Nick Ientash The Pace

**2_SL0** · 16th December 2005, 11:26

Originally Posted by kerryg

I don't get it. The Pace is about what? Not riding too fast (OK)? Not braking too late when entering a corner (OK?).

Reminds me of something I heard the other day. Did you know that a traffic engineer called Barnes "invented" the pedestrian crossing where pedestrians all cross simultaneously, including diagonally, (like the intersection at the corner of Queen and Victoria Sts in Auckland for the Dorklanders among us). His "invention" was nick-named the "Barnes dance". I heard that and I thought ...WTF? The idea of everybody crossing from all directions at once was INVENTED by someone?? OK then. I invented falling over. I mean, did the guy go to university and all, and all he came up with was that?

Can the central principle(s) of the Pace be summarised for me in no more than few sentences please??...I guess I'm missing something here.

Just disconnect your front brakes and go for a spin. See what sorta 'pace' you get up to.

**kerryg** · 16th December 2005, 11:43

Originally Posted by Kawagreen

Just disconnect your front brakes and go for a spin. See what sorta 'pace' you get up to.

Yeah yeah I get that. It comes back to not riding too fast and not braking too late. I'm not saying there's no merit in what he says, not at all. I'm saying it's ..well...kinda obvious, if that's all there is to it

**SlowHand** · 16th December 2005, 12:18

Why stop at disconnecting? Remove the whole set up - make it lighter so you can go faster. Makes perfect sense to me.

**WRT** · 16th December 2005, 12:25

WTF - disconnect your front brake?? For god's sake, its a f'ing lever! If you dont want to use it, DONT PULL THE LEVER!!!

Bloody hell, the self control of the youth of today . . .

**tracyprier** · 16th December 2005, 13:12

Have read that book a while back, plenty of good stuff in it including the "pace" idea.

New Zealand is such a beautiful country with world class scenery. I personally don't see the point in always roaring past it all in a mad blur at warp factor 8... yes, yes so I'm an old Nana, sue me

**Sketchy_Racer** · 16th December 2005, 14:51

when im out riding with my mates, (im on a SR250 BTW) and the rest are on faster newer bikes, i love the felling when thay think they are all cool and nail it past me down the strights,...... but then i completly obliterate them on the corners. Yes i did manage to out corner my friend and he was on a CBR250!!! but i hate it when they think they are all cool nailing it down the straights..... i mean, wheres the skill in pulling a throttle open???

so as like many, i prefer to ride alone, or ride with friends that ride like i do... steady down the straights, peg scraping in the corners

**Motu** · 16th December 2005, 16:10

It's kinda like ''smooth'',but much faster.Good with an adventure bike because you hardly have to back off for any sort of road hazzards,you just fly over bumps and slips,road works and pea gravel.

You want to ride with no brakes try flattrack or speedway - come into a corner as fast as you can and lay it down....no back up....but you can back it in.

**jonbuoy** · 16th December 2005, 16:54

OK sounds like a few are keen to try - hopefully maybe get some more people into it. It doesn't mean riding like a Nana, but as a lot of the 250 guys were saying it takes a lot of work/skill to keep up with higher power bikes - they can just twist the throttle to make up for a botched corner entry/exit.

I have tried it by myself a few times, trying to set myself a MAX speed of 120-130 KM's - (slapped wrist as opposed to handcuffs by the cops - i'm up to 75 points now) And slowing down as little as possible on the corners - don't think I'll be taking off my brake lever tho'

. This works really well on long journeys, you don't have to shit urself everytime you see a newish Holden coming at you, you can relax a bit more. If you find the right roads to go with it a 130KMH is plenty fast enough!

**jonbuoy** · 16th December 2005, 16:59

Sweet, Hopefully in the new year then!

**justsomeguy** · 16th December 2005, 17:19

To clarify - I said a short ride to a parking lot and then do some practice.......

WRT - it's not the same thing - doing it like that.....

Kawagreen - that's the idea - to keep the speed low and use engine braking, etc......

**James Deuce** · 16th December 2005, 17:36

I read "The Pace" in the early '90s, and it stuck with me in all sorts of ways. Fundamentally it's about not using your full capability all the time, particuarly when riding in a group. The article was originally inspired by the increasing insurance premiums of "Motorcyclist" magazine, back when Ienatsch was a staff journo there. The competitive urge was causing a heap of accidents on their test rides, so "The Pace" was the magazine crew's response to their crisis.

It's just one style of group riding, and I think it works best when you have a group who know each other really well. I've had a couple of rides in the last few months with people like VTWIN and Flying Finn that have felt exactly as described in the pace. By no means a slow ride, but neither does it leave tyres and brakes frazzled and steaming, or give the rider a stress headache.

It's interesting that the article follows up with vanishing point technique - I don't agree with a strict adherence to the idea, because it reduces your sightline to concentrating on the type of VP you are approaching, and you may miss other visual clues as a result.

**SuperDave** · 16th December 2005, 17:48

Yeah I agree with this - it's the way that I naturally ride, probably a result of riding an FXR150 for a year before the ZXR. I've always disliked late hard braking as I find that it makes the ride much less smooth and enjoyable. I've always prefered using my gears to slow me down and then accelerating moderately out a corner.

**pritch** · 17th December 2005, 11:32

“The most common solo street bike crash comes from too much speed entering a corner, and a ton of straightaway speed is usually the reason the entrance gets blown. Many riders learn how to accelerate aggressively but their braking and trail braking techniques aren't up to par, resulting in a ruined disastrous corner entrance.

The rhythm that Mitch and I had fallen into was this: cool on the straights and fun in the corners.”

“Another reason for these slower speeds was our ticket situation which wasn't that admirable at the time. Think about it: Big speed usually happens in a straight line, and the Police have figured that out. Our new pace took away that straight-line throttle-happiness and saved the fun for the corners, with occasional full throttle blasts up freeway on-ramps. After all straight line speed is easy and boring compared to a perfectly clipped apex.”

Sport Riding Techniques – Nick Ienatsch – David Bull Publishing - 2003

Trypos and ommisions all my own work

**DingDong** · 26th January 2006, 16:21

This is an article written by Nick Ienatsch in 1993, you may have read it... but if you havent, do so...
It's about safe group riding at speed "the pace" , sound stupid? it's not