Anyone else talking RACING?! <--- of the motorcycle type

I have posted some of Ken Hills Pod Cast before but have not in a while. I plan on doing a lot more track days this year and Ken is an awesome resource for the track and riding in general. He posted some info for a friend who is looking to get in better shape for track riding. Here is his off season one, kind of different.
https://soundcloud.com/ken-hill-534763963/podcast-51-what-we-can-be-working-on-in-the-off-season

Here is the link to all of them.
http://khcoaching.com/podcasts/

He does this for free. He love everything motorcycle related so much that projects like his pod casts are a labor of love. Great guy.

 

A great way to see a race?

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/motoamerica-looking-for-volunteer-workers-for-the-2018-season/

 

Here is an interesting article on proper use of traction control. Last year I was doing a track day at my local track on my CBR 1000 RR 2006 that has none of todays electronics. i know the track, bike, and my times their very well so when I rode my friends tricked out newer R1 it was my first experience with traction control a a track and wow what a difference. Speed and acceleration on the Yamaha and Honda are very close but as I got use to the the R1's TC my times started to drop. What I noticed was I could dial in more throttle at the apex. I took it gradual giving more and more throttle and I was definitely getting out of the corners faster. BUT as i started to trust the system and get really aggressive with the throttle the TC would kick in too hard preventing the little bit of wheel spin that made exits so fast and sweet. My times started to increase so I backed off and my times came back down, leaving nice little blackies on the track. This article explains what I was experiencing.

https://www.sportrider.com/riding-with-traction-control-riding-skills-series?CMPID=ene031318

 

Funny, I had the opposite happen to me when I was off roading on my friends Tiger 800! Went for a ride in Anzo Borrego and we were on a river bed with very soft sand. I was trying to accelerate and it felt like the bike was bogging down, then it would kick in and then bog down again. It got to the point that I really couldn't ride it anymore, I thought it was something with the fueling or throttle (throttle by wire issue) so we stopped and turned around. It was heading back that it dawned on me...TC was kicking in! I totally forgot the bike had TC and once I turned it off, viola! it was much better. Electronic aids, could be your best friend or your worse enemy...

 

TC especially in the dirt needs to be set for the conditions from what i understand. Probably needed a less aggressive setting. You need a lot more wheel spin in the soft stuff. Makes me think of my CR 250 dirt bike, its hard for it to NOT spin. Sadly I'm selling it. I am buying a new boat motor and selling off things I'm not using very often and we have not gone to the super MX coarse in over a year. But I still have the DR dual sport for hare scrambles with my son and nephew and when i want to fly through the air I can jump on one of their YZ 125's. Still going to miss a 200lb 2 stroke pure breed.

 

The Tiger 800XR only has two settings, On and Off. Riding bikes for so long without these electronic aids, you don't even think about them. The one issue with some of these aids too, is that when you shut off the bike, it goes back to defaults, in this case TC on. It gets kind of annoying to always have to have to go through a menu to get to a setting to change something. It would be cool if they would allow you to have a "preset" that you can use as your default. I assume for liability reasons, they prefer to have the "safety features" on by default, lest someone gets into an accident and blames the bike for not saving their ass.

 

The R1's electronics are excellent and have a very large variety of settings that stay where you put them. Very impressed with their development.

 

On a different topic, has anyone seen the little film on MotoGP about MM? Kind of cool, shows a behind the scenes look at last year's season and gives access to some of things (visual and audible) that you normally don't see and hear during race time. What I thought was cool, was interaction between MM and Zarco and MM and VR, after the Philip Island race, the one where there was a lot of "close" racing i.e. rubber on the leathers and body panels!

Zarco came up to apologize to MM and here's his reaction.


Similarly, MM went to apologize to VR and here was his reaction.

 

I have not ridden an R1, they do look like a very capable bike! One of the corner workers I worked with has one with an aftermarket pipe and that thing sounds beastly! Would definitely like to try one at the track.

 

That Crossplane engine with a full system is an incredible sound, kind of like a V4.

I did see the trailer of the MM film but have not watched it yet.

 

Rossi signs for 2 more years.

http://www.motogp.com/en/news/2018/...tent=QAT_RossiRenewal_en&utm_campaign=Traffic

 

That nasty V4 2 stroke will be back this year for the IOM.

https://www.motorcyclenews.com/spor...uter-to-return-to-isle-of-man-tt-with-mmx500/

 

Yamaha is hurting. Go Suzuki! They seem to be back.

 

Quick detour from the conversation.

Which road bike was the first to have a slipper clutch?

 

The NR 500 was a GP monster with ABS.

 

Wow!! Zrrco breaks the record and takes pole for tomorrow’s GP.

 

Saw that. Looks like it’s going to be a fight tomorrow!

 

Well feel asleep at the controls, thought the first race was next week
Thanks guys



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Actually, all three on the first row were under the Q record! And, two satellite bikes on the front row? When was the last time that happened in the dry?

 

I don’t think that has ever happened in the dry.