Hotfoot

Faffi adds an excellent point; a little stiffness in the arms (a common in-too-fast survival reaction) will restrict bar movement, add load to the front, and potentially add some countersteering input that leans the bike over farther which can VERY easily overload a front tire that is already near the traction limit. Some braking references in Twist II that might help you (the OP) on info about leaned-over braking: Ch 24 Braking sections "Efficient Braking", "In-turn Brakes", "Crash Statistics", and "Brave or Smart". Also the chapters in Section II on "Rider Input" and Section III on Steering and Lines would be good to review.

I am sorry to hear about your crash. I'm not sure what to say in response to your post; I am coach with a school and our absolute #1 priority is to keep riders from crashing. I know that in the classroom there is quite a bit of explanation about how to do the no-brakes drill. Riders are told that this is a drill and not a rule - riders may of course use the brakes if needed for safety, the brakes are not disabled and the only consequence of using the brakes during the drill is possibly a corner worker showing a blue flag to remind that rider about the drill. The point of the exercise is to focus on setting entry speed properly without relying on the brakes, which slow the bike down rapidly and make it harder to judge an exact speed. Riders are instructed that one must allow extra room for the bike to slow down and that it is OK to use the brakes if needed. Additionally riders are asked to ride at a reduced pace, one that is very comfortable for them, for sure not higher than about 75% of what they would consider their normal riding pace, in order to have enough free attention to focus on the drill. As far as required experience level, this is what is stated on the website: 2000 miles of riding experience is required, along with being comfortable enough to operate the motorcycle and still have enough free attention to take in new information. I believe that info is also restated in the paperwork sent to any student who signs up. For sure we get students who do not understand counter-steering, even some who ride very well and have ridden for 30 years; everyone who rides a two-wheel motorcycle countersteers, but not everyone really understands how it works. Again, I am sorry to hear of your crash; I see that Cobie (who is the Chief Riding Coach Worldwide for the school) has offered to speak with you on the phone if you would like to talk through what happened with him, that is a nice offer and could be quite helpful to you in your riding (he can help diagnose exactly what factors led up to the crash); as you might imagine he has an enormous knowledge base and exceptional riding and coaching experience, and of course he will be very interested in hearing what happened especially if there was something more that could have been done to prevent it.

Basically, no, it is not ok to just add more braking if you are "too hot" into a turn and leaned way over, it would be a very dicey and delicate operation with a high likelihood of losing the front, it is VERY easy to blow past the traction limit or run out of ground clearance (hitting hard parts on the bike) doing that. Brakes should be tapering off as lean angle is increased, not the other way around. Yes, you will have to give up your line; if you are fully leaned into the corner and realize your entry speed was too high, it's too late to salvage your line. You will need to either let the bike run wide (if the entry speed error is small) or if it is way too high you will have to stand the bike up, brake hard, and slow it down as much as possible, then steer it again (at a new reduced speed requiring less lean and hopefully make the turn) or run off (after having slowed down as much as possible first). If you are getting into turns and not realizing your are too fast until you are already leaned over, it sounds like you might be riding over your head. A review of A Twist of the Wrist II book or movie to discover how to choose a turn point, how to set entry speed, and visual skills (when exactly to look into the corner and WHERE exactly to look) would help a great deal. If you are relying on trail braking to correct too-high entry speed errors, you are approaching things backwards - a better strategy would be to do some no-brakes practice to get your entry speed under control FIRST, then add trail braking (to allow for a later braking zone) once the other skills are in place. Using the brakes while leaned over is a skill that requires a very good foundation of skills - knowing how to choose a line, where to look and when, and a good ability to judge entry speed. Without those foundations, trying to use heavy trail braking to adjust entry speed while already near max lean is a tricky business.

Exactly the same format, just three days instead of two. :)

I have the Kindle edition, here is a link for Twist II for Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Twist-Wrist-II-High-Performance-Motorcycle-ebook/dp/B00F8IN5K6 and here is a link for A Twist of the Wrist (Twist I), it is available on Kindle also: https://www.amazon.com/Twist-Wrist-Motorcycle-Racers-Handbook-ebook/dp/B00BNFIU08/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1593622442&sr=1-2 I love having these, because I can search for a word of phrase electronically to go right to the info I want. And it's great to be able to pull up the books on my iPhone Kindle App, at the track or wherever I might be.

Behind the scenes - yes, I was there and one thing that I remember was that it was SO HOT during the filming! Those scenes at Streets of Willow were like a blast furnace, the hottest days I have ever experienced out there, ever. You can see the heat ripples in the air in the film. I notice it the most during the radar-gun scenes where it shows different exit speeds based on better throttle control. You must have some behind the scenes stories about the riders on the lean bike, demonstrating bad technique over water and sand and sliding the front tire! I have a question - was it scary to ride the no BS bike and have someone else behind you doing the steering?

What a great story and review of the movie, great post!

Good point, same with the books - I notice every time I re-read Twist II, it looks a bit different to me - as my riding has evolved I have seen things I either didn't fully understand before OR could apply in a different way than I had before. Amazing how that works.

I was so happy to find out, today, that A Twist of the Wrist II is available on Amazon Prime Video now! You can watch it instantly, here is a link to it on Amazon Video (or you can just put A Twist of the Wrist in the search box) : https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B089ZNVBW9/ref=atv_dp_share_cu_r And since we're talking about the movie, what was your favorite part? I can't wait to hear what y'all liked best. My favorite part is the CG animation and explanation of why using the front brake in a corner tends to make the bike stand up, it was BY FAR the clearest explanation I've ever seen for why that happens. (My second favorite part is near the beginning where it shows a rider going off the road due to SR's, and explains and shows each of the Survival Reactions individually.) How about the rest of you, what did you like seeing in the movie, or what helped you the most with your riding?

Hanging off moves the combined center of gravity of bike and rider more to the inside which allows the bike itself to be leaned over less. With the bike more upright, the suspension works much more efficiently which improves traction by keeping more of the tire in contact with the road.

This is a very broad question. The answer will depend on a variety of factors about the corner: radius (and whether it is increasing, decreasing, or staying the same), camber, surface (grip, bumps, etc.) so I am not sure what sort of answer you are hoping we can provide. If the radius of the corner is increasing, and the camber is either unchanging or getting more favorable, you should be able to accelerate through the corner, however if the radius is decreasing and/or the surface is going off-camber, you may have to be slower later in the corner instead of faster. A corner with a crest in it may, as you mentioned, lighten the bike as you go over it and may require a pause on the throttle to maintain traction. My recommendation would be get ahold of a copy of "The Soft Science of Road Racing Motorcycles" and have a look at Chapter 2, which includes info about how to sense traction for yourself, and Chapter 3, which talks about making a plan for how to ride a turn and how to adjust the plan to fine-tune it, and Chapters 9-10 that get into how to increase your speed through corners, and specific riding styles and how to make the best use of the strengths of your specific motorcycle and your own riding skills. There is a lot of information about how to handle certain types of turns, adjustments that can made to line or throttle and the effects those adjustments will have, and a ton of other information I am sure you will find very helpful.

It is very typical at Barber to have the forecast look terrible but actually not have it rain for long at all. It's typical in the area for an afternoon shower come through, in the summer. Trevor watches the radar carefully and manages the time to get as much dry track time as possible (if rain is expected in late afternoon he will run shorter breaks between rides, etc. to get as much dry riding time as possible in case the rain arrives before 5pm). Often at Barber we can complete our whole day before the late afternoon rain arrives. I go to Barber every year, and every year I think the forecast looks terrible but then most days we either don't get rain until the very end of the day (often after we are done riding) or it rains just for one session and stops. It IS true that riding in the rain can be a fantastic learning experience! Imagine what a win it is to turn it from a scary sounding experience into real competence - and confidence -riding in rain! It sounds like you have not ridden with us before, please know what we will NOT push you to ride above your comfort level, and your coach will help you understand what is a reasonable pace in the rain - which really does involve slowing down a whole lot, especially at first. The real key is to not put pressure on YOURSELF to think you have to go fast (raining or not!), we are a school and we want you to start at your comfort level and build up from there. It's almost certain you won't be the only person there on a track for the first time, or on a sportbike for the first time, or - if it is raining - riding in the rain for the first time. Which days are you signed up for?

Nice! I wish more racing organizations would put effort like that into trophies, those CodeRACE trophies are cool. Most organizations are just using wooden plaques or metal plates now, definitely not fancy enough, relative to the amount effort and money required to get one! (Well, the CA State Championship award was very cool - someone donated their time and MADE the trophies out of donated race parts - sprockets, gears, springs, etc. The one I have looks like modern art, that one is on display in my office!) I recall a friend (and CSS student) getting into racing and when he won his first race he was SO stoked - but the trophy, at the time, was just a round medal, hanging on a ribbon, made to go around your neck. He went to a trophy shop and got a great big four-column trophy made with that medal at the top - I thought that was perfect, much more in keeping with the achievement and his level of enthusiasm about his win. Congrats on your results!

That makes sense all around. Glad you had fun. As you say, Streets really can be a blast on a lightweight bike!

That reminds me, you were debating before the last CodeRace which bike you wanted to take and what you wanted to race. What did you end up doing and what was your final take on one versus the other?