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free rider
22/07/2005, 13:08
“Brake/Down Changing Gears like a Pro”



Keith Code © 2005



Barriers Open Doors

To make real improvement there must first exist a real barrier to overcome or a real result to achieve. These are always based on the rider’s own desires: to go faster; be more in control; have fewer panic situations; put it all together into a smooth flow or simply remove doubts and questions they have relating to those goals: when do the tires slide, how hard can I brake, how far can I lean the bike and so on. When you look at it you’ll see that there is very little difference, if any, between a riding barrier and a riding goal; they both have the same stumbling blocks. They both have an end result to achieve. They both have some fear or uncertainty or distraction attached to them. There is always a barrier.

The Braking & Downshifting Barrier

An example of a common barrier would be the complications that arise from the hurried and slightly frantic control operations that stem from not learning to smoothly and simultaneously brake and downshift for traffic lights, obstructions and, of course, corners.

Doesn’t sound like a life or death threatening situation but when inspected closely you see what impact it really has on a rider’s attention and how they are spending it.

Check it out, if the rider can’t do braking and downshifting, simultaneously and smoothly, they are forced into one or more of the following attention draining scenarios:

1. Slowly letting out the clutch to make the downshift smoothly. This requires attention to be spent and is the most common way uneducated riders handle it.

2. Having to change gears once the bike is stopped. When the bike is stopped even the best transmissions can be sticky. Gears change more easily and more positively when the bike is moving. It causes less wear on the gearbox to change the gears while you are moving.

3. Having to change the gears after the braking is completed for a turn. That means doing it in the curve. This is distracting and can upset the bike, to say nothing of the rider.

4. Alternately going from the brake to the gas to match revs for the downshifts. This has the bike pogoing at the front. It does not get the bike slowed down quickly in an efficient manner. This is very busy riding.

5. Downshift before braking. This is fine for very relaxed riding situations at slow speeds but is hazardous to the engine if the rider is in “spirited cornering” mode as it provides the opportunity to over-rev the motor and bypass the rev limiter that protects it. Could be very expensive. In an emergency situation you don’t have time to do this because you should be on the brakes right away. Not only that but some emergencies require you to brake and then get on the gas right away for accelerating hard to avoid things like cars running a light on you. In this case the rider would not have the time to get it done.

6. Forget it entirely and just go through the corner. This forces downshift(s) to be done at the corner’s exit thus losing the drive out and complicating the whole thing by having to make a gear change when they should be rolling on the throttle. This is distracting and not smooth.

Coordination and Concentration

It is true that if a rider was uncoordinated and attempts simultaneous braking and downshifting it could be dangerous. For example having the front brake on along with the power can make your front wheel lock up.

On our panic-stop training bike I have seen it many times: the rider aggressively squeezes the brake and unconsciously rolls the throttle on at the same time. It’s spooky to watch. So yes, practice and coordination are necessary, you will have to practice.

More importantly, you have to make a decision. Are the 6 potential distractions above likely to get you into trouble? They do break the rider’s concentration even if only slightly. In other words: if you aren’t a super hero at multitasking each of the 6 is a negative in comparison with braking and downshifting simultaneously.

In Control = In Communication

Continuous perception of your speed is how you control it. Accurate turn entry speed is critical to good, confident cornering. If you are worried about your speed, you are distracted by it. Finding the right turn entry speed (for you) is far easier when the braking and downshifting are happening in one continuous flow of change. When compared to one that is chopped up, incomplete or creates anxiety like having to shift in the turn, it’s obvious which scenario is better. Your Sense of Speed is a precious resource and is far more accurate when monitored as a steady stream with your awareness. Maintaining a continuous state of awareness of what the bike itself is doing is another of the true benefits of this technique. You always know where the engine speed is in relation to the road speed and that improves your feel for the bike. Your communication with the machine improves; no false signals or guess work; no waiting to know how the bike will respond in any of the above scenarios. You ability to maintain communication with the bike is important input.

Naming It

Simultaneous braking and downshifting. I’d like to shorten it to something like brake-down. Car guys call it heel and toe, which is a nice, short and simple way of saying they are simultaneously using the brake pedal with their toe and revving the motor with their heel. In some cars you just put the ball of your foot between the brake and gas pedals and rock your foot side to side to do it, it depends on the pedal arrangement. On a bike, provided the brake lever is comfortably adjusted to fit your hand, they are always in the same position for our maneuver. Alright, for now it is brake-down. It would be interesting to have a non rider hear about you executing a “breakdown” coming into a curve; sounds pretty dangerous. How about fist and fingers or palm and fingers? Whatever we call it, it works to simplify corner entries and puts the rider in command of and in communication with his machine to the highest possible degree.

The Sequence

1. Gas goes off.

2. Brake goes on.

3. Bike slows some.

4. Clutch comes in. Maintain brake lever pressure.

5. Blip the gas rapidly on and off. (Usually no more than a quarter turn). Maintain brake lever pressure.

6. During the blip make the gear change positively and quickly. Maintain brake lever pressure.

7. Clutch comes out. Maintain brake lever pressure until desired turn entry speed is achieved.

8. Release brake smoothly.

Bear this in mind: the quicker you do steps #1 through #7 the better.

Brake Lever Control

Expert use of the brake during this entire cycle means that you can maintain, increase or decrease the pressure as desired, without abruptly stabbing or releasing the brake lever.

Number of Fingers

Some riders let their finger(s) slide over the brake lever as they blip the gas. Others grab the brake lever with the tips of their finger(s) and still get a continuous lever pressure without the bike pogoing up and down. Whichever way you do it is fine. How many fingers you use for the brake is up to you: one, two, three or four, this is your choice although I recommend you try just two fingers, your index and middle ones.

What’s Important?

Braking is important, it is life and death on the street and vital on the track. Changing gears is not. You can still make it through the corner or get the bike stopped without ever touching the gears. But, riders do have the six above scenarios to contend with if they can’t do the fist/finger, down-brake, palm/finger, B&Ding technique.

Learning How

The fact that riders have a problem doing this technique led me to a solution. I’ve built a bike that trains it. We call it the Control Trainer. It takes you through the technique, step by step.

The trainer’s computer program talks you through the whole sequence and it points out your problems and how to correct them. The computer is hooked up on a static ZX9, you can’t ride it but you do get the coordination/muscle memory necessary to do it for real.

Each of the controls is monitored for: correct sequence; correct timing of the clutch and gear changes; correctly sized throttle blips and consistent brake pressure, throughout the whole process. With or without my Control Trainer, anyone can learn to do it. Start now.

με συγχωρείτε για τα αγγλικά αλλα πιστεύω οτι αξίζει το κείμενο...

free rider
22/07/2005, 13:18
Go Faster or Safer or Both
Adapted from Bike U.K© August 1997

"Speed": it does matter what your responsible self says, speed is the reason for biking and if you do not like speed (any kind of speed) you should stick to different sports. If, on the other hand, you want to use motorcycles not only as a transportation vehicle but also as a sporting/touring tool you must understand speed. A racer is safe at 180Kph on a circuit while extremely dangerous at 50 KpH in a village. Speed per se is not dangerous: speeding it is.

What makes speeding dangerous is the level of experience and the lack of training and self evaluation common to most riders. Testing speed riding without proper knowledge it is not only stupid but also criminal for all road users.

So, if you want to welcome speed as your partner, we need to learn the sporting use of motorcycle.

Speed should be our friend: the conclusion of the following article points out an important consideration: “ If you've done your homework (improving riding techniques) right, you'll be faster and smoother. More importantly, you'll have a bigger safety margin. You can ride at the same speed with less risk, or keep the risk the same and go faster. Whatever you do, remember you don't know it all - no one does. Treat every ride as a lesson, learn what you can and, when you find people faster or smoother than you, check their level of self-evaluation and, if good, pick their brains and their skills”

GO FASTER!

Sort your mind out. You will need this in top working order. Without it, you are just so many stone of bone, flab and sinew, careering hopeless towards a big accident. Every action you take is controlled by your mind. Think to yourself: what do I want to do? If the answer is "Go bloody fast regardless," then forget it. The right answer's something like, "Ride as fast as I can and still live to be 80". Tell yourself, aloud if necessary: "I am going to be aware of every single action I take on the bike". You will get some funny looks, but not so many as you will get lying in a ditch. Most top racers spend the pre-race period calming their mind of every distraction, concentrating on the start and the run-up to the first corner. No one wins championships on pure aggression.

Sort your body out. Ever had that tight, cramped sensation between your shoulder blades? Blamed it on the riding position'? It’s actually tension and if you are tens you cannot ride well. You cannot move about smoothly on the bike, and every action is slower, jerkier and harder. The trick is to start relaxed, then you have a chance of staying that way, and especially if your head is right and you are riding smoothly. So every few minutes when you are riding check if you are tensing up. If you get that knife between the shoulders, a stiff neck, or grinding teeth and locked jaws, back off, breathe deeply, hold a half-smile (try it!), and stay slower for at few miles while you work on getting smooth again. In the end you will go faster naturally.

Scan the horizon. If you look just in front of the front tire you will wobble around and react to things after they have happened. If you look as far ahead as you can see you will follow a smooth, accurate line, anticipating and dealing with whatever happens in advance. Think of main and dip beam at night: the closer your patch of vision is to the front of the bike, the harder it is to ride smoothly. So, make looking further ahead your mantra, from U-turns in the street to flat-out roads. You will notice the difference straight away. The first symptom of tiredness is gradually focusing closer to the front wheel. Learn to recognize this and deal with it. A short rest now is better than running yourself into the ground.

Take the wide view. Just looking miles ahead is never enough. You need some attention in reserve to check in all directions and keep you updated on anything likely to affect you. Think of it like radar in a low-flying plane. The pilot uses radar mainly to keep warned of things coming up ahead. Also wants to know about enemy and friendly aircraft, missiles, flocks of birds anything that might conceivably be a threat or help in the near future. On the road you'll be continually updating your mental reports on following traffic, side roads that could spill slow-moving cars into your path, road surface and feel, and a hundred other things. You'll quietly be keeping tabs on your bike, too: fuel level, revs, gear, it is all going on in the back of your mind, only coming to the front when an alarm goes off. That's it. Now get riding and see for yourself how much difference it makes just looking further ahead than usual, staying relaxed, and monitoring your whole environment.

Time for the serious practical stuff: dealing with trouble (and avoiding it in the first place).

Meet Your Brakes. Brakes are not on/off switches. They are capable of being used as subtly as your throttle. When most riders try going faster, there's a temptation to do it by braking later and harder. Often, the result is an unsettled bike going into a turn too fast, and the terrified conviction that there is no way you could go quicker. Which are, of course, cobblers. Think: "Do I need to brake at all?" We have been conditioned to brake, turn, go, but it should be stabilize speed, turn, and go. The crucial thing is to arrive at the turn-in point at the right speed - whether you have had to brake, accelerate or keep a steady speed.

Emergency Stops. Is a lottery unless they are second nature. Most people spot trouble, hit the anchors hard and pray. If they lock up, that is it - down they go. Not really good enough. Although the front tire does 75-90 per cent of braking, the front/rear balance of every bike is different, and changes with weather, pillions and road conditions. You are searching for the point just before lock-up. You can only get that from long practice and, whenever you try extreme braking, plunging your head into a state of concentration where you focus on nothing else.

Defensive Riding. Basically, assume everybody and everything is trying to maim you, and ride accordingly. Try to cultivate a state of mind where every accident would secretly be your fault for not seeing it coming. On a bike, there is no point being in the right if you have no legs.

“I Am Going To Die!” Two main emergencies that catch bikers out.


20088

free rider
22/07/2005, 13:18
· Nightmare 1: Into a comer too fast, or comer tightens unexpectedly. This is a major sin, but there you go. You want to brake, but you will either lock the front and crash, or sit up and plough straight on. Not good, especially on left-handers. Instead, lose what speed you can with the rear brake and take the only sensible choice you have: try to make the corner.

· Nightmare 2: Car pulls out, piano lands in road, etc., leaving .0002 of a second to deal with it. If this has happened before, why didn't you anticipate it this time (see defensive riding, above)? Were you going so fast the driver saw you but thought you were far away enough? Wake up! Got that? Fortunately, even this desperate situation has a possible way out.

· You Go Where You Look. Whether it is a car pulling out or a brick in the road, you seem to steer straight at it as if pulled by the USS Enterprise's tractor beam. It is partially because you are staring at what looks like inevitable disaster, and partially because it is impossible to steer anyway with the brakes on hard. So drag your eyes off the danger (and your hand off the brake, until you are sure you really want to commit yourself to stopping) and actively look for the gap.

Corners. It's what bikes are all about. You will need a Standard Corner that is a 90' bend, recently resurfaced, with plenty of visibility and no traffic. Get the fundamentals right here and you can apply them anywhere.

Corner Approach. Easy in theory. For a right-hander, you should be as far over to the left side of the road as possible and, for a left-hander, you should be as far over to the right. This gives you maximum forward vision as you approach the turn. In real life, left-handers usually restrict you to your side of the white lines and on right-handers, the left gutter is bumpy and full of rubbish, so already you're modifying theoretical perfection to cope with real life.

Flick The Bitch! You would be surprised how hard you can turn a bike. Ride in a straight line at 40mph and gently nudge the left bar away from you. Feel how the bike turns left. Now nudge the right bar. Now slalom. You have just discovered counter-steering. It's the way to fling a bike on its side where and when you want. Once you have the hang, build on it by trying the next stage - weighting the left footrest for lefts, and vice versa.

Entry, Apex, Exit. OK, so the corner is in your sights. It is a right-hander. So where do you start to turn? Tricky that, almost certainly later than you think. (Very few riders turn too late. Most turn too early, which means they run wide on the way out of the turn.) To work it out, you need to be aware of the three distinct parts that make up every single bend in the world Entry, Apex and Exit.

To find out where to turn, you have to know where you want to end up on the far side of the comer. For our Standard 90' right-hander, that's back over on the right hand side of the road on the Exit, ready to drive down the following straight. Draw a curve back from your chosen Exit point just touching the inside of the corner on the right - that's the Apex of your turn. Continue the line back to intersect your approach. Where the two join is your turn-in point - the Entry. Putting that into practice is easier than it sounds if you have done your homework. Remember "You Go Where You Look"? Here is where it really earns its keep. Practice again and again and again. Try different lines on your approach, and get a feel for how to interpret what you are looking at. If it does not gel immediately, park up and do it on foot - the principle is the same. Once you really have the hang of this, you have the basic knowledge to tackle any corner, anywhere in the world. Refinement comes later, but for now keep practicing until it gets dark. Exit, Apex, Entry. Exit, Apex, Entry…

Now we will adapt the standard approach to different types of corner. We will also learn how to decide what type of corner it is before we get there. First, here is another tip to help keep you shiny side up.

In slow, out fast. Do you frequently enter bends slightly too fast, just about get through on a completely closed throttle, run wide on the exit, then convince yourself you were on the limit? You can go faster but first you have to slow down and learn to work the back tire, not the front. The idea is to spend as little time as possible on a neutral or closed throttle, to drive through the corner. Once you get the hang you will find you can use lots of throttle mid-corner, so long as you use it smoothly. And, diesel-slicks excepted, if you are on the power you will never lose the front. Which is good because front-end slides are usually terminal, and rear ones (if they happen at all) often aren't.
Reading the road. You cannot be a fast, safe road rider unless can read the road, any more than you can be a top musician without being able to read music. It means taking every scrap of information from your environment, and processing it in terms of two main questions: What is going on? There is obvious stuff, like the car that might have seen you, jaywalking pedestrians, and lurking cops. You should spot these half asleep. However, get subtle. Horse shit in the road? Expect cars on your side as they overtake nervous equines. Farm nearby? Bound to be slow moving tractors and caked mud on blind bends. Lots of trees and shadow? Watch for slow drying patches after rain, and slippery leaves. Lorry crawling ups the hill towards you? Cue suicidal overtaking cars. Petrol station on a roundabout? Bet on a slick of spilt fuel. You get the picture: every piece of evidence has to be sifted, weighed and acted upon or discarded. As someone famous said the price of peace is eternal vigilance. He didn't add that the price of not looking is a big insurance claim. Where does the road go? Do not ignore the obvious.

TEN MAGIC TIPS



1. Use the vanishing point

2. Counter-steer

3. Practice heavy braking every ride

4. Exit, Apex, Entry

5. In slow, out fast

6. Look ahead, process ahead

7. Read the road

8. Relax, be aware

9. You go where you look

10. Never stop trying to be smoother

Use road signs and markings that tell you what is coming up. But remember that there is plenty of flat out corners festooned with warnings, and doggy hairpins with no signs at all. The trick is not to rely too heavily on any one clue. Wait for extra evidence and, if it does not appear assume the worst. If you're prepared for a hairpin and it turns out to be a fast sweeper that's ok. The other way around hurts. If you look far enough ahead, roadside telegraph poles or trees point to the road's likely direction, but this is just circumstantial evidence. There are plenty of straight-on telegraph lines where the road turns a corner. This is where a trick of the trade can bail you out. It's called Vanishing Point and it is the point where the right and left sides of the road appear to meat. If that point gets closer to you back off: the bend is about to tighten up. If the point is staying the same distance away, the bend continues as it is. And if the point is running away from you chase it: the bend it is opening out and it is safe to get back on the gas.

Riding in the rain. "Rain - I hear you cry - we thought this vas supposed to be fun". It is, honest. Vet riding really tests how much you have absorbed the doctrine of smoothness and relaxation. If you ride tense, the wet will make you tenser, so you'll be afraid to touch the throttle and brakes, so you'll ride more jerkily so you'll become less happy, so you'll get more tense and so the cycle continues. If you are smooth you'll find of grip, brake nearly as hard as in the dry and grin like a loon.

Get Your Knee Down. First, it's got nothing to do with lean angle and little to do with speed. In fact, with two bikes at the same speed, the guy with his knee down will be leant over less and stressing his tires less. So is knee-down the badge of the responsible motorcyclist?

Not really. It's a fashion-dictated craze with no practical application for the road rider beyond being an incredible buzz. So here goes. Find a quiet, 60 80 km per hours, diesel-free roundabout. Ride it a few times as normal, getting a feel for a line and speed you're happy with. Next, slide your bum across the seat as you approach the corner so at least one cheek is right off the inside. Point your knee at the ground, then turn in. Don't shift weight and turn at the same time. The tip is to hang off as far as is safely possible so that - skrrrsll! - your knee goes down early. Then you can gradually refine your style for more comfort or more lean. Do not think that because your knee is down you cannot lean over any more - use it as a sensor, lightly skimming rather than digging in.

Easy, isn't it? That's it. If you've done your homework, right, you'll be faster and smoother. Your mates should see the difference because they will be chasing you. More importantly, you'll have a bigger safety margin. You can ride at the same speed with less risk, or keep the risk the same and go faster. Up to vote. Whatever you do, remember you don't know it all - no one does. Treat every ride as a lesson, learn what you can and, when you find people faster or smoother than you do, pick their brains. The ultimate compliment is when people start to do it to you.

free rider
22/07/2005, 13:20
The Vanishing Point

Cam Penner © 2001


Overall Safety Principle

· Observe where the center of the road appears to meet the right edge of the road (left edge for countries with traffic on the left) A long way away on a long, flat straight road, but a constantly changing point on most curves.

· Never ride faster than you can stop in that distance. Never ride faster than you can see, identify and avoid all obstacles within that area.



1) Constant radius corner: As you approach the corner from the long straight you are on, the Vanishing Point (VP) is essentially at the corner entrance (since you can't see around it), you slow down as you get closer to it, and it doesn't move. As you get close, you can start to see around the corner, and the VP starts to move away from you. Adjust your speed so you are neither gaining on it, nor losing on it. As you go through the corner, the VP will be the same distance from you. As you start to straighten out at the end, the VP will accelerate away from you, allowing you to do the same. The VP picks the point of acceleration, so you don't end up accelerating too early.



2) Increasing radius corner: As you approach the corner from the long straight you are on, the Vanishing Point (VP) is essentially at the corner entrance, you slow down as you get closer to it, and it doesn't move. As you get close, you can start to see around the corner, and the VP moves away from you. You adjust your speed accordingly. As you are in the corner, and the corner widens up, the VP starts to accelerate away from you. In the absence of road hazards, you can accelerate after it. As you start to straighten out at the end, the VP will further accelerate away from you, allowing you to do the same.

3) Decreasing radius corner: As you approach the corner from the long straight you are on, the Vanishing Point (VP) is essentially at the corner entrance, you slow down as you get closer to it, and it doesn't move. As you get close, you can start to see around the corner, and the VP moves away from you. You adjust your speed accordingly. As you are in the corner, and the corner tightens up, the VP starts to decelerate towards from you. You slow down too. Remember, if you can't stop within what you see, you're asking for trouble. As the corner finishes, and you start to straighten out at the end, the VP will accelerate away from you, allowing you to do the same.



This method allows you to deal with unknown varying radius corners with a minimal amount of fuss and hassle. A decreasing radius corner will never sneak up on you, since you've been continually adjusting your speed through it. The beauty of it is that it automatically adjusts for hedges, parked cars, and other vision blockers. If you can't see the curb because a car is there, the VP will slow down, and so will you. It also dictates a different line through some corners.



In order to go the fastest SAFELY through the corner you need to stay within your VP. So, the fastest way through the corner then, is to maximize the VP. This often means a different line than a traditional "racing line". You DO need the skill of braking and accelerating while leaned over though. You need to at LEAST be able to brake as fast as the corner decreases. Practice this on a controlled area before riding to 100% of the VP on unfamiliar roads.



It is sometimes argued that available traction is reduced in a turn, and that slowing in a turn may cause a front-wheel slide as the wheel loading changes.



Keep in mind that at all times, using this technique, you are traveling slowly enough that you can stop in a space you can see. If your braking technique in turns is such that a skid is likely, you need to reduce speed earlier, to eliminate this hazard.



This is not the technique for maintaining the highest speed; this is the technique for maintaining the highest safe speed.



This method will protect you against visible stationary hazards in the road, by assuring that you always have the ability to stop before you reach the hazard.



If you choose to ride at a speed so high that you can't stop between where you are and the point at which you can no longer identify a hazard, you have only yourself to blame if you suddenly find yourself trying to ride your bike through a pile of boulders or off a cliff or over an oil spill.



Obviously if there is some fine loose gravel visually indistinguishable from the pavement, this approach will give you no additional protection. Oncoming vehicles may intrude into your path at higher speeds than you can respond to, and, of course, risks from hazards overtaking you from behind are not addressed. Be careful out there.

free rider
22/07/2005, 13:22
Games for grown-ups.

Cooper Bike Training © 2003



Playing games isn't just for children.

Setting aside the "Football, more important than life or death" theory, there are a number of games you can play to help improve your riding.

Pick and choose from the list below. You will find that some of the games build on earlier exercises, so there are benefits to working through in order.

You may also find it helps to print this out and carry it with you for roadside reference, although there are 'armchair' exercises to do in the comfort of your home!



Drive Yourself around the Bend

One of the easiest ways to improve your cornering is to 'drive' the bike around each corner.

There are two elements to this:

1. You need to finish all braking or gear-changing while the bike is still upright and traveling in a straight line;

2. Opening the throttle as you lean into the corner (remember that cornering with the throttle closed is effectively braking around the bend).



Using these two points means that you brake while the bike is most stable, and corner with the throttle open, which gives good weight distribution (taking weight off the front so it's less likely to slide) and can increase your ground clearance.

To achieve both 1 & 2 you may find that you have to brake earlier and more firmly than usual. Whether or not you are comfortable with opening the throttle is one way of judging the accuracy of your choice of speed for the corner.



Where in the World?

If you've recently taken a test-level course, then you will probably have been encouraged to ride about a meter out from the kerb, or in the centre of your line. Real-world riding suggests that moving across the lane width can have significant benefits - but also serious risks.

Enter two mantras: 1. Safety - View – Advantage. 2. Safety - Stability - View



It doesn't particularly matter which you use, as long as you understand what you can gain from each.

Safety. Children are warned: "Run away from danger". For you, a grown-up, thinking rider, this means keeping as far away from danger as reasonably possible, e.g. if there's a car in the junction to your left, move across to the right of your lane. If there are two hazards (add an oncoming car to the example above) then separate them either in time, i.e. change your speed so that you only encounter one at a time, or distance, i.e. go equidistant between them.

Stability. Choosing the best surface to ride on, i.e. good tarmac rather than oil, gravel, horse . . . dust, or sunken drain covers.

View. See and be seen. One classic example of this is following HGVs, several of which now sport warning signs: "If you can't see my mirrors, I can't see you". Try to make eye contact with other road users; if the driver at the junction mentioned above can't see you, it's far more likely that he will pull out! A more extreme example of 'View' is positioning for corners, which is really beyond the scope of this 'game'.

Advantage. Again, this is slightly more involved, but one example is adapting your following position to overtake when leaving a bend, using the advantages of an earlier view and the bike's superior acceleration.

So, let's use the second version: Safety - Stability - View. Ask yourself how you chose the position in the lane width you're riding in. Then 'project ahead' and choose - or plan - where you want to be, rather than deciding when you get there - by which time it's really too late to decide that you really ought to be somewhere else!



Mark My Words

Councils often go to great lengths to help road users, by erecting signs, placing 'cat's eyes' and painting markings on the road. Unfortunately, those same road markings may not give quite as much grip as good tarmac. This game involves accuracy in your riding, as well as forward planning. Building on 'Where in the World', start to really choose the exact place on the road for you. If you're riding towards a hazard for which the council has painted 'SLOW' on the road, ride between the painted letters rather than over them. After all, if you're braking you may need the best grip available. Of course, to avoid these markings you will have to read them . . . and ponder on why exactly the council have bothered to paint 'SLOW' on the road. Don't get so engrossed in the game that you forget to watch what's happening in front.



Keep Out Of Line

As a variation on 'Mark My Words', when changing lanes try to avoid line markings or 'cat's eyes'.

P.S. With both these exercises, don't get so fixated on the road surface that you ignore everything else happening around you!



No Brakes?

When you've got 'Drive Yourself around the Bend' off to a fine art, build in an additional element of good forward planning. Try to identify hazards (actual or potential danger) earlier so that you don't need to brake, just close the throttle, then arrive at the corner at the correct speed and ready to open the throttle. As before: use the brakes if you have to, remember that 'engine braking' means using the engine to slow you - not the gearbox, only change down when the revs have dropped, then use the throttle to match the revs with your road speed.



Pick a Gear, Any Gear

Keeping your speed constant, change up and down the gearbox. By careful choice of revs, and care with the clutch, you should be able to make your changes without any noticeable change of speed. This exercise is good for extending the life of your chain, sprockets and clutch. It will also improve the journey for your pillion passenger.



Ink Bottle

Building on the smoothness of 'Pick a Gear', imagine that there's a bottle of ink on your pillion seat - without a lid (and that's not 'without a helmet'). Try to ride smoothly, so that the ink won't get spilt. Gentle acceleration, smooth gear-changes, ease the brakes on and off, come to a halt carefully. Again, this will also improve the journey for your pillion passenger.



Funky Chicken

Tension in your shoulders while riding a motorcycle will initially cause discomfort, then pain. Worse still, it will adversely affect your riding as you will not be allowing the 'bars to move when the bike wants to balance itself. Another potential problem is that if your shoulders are tense you are far less likely to steer easily, and you will tend to feel that you are 'fighting' to get the bike to go where you want it to be. Unfortunately, you can't stop tension happening, or just make yourself relax.

So, you need to watch for the signs of tension - a 'death-grip' on the bars or straight arms and tense, raised, shoulders, for example - then tense even more and release. If in doubt, do the 'chicken' to check: your arms should be 'loose' enough that you can 'flap' your arms!

Although the easiest way to explain counter-steering is as a 'push' on the bars in the direction you want to turn, it's often better if you can keep that arm relaxed and pull back on the other bar. When cornering, try to keep your arms relaxed, particularly the arm on the side you are turning to, the 'inside' of the turn. It may help if you lean slightly forwards as you start your turn. Depending on your bike, you may be able to sit slightly further forward, which will also help to avoid the 'straight-arm syndrome'.

One instructor I've met calls this sort of thing 'Zen motorcycling'.

Another well-known instructor will chant "Relax, relax, relax . . . " through your earpiece, in a soothing voice!

Remember the American expression 'Loose as a goose'. Are you uptight, chicken, Zen or goose? Keep a check while riding! All Together Now: 'Drive', 'No Brakes' & 'Funky Chicken'! So: at the start of the turn, turn your head and look where you want to go. Press - or pull back - on the bars, and roll the throttle open, all the time keeping 'loose'.

free rider
22/07/2005, 13:22
Time to Spare?

Here's the one for a quiet few moments at home: You will require a comfy seat, a watch, and a good memory. Think of one of your 'best' roads, the one you regularly use for a 'clear the cobwebs' ride. You're going to ride a few miles of that road from the comfort of your armchair! So sit down, check the time, close your eyes and imagine riding down that road . . . . . . and when you get to the other end, check the time again. Did it take as long to imagine the route as it would to ride it? If not, what have you missed? Go back and 'ride' through it again, this time in detail and in 'real time': think of each gear-change, braking point or throttle movement, every change in the road surface, every side turning, change in camber, bend & twist, any pub, shop, school or house entrance, all signposts, road markings or diesel spill. The armchair ride should take at least as long as the real ride - if it doesn't, where are the 'blanks', the sections of road where you've not noticed the details? Next time you ride for real, slow down and fill in the gaps, seeing the detail is the key to good observation. Then ask yourself "How could that affect me?"



What If?

This game has been around for many years, but is about to become well known as a result of a recent pair DSA videos (one for car drivers, the other for motorcyclists). It's a variation on the Roadcraft 'Observation Links', and involves asking yourself one question, many, many times. Whatever you see, ask yourself "What if . . . ?" For example, as you approach a blind corner, and are about to try and get your knee down, ask "What if there's a broken down car around the corner?" and choose your corner entry speed accordingly.



Another variation is: How can that . . . ?

As in "How can that affect me?" Try to be as imaginative as possible. Could a low flying aircraft have any effect on you? Probably not, but if you've noticed it then other drivers may have done too. Are they still looking at it? Is it taking their concentration away from you? So ask "How can that affect me?



Follow My Leader

One of the key points of 'Roadcraft' is that you should always have "Time to react". And one of the easiest ways to loose your reaction time is following too closely behind the vehicle in front: it's easily done - you're eager to get on, so gradually close-up, losing the gap and reaction time. Use the 'two second rule'. The basic principle is to watch the vehicle in front pass a particular point - for example, a drain cover - then count the seconds.

There's a couple of easy options: or the old TV advert favorite: "Only a fool breaks the two second rule." If you pass the same marker before you've finished counting - and be honest, don't say "One thousand, one, twothousandtwo" so as to finish in time - then you're following too closely. Improving your riding is often about honesty, responsibility and self-discipline: if there's something you know you ought to be doing, then it's up to you to do it. No-one else is to blame if you get caught out.



Talk To Yourself

Personally, I find that talking to myself is one of the best ways of getting a sensible reply. However, this variation is from typical car 'advanced' training, where the driver gives a commentary, demonstrating to the instructor how far ahead they're looking, what at, and how they intend to react to it. Look as far ahead as you can - remember that 'Time to react', and talk - or yell - out to yourself what you can see and ("What If?" & "How Can That?") how you intend to react to it. At first you may find that by the time you actually talk about something you're already passing it, but with practice - and looking as far into the distance as you can - this should improve.



Spot the Difference

If you've taken any type of rider training, or driver improvement course, you will probably have been told 'Improve your observation'. Well that's easy, isn't it? Here's one way of 're-training your eyes'. Most of the time you 'see' things, particularly detail, with just the very centre of your field of vision. Around the edge, your peripheral vision is very good for spotting movement. Are you aware of how much you can 'see' around the edge? Sit comfortably, then look at a mark or point on the wall opposite. You will notice that most of what you see in detail is in a very small area. Without looking away from that point - although you are allowed to blink! - gradually be aware of everything around that point, and move your concentration further out. When riding, use that peripheral vision to attract your attention to objects that are away from your main 'view'. But remember: where you look is where you go, so if you look at a hazard for too long you'll steer towards it! Look for an escape route instead.

free rider
22/07/2005, 13:23
Five Ideas For Better Riding

Hans Heinz Dilthey © 2000



1. Ride relaxed

· Try the smile test and tongue between your teeth





2. Realistic self evaluation

· Strive for a realistic self evaluation of your own riding style.

· Ride within your limits





3. Separate direction of your bike and your vision

· Raise your head and look well ahead.

· Don‘t allow the vision to drop just in front of the front wheel

· Look to where you want the bike to go





4. Mental training

· Prepare yourself mentally for all kinds of difficult riding situations





5. Make the right kind of rest at the right time

· Your body is like the battery of your bike. If it is almost discharged, it takes a long time to get back full performance

free rider
22/07/2005, 13:24
Technical notes on countersteering.

James R. Davis © The Master Strategy Group 1992



Counter steering: what is it, really? How does it work? Why does it work?

At very slow speeds, we steer a motorcycle by turning the handlebar in the direction we wish to go. We can only do that at speeds of less than about 10 kilometers per hour. At any higher speed, we do the exact opposite, whether we realize it or not.

For example, assuming we want to turn to the right, we actually try to turn the handlebar left. This results in the front wheel leaning to the right and, because of the lean of the wheel, a turn to the right.



This is counter steering. Why is it that we don’t get confused regardless of our speed? Because we have learned that steering a motorcycle is an effortless chore. That attempt to turn the handlebar to the left feels like we are pushing the right grip rather than pulling on the left one. It feels like that because the harder we push it, the more the motorcycle turns to the right and, thus, it feels like the right grip is pushing back at you that much harder.



In other words, we quickly learn to associate counter steering feedback with the hand closest to the direction in which we wish to turn. (Push right go right… push left go left)

Further, even a little bit of experience shows that counter steering is essentially effortless while trying to turn the handlebar in the direction you want to go is virtually impossible.

It takes only a modest familiarity with a gyroscope to understand counter-steering - at least to understand how most people believe it starts to work.



The phenomenon is called Gyroscopic Precession. This is what happens when a lateral force is applied to the axis of a spinning gyroscope. The spinning gyroscope translates the force vector ninety degrees off the direction of spin.



Thus, if we try to turn our front wheel to the left, the force we use appears as a lateral force forward against the axle on the right side and this is translated into a force that try to lean the wheel to the right. Similarly, trying to turn the wheel to the right results in the wheel trying to lean to the left.



However, gyroscopic precession is not a necessary component of counter steering. No matter how slight, if your front wheel deviates from a straight path your motorcycle will begin to lean in the opposite direction.

It is entirely accurate to assume that even without gyroscopic precession, the act of steering the front wheel out from under the bike would start counter steering in the opposite direction. This is a result of steering geometry - rake.



You can observe it at a complete stop. Just turn your handlebars in one direction and you will see that your bike leans in the opposite direction as a result.

In the case of a motorcycle, your handlebar input is immediately translated by gyroscopic precession into a lean in the opposite direction. Since your front wheel is attached to the bike’s frame, the body of the bike also attempts to lean.

It is the lean of the bike that overwhelms the handlebar effort and drags the front wheel over with it - gyroscopic precession merely starts the process and soon becomes inconsequential in the outcome.

If, for example, you had a ski rather than a front wheel, the front would actually begin to turn in the direction of handlebar input (just like it does with a wheel instead of a ski) and body lean in the opposite direction would then overwhelm that ski making counter steering still effective.



The only way to turn a motorcycle that is moving faster than you can walk is by leaning it.



So far all we have talked about is the directional change of the front wheel along with the simultaneous lean of the bike, both in the opposite direction signaled by handlebar input. What happens after this?

If you were to let the handlebars go and provide no steering information whatever, after some wildly exciting swings from side to side your motorcycle would ‘find’ a straight course to travel in and would stabilize itself on that course, straight up. Modern motorcycles have a self-correcting design built into it - known as its Steering Geometry - which causes it to automatically compensate for all forms of leaning and speed changes. The bike will always try to stand straight up, going in a straight line, whit or without rider - until it is traveling so slowly that it will fall down.



In a typical motorcycle front end, the handlebars are connected to the steering column and this one (actually called the ‘steering stem’) connects to what is known as the triple-tree. This is where both forks are tied, along with the steering stem, to the frame of the bike.



You will notice that the triple-tree extends towards the front and, as a result, the forks are offset some distance forward from the steering stem. This distance is known as the offset. Also, notice that the forks are not pointing straight down from the triple-tree, but are instead at an angle. This angle is known as the rake. (Most rake angles are approximately 30 degrees.)

free rider
22/07/2005, 13:25
What the rake does for you is profoundly important. For one thing, it causes any lean of the wheel to be translated into a turn of the wheel towards that lean. For another, it slows your steering. That is, if you turn your handlebar 20 degrees at slow speed your course will change something less than 20 degrees. (At higher speeds, you never would turn your handlebar 20 degrees - the front wheel is always pointing virtually straight ahead.)



The fact that your wheel is on a rake results in the consumption of part of your steering input into a displacement of the contact patch of the wheel. (This is why steering is ‘slower’ - and the greater the rake, the slower it is. Note that ‘slow steering’ is not the same as ‘under steer’.)



The more extreme the rake angle, and the shorter the offset, the longer the trail is. Some motorcycles will have the hub of the front wheel above or below the forks rather than directly in the middle of them. In effect, these placements are designed to reduce or increase the effect of the offset in order to increase or reduce trail. The stability of your motorcycle at speed is a function of how long its trail is. However, have you ever noticed that the front wheel on bikes that have excessive rakes (and therefore long trail) have a tendency to flop over (at low speeds) when they are not aligned perfectly straight ahead? This is the phenomenon that explains just one of the reasons why your wheel actually turns in the direction you want to go after it begins to lean in that direction.



Any lean whatever of the wheel, because gravity tries to lower the front-end, receives an assist from gravity in its efforts to move the contact patch forward along the trail.



However, there is another, more powerful, reason that the lean is translated into a turn - Camber Thrust. Unlike automobile tires, your motorcycle rides on tires that are rounded instead of flat from side to side. When you are riding vertically your contact patch is right in the middle of the tire, at its farthest point from the hub of the wheel.



When you are leaning, you are riding on a part of the tire that is closer to the hub of the wheel. The farthest parts of the tire from the hub of the wheel are turning faster than any part closer to that hub. Thus, when you are leaning the outside edge of the contact patch is moving faster than is the inside edge. Thus, both the rake geometry and camber thrust conspire to cause a leaning front wheel to become a turn in the direction of the lean. Then, of course, the motorcycle body follows the wheel and it, too, leans in the direction of the turn.



With all of these forces conspiring to cause the wheel to lean and then turn in the direction you want to go, why the wheel does not stop every time a little counter steer is used? Why a motorcycle without pilot automatically rights itself? The answer to both of those questions is centrifugal force and, again, rake geometry. For any given speed and lean combination there is only one diameter of a circle that can be maintained. This is a natural balance point at which gravity is trying to pull the bike down and centrifugal force is trying to stand it up, both with equal results.



If the speed is increased without a corresponding decrease in the diameter of the turn being made, centrifugal force will try to stand the bike more vertically - i.e. decreases the lean angle. This, in turn, decreases the camber thrust and the bike will, of its own accord, increase the diameter of the turn being made. If the speed had been held constant but the bike attempts to shorten the diameter of the turn beyond that natural balance point then centrifugal forces are greater than gravity and it stands taller, again lengthening the diameter of the turn as described earlier. Once your bike is stable in a curve (constant speed and constant lean) then it will stay that way until it receives some steering input.



As soon as any form of steering input occurs the stability of the bike is diminished.

Momentum, camber forces and rake geometry will then engage in mortal combat with each other which will, eventually, cause the motorcycle to find a way to straighten itself out. That momentum will try to keep the motorcycle going in a straight line is obvious, but it also works with traction in an interesting way. That is, because the front tire contact patch has traction the momentum of the entire motorcycle is applied to the task of trying to ‘scrub’ the rubber off that tire.



If the body of the motorcycle is aligned with the front tire (only possible if traveling in a straight line) then there is essentially no ‘scrubbing’ going on. But if the bike is not in perfect alignment with the front tire, then momentum will try to straighten the wheel by pushing against the edge of that contact patch which is on the outside of the curve.

free rider
22/07/2005, 13:26
Braking in a curve … of course you can!

James R. Davis ©The Master Strategy Group



You should establish your entry speed before you enter the curve.

That is, you have to eliminate all excess approach speed, with braking if necessary, while still traveling in a straight line and while the bike is vertical. You should ‘set’ your suspension before you enter the curve. That is, you should not have to deal with a changing center of gravity that results from weight shifts generated by changes of acceleration or braking while in a curve. You should have already established your entry speed at this point so your springs/shocks are resting at normal riding positions. But because you want maximum control of your bike through the turn, you want your front tire to be able to handle modest bumps and surface distortions without destabilizing your bike so you want to shift some weight to the rear tire. That increases rear tire traction, loads the rear shocks/springs somewhat more than the front, and increases over steer. Moreover, you want that attitude all the way through the curve so you maintain a modest acceleration all the way through it. All of which sounds like you should accelerate all the way through a curve.



However, not if you are on a decline.

To begin with, you know that you must lean the bike in order to make a turn. That the faster you go through a given turn, the greater the lean that must be used. Clearly, you can accelerate to a speed that is beyond your ability to negotiate a turn.

Thus, if you modestly accelerate all the way through a turn it must be that you established a low enough entry speed to allow it, and that you did not use excessive acceleration through the turn. Next, by virtue of being on a decline, you will accelerate without any throttle at all. If the rate of acceleration is high enough, there is no safe entry speed that would allow you to complete the turn safely (without some braking.) Because you are on a decline, there is already more weight on the front tire than you can safely shift to the rear via acceleration to give you the handling stability that is sought from acceleration without exceeding your ability to negotiate the turn. Finally, because you are in a turn you are, by definition, already accelerating! (Delta V - any change in velocity is acceleration - even if you are slowing down) Your shocks receive increased loading just because you are in a curve - from centrifugal force.

If you are on a decline while in a curve, you should not use your throttle to accelerate. Instead, you should use your brakes and/or engine braking either to maintain your entry speed or to allow only modest increases of speed. At the same time, you should have moved back as far as possible in your seat to shift weight to the rear tire.



… If you use yours brakes while in a curve to stop you should gradually straighten the bike up as speed decreases and gradually increase brake pressure until the bike is vertical. That remains completely true. If you are not slowing but merely maintaining your speed, then there is no straightening of the bike required



…Of course you can use your brakes in a curve. Brakes are not used merely to stop your bike, they are used to offset acceleration (i.e., to either slow the bike or to prevent it from accelerating as fast as it otherwise would go from gravity assist.)



Finally, if the decline/curve is long enough you should rely heavily on engine braking rather than just your brakes in order to keep your brakes functional (not overheated) should you need them.

free rider
22/07/2005, 13:27
Elbows: Biological Shock Absorbers

James R. Davis ©The Master Strategy Group)



In addition to the shock absorbers you are already familiar with (front wheel, rear wheel and steering damper) there are two more that are very important to you as a motorcycle rider: your elbows. In order to allow these shock absorbers to work you must not lock them.



That is, you must drop your elbows while you ride. By dropping them, you accomplish the following:

1- remove pressure from the wrists and allow a longer more comfortable ride

2- stop the transfer of front-end instability to the rest of the bike

3- minimize the transfer of load to the front-end during hard braking (leaves it lower and farther to the back of the bike)



If you ride a motorcycle which requires that you lean forward over your tank, you already know that a long ride numbs your wrists and causes your forearms to ache. You know that you must lean even farther forward in order to unlock your elbows when you are about to take a bump with the bike.

Touring riders sit on their saddles in a generally erect posture, often with a backrest that they lean into while riding. If that backrest is too far back, they will be forced to ride with their elbows essentially locked in order to reach their grips. If so, they will suffer the same numbness and aches after a long ride - it is not the posture so much as the stiff elbows.



If you have ever had your front-end wobble on you after hitting something in the road, or if that front-end is generally unstable (weak or badly adjusted steering damper), or if you have ever ridden over ‘rain grooves’, you know that if your elbows were locked you transmitted the instability of the front-end to the rest of your bike and made the entire motorcycle unstable.



Drooped elbows absorb all of that instability and leave you in more control of your motorcycle.



You also know that braking causes a load transfer towards the front wheel.

With the phenomenally powerful brakes we have today coupled with the newer tire rubber compounds, it is now possible for many bikes to literally raise their rear wheel off the ground in a panic stop. This is called doing a “stoppie”.

Drooped elbows will almost certainly prevent a “stoppie” from happening. Assume that your elbows are locked solid and that your upper body is held in place relative to the handlebars when you apply the brakes. The momentum of your body transfers load to the front wheel during the panic stop. Your body, because of the locked elbows, does not move forward (relative to the rest of the bike) at all. On the other hand, if your elbows are drooped, your upper body moves forward (bending at the waist and elbows) during the stop. Any such displacement of your body ‘absorbs’ the load transfer and keeps it local - the front wheel does not get immediately loaded (with a shifting of your upper body weight) as a result.



Rather than exaggerating a panic stop and dramatically compressing your front springs, your drooped elbows allow a smaller part of your upper body momentum to be ‘felt’ in the front-end gradually. For the purist, the way you determine weight transfer is to calculate the ratio of the height of your Center of Gravity (CG) to your wheel base and multiply that by your braking force. Because your CG lowers when you lean forward, there is less weight transfer at any given deceleration rate.

free rider
22/07/2005, 15:18
χρήστο

εντελως φιλικά....

θα εχεις παρατηρήσει οτι το σπαμινγκ που κανω πια το προσέχω που και σε ποιούς το κανω..
και ειδικά σε ποιά ποστ...
σιγα σιγα αλλάζει και η δική μου λογική και προσπαθω να σέβομαι κάποια τοπικ...

το πρωι πχ. πετάχτηκε ο ντινιτισσ και σπαμάρησε το zz1100 τοπικ..

που κατ εμέ δεν ειναι οτι σας τα πρήζω για το αν θα πάρω ή οχι αλλά για το αν αξίζουν κάποιες μηχανές ή οχι αν ειναι καλό να μιλάμε για να βοηθάμε και να συμβάλουμε στην διαμόρφωση της αγοράς...

αυτα απο τον king of spaming....

:sad: :sad:

θα προτιμούσα βέβαια αντι να γράφουμε αυτα να συζητούσαμε για
το πόσο θα μπορούσαν να βοηθησουν κάποιον ...
τα

TEN MAGIC TIPS



1. Use the vanishing point

2. Counter-steer

3. Practice heavy braking every ride

4. Exit, Apex, Entry

5. In slow, out fast

6. Look ahead, process ahead

7. Read the road

8. Relax, be aware

9. You go where you look

10. Never stop trying to be smoother


και ειδικά το 9...


φιλικά πάντα...
free

free rider
22/07/2005, 15:46
Αρχικά δημιουργήθηκε από ancogsxr
4803 (14.56 posts per day)

Ουυυ ρε........

ρε σειςςςς τι εχετε πάθει σήμερα???

:confused: :confused: :confused:

λοιπόν...

εχω σχεδόν 290 σελίδες σε word
με τέτοια άρθα ...
μη με κάνετε να τα ποστάρω ολα...
:evil: :evil: :evil:

zireous
17/09/2006, 19:37
:a27:
Ωραία άρθρα, καλή επιλογή, σπάμαρε κι άλλο.:cool: