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us 129

1K views 14 replies 4 participants last post by  Strider 
#1 · (Edited)
No one has yet corrected my spamming of videos here, so ima keep at it.

this is a clip from the dragon. last sunday. temp was around 65 , cool wind. last run heading north...ish. rain was an ever present threat that day, but fortunately did not see any on the tail itself.

i just cant get the bike turned over more. on pilot road 4's.

i know my line is pretty off, but what is keeping me from gettin the damn bike to turn more? I have TONS of confidence in my back tire, but the front ( especially sharp left turns) just feels like it would slip right out on corner entry.

pointers?


*oh and pay no attention to the spedometer is is off as gearing is now -1+2*


 
#2 ·
Why does the video say it's from january 1st 2015??

I wanted to say that I've driven on the infamous US-129 finally, which I kinda did but only in Knoxville, not the cool part lol. I was there 3 weeks ago for a job interview...unfortunately I just found out yesterday I didn't get the job. I liked Knoxville though and that general area. Could've been fun.

Regarding your lean angle deal, the reason it feels like the bike is about to drop is because you're going slow. How much you can lean is a function of speed AND turning radius. If you can take a particular turn at 100 mph dragging a knee on the ground, and then you attempt that exact turn on the exact same line going 50 mph, you don't need to lean as much. If you force it to try and lean more, the bike will drop. I can get into a free-body diagram and get into a physics lesson, but I'm pretty sure PSlo already has a thread on here with all of that.

I tell my students the same thing in the MSF class when they struggle with the U-turn box in the 20' wide box. I tell them that whenever they feel like the bike is about to fall and they put their foot down to prevent that it's because they're going too slow for that particular radius that they're turning on, instead of doing that just release the clutch a bit (assuming you're using the friction zone), or give it a little bit of gas. That tends to pick the bike right up and stabilize it. You're in a similar situation here. You're going slow enough through those turns that you don't need to lean more, so don't try to force it or you will crash. If you go faster, than you will have to lean a bit more to stay on the line.
 
#3 · (Edited)
So are you saying just commit to carrying more speed?

Did you know with all the motorcycle culture here, we dont have a single track?


I'm not counting dragstrips



Edit*
The video says Jan 1st because I have 2 batteries, and every time I change them out it all resets.
I get tired of editing the date
 
#4 ·
That's easy,, drive.. You come up this way. I'll put you up.
Track not to far down the road.
About same distance south from you is barber, what a track. (Hope to make it in April. It's about 12 hours from me.

The dragon's speed limit is what 30 mph, not many corners there you can really get it over at that speed. I can think of 6 or so that are pretty tight.
The street isn't the place for that, half my dragon trips came around a corner to a truck with a 5th wheel taking both lanes.
Lastly, can see your hands. You know about counter steering.

It's a question, believe it or not many have no idea what it is.
 
#6 ·
I appreciate the offer to be put up, as i feel like id be okay with sleeping in a tent.

main two hurdles for me are finding someone close to home that can go up with me, an getting my wife to let me go
dont want to get stranded in case something happens



and to sbk- why do i want to lean more? the same reason many of us do -- Cause it too much fun! :devilish


btw what kinda road temps are street tires usually good to go at?
 
#7 ·
The wife thing...that's all you. Do what you gotta do! :D Going with someone? Not really needed. I think 80-90% of the track days I've been to I went by myself. The only ones I went with others was if it was like 8 hours away or more. Not really a big deal.

Ah yes, leaning over and going fast into turns is definitely fun. But only if done in a safe way. It's not fun if you end up rolling downhill into some of the many trees along side that road. I feel like if I was riding that road, my video would've looked very similar to yours. Even though I know I could go way faster, the problem is it's all blind turns after blind turns. I'd have no idea what's on the other side, and to me it's not worth the risk.

Street tires are good to temps higher than what you will ever put them through. It takes a really fast racer on a race track to get good street sport tires hot enough to where they're above their optimum temp range. I can assure you that you're nowhere near that, and I don't mean that in an insulting way by any means. None of us are (or should) be getting street tires that hot (above 160-170 degrees or so). Even on a spirited ride on a hot summer day, you probably won't get them above 130ish. The nice thing about street tires is they work well on a very wide range, from cold temps like around 50-60 degrees to 160-170 (give or take some). Unlike race tires that only work well above 170-180.
 
#10 ·
Not really. If it happens, it happens. I've made friends with a whole bunch of people at my local tracks that in the case something significant like that happens, someone would help me out. In fact something like that happened to one of my friends at one of our home tracks a while back. He crashed and got a concussion or something. He wasn't too bad but not in a condition to drive. A few guys took care of everything for him, loaded up his bike and all his gear and one of them drove his truck and trailer back to his house. People are generally willing to help each other at the track. Out of the dozens of times I've been out to tracks, there was only one event that I went to (last summer) where I didn't know anyone there. At every other track I've been to, I've always known at least someone there more or less, even if I went by myself.

I've crashed twice so far and I drove myself back just fine. I crashed on the street once and had to be driven home by someone. That was a painful and shitty day...

Why don't you just take the wife with you? Then she'd be there to help out in that unfortunate event if it happens.
 
#9 ·
i just cant get the bike turned over more. on pilot road 4's.

i know my line is pretty off, but what is keeping me from gettin the damn bike to turn more? I have TONS of confidence in my back tire, but the front ( especially sharp left turns) just feels like it would slip right out on corner entry.

pointers?
What tire pressure are you running up front?
 
#15 ·
Those pressures should be fine. So that's probably not causing any of the issues. It's probably just speed correlating to how far you need to lean as mentioned by sbk1198 above.
 
#12 ·
quoting is a real pain via iphone, hence why I'm not doing it lol. How many guys wives go out for the day/weekend that don't ride themselves?

Not that she wouldn't, just doubling the expenses when i haven't even gotten myself out to a track yet just seems unlikely.
 
#13 · (Edited)
My wife won't get on my street ride.

Enjoy's going to the track and likes seeing me ride there.
She works in the hospital and was and EMT, reason for no street riding.
The track she can see the safety aspects and enjoy's the time with no phone.
Cost, isn't double except food. I'm paying for the hotel anyway.
Gas, her going doesn't increase that.
She's not riding on the track so worst case think I paid $5 for a spectator fee.
She is going to Gingerman with me and plan's on Mid-Ohio, Barber if she can get away from work.
 
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