Hotfoot

Ideally you would keep both knees tight and gripping the tank during braking, only releasing your inside knee as you are leaning the bike into the corner. Both arms should have as little pressure on the bars as you can manage. Do you have any grip pads on your tank to help your legs grip? Why do you have to release your left leg to downshift, is it awkward to reach the shift lever? Are you blipping the throttle to match revs on downshift? Have you ever learned clutchless downshifting?

Rider education and skillful handling are hugely important, of course, and rider training is probably always the best motorcycle investment you can make - but having said all of that, the S1000rr is an extremely rider friendly bike. It is nimble but not twitchy, incredibly powerful but amazingly easy to control, the suspension is electronically controlled so it responds to conditions, and of course the ride modes allow you to set the rider aids how you like. I have other bikes but every time I get on one of the school S1000rrs I breathe a sigh of relief at how comfortable, easy to ride, and confidence inspiring it is. A couple of my other bikes are amazing training tools - because they force the rider to have excellent control - but they are a WHOLE LOT less forgiving than the S1000rr.

Absolutely. You will find the school well suited to exactly what you are looking for. Since you are in Georgia, the closest track for you would probably be Barber, in Birmingham. It's a beautiful track and a neat experience to go there. If you are interested in flying out and riding a school bike, Streets of Willow is the track that would most simulate street riding, with a lot of tighter technical corners. It is definitely OK if you are more focused on skills and techniques than on top speed, we are all about "the art of cornering" and the drills and curriculum will be on bike control and riding techniques, not about trying to get you to go as fast as you can in a straight line. There is no doubt in my mind that you will get what you are looking for AND have a great time doing it.

I am so pleased that A Twist of the Wrist II is available now on Amazon Video! I refer students to it all the time. One of the specific items I recommend it for is the great CG illustration of how countersteering works. It's much nicer to be able to stream it instantly instead of waiting for a DVD to arrive. You know what else? If you are ever looking for something to watch, when you go to the Twist II rental page on Amazon, it suggests other movies that people who rented Twist II watched, and it is such a cool list of motorcycle movies! Here's the link, take a look: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B089ZNVBW9/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r

Exactly, so turning in early makes it difficult, and counter productive, to quick turn the bike Your plan to investigate your two step sounds like a good starting point for improving your quick turn in those turns where you can see both TP and apex at the same time. If you can eliminate turning in early, you may find it much easier to improve your steering rate, which could then allow improvements in entry speed.

Welcome to the forum and I hope you had a great time at VIR!

If a rider had a correct apex chosen but turned in a little too early, what would the rider have to change about the steering to still hit that chosen apex?

That is a good observation. Do you give the turn point less attention in those situations? How much attention do you allocate to each point, or do you just view them together? If you allocate more attention to one point than the other, does that change during the corner? If so, when and what is the shift? If you increase your entry speed, do you still keep the same turn point or do you turn in earlier?

I don't claim to know this for a fact, but my first thought is this: countersteering takes the front wheel out of line with the direction of travel, creating the lean, and that creates resistance and some temporary deformation of the tire, and that if you try to push the bar quickly (but without increasing the force) the tire just sort of bounces back at you and you get a wobble instead of a real direction change, whereas a STRONGER push really turns the bars and creates a larger force at the contact patch to lean the bike over rapidly. That's my thought, but I'll try to get a more technical answer for you from the boss. The main thing we are trying to avoid is riders trying to "punch" at the bar, because that creates instability and a wobble in the steering. That is easy to test, go out and ride and try a very light (low force), controlled push on the bar and see how the bike steers. Then try a much firmer push with similar control (harder but not faster). Then try a very quick, low force stab at the bar (faster but nor harder) and see what happens. Which gives you a faster and more controlled steering result? When you try this, make sure you are going at a decent speed, over 25 mph, so that you don't accidentally oversteer and lean too far - it takes a lot less force to lean the bike over a very slow speeds so that makes the whole exercise of playing around with the steering more difficult.

What sorts of corners trigger your SRs? What do you think (or what do your SRs think) will happen if you push on the bar harder? There are way too many contributing factors involved to try to calculate how hard you'd have to push at a given speed. Handlebar length and angle (giving you more or less leverage) is an obvious one that can dramatically change the force the rider needs to impart, and its an item that varies a lot by motorcycle type and model. Steering angle of the bike, type of tires, etc. would all contribute too. Far simpler just to experiment with it for yourself on your own bike. For corners where you feel a bit uncomfortable steering the bike quicker, here are some things to observe when you ride, that could impact your confidence steering the bike quickly: 1) Do you have a specific apex chosen that you want to hit? 2) When do you look in to that apex, do you give yourself enough time to see it, to be able to make a positive and effective steering input? 3) When do you move your body, are you solidly in position before you have to make your steering input?

Yes, the amount of lean angle will depend on how LONG you push on the bar, and the steering rate (how quickly the bike leans over) will depend on how HARD you push. And your last sentence is stating it correctly, yes.

I have never worn contacts but my first thought it this- if is is really dry out, desert dry, or windy or dusty, glasses might be better, so that your eyes don't get irritated from the dust or dryness, and if it is humid, contacts may be better so you don't have to deal with glasses that might fog up. Which track are you coming to?

The pillion seat cover is not a problem as long as it is secure so there are no concerns about it coming off. You can remove the mirrors or just tape over them, or we will tape them for you during tech inspection. It will get you through tech faster in the morning if your mirrors and brake light are already taped. It sounds like you have it covered - good tires (90% tread), check your throttle and make sure it turns smoothly and closes on its own when released, make sure your brake lever operates properly, that nothing is leaking. Make sure to bring your key, and fuel. We will have a mechanic on site so if your bike needs adjustment for something (chain tension, suspension, etc.) we should be able to help with that. Gauntlet gloves that cover your wrist are preferred, so there is no gap between gloves and suit. I always recommend an underlayer or undersuit for the leathers, something like UnderArmour, much more comfortable than a cotton tshirt and cooler. (Not a requirement, just a suggestion.) You'll have to call the office to check on spectators at VIR. The rules will depend on what the track is requiring at the moment, CSS will certainly not mind your wife and son being there, but I don't know what protocols at that track are right now, things have been changing constantly the last two years with tracks all over the country.

Oh, good choice! See you there!