Kevin Kane

You should try the lean/slide bike at the School (not sure if it is in Level 2 or 3) because it is designed for exactly that purpose; it does show you how to spin up the rear in a reasonably controlled mannor. Your question asking "how much throttle..." is difficult to answer in a vacuum. Tire pressure, tire and track temperature, tire type and amount of wear, surface conditions, lean angle, engine size and type are all factors used in answering your question ...way too many vaiables to give you a simple answer. Kevin

Yeah, that's true. Hence, the name: WR250. Was there something more you wished to add? Sorry, just pointing out that the R-1 is 1000cc and the WR250 is 250cc, therefore the engines have no similarity. Do you know what "1/4" means? It's called a "fraction". It can also be called a ratio or used to symbolize mathematical division. But, in this case, it means one out of four. So... "The WR250 motor is 1/4 of a YZF-R1 motor" means one cylinder out of four or "one quarter" of a YZF-R1 1000cc motor. 1/4 of 1000 = 250. Get it? I don't know if the new R1 has Titanium intake valves, and I'm guessing the cam timing is a little different, but, the measurements, the bore, the stroke, the ports, the piston, the direct ignition coil, etc etc etc are exactly the same as an R1. Hence, the WR250 motor is 1/4 of a YZF-R1 motor. The similarities are, in a word, major. r Ha ha ha ha....that was pretty clever of you. But good try though. (I got the email) Hilarious. I would call you out, but I'm going to leave it alone and just enjoy the laughter. Racer & Jaybird; What does this exchange do for the rest of us? Kevin

The School bike is the Zx-6R. Kevin

Chipster; Yes; like the School structure, Twist II builds upon Twist I and really has a lot of detail to help you prepare for next season. As for your 675, my bikes are just as cold now. Kevin

Racer; Who said they're not? I was at the School at Infineon last Tuesday and I was told that the schedule wouldn't be finalized for another two weeks. Kevin

Chipster; After numerous CSS events over the past 7 years as a student and as a Corner Worker, I re-took Level 1 at Infineon last week; every one of the concerns you mentioned are covered in Level 1. You will find your MoJo with the School taking Level 1...but don't rule out Levels 2, 3 & 4. They all build upon each other and if Level 1 helps you, the rest of the curriculum will amaze you. I would also strongly recommend you get and read and then re-read the two Twist of the Wrist books and then read the Soft Science. All three are written by Keith Code and they will give you and your wife a solid foundation in the principles of cornering so that when you get to School, the concepts will be familiar. Kevin

Jay; I apprecite that you disagree with us but I missed how in your response. I can tell you from first person experience that when a car runs a stop sign through a two way (as opposed to a four way) intersection, if you were assuming that the car would respect the sign, you WILL t-bone him. I have, even with fairly quick reaction skills; fortunately for me, I was driving a car with excellent disc brakes but there simply wasn't enough road left for me to stop or to avoid him; if I was on a bike, I wouldn't be here now. You may think you can control your environment but I respectfully disagree with you on that point. Kevin I control what I can and leave everything else to HIM whom my prayers go. HE has empowered me to control much but not all. Earlier I was emphasizing the wrongful mindset of the experienced riders giving friendly advice regarding reflective clothing, loud exhaust, hi beams, etc to n00bs on how to be safe. This lulls them into a false sense of security and they get lax thinking 'I know they can see/hear me now'. Jay; I respect your faith and I am not going to touch that here. I do want to respond to your comment however about "experienced riders giving friendly advice". Believe me when I tell you I get tight as a drum every time I approach an intersection with an on-coming car or see a car coming out of a parking lot...the only time I can slightly relax is on an open country road and then I am watching for critters, farm vehicles, bad pavement or other "hazzards". I by no means ever suggested that we drop our guards down...never. The list that you included in your last post are simple "additions" to what we need to make us saf(er) on public roads but we will always be at risk. My original response was to the question of why drivers frequently make left turns in front of motorcyclists and my response came from a highway study related to motorcycling accidents and no, I cannot remember its name or who conducted it. Just because some here may have a number of years riding experience, it doesn't change the perils that face all of us on every road, every day everywhere. The training I have received from the California Superbike School has been invaluable in preparing me in ways to avoid collisions but I still worry every time I go out. You may also find that many here (like Racer) only ride motorcycles on the track because it is the only place where they feel like the odds are in their favor and to a large extent, I agree with him on that. YRMV. Kevin

Jay; I apprecite that you disagree with us but I missed how in your response. I can tell you from first person experience that when a car runs a stop sign through a two way (as opposed to a four way) intersection, if you were asuming that the car would respect the sign, you WILL t-bone him. I have, even with fairly quick reaction skills; fortunately for me, I was driving a car with excellent disc brakes but there simply wasn't enough road left for me to stop or to avoid him; if I was on a bike, I wouldn't be here now. You may think you can control your environment but I respectfully disagree with you on that point. Kevin

Go back and read the story of Peter Lenz's last race. http://forums.superbikeschool.com/index.php?showtopic=1234 He wasn't hampered by the lack of displacement when he won at CodeRACE School earlier this month...and he's only 11 years old. Kevin

I've read the opinion that car drivers don't view motorcycles as a "threat" like they would an on-comming Ford Expedition and just dismiss cycles from their concern. I have a flicker switch on my light switch that allows me to quickly alternate the high and low beams of my lights and I use it ALL the time when I approach an intersection. Others put super bright head lamps in to make themselves more visable but at the end of the day, we all ride on the street with a considerable amount of risk from inattentive drivers who turn left at will. Kevin

It doesn't really do proper justice to the kid's corner speed. He was untouchable in a tight section at the Streets of Willow. He came past me going into Turn 4, and I just laughed out loud in my helmet, fantastic. Earlier this week I heard great stories about Peter's success at the CodeRACE School earlier this month including his winning one race by going under a very fast GSX-R 750 rider in the last turn and beating him to the line...on a 125! Everyone I spoke to who was at CodeRACE said he is the Real Deal. For a bit of perspective, his dad Michael swept both races at Code Race when I attended in 2004 and I think Michael's best time was in the 1:22 range if I remember correctly. Kevin

My engine builder/machinist, Joe DiStefano, who used to build superbikes for Fast by Feracci Ducati, is a national service/dealership rep for Triumph/Bennelli and I had a chance to check out the Tornado 1130 Tre he brought by the shop today. All I can say is WOW!!! Aside from the 160 crank bhp, dry clutch (that's a slipper dry clutch) and the rear mounted radiator with rear mounted fans that allows the three cylinder motor to be canted forward about 15 degrees and pushed so far forward in the frame that the header pipes have to be bent backwards to clear the front wheel.... that helps move the center of gravity WAY down and create a 50/50 weight balance (f/r) .... it feels and handles like a 600 dream at 450+ lbs. It puts down 135 bhp at the rear wheel and will loft the front wheel effortlessly. Anyone have about $18,000 USD to spend on a track day bike? It's totally worth it. I hear good things about the Triumph 675 as well. Kevin

Racer; It's been a few years... Kevin

Quack, quack, quack... that's so ducky. Yes, you can, Kevin. And, like Cobie said, you need just a tiny little blip to "relieve the tension in the transmission". To be more detailed, you need to time the downshift just right with the blip to catch the tranny between lash states (on/off gas) while eveything is "free floating", so to speak. To put it another way, you need the drive train to be sort of in between "on the gas" and "off the gas". Personally, I try to catch the motor on the "upswing" of the tiny blip, as the motor is accelerating, and then just stay in the gas as the gear catches if I am ready to accelerate. I find the process flows most smoothly that way. In other words, for me, the blip flows into being back on the gas. You can also catch the gear with the blip and then close the throttle again or continue to decelerate, too, if you want to keep scrubbing speed or braking. I started clutchless downshifting on my GP bikes and, in fact, did it by accident the first time. It is much easier to do with a two-stroke that has a relatively light crankshaft, hence, less mass to lash against the tranny. Also, a slipper clutch really helps to smooth the process out... a lot! In fact, I find it much more difficult to do smoothly on a four stroke without a slipper clutch. r Racer; Thanks for the detailed response. I do have a slipper clutch in my track Duc so I will try this technique once the '09 season starts. Unfortunately, we're getting snow on Sunday here in Central New York State. Kevin

Excellent! BTW, I started clutchless upshifting when I began racing at Loudon (you had taught me how to do this at Mid-O) but my second question is can you use clutchless downshifting in that type of high RPM environment? Thanks; Kevin

On a somewhat side note, if one constantly gets missed shifts (reminder, I don't use the clutch up or down), then it can be the shift lever is misadjusted. I had mine a little too low, and due to that missed a few upshifts (GP shift). CF Cobie; Can you refresh my memory? I do clutchless upshifting by just rolling off a slight bit when I click up and there has never been a problem but on a clutchless downshift do you blip up or down? Kevin

Michael; Wow! What a year! Congratualtions to Peter (and to you); something tells me he's heading for the big show. Kevin

Ducati claims that the technology behind V-twins don't allow them to be competitive capacity for capacity without spending a HUGE amount of money. They had to do teardowns every race weekend. Reliability was a problem too. So the 1098 was developed and the WSBK homologation rules allowed a cylinder capacity increase for budgetary reasons. ...which reinforces the notion that given equal displacement, an I4's will eat a V2 or an L2's lunch all day long. Even with the Bayliss factor, in '07 he couldn't compete with the 999 against the I4's from Japan. When Ducati last raced in the USA ('05 I think), they could only win four SBK races. Eboz won at PPIR, Laguna and Mid-O (after Yates took himself and Mladin out exiting the key hole) and Hodgkins won in the rain at Road America. Don't get me wrong, I love Ducati's and I own 2 but I don't drink my own liquor either... Kevin

I have had rear wheel hop with a slipper clutch when I asked too much of it going into 5 at PIR East Kevin

...maybe they're braking with their right foot?

I can't say I have seen it on both sides but camera positions also dictate what views we get so it is a hard question to answer with certainty.

Hey, it isn't just Rossi; Watching the SBK races this weekend showed Bayliss among others doing it and it seemed to be more pronounced later in the races as their tires were wearing out. In Bayliss' case, it seemed that he dropped his left leg right as he initiated turn in almost like he wanted to make sure he still had grip before fully commiting to the lean. Kevin

slow whatever; Level III is all about body position. You will get a better chance to utilize it in concert with the Level III drills. Kevin

Ben; You will need Cobie to come back here and answer that one. I have a 996 for the street and a 748 SPS track Ducati and I move my butt off a lot. Kevin

Gigi, I was hoping that you would share your SunTrust Moto story after your post last month; you sounded stoked about the opportunities to race in that event. There are many here who would love to race at even Club levels but for various reasons cannot so reading about others who can and do race are fun posts to read. Those who race in national events are even more fun. Despite the mechanical problems, you ladies should be extremely proud of your 25th place finish, especially since you were running in the top 5 before the troubles hit. I can't speak for the School but I bet Keith and your coaches at your CSS events will be extremely proud of you (they are in the middle of the CodeRACE School so I don't expect any of them will be up here until Wednesday). Thanks for sharing this and don't hesitate to share more stories in the future... Kevin