My riding development - how fast?

[cowpoos]

Which one? The hairpin at Taupo?

Beer is for drinking not throwing. Im mean come-on....who throws a beer?

nooo...that one coming out of marsterton...


and by the way...I think you ride fine on the road...you seem to keep a good steady pace...consistant...and you havn't been riding for a year yet...
read some books like twist of the wrist...and keep following other riders...and most of all keep asking questions...

its easyer for people to help you when you ask precise questions rather than general ones....

[skelstar]

nooo...that one coming out of marsterton...

Ah yess...now I remember.

...read some books like twist of the wrist...and keep following other riders...and most of all keep asking questions...

Book idea a good one. Dont mind asking questions.

[bugjuice]

10mm strip? In normal road use, I don't generally get far beyond that myself. 5mm is prob where i sit at. Edges I save for the track. Now I'm no loosebruce or WT, but buggy and I weren't hanging around during one of those sessions on the track and we only barely touched our edges.

Chicken strips are a dangerous thing to use as a marker of speed IMHO. I can sit on the seat and nana it over the takas, or I can hang off and go hard and still get the same lean angles. Weight distribution.

Just whatever you do, don't follow me. I still struggle to use bike lines rather than my inbred car lines, which just don't work!!

good point about the chicken strips. I was just curious to see that it was being lent over. If they were huge, then there's obviously more room for improvement! But yeah, every day riding, I have about -5mm from the edge. On that session where we were toying a bit, I noticed a nice little line of rubber being put down as we accelerated off turn 1. I also got a few squirms from the back coming out of the hairpin and the sweeper. That's the tryes' and bikes' way of saying 'oi, you're pushing your luck a little..', so you just either hold it, or back off very slightly. You know you're close to the edge..

wish I was back on the track now actually.. Was good tussling with ya MB

[skelstar]

wish I was back on the track now actually.. Was good tussling with ya MB

You should be a cop mate, they get to tussle with MB all the time.

I noticed in the wet that the back wheel stepped out a bit on the right-hander. Just kinda wiggled a bit. Happened three times in that sess. I doubt it was because the tire was cold on that side.

[wendigo]

When I first started trackdays, I found a good way to boost my lack of confidence was to follow bigger, heavier bike through the corners. My thinking was that if the big bike could get through the corner, me on my little 400 shouldn't have any problems.

This worked fine up until the moment I noticed smoke coming from the rear tyre of the ZXR750 I wuz chasing, followed shortly by sparks from his footpegs & little plastic bits from his fairing.

It was at this point I realised my wonderfull theory was fatally flawed, in that not everyone on a bigger bike was necessarily better than me.


GOT THROUGH THE CORNER WITHOUT CRASHING THOUGH!!!!

[skelstar]

It was at this point I realised my wonderfull theory was fatally flawed, in that not everyone on a bigger bike was necessarily better than me.

I had considered this technique, but thought that my bikes susp is not that great, and apparently the rubber is quite hard (read in reviews too). This equals sliding.

Good large letter advice though. Thanks!

[bugjuice]

yeah, following other bikes works to a point - there's other things to consider, like suspension set up, tyres, rider confidence etc.. That can make the fastest bike go slow

[Zapf]

I had considered this technique, but thought that my bikes susp is not that great, and apparently the rubber is quite hard (read in reviews too). This equals sliding.

Good large letter advice though. Thanks!

hay but if you can slide around corners while staying upright you might get around corners faster than big bikes look at the motards... (not that I have personal experience or recommend... )

[wendigo]

I had considered this technique, but thought that my bikes susp is not that great, and apparently the rubber is quite hard (read in reviews too). This equals sliding.

True - I always used Bridgestone BT90's. They were described as an intermediate tyre, but in truth, they were more like slicks, with a couple of token grooves cut in them. Bongo levels of grip.

Ahh happy days, the memories...

Now of course I'm the fucker on the big heavy bike gettin' chased by all them little shits on their 250's...

[T.W.R]

Disconnect your speedo for a while, do a few rides with mates or trackdays & ride your bike on feel of the engine, nothing cripples trying to get fast like lookin at a speedo & thinkin "FARKIN HELL I"M GOIN THAT FAST!!" especially when it comes to gettin around corners quick

[Gremlin]

I lacked a bit of confidence in my susp and tires...I dont know where the limit is .

I can tell you right now, if you don't have confidence in your bike (that it can cope with what you are doing), your riding will suffer. You will always have niggling doubt in the back of your mind whether you should really be doing something.

For example, on a ride, going through a left hander, I noticed a big dip in the road. Knowing my bike bottomed out in some situations, I was worried. So worried, I tried to brake and avoid, ended up running wide, almost into the oncoming. Almost lost the line through the corner, and was just able to pull it back into shape.

Make sure you have confidence in your machine, tyres and self.

As BJ said, you will naturally get faster without trying, as you unconciously and conciously learn more and more.

[Drunken Monkey]

...
2) oil, diesel, worn tar, white lines, gravel, rain etc are all slippy. You won't get any warning besides you being sat on your arse when you were on your bike a second ago.
...

Not true. You can slip on 'greasy' surfaces as you have listed without road-testing your leathers and decking your bike if you know what you're doing. Smooth throttle control is the key.

[White trash]

Give me a dollar and I'll tell ya.

[flash]

Give me a dollar and I'll tell ya.

next time ill give you a whole $2 if you teach me how to do a perfect wheelie at the next track day

ive only been riding for around a year (no real fast stuff though) and im still waiting to put my knee down, mind you this was in jeans so its probably best i didnt get it down