Ridin' smoove

[jrandom]

yet after my first ever trackday i'm running a winning streetstock laptime around taupo full.

I thought you said you were five seconds off the pace?

[The Pastor]

motott and kiwitrackdays have a few days at taupo, but none on saturday/sunday. Kiwitrackdays have a riding training day on a sat, but there is no way I can afford $500 .

Why are they on fridays and not saturdays?

[The Pastor]

back on topic, I had my first chance of riding with one hand and no brakes. It was over the witford hill about 9.30-10pm. I can do 1 hand easy but no brakes is getting hard. But it was dark. Will try it on saturday.

[The Pastor]

also, am i ment to be moving around on the bike, or keep seated? cos 1 hand while hanging off was way too hard!

[jrandom]

also, am i ment to be moving around on the bike, or keep seated? cos 1 hand while hanging off was way too hard!

Would you like to come for a one-handed Smoove (tm) ride on the usual northwest loop sometime soon? One hand all the way and no brakes; you can follow my lines and whatnot.

Gizza PM if you're keen.

[The Pastor]

I did about 100kms of practice today, I gave up because of the weather. I've got a long way to go before I can become fast with one hand and no brakes!

[crash harry]

One trick (it ain't all that easy though) is the "Kevin Schwantz Style" throttle / brake control. He had a technique where the front brake and the throttle control sort of overlap a bit, i.e. you are still rolling off the throttle while you're starting to squeeze the brake and vice versa. It really helps settle the suspension down because you're not jerking around on it.

Having said that, I can't do it very well, and doing it badly is prbably worse than not doing it at all. There's a section in the book "Total Control" by Lee Parks about smooth riding where he goes over the technique (I reckon everyone should have to read that book as part of the licensing process anyway - read it now people!)

Keith Code pointed out something similar to the original post though, people tell you things like "be smooth" without actually qualifying how or what that really means. I tend to think smooth means smooth suspension action and smooth lines, not necessarily smooth application of the controls of the machine. Sometimes in order to hold smooth lines you have to be a bit brutal with the controls - OK, maybe brutal is the wrong word, maybe "forceful" is better.

Once again though people, take it all with a grain of salt, I ain't the smoothest rider around anyway.

[dipshit]

Ultimately it can be defined as how the traction of the tyres are used.

A good smooth rider can build demand on the tyres (for any given manoeuvre) to just below the maximum and stay there.

An unsmooth rider will have sharp and sudden demands on available traction and sometimes go beyond 100%. As a result the unsmooth rider will spend a greater average of time more below available traction than a smooth rider.