scratches in the fairing and I am curious about surface prep. One area of the fairing was scratched into the primer level so I have prepped that area with a 600 grit paper well past the blemish. I need to paint it with color (using a tack coat on the first step) because I am into the primer. Once painted I will finish it with clearcoat (again with a tack coat first) but there are other areas where the scratches appear to be only in the clear coat. Can I re-clearcoat those areas or do I need to apply paint and then clearcoat over top? As I sanding thru the clear I never had any color show up on the paper ergo the question. Also, how far out past the damaged area do you feather the clear?
Thanks;
Rainman
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I start my vacation tomorrow ... The Sprint races are Saturday and I'm ready for the Senior Superbike, A Superbike and Formula 1 races.
Fossil;
...you go Girl!
Rain
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I am looking to take my first round of classes from CSS. I live in California and would prefer California tracks. I used to race AFM and WSMC in the 1990's. I took at 10 break on street bikes (was riding dirt) and now I am back in the saddle. I used to the study the Twist book and video so I am familiar with the core concepts. I have raced Willow Springs (the big track), Button Willow, Thunderhill, and my absolute favorite Infineon/Sears Point.
I really wanted to take the 2-day Laguna Seca class on July 5-6, but its completely booked. I am like 28th on the waiting list. I have never ridden Laguna and always wanted to. The next class for Laguna is in October. Thats a long way out.
Streets of Willow has classes in September, and they have 4 classes days in a row. Its tempting to book 4 days in a row and go to Streets of Willow. Though, my biggest hurdle there is that I don't remember Streets of Willow being a highly regarded track. I have never ridden it, but I remember people talking it down in the Willow Springs Motorcycle Club.
- Has anyone here attended both Laguna Seca and Streets of Willow Springs classes?
- How would you contrast the two?
- Any thoughts?
- What do you recommend?
Thanks!
CCR;
I have attended the Superbike School at Laguna, Sears and the Streets multiple times. While the Streets may not have the cache of Laguna or Sears, it is a great track for School. The course is shorter, you get more laps per session and it is very technical. More of the corners are linked so you need to be more precise IMHO. I also believe that you will get more of what your paying for because of these features. Hopefully more Members will chime in here.
BTW, welcome to the Forum!
Rainman
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OK; another weekend of racing; another incident. Specifically, Moto2 race from Catalunya. FIM has rendered a decision after the Race Steward issued a penalty but curious if our racers agree with their determination. If you haven't watched the race yet consider this a spoiler alert.
Rainman
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Hi.
My name is Guy and I just registered to the Forum yesterday...Anyway, now that I got myself into racing, I realize that I need to learn a whole lot more. I had heard the name Keith Code for a while now and just bought one of his books this weekend. While looking inside the book online, I bumped into his School's website... and here I am.
Guy
Guy;
Welcome to the Forum. Your story had so many parallels to my riding experience (except for living in Belgium, Alaska and New Mexico) but I had been pushing into the direction of the California Superbike School by my Insurance Agent once I bought my first Ducati; I haven't looked back since. I also didn't want to mess up my 996 on the track after taking Level's I & II so I bought a race prepped 748.
Regardless, welcome aboard and feel free to post your ideas about riding/racing/motorcycling or jump onto any thread you find piquing your interest.
Rainman
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– as I just mentioned, the guy I shared my coach with was quite a bit faster than me, which caused a great deal of distress to my ego. At one point during the day two, after he passed me (again!) I rolled on some gas and followed him along a straightaway... and then I nearly followed him into the bushes, where he went in the very next turn. A lesson to remember: I can actually target-fixate not just on something I see as a problem or a hazard, but also on a faster rider, whom, I guess, my mind perceives as the "prey".
This is such a true statement - DAMHIK! It is very humbling to know that no matter how fast we all become, we still get passed by someone faster. Certainly a truism for almost all new track riding students. Also, I target fixed like you described and came oh so close to following a student right off T9 - the long Carousel at the far end of the track. Also like you described below, it was later in the day when it is easier to lose concentration but fortunately the School's training is so ingrained that I was able to recover but it was a great wake up call to stay focused.
– sometime in the afternoon of day two I saw Dylan on some kind of exotic bike passing me casually on the way out of a chicane. (I think he was whistling a tune.) By that time I was already quite conscious that I shouldn't try to catch up to faster people, but what I wasn't conscious of was the combination of my low blood sugar (impaired judgement) and high curiosity. I wanted to take a closer look at the bike, and simply forgot to slow down before the next turn, which I'm sure added a few gray hairs to my head.
Dylan went out on two exotics - a totally tricked out new Ducati Panigale and a Metrakit 250. The Panigale sounded totally unique; almost like a WWII P47 Thunderbolt. If you could keep up with him then you did REALLY good at the School that day!
Speaking seriously, it all boils down to my observation # 1: speed comes as a direct result of skillful riding. Any moron can rev up the engine, and a couple of seconds later already be praying to supernatural forces to get him out of trouble. Being in control of the machine and, more importantly, in control of myself, is what I should aim for.
To be continued...
Thank You for your kind words as well - but also for your extending your experience over a series of well thought out observations. Somewhere Hotfoot will jump in, I can just feel it.
Rain
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V. Relaxation improves observation
What made me remember to relax was an interesting thing that happened during my practice at Thunderbolt. (Well, it was interesting to me, probably because it didn't happen to me. If something like that happened to me, I probably wouldn't have called it "interesting".) One of my favorite CSS coaches caught a bolt in a rear tire, while doing about 70 mph in a turn. The tire exploded, and yet he managed to prevent the crash. I asked him how did the bike feel after the blow-out – "real squiggly", he said – and what did you do to keep it under control? – he was drinking orange juice at this moment, so instead of explaining his bike-saving techniques verbally, he simply did the "chicken" – the nonverbal sign the coaches use to remind students that they should practice the "Relax" drill. I was impressed.
To be continued...
Vorontzov;
I was working in the garage when that happened; I know I was impressed when I heard that he rode it out as well. You've got a good thread going here - generating a lot of reaction and an excellent way to affirm your training at the School. Keep it going and as a further affirmation, anytime we get "Hottie" weighing in on a topic we know we've got a good thing going.
Rainman
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Hi y'all. I've got a couple questions about the 2 day camp.
Recently I lowsided on my own s1k during a right turn on a city street ...I've gone over and over the crash in my head and can't figure out anything I did wrong...It's murdering my confidence in turns. Can the camp help with this?
Kuroshio;
I have been a corner worker for the School for about 5 or 6 years now and work NJMP on a regular basis. I also typically work the two-day camps and I can tell you without any exaggeration that I have never seen a student fail to improve - in most cases dramatically. If you could see what many Level I riders look like in the first session on day one and see them in the last (7th) session on day two, you would not believe they are the same rider. YRMV, but I doubt it very much.
Rainman
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As a track day rider I always use the front brake. I sort of joke to friends that the rear brake is my emergency brake.
...So don't forget about that rear brake, sometimes it comes in handy!
Stevo;
My second time racing at Loudon I failed tech inspection over my rear brake (or lack thereof). When the CCS Offical said: "you have no rear brake" I laughed and said "I haven't used it in years". he said "what if you crash and break off your front lever, how will a corner worker control your bike?" Fast forward a couple of race weekends and sure enough I crash entering the bowl and break off the brake lever...
As you said Stevo they do come in handy on occassions; especially in your case when you no longer had one at speed. Good save BTW!
Rainman
Braking With Abs Part 2
in Cornering and Techniques
Posted
Brad;
...and a second LOL moment for me -
Thanks.
Rain