Hotfoot

Seems a bit strange to from an old S1000RR to a K2 Gixxer I agree with that! I'm still trying to process the phrase "old S1000RR"!

How have the newer bikes with better technology, lighter weight, and more power changed your riding style? If you moved up to an S1000RR, for example, has the greater horsepower changed the way you ride? Did the high power output turn you into a point-n-shoot rider, or does it actually feel lighter and handle better than your prior bike, so you corner faster? Do you use the traction modes and ABS, and if so, has THAT technology changed anything about the way you ride, or how you think about approaching a turn? Let's hear what you've noticed has changed about your riding when you got a newer, or just different, motorcycle!

FYI braking and downshifting can be done as an off track drill at the school, getting a coach to help with the timing helps enormously. It can be coached with or without the clutch - but usually the best result is acheived clutchless, the shift tends to be quicker. However, when not using the clutch if the blip is not enough or the timing is off, it won't shift. It definitely takes some practice. It does seem easier to get the clutchless downshifts on some bikes than others, and it's a lot easier at low RPMs, since you don't have to blip it as much or as quickly. On my bikes I've noticed that the EASIEST way to get a clutchless downshift (and mayeb a good way to try it the first time) is to be on the gas (at a low or moderate RPM), then click the shift lever the INSTANT you let off the gas. Works great on the street, but on the track that's often impractical because when going really fast you need to slow down BEFORE shifting (RPM is too high to downshift), so you let off the throttle, slow down some, then have to have a blip to match RPMs to get your shift. Will recently built a neat training tool that has a gauge to monitor brake pressure during a blip, so you can measure yourself to see how steady you can keep the brake on during the blip!

As long as you blip the throttle to match RPMs it's totally fine. Do a search on this forum for clutchless downshifting and you can find threads where we've discussed this in some detail, and you can find some comments from Will who is the mechanic for the school and knows these bikes inside and out. I do not use the clutch at all for upshifting or downshifting, and as far as I know all of the coaches use clutchless shifting all the time. I find that is faster and consumes a lot less attention.

Ah ok that helps me a lot, I was trying it the other way around. I was trying to blip the throttle and catch the brake lever.....thanks for the help! I will try that next time. Do you have the timing down on the blip and downshift by itself, without trying to brake? If not, start there, so you can do it on a gradient without too many things going on at once. Also, have you tried clutchless downshifting? If you already are able to blip and match RPMs, it's jsut a small step to downshift without the clutch. Would it be simpler to coordinate the downshifting and braking if you could eliminate the having to coordinate both hands and time the clutch on-off, and instead just worry about the brake and throttle blip?

Definitely it is harder to turn the bike quickly at higher speeds, so the the turning rate will be slower. The other things you mentioned can be a factor, too, or you may see a rider pre-positioning a bike prior to the actual turn point; you wouldn't use quickturn for that.

Wow. OK, well, let's try to look for the positives: 1) Good news - the perforated gas tank did not generate a spark when sliding over the rocks so the motorcycle was not consumed in a fireball. 2) The rider steered UP the cliff instead of flying off the downhill side. Everything else about it was pretty much a train wreck... and caught on video! Regarding the SRs... you can hear that the throttle chop and you can hear the slide, so that covers SRs 1 and 7. You can see, right before the bike starts climbing the hill, that the rider's arms are completely straight and braced, so that's SR 2. Since the rider stared at, and rode right toward, the big scary rock, that covers 3, 4 and 5. SR 6 probably occurred prior to where the video starts, steering into the turn too early could have been the thing that caused the rider to run wide and then grab the brakes in panic, but it also can be seen during the video where the rider makes NO attempt to steer the bike back onto the road or even away from the rock face. So, yeah, I'd agree that you foudn a video that shows them all!! Did you also notice that the rider took his feet off the pegs? I'd call that another panic reaction, he could easily have broken an ankle or leg trying to put a foot down at that speed. I bet a day at the Superbike School does't sound expensive to that guy NOW, compared to what that crash is gonna cost him.

Usually IMHO is an abbreviation for "in my humble opinion." You might also see YRMV - "your results may vary." In regards to your earlier question about sliding the tire - yes, you could be at the limit of your tires, but there could be some other factors to check like tire pressure, are you getting the tires sufficiently warmed up, are you loose on the bars, etc.

So... That's two kids, not SIX kids, right?

What a terrific success!! Thanks for posting that and I'm REALLY glad to hear you got so much improvement in just a few sessions!

A lot of ventilation in the helmet can mean a lot of noise. I had a Shoei with lots of vents and it was super noisy even with earplugs. My current KBC has less ventilation and is so much quieter I can hardly believe it. I don't notice any significant difference in how hot I feel. I agree that well ventilated leathers seem to be more important.

So.... How did you like the track? Did you enjoy the school? Let us know how it went!

Don't worry about you or your bike being "too slow" at a CSS school, that will not be an issue. The number of riders on the track is far less than you'd see at a typical track day, and polite considerate passing is allowed so everyone will have room to ride and pass and you will not be holding anyone up. Also it is a school and the emphasis is on learning, and safety and courtesy are a requirement.

Warregls post above is excellent, catches all the points. You don't have to be comfortable with high speed cornering, the school will help you with that. As long are comfortable with shifting, etc. so your attention is not consumed with basic bike control you should do just fine.

Sounds like you either need to wait until you can see the actual shape of the corner and use a later turnpoint on those long decreasing radius turns, or else ride the corners as double apex which means doing what you are doing - slow down and turn it again. The former would be the safer choice! Keep in mind rnickey mouse is up there with a camera, keep it slow and safe or you might end up on YouTube!!!! You can also use vanishing point to help you see what the corner is doing ahead of you - a quick forum search should help you find a great explanation of how that works.

At what point in the turn do you realize that your entry is 'moderately bad'? During your turn-in, or halfway through the turn, or 2/3 of the way...? Also, do you have any idea what is causing the bad entry in the first place? Is it drifting into the turn early, slow steering rate, late look-in, high entry speed? Or something else? Obviously preventing the problem is a lot easier than fixing it after the fact!

Well, the first two are pretty obvious as to what happened, but what on earth made the CBR600RR rider crash???? Nothing at all challenging about the road or the situation. Perhaps he encountered a bunch of dirt on the road and suddenly didn't believe the bike would turn? Guy with the camera did a good job avoiding him. If you enlarge it and watch closely, it looks like he's doing fine, then he suddenly stands the bike up a little, then almost immediately the brake light comes on. So my guess is that he looked at the barrier, added a small steering input (steering toward the barrier / standing the bike up a bit) and then gets scared and gets on the brakes and stiffens up on the bars. In terms of a full sequence, maybe something like this: Rider is riding slightly over his head or close to his perceived limit He sees the corner tightening up a little so it fires up his "in too fast" SR He target locks on the barrier (the thing he is worried about hitting) He tenses up on the bars, so he can no longer steer effectively As a result of either the stiff arms or the tendency to "go where we look" (or both) he causes the bike to start to run wide He chops the throttle and grabs the brake, which makes the bike stand up and run wide even more He hits loose dirt and gravel on the shoulder while hard on the brakes and locks up the front wheel. At almost any point if he could have looked up the road at where he wanted to go, he could almost certainly have saved it. Seeing that he had enough room to get it turned would have allowed him to get control of the other SRs that were going off like fireworks (stiff on bars, steering errors, braking errors, off the gas...), steer the bike and get through the turn. Not riding so close to his limit might have prevented the first SR reaction from occurring, and Superbike School training could prevented all the other errors that occurred afterwards! There was another FANTASTIC example someone posted a while ago where a guy came around a corner, and saw a cop. He grabbed the brake, went wide and crashed. Obviously seeing the cop fired up his "in too fast" panic reaction!

Goodness, THAT certainly made me appreciate the improvements in suspension and tires since that video was made!

It's often quite cool at Laguna. I haven't checked in the last few days but the forecast a few days ago said high of 63 degrees. In the morning it is likely to be chilly, it would be a good idea to bring a jacket.

If your line will not allow you to make the exit, you've blown the corner. You just have to regroup and get through it - which would typically mean stand the bike up, slow down (possibly braking hard), and then turn the bike again. You can slow the bike down a lot in a short distance. Getting the bike upright will allow it to handle the weight transfer to the front. As you get farther into Twist II (which I know you just recently acquired) you will find lots of great info about steering and lines that will give you a lot more tools to avoid getting INTO that situation.

Just to set the record straight - I did have great race results Sunday, but I wasn't riding the BMW, I was on my Moriwaki. I sing the praises of the BMW, but for sheer fun factor (and learning how to carry unreal corner speed) its hard to beat the Moriwaki, it's big fun to race. Speaking of random bikes on the track, there was an MZ660 pitted near me - ever see one of those? Single cylinder 660cc engine.

I bought one. They come with all the electronics - quick shifter, abs, etc., and all the street stuff. The stock fairings have been packed in a box and never used so they are like new. They have been regularly maintained and you know you are buying from an honest seller, clean title, etc. Used BMWs are not that easy to come by, so I think the school bikes are a good deal. I jumped in early and grabbed one with low miles (it was the camera bike) and I've been happy with it. There isn't any other sport bike out there I'd rather have - this bike handles great, it's comfortable to ride (by sport bike standards), it has lots of cool technology - the quick shifter is AWESOME - and it is blindingly fast... without being intimidating to ride. It's also reasonably affordable (a steal, when you consider its performance capabilities) and you can get track bits for it (fairings, etc) and if you did crash it you could repair it without having to take out a second mortgage on your house. I agree there are bikes that are more beautiful and/or rare, but I want to ride it not polish it and for overall performance and utility on street and track the BMW is the bomb.

I know from my book-larnin' that apices is the plural of apex (we often used the term apices in math classes)... but I so rarely hear "apices" at the racetrack, that your post prompted me to look it up in a few dictionaries. Each one listed both "apexes" and "apices" as acceptable plurals for apex. So I think we can get away with using "apexes", if we so choose; it may sound less sophisticated but it also may lower the risk of confusion, as a new rider may not recognize the term "apices".

My friends and family think it is "nuts" that I race motorcycles, and usually the first reaction I get from anyone who asks about it or sees the pictures is "You really do that? You're crazy!" Of course to ME it doesn't feel crazy at all... but recently I watched some guys whose weeekend hobby is to pack a hang glider on top of the car, drive up the side of a mountain, and jump off a steep cliff to ride thermal currents to insane heights. What hobbies seem crazy to you? Let's talk real hobbies, not one-time daredevil experiences, but stuff that people spend time, effort and money on. Here's another one for me: combined driving. These folks get in a little cart behind galloping horses and charge through streams, obstacles, deep mud, and other challenging terrain, at speed. That looks scary to me!

Isn't this sort of a random place to put this? And... what is it, hero worship, in Code? Or are you just trying to say "think it through"? And... is Ago your signature, or part of your list of giants?