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Books Video icon An illustration of two cells of a film strip. Video Audio icon An illustration of an audio speaker. Audio Software icon An illustration of a 3. I'm a beginner rider and numerous people suggested I watch this. The video is primarily directed towards those learning to race bikes.
However, the demonstrations and explanations of how to control a motorcycle apply to the real world. There is some cheesy acting to try and keep it entertaining but it is bearable. Every time I go out and ride I try to practice one tip from this video, then I go back, watch it again and try to master another technique. A lot of these tips are skills I would have never of known or even thought about on my own.
The main problem is that our inherit survival instincts on a bike like taking a turn slowly are actually counter-intuitive to how a bike should be ridden safely going faster in a turn actually increases traction, making it safer. This video points out what those dangerous survival skills are and how to counter act them and properly ride a motorcycle in order to maximize it's abilities safely.
Details Edit. Release date October 7, United States. United States. Official Site. Technical specs Edit. Runtime 1 hour 49 minutes. Find the Line Each time you back off the throttle or slow your basic throttle roll-on through a turn, it costs time and stability. Your approach to the turn determines whether this happens or not. Decreasing radius DR turns are the classic example see diagram. Taking a standard approach to the first radius always forces you to back-off the gas in mid turn.
That's not an ideal line because it immediately violates the throttle rule. Let's not confuse a double-apex turn with a DR. In a double-apex turn see diagram you may well roll off the gas to get the bike turned between the two parts of the corner.
In fact, "stuck on the gas" is one of the primary indicators that you have a "bad line". Of course! It violates the throttle rule. There is a big difference between a Decreasing Radius turn and a double apex turn. Throttle control is the key to both. Line Follows Gas Line follows gas, or, ride for the throttle: a good line allows standard use of the throttle. There is no other definition of a good line. Stuck On the Gas If you aren't rolling-on throttle in a turn, you're slowing down.
Indeed, you can be rolling on but too slowly and still lose mph! Most riders think that just cracking the gas on makes the bike accelerate. Not true. Try it. Go into a turn on your streetbike, just crack the throttle and watch the speedo. Use a safe place to try this, like a racetrack. If you've got the bike leaned over much at all, you'll see the speedometer reading drop. You haven't forgotten this from Chapter 2, have you? On-the-gas too much does the same thing. Note: If you it. Tire profiles and suspension settings may have an effect on this as well.
Just ask yourself. Is it good to have a predictable line? Is it a plus to know where the bike is going, up ahead in the turn? Do you notice small changes in line? Most important: Do changes in line fire up your survival reactions?
Isn't it interesting that "in too fast" or "going too wide" trigger SR 1 roll-off? In turns, SR 1 puts the bike precisely where you don't want it, doing precisely what you don't want it to do running wide.
Turn One at Brainerd International Raceway is a perfect example. You come into it after one mile of straightaway. On a current cc or cc production or a cc GP bike, the turn is taken with the throttle wide-open. What can you do?
You can't roll on the throttle because it's already full on. You go wide, right now, the bike bounces around and is not stable. This is one of the most challenging and fun turns in America. On a cc GP bike it is taken at 13, in sixth gear, or about mph at the entrance. An interesting side note: How would you gear your bike for Turn One at Brainerd? Not on a , or If you geared the bike to run or so rpm lower than normal at the end of the straight, the engine will continue to pull once you're in the turn and the bike will hold the line perfectly.
Fine Point? The above is, at first glance, a very fine point of riding but it actually contains a practical lesson for every turn.
Remember that leaning into a corner effectively lowers the gear ratio. If you downshift too many times and put the engine in too high an rpm range at the turn entry point, the moment you lean over you could be stuck on the rev limiter instead of pulling through the corner smoothly. The bike will, of course, slow down from the cornering forces and wind drag in any turn and at Brainerd you have to downshift at the exit of Turn One to keep the revs up.
The point is not to be stuck on the rev limiter mid-turn. Along these same lines, you may glance at the tach while still leaned over coming off a long sweeper onto a straight, see the tach needle at the redline, and think it's time to upshift: It isn't, because as you stand-it-up' onto the larger-diameter center of the tire, the revs will then go down, if you upshift too early especially on a cc GP bike the bike won't pull strongly and you'll have to wait for the engine to build rpm.
Tire diameter varies greatly from straight-up to leaned- over This has a big affect on engine RPM In turns. An ultra-fine point is gearing a 5OOcc GP bike so that it runs into the rev limiter, on purpose, at the turn exit.
In this case, the rider is spinning the tire and allows the rev limiter to cut in so the wheelspin does not become excessive and wind up highsiding him. The power tapers off smoothly and the rider can leave it on the rev limiter for a moment with no ill effects. The only drawback is having to shift before the bike is totally vertical. How's that for precision bike set-up and riding?
The carousels at Sears Point and Road America are perfect examples. You do have to stop the throttle action not roll-off for a moment or two or you will simply be going too fast and too wide at the exit where the roll-on is most important. Power Line The power characteristics of your bike and the suspension settings have much to do with your line. On a 5OOcc GP bike, you may drop some cornering speed to use the acceleration.
On a cc GP bike, you can't sacrifice cornering speed for anything. If its suspension makes the bike a little slow to turn, you'll have to wait longer to stand it up and be easy with the gas mid-turn to avoid running wide. The farther you lean it over, the longer you will be "stuck" with the throttle. Slow steering might be the answer as to why. So lose time. He may just like to do it that way. The End Let's clear something up. Where does a turn end?
Each turn has an exact point where it ends. That point is different for each rider and each bike. Definition: Where you can do anything with the gas you want to, where you are brave again, where your attention is free from the turn.
The important point: there is a choice in lines but they all follow the throttle rule. The track surface is the same for everyone on a race course, the best riders just adapt quicker. With problem areas you have to come up with a plan or a solution so you don't become stuck in anything; mainly you just handle the SRs and that covers it. I get a good mental picture of myself in every turn to get a starting point, then go out and do it.
I Use the same mental image pictures to get an idea of what the bike should be doing as well as what I should be doing as an ideal for the turn. There is a time to think about it and a time to do it. Definitions Negotiate: To successfully move through, around or over a given terrain. Determine: Decide or settle: To conclude after reasoning or observation.
Identical: Exactly equal and alike. Concatenation: Being linked or connected in a series: A chain. Threshold: The point at which a stimulus begins to produce an effect.
Adversely: In a contrary or unfavorable manner. Routinely: Regularly; a usual procedure. Exit: The end of a turn. Constant: Not changing or varying; Uniform; regular. Tending: Being inclined to do something. Requirement: A thing demanded. That which is necessary. Respect: With regard to, in relation to. Radius: A straight line extending from the center of a circle to the edge. The curve of a turn. Exception: An instance or case not conforming to the general rule.
Diameter: The width of a cylindrical object. Stand-it-up: To bring a bike from a leaned-over position to an upright one. Arc: To move in a curve. Gradually: Changing by small degree; little by little. Resistance: A force that tends to oppose or retard motion. In what part of the turn should you have all these good things happening? Exactly when do you get it on? Street Lazy Street riders generally wait until about two-thirds of the way through a turn before they roll the throttle on.
Most new riders take to this coasting technique like a duck to water because it does not trigger the "in too fast" or "going too wide" SR responses. Under more spirited cornering conditions, all the positive results of good, standard throttle control are reversed while off the gas, decelerating.
Off-Gas Results 1. Weight is forward, overloading the front tire and underloading the rear, reducing available traction. Suspension is out of its ideal range, causing the bike to over- react to the pavement.
Steering response quickens, adding to any twitchy tendencies. The bike wants to wander outward, not holding a line. Cornering ground clearance is reduced. The bike slows. When you get to the throttle determines where the bike is actually working. The later into a corner you get onto the gas, the more likely you are to be gas ''greedy" for the exit. It's a term I learned at a Skip Barber car school, and I repeat it here because it describes this situation perfectly.
When do you "get it on"? When you want the bike to start working — as soon as possible. As soon as possible. You get the gas on at the earliest possible You judge how fast to enter a turn by getting to the point moment in a corner. But even soon as possible. There are some additional guidelines. Normally, riders don't get Steering and throttle are linked.
Turning the front end back onto the throttle until after the steering is completed. This makes into the turn and getting the sense. During the steering process, it is very difficult to work back into the back to come around can throttle smoothly enough to keep it from jerking the bike and upsetting it, only be done on a few turns in the U.
Like the old turn To meet the throttle standard, steering is completed before you start to 2 at Loudon. You have to get it on. Rough or sudden movement of the throttle, from off to on, creates the turning in. Waiting too long for the bike to settle is wrong thinking. Getting the gas on early does not add problems, it solves them! Throttle Plan What keeps you from getting it on sooner than you now do? It can be as simple as 1 you never thought about it, or 2 it scares you.
Getting the throttle cracked and rolling-on early and smoothly should be your basic plan, at every turn. Overcoming the very strong SR trigger, which forces you to stay away from the gas, simply has to be handled and can be handled with practice.
Perhaps it can be tamed with understanding. Take another look at Off-Gas Results 1 through 6 above: You don't add new and unwanted forces by rolling-on, you reduce them all. Your job is to reduce them as soon as possible. In fact, it is 8. To put 0. That short time between the two snaps is 0. One or two tenths late and it costs you while waiting for the bike to settle or to get a fix on lean angle or speed or half a second on the straight.
It doesn't take much to burn up 0. Comer speed you're 44 feet down the road. On a nine-turn track if all the turns were 60 mph , even if you could not gain one foot on him down the straights, you would be nearly 24 feet ahead by the end of the next lap; that's over three bike-lengths! In a long foot turn at mph vs. The reason behind the old racer's saying "go fast in the fast turns", is obvious from these numbers. You'd have to go nearly 5. Forget it! I try to get the throttle on just before max lean angle for the turn.
This is how you get the bike to settle into the turn comfortable. The grip on the right is the fun regulator. Definitions Urban: Of or dealing with a city or town. In-range: in the operating scope of something. Apex: The mid-point in a curve. Lash: The amount of free-play in the chain, cush-drive and gears. Perspective: The relationship of one aspect to another and the whole. A view. Wisdom: A wise saying or teaching. Hesitate: To wait to act because of fear or indecision. Too much speed, too much acceleration, too much braking, too much cornering force and so on?
If you could control them at a higher level than you now do, would your riding be better? Controlling the forces on a motorcycle prevents you from being confused and overwhelmed by your survival reactions.
Riding involves various forces that act on you: none of them are difficult to handle individually but how about when they come together, like in the experiment?
Clearly, riders are able to handle the amount of speed that allows them to stay on top of their survival responses and still keep track of the other forces of riding -without becoming overwhelmed.
That's why most riders have at least fair riding at 75 percent of their ability and big errors at 80 percent and above. A very important example follows.
The various forces created while riding are both the fun and terror of it. We use these forces to gauge ourselves. Charging In high-speed-entry turns, the most common error is "charging" - If you start slow and going in as far as possible with the gas wide open, then chopping the accelerate you might feel instability, front tuck or it just throttle hard and having to coast in or brake lightly to scrub-off the excess won't track but it could still speed.
Riders always give up far too much speed as a result of this style work at the higher speeds; start slow. And since the largest gains in lap times are made in high-speed turns, charging becomes a huge barrier to lap-time improvement. Approach the turn at a speed you know for sure you can The last thing to try is handle. Let's say this is a sixth-gear turn and the fast guys are charging the turns. You start out or even rpm under that.
You approach the turn at a constant throttle, at that rpm. As you turn in. Remember, this is at a non-threatening speed so rolling on should not produce any panic whatsoever or do anything except make the bike stable. The next pass is done a few hundred rpm higher.
Depending on the bike and gearing, each additional rpm produces roughly 10 to 15 mph in sixth gear. Every time you move up the scale rpm. Each rpm is 1. Continue steps 1 through 3 until you reach your limit or the bike's limits. This gets the speed right and avoids the SR's triggered by "charging". The calm, controlled approach may feel slower but usually it's much faster 2.
Recharge For turns that really aren't wide open, the additional steps to this Some guys think they have to drill are: be just quick but you have to be controlled. Approach the turn wide open but start the roll-off well before you would if you were charging and make it a smooth, even roll-off. Get the throttle cracked open and rolling-on right away. As above, if you are approaching it one step at a time, you will find the limits of this turn in the safest and most controlled way possible.
If it goes out of line or twitches from chopping it, examples where this has worked. In many cases the rider finds he never you can't feel it as easy. Or, he finds he rolls-off but only for an instant, just long enough to know where off is.
Any idea of using the brakes is just a memory. Another SR defeated by understanding throttle control and machine basics. Amping-up your SRs by charging may be exciting but not fast and charging doesn't agree with machine design. Throttle control rule number two: in any fast-entry turn, calculate the roll-off as carefully as you would a roll-on.
Does this also agree with suspension design, weight transfer and traction? Forces produced going in are focused on by braking, accelerating, cornering, etc, are the real stuff of riding.
We speed. Many riders have trouble with this point. Throttle control produces the least of the forces encountered while cornering -when done correctly.
As your turn entry speeds come up and you get on the throttle earlier, you will begin to discover just how light a touch mid-turn throttle requires. However, we are talking about machine requirements, not a rider's dreams of factory rides.
The Forces At Work Any turn is full of important forces to monitor. Just as in the pain experiment, individually, none of them may be a problem, but two or more together can cause confusion. Forces are something you deal with while riding. The standard techniques of throttle control put you in command over many of the forces, and one of the by-products is defeating the SRs that accompany those forces. In correctly using the throttle -to set entry speed- you are making it a little easier on yourself and on the bike.
Speed is the force that lights up our SRs quicker than anything: throttle control is the way to tame them. At one track it took Keith 10 years to talk me into using the throttle correctly in the fast turn entries. Gently rolling off and back on at a similar rate can eliminate time consuming complications such as: shutting off the gas, grabbing the brake and just getting it cracked back on just right. Of course, all the riding time I have has helped sort out the different loads a rider feels on the bike but now I feel as though I can sort them equally and not have any one of them consume too much attention.
Another simple but useful tool is knowing these different ways that the bike slows The Forces at Work each of them can be used individually or, sometimes, altogether. Definitions Force: Strength or power exerted upon an object. Overwhelm: To overcome completely as by physical or emotional force.
Fascinating: Having the power to capture interest and hold the attention. Self-generated: Produced from within.
Suspicious: Believing something to be false, undesirable or bad. Calculate: To determine by reasoning, common sense or experience; To figure out. Gauge: To evaluate or judge. Depend: To rely on.
Deceptive: Misleading; creating a false appearance. Sort-out: To find the differences between one thing and another: To clarify. Emotional: Of or relating to emotion; involving any of the feelings of joy, sorrow, fear, hate, etc. Abandoning: Leaving or ceasing to operate or inhabit. Centrifugal: Moving or directed outward from the center.
Centrifugal Force: The tendency of a body rotating about an axis to move outward. Based on the amount of wiggling, squirming and overuse of controls most riders exhibit, the bike would, if it could, surely ask them to leave. Hanging-On can be as important as Hanging-Off. The awkward seating position is an attempt to find a stable place to hang on.
Rider Technology As an example, most Novice Knee Draggers try to hang off and steer at the same moment. This is a big mistake as it only serves to make the bike wiggle at their turn-in point. One of the reasons the hanging-off riding style works so well is that your body is already in a low and stable position on the bike when you flick it into the corner.
The correct technique is: 1. Get over into position well before the actual steering input, usually just before you roll off the gas and pull on the brakes. Stabilize yourself for the braking but be comfortably seated so you will not have to make any additional body position changes throughout the entire turn. Clamp onto the bike, just tight enough, with your outside leg or boot pressed to the bodywork or. Apply steering pressure to the handlebars.
You're in the turn! The it quicker but start slower and smoother so you finally get to mistake is trying to turn while you're moving from one side to the other side turning it when your weight of the bike and aren't firmly and comfortably anchored to it. There's almost hits the seat.
The next four chapters explain how to remain in maximum control of your bike with the minimum amount of effort. Don't just sit there like a lump on the seat, help the suspension, use your legs like an extra set of shocks. Definitions Counter-leaning: The act of a passenger on a motorcycle leaning in the opposite direction from that of the rider.
Esses: Two or more turns in succession, generally capable of being taken at high-speed and laid out in an elongated "S" shape. Transition: Movement or passage from one place, state, stage, etc.
Primary: First: First in order of any series. Contribute: To give money, time, assistance, force, etc. Do your hands become tired during or after spirited corner-carving sessions?
These are two of the main indicators there are many more telling you something is wrong. What are the indicators saying? How you hold onto the bike is quite an art all in itself. In fact, it is actually a separate You have to build confidence technology with its own rules Wouldn't you know it?
Do you need further proof this is a survival reaction? Try this. For most riders, it's the only way to discover exactly what's happening.
Generally, riders don't notice their pumped-up arms until they slow down. Is this automatic? Too tight on the bars is survival reaction 2. Survival Reaction 2 Again, by survey of over riders, the overwhelming choice for runner-up in the "unwanted riding conditions" class is: too tight on the bars.
The message is: Please send oxygen, we are overworked and starving. If there was a way to simply hot-wire bypass these reactions, I'd tell you, but there isn't. But we can handle them, using education as our primary tool.
So let's get smart about holding on. Any bike will do it. This system you holding on too tight. When it reaches its limit of flex, the shock and forks understanding of the bike increased the offset we had take over to stabilize the bike.
What happens when these two systems fail at the end of the season was to handle the situation? The forks move, side-to-side. They are the next almost 10 degrees less than at the start.
Why do they move? When 1 and 2 above have reached their limits the immediate result is weight changes to the tires. Don't judge your speed from mistakes. A slower entry When weighting lightens up. The fork doesn't making it shake would have quite stop right at the perfect tracking position, it goes slightly past it. By worked better than upsetting it and giving yourself a false this time the tire has hit at least one more surface imperfection and is idea of speed.
That's what shakes the head. Stop Shaking No one is strong enough to stop this from happening. In fact, if you did stop it, the bike would instantly wobble violently and be totally out of control.
The good news is that if your bike is basically tight Machine set-up and stability steering head bearings not excessively worn, forks and shock not sticking, help you to stay loose on the bike. The balance is critical: etc. The bad news is that these head shakes are transferred, back get it turned, but no more. Hold tight and the bike feels totally unstable and ready to crash; loosen up and it goes straight, even though the front end is working back- and-forth. Riding over rain grooves cut in the highway can offer a milder sample of the same principle.
The process of Head Shake begins when the tire hits a ripple and, along with the suspension, compresses. This throws the wheel slightly off-center. When the suspension and tire release, the wheel is light and flicks back toward a centered position, but again, slightly off-center. Still off-center when it loads again from the next ripple; again it is flicked past its centered position.
The cycle of flicking back and forth repeats as the front-end seeks to stabilize through this automatic and necessary self correcting process. Relaxed on the bars allows the front-end shake to remain in the front. Stiffening on them, transfers it, through your body, to the whole bike. Tight and Wide Holding too tight onto the bars also makes the bike run wide in On a fast track you want more fork angle or more turns.
Because of this self-correcting, back-and-forth action of the front- offset for stability. Slow end and the outward-bound cornering forces, the bike winds up going tracks: When you steepen wider than it should.
Also, the inside bar is the most accessable to hang head angle you also soften the spring. Steering Dampers What about steering dampers? Well, they don't stop head shake When the bike is working right AND you are working completely, but they do limit the travel and intensity of the head shake.
Taking it one step further, if the steering damper was very long and anchored at the back of the bike, it would transfer the head-shake to the entire bike. The steering damper is not another device to reduce the effects of SRs: If you are stiff the bike will shake with or without a steering damper.
You have to ask yourself, "How bad can head- shakes from spinning and shake get? Remember to relax. Overcoming the "too tight" SR is the hard part.
Allowing the front to "work" is a standard riding technique which agrees with machine design. Too tight on the bars is the most common source of motorcycle handling problems.
Bending the elbows and wrists instead of straight arming the bike will set you up to be in a more friendly and relaxed position on the bike. I only vary the grip when I'm making steering changes: Outside of that; my grip is as equal and relaxed as I can make it. Treat the bike like a friend and it won't work against you.
Definitions Areas: Field of study, or a branch of a field of study. Automatically: Starting, operating, moving, etc. At-speed: As fast or nearly as fast as you could be or should be going. Sole: Being the only one; Only. Inclination: A liking or preference. A disposition or bent, especially of the mind. Influences: Things with the capacity or power to be a compelling force on another thing or person.
Realize: To grasp or understand clearly. System: A combination of parts, assemblages, etc. Flexes: The act of bending. Track: To follow the course or progress of.
Dazzling: To impress deeply. Principle: A primary law or truth from which others are derived. Counter-steering: To guide in an opposing manner or direction.
The act of initiating a turn by cocking the handlebars in the opposite direction to the way you wish to go. Sufficient: Enough to do the job. Leverage: The mechanical advantage or power gained by using a lever. Steering-head: The forwardmost section of the frame which holds the bearings, steering stem and triple clamp assembly by which the forks are attached to the bike.
Relatively: Compared to others. Essentially: Basically. Is it just cosmetics? Does your machine have design functions you're not using? However, a good rider can benefit from using such paraphernalia. SR 2 Solutions A number of features have evolved to assist the rider in becoming less of a bad influence on the motorcycle. Some of these solutions are: High-backed racing style seats anchor the rider more firmly, reducing the need to hang on by grabbing the bars tightly.
Large tanks provide elbow or forearm rests during cornering. Knee slots on the gas tank's side provide a more stable way to hold on, allowing the rider to use the bars less. Tall tanks can also provide a chest rest.
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