pritch
10th June 2007, 13:49
Performance Riding Techniques
The moto GP manual of track riding skills
By Andy Ibbott
In a recent thread on KB someone said he'd rather learn by making mistakes than learn from books. Me, I prefer books to bruises, and definitely prefer the feel of pages to feeling the pain.
On the cover of this book, my latest acquisition, an exerpt from the Daily Telegraph review states that this is “a stunning book”. They're not kidding!
This officially licenced Moto GP product is by far the most visually attractive rider training publication I have seen. This book is at the opposite end of the spectrum visually from Twist of the Wrist or TOTW2. On glossy paper, it is lavishly illustrated with photographs from the Moto GP series. The quality of the presentation is such that it could almost pass for a coffee table book
Keith Code who wrote the forward says that Andy Ibbott, the author, “has more experience training riders than anyone else in Europe by a factor of thousands”. Whatever that means.
Chapter headings are:
Preparation
Accelerating
Braking
Cornering and Steering
Sliding
Racing Lines
Qualifying
Starting
Overtaking
Outwitting
Crashing
Climate Control
Conserving
Winning
And an appendix, of which more later...
The chapters include relevant quotes from the likes of Rossi, Hopkins, Nakano, Capirossi, Edwards, and Vermulen. To that extent you're getting information from the horses mouth. There are very few diagrams, almost every point is illustrated with full colour photographs.
The chapter on racing lines starts with the quote, “Anyone who believes there is only one racing line through a corner isn't a racer.” The text lists three main lines: the qualifying line, the racing line, and the overtaking line, but the text points out there are many variations on these basic lines.
There is also some sage advice on the popular topic hereabout of getting the knee down, and what most people do wrong, and better yet, how to do it correctly.
The Appendix contains a suspension education programme developed by Keith Code for the California Superbike School. It starts out talking about setting sag .
Once the static sag is set, with all damping set to zero, go for a ride. Write down the result.
Adjust the rider sag, then repeat the ride/write thing.
Then to damping and a nine part process:
Step one involves setting the front compression damping to full. Go for a ride, come back and write down your impressions of what that felt like.
Step two: Set front compression to zero, rebound to max. Ride and write.
Step three: Set front rebound back to zero, set rear compression damping to max. Ride, write.
And so on until Step eight by which time you should have a good idea of what too much or too little of any of the settings feels like.
By the completion of the final test, suspension settings should no longer be a mystery or a black art.
Can't wait for my new Ohlins to arrive :-)
Although primarily concerned with racing, even if you aren't planning on setting the racing world on fire there is a lot of information in this book to assist road riders.
I haven't seen this book on sale locally, my copy came from
www.amazon.co.uk
Normally L19 .99, currently it's L13.99.
Feel free to do your own currency conversions.
The moto GP manual of track riding skills
By Andy Ibbott
In a recent thread on KB someone said he'd rather learn by making mistakes than learn from books. Me, I prefer books to bruises, and definitely prefer the feel of pages to feeling the pain.
On the cover of this book, my latest acquisition, an exerpt from the Daily Telegraph review states that this is “a stunning book”. They're not kidding!
This officially licenced Moto GP product is by far the most visually attractive rider training publication I have seen. This book is at the opposite end of the spectrum visually from Twist of the Wrist or TOTW2. On glossy paper, it is lavishly illustrated with photographs from the Moto GP series. The quality of the presentation is such that it could almost pass for a coffee table book
Keith Code who wrote the forward says that Andy Ibbott, the author, “has more experience training riders than anyone else in Europe by a factor of thousands”. Whatever that means.
Chapter headings are:
Preparation
Accelerating
Braking
Cornering and Steering
Sliding
Racing Lines
Qualifying
Starting
Overtaking
Outwitting
Crashing
Climate Control
Conserving
Winning
And an appendix, of which more later...
The chapters include relevant quotes from the likes of Rossi, Hopkins, Nakano, Capirossi, Edwards, and Vermulen. To that extent you're getting information from the horses mouth. There are very few diagrams, almost every point is illustrated with full colour photographs.
The chapter on racing lines starts with the quote, “Anyone who believes there is only one racing line through a corner isn't a racer.” The text lists three main lines: the qualifying line, the racing line, and the overtaking line, but the text points out there are many variations on these basic lines.
There is also some sage advice on the popular topic hereabout of getting the knee down, and what most people do wrong, and better yet, how to do it correctly.
The Appendix contains a suspension education programme developed by Keith Code for the California Superbike School. It starts out talking about setting sag .
Once the static sag is set, with all damping set to zero, go for a ride. Write down the result.
Adjust the rider sag, then repeat the ride/write thing.
Then to damping and a nine part process:
Step one involves setting the front compression damping to full. Go for a ride, come back and write down your impressions of what that felt like.
Step two: Set front compression to zero, rebound to max. Ride and write.
Step three: Set front rebound back to zero, set rear compression damping to max. Ride, write.
And so on until Step eight by which time you should have a good idea of what too much or too little of any of the settings feels like.
By the completion of the final test, suspension settings should no longer be a mystery or a black art.
Can't wait for my new Ohlins to arrive :-)
Although primarily concerned with racing, even if you aren't planning on setting the racing world on fire there is a lot of information in this book to assist road riders.
I haven't seen this book on sale locally, my copy came from
www.amazon.co.uk
Normally L19 .99, currently it's L13.99.
Feel free to do your own currency conversions.