racer

OK. I see it now. It must have been an optical illusion or my tired eyes last night. It looked to me like your helmet/head was turned to the left, toward the outside of the track, inspecting the hay bales or fence. I see now that your face shield is indeed pointing down the track.

Welcome to the forum, Carita.

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 The '09 schedule was emailed out yesterday to those on the mailing list.

Eric Buell is 100% made in the USA. I can testify to that as his parents still live across the street from me. In any case, prior to the Helicon engine, and other recent changes at Buell, it is common knowledge that Buell motorcycles have traditionally been powered (and partnered) with Harley-Davidson. (Hence, why you probably purchased your Buell at a Harley dealership.) And whether this bit or that bit is made in Japan or whatever, H-D, like Buell, is an American company that produces American motorcycles. And an 1125cc race bike that makes 146 horsepower is still not a good choice for beginners. No matter where it is made.

Hi Hub, Your body position looks better in the second photo. Less crossed-up and more parallel than in the first photo. racer

Welcome to the forum, isolter. Nice pictures. Your body position looks pretty good. Maybe try to get your head lower. Good luck with your studies this winter. The books are excellent. However, there is no substitute for real live coaching and CSS does it best. I recommend you skip some track days and use the money to travel to a CSS school near you. Perhaps in the UK? BR, racer PS - What are you looking at in the last picture?

Why won't CSS be at Mid-Ohio in 2009? Is this permanent? Will you return in 2010? Mid-Ohio is my (and many others) favorite US track and a staple of CSS since forever. And also just happens to be the closest AMA track to my hometown. What gives?

Actually, I completely agree with your "philosophy", Jay. And I don't see how it conflicts with anything Kevin or I have said. In any case, at the end of the day, "taking reponsibility" for looking out for yourself, aside from being simple common sense logic, is no guarantee of safety or "solution" to anything.

With all due respect, I have a soft spot in my heart for the American made Buell's, but, a smaller bike is always better for learning to race or ride. As much as it feels good to be able to motor away from smaller bikes, the real test is racing against bikes of equal power. And, having to focus on controlling that much power, like you noticed, takes attention away from focusing on basic riding skills and can become a crutch for riding around other skills or issues, like making up for lack of cornering ability with the motor. In the long run, it is better to get the basic skills, like standard throttle or braking and visual skills like reference points, sense of speed and seeing the big picture, well-developed before adding extra power and the extra distraction of keeping the front wheel down or the rear wheel from breaking loose, potentially leading to a highside. That said, any bike is better than no bike. Good luck with your racing. racer

Embarrassing to say, but I don't have $18,000 for a track bike! But what's a good way or strategy to find a good track bike, used? Ebay? Local dealers? I suppose all of the above is a good answer of course. I was joking about the Tornado 1130Tre being a good track day bike. Obivously, it is far too expensive for the average Joe to afford. And much too big for a novice track rider in any case. Aside, I hear Benelli are focusing on bringing a bike to Moto-GP soon. As for strategy for finding a used model of whatever bike you have selected, yes, all of the above and local used bike rags and classified ads are good places to look. That said, I prefer to see and inspect a used machine first-hand before commiting to a purchase.

One danger of a head gasket leak is coolant from the water jacket getting into the oil galleys or leaking into combustion chamber and past the rings, to mix with the motor oil. When it reaches your main bearings, it will cause the crank to seize and probably break a con-rod wrecking the motor. If coolant is mixing with your oil, the oil will turn frothy and look like a milkshake. You can see it on your dipstick in your car or maybe in the sight glass on a motorcycle. In any case, a leaking head gasket can cause a loss of compression and power. Bottom line, a head gasket leak is nothing to fool around with or something you should ignore. If the motor seizes at speed, you could crash. Or, you could end up putting a con-rod through the oil pan and oiling the track. So, without seeing how bad it is first-hand, I would say you were given bad advice to go ahead and ride the bike on track.

Good stuff. Thanks for posting it. And I haven't seen it posted here before. I think most of it, aside from the rear brake slide, is pretty basic and standard stuff for track riding. And some things, like the starting technique, are not generally well-known, even by many racers.

My understanding is this kind of thing happens often. What was the other driver's story? I can't understand how something like this would happen, yet you hear about it frequently. The answer always seems to be the driver just didn't see them. It was pretty freaky. There is no doubt in my mind to this day that the guy hit me on purpose. I held eye contact with him as I approached the intersection. I looked away as I passed the point of no return and that is when he pulled out. The driver admitted on the scene that he saw me coming and claimed that "he didn't realize I was going so fast". *Cough, cough* ...Bull! I was traveling the speed limit and rolled off the gas as I approached the intersection. The fact is that I was going slowly and he got tired of waiting, and, most likely in a moment of frustration, decided to go for it at the last second. I watched the indecision on his face as I came down the hill toward the intersection. We've all been there. Waiting to turn across oncoming traffic. Should I go, should I wait, ah, f**k it! I don't know for sure what was on his mind, but, there were, thankfully, many witnesses who supported my version of events to the police. I was so blown away by what the guy had done, I told the cops that they should give him a breathalizer test or take blood. I was sure he had to be high on something. For whatever reason, the cops decided not to give him any sobriety test. Perhaps he didn't show any outward signs of intoxication or smell of alcohol, but, his actions would seem to speak volumes about his state of mind. As for what can be done, I think Kevin's idea is a good one. Anything that makes you more visible. I've already told you my solution. Nothing personal against anyone here, but, I won't even ride a public "track day" event or get on a hot track with anyone who doesn't have a racing license. And, even then, I come across riders who do stupid stuff or simply don't have the appropriate skill set and are, IMO, a danger to themselves and others. Honestly, with the increasing incidence and popularity of "open to the public" track days, I think there is a real need for "policing" these types of events by some sanctioning body. In other words, vetting riders with something more than just "slow group" / "fast group", and relying on a handful of control riders to keep an eye on things as they themselves are riding around. I don't know. Maybe I am being overly anal about safety in my old age. (Or maybe I almost lost my hand and did lose my ability to play the piano and violin with anything like the skill I once did. And, am now apparently suffering from advanced traumatic arthritis in my wrist, elbow and neck.) In any case, there are people out there who hate us. Especially in the USA. They watch us split lanes through rush hour traffic at a dead stop on a six lane highway and it pisses them off. I've seen people open their car door to stop a motorcyclist splitting lanes in rush hour on the LIE in New York. Not very bright. Luckily the biker stopped in time. The point is, there really are freaking crazy people out there with anger or evil in their hearts. And if one of them gets a bead on you, there isn't a whole lot you can do except to avoid them. In the meantime, install a wig wag circuit like Kevin did and use lots of lights and reflective tape or paint and wear bightly colored riding gear and a white or yellow helmet so those drivers who want to see you, can see you. And get the loudest set of exhaust pipes you can find! Good luck out there! racer

On October 25, 1993, I was hit on my GPz750 by a car that turned left across my lane from the oncoming lane. To be precise, the car that was waiting to turn left from the oncoming lane, waited as I traveled about two hundred feet until I was right in front of him and then stepped on the gas head-on into my lane. I hit his front bumper at approximately the speed limit of 25 mph. Being that the front bumper was still at a 45 degree angle on impact, my front wheel cocked right and the left handlebar made contact with the hood at speed with my hand still wrapped around it. The left handlebar with my hand wrapped around it was driven straight back into my forearm crushing the distal end of the ulna and radius into approximately 18 pieces. In the e-room, the doctor said my hand might be saved if they did a bone graft from my hips and fused my wrist. I grabbed his tie (with my right hand) and told him that, if he couldn't make it like new again, I would fly Dr Costa in from Italy to teach him how. (The following morning, a local spine specialist spent about 16 hours finding all the little bits and using toothpicks and an external fixater to put humpy dumpy together again.) October 25, 1993, was the last day I ever rode a motorcycle on the street. I went on racing to put in the best races of my career over the next five years.

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 I don't clutchless shift because all I've been told is that is messes up the transmission. I'm sure it's not the most reliable info, but is there ANY truth to it? In my opinion, if done properly, you will be fine. If done improperly, there is potential for doing serious damage such that the transmission will cease to function properly and will require rebuilding. Bent shift forks, chipped and broken dogs, etc.

Us too here in western Pennsylvania. WAAAAAAAHHHHH I hate lake effect. Hey, Kevin, do you snow ski? We could meet half-way in south-western NY. I've been to a couple of nice little ski hills there. Peak 'n' Peak is one. I forget the other one.

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 460+ 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.

That's what she said. And I couldn't agree more.

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

Double post.

I work on my lines often, and between that, letting other riders through, passing, and working on my points, there are times adjustment is required. I'm completely comfortable doing it. Even though they're slower, there are a number of lines that can be taken through a corner, and that's part of the fun for me. No doubt. But Throttle Rule #1 always applies in standard situations, ie. not busy running off the track or avoiding another rider, etc.

What about thinning hair Racer? Wait, am i getting off topic? Maybe i should start a new thread. lol I have friends who swear by Minoxidil, but, I've yet to see any results myself...

Just For Men hair color has done wonders for my social life since the divorce...

Hey guys, Winter is coming on fast here. Business has been VERY slow at the shop and the boss told me to apply for unemployment today, so, anyone interested in braces... or anything else... I can offer major discounts on any factory Kawasaki or Honda OEM parts, as well as any aftermarket parts and accessories you may want... helmets, jackets, tires, pipes, etc, etc to close out the season. I'll beat any deal you can find elsewhere if I can. I'm assuming I'm going to finish out this week and maybe next week if I am lucky, otherwise, I'll see ya at the parts counter next April. Assuming I don't find a better job by then. (I'm not the kind of guy who can sit around collecting unemployment and watching TV or whatever. I'll go crazy!) racer

I've heard that a more triangular tire profile can produce a "non-neutral" steering condition. Also, a coach at the TeamPromotion school told me that all tires create this effect to some degree. But, more so for trangular profiles, and that hanging off just the right amount can cancel it out. In other words, if the handlebar is trying to turn in and cause the bike to stand up, hanging off in the proper CSS style will help keep the bike neutral. He said he can feel the groove when he gets his head down to just the right point.