a twist of the wrist vol 2-keith code

8/6/2019 A Twist of the Wrist Vol 2-Keith Code

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This s also how you get yourshort-track or TT bike turned.You set up your short-trackbike with a long, low footpegso you can use it to turn thebike easier.

The additional trength omes rom he act hat you can now usemore f the orso* muscles o help push or pullon he bars. Using ny ofthe other ivot oints educes he number f muscles ou can bring ntoplay.Not hat you need hem all o do he ob-using more muscles ustmakes t easier. Any ime you steer, t forces a twistingmotion hrough heentire orso.Usingmore f the orso's muscle roupsmeans t wists essand s herefore more table tructure.

Push- l t -Under Solu t ion

So what about he push-it-under-you roblem? ivot steerlngsolves t. When pushing ff rom he outside eg , you rather utomaticallygo with he bike.Pivot teering nswers he reason ehind ush-it-under-steering s well . n he push-it-undercenario, he rider imply idn't havea stable pivot point and was attemptingo use his own bodymass orstabil i ty. teering he bike n his ashion s ike rying o push omethingaway rom ou while n he water: ouhave no pivot oint, o you move

away rom he object smuchas making t moveaway rom ou;which s

a great escription fthe push-it-under tyle. he push-it-under tyle lsomakes iders isibly ense-up ifferent uscles n an attempt o becomemore table, nd heyget more ired as a result . o you see his?

Steering dvantages

Even f you have ourknees irmly lamped n he ank, our egspressed ightlyo the side-panels, ourgut and orearms n he ank, ourbutt up against he seat-back nd seat base, both eet solidly n the pegsand a death ripon he bars, ou can't get nearly he stabil i ty r he power

of using nly he outside eg and pivot teering. ivot teering uts ou ncomplete armony ithmachine esign nd dynamics nd adds a stabil i tyto steering ou never ad before. ake ome imeworkinghisout: tseems a little trange t first.

Note: Choppers nd cruisers, r any other motorcycles ithfootpegs ocated ar orward f the seat, willnot espond o this steeringtechnique. he peg ocation akes t mpossible o use he outside eg asan efficient ivot oint .

When and Where

You have o retrain yourself o steer hi s way. found hat n twostreet ides, bout wo-and-a-halfours ime, t became automatically"heway steered he bike.On he other and, tested hisout on a street iderwho s about three on a scale f 1-10) nd we rode or 90 minutes,generally orking n steering nd hisas well .He was ust beginningoget t r ight, l though til ln an awkward ay, n about ne urn out of 20!

I had rouble nderstanding hyhe couldn't o t until realizedthat pivot steering s actually, or ack of a better erm, doublebackwards. otonly s t counter-steering,utpivoted om he opposite

side of the bikeas well . n addition o this, he act hat you canput

somuch more power nto he bars made imnervous: e was simply fraid oturn he bike hat quickly. ou eally o have o abandon ll of the l lean oturn"habits nd hinkingo make his work.86


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All The Points

Each fthe 13 pivot points and heir ombinations re useful. heundersides f most 5OO Pcc iders' leeves re dirty rom contacting hetanks, uring nd after teering. ften,aluminum arts re shiny romheavy ontact ith he nside f the rider 's oots. nee and high ontactpoints re outinely mudged nd he sticky-backedoam padding n

racing eats akes abuse rom his same process f holding n to the bikeboth or relaxing n t (as covered efore) nd or steering as coveredhere).Gloves tretch, alms lister, tc. , tc.Using ivot steering will reeyou up o use he other pivotpoints fficientlynd correctly.

D r i l l

Before racticinghis, irstgo out and indwhat pivot oints ou arenow using. Then,whilemastering ivotsteering, o back nowand hento the pivot points you were using before and compare he wo results.Youmight lsonotice hat steering he bike o the right s dilferent han othe eftand t 'sbecause f he hrottle ction. ou may ind yourself othpulling nd pushing o go rightwhereas ou'll nlyneed o push or heleft-handers. ut t doesn't make any difference;hissteering echnologystillworksbetter.

Whatdo you hinkwe should all t? Criss-Cross-Steering?ouaregoingacross he body ikean X for he pivot/steer ction.Center-Steering?Youdo steer more rom he Center-of-Mass f the bike.NewSteering? t isa new echnique. call t pivot steering ecause ou move roma definiteand stable ivot oint.Butcall t what ou ike, t 's he missing ink n crisp,efficient, ighperformance ounter-steering,nd t works.

To earn his you mightstart by using something ike he seat or your kneesas pivotpoints nd graduate p o using he pegs or peg. Just do it a stepat a time This sn' tmaking he bike urn t ust makes t more tablewhileturning t at speed.

D.G.

Defini t ions

Pivot Point: A place o mount on , attach by or move rom;a support,brace r oundation.

Dynamics: Howmotion nd he orces ffecting otion re elated'

Scrub-in: Roughing p he surface f a new ire by riding n t '

Vague: ndistinct,otclearly efined.

Cumbersome: lumsy, urdensome.

Center-of-Mass: he pointof a body or system f bodies boutwhichal lthe parts exactly alance ach other.

Torso: The human ody, xcluding he head and imbs.

Use the four maior Points ofcontact (hands to push/Pulland feet to pivot from).Anything else and you willhave trouble with wiggles.

e***f dsa"*' -*


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Following a guy who loses if,you followhim with Your evesto avoid it and forget aboutwhat you arc doing.

Instantly reducedawareness of yoursurroundings s a badsurvival reaction whichcan, a t least part ial ly,beovercome with practice.

CHAPTER 20

VisionLost In Space, or, Too Fast For What?

There's o such hingas too fast, oo wide, oo deep, oo hard,too easy, except when you refer o an amount of space. Too ast or heCorkscrew t Laguna eca would e ar oo slow or he banking tDaytona. ooslow or he banking relative o your competition) t Daytonawould e unthinkablyoo ast or he Corkscrew. pace does hange romtrack-to-track; ut a rider's view of space can change rom ap-to-lap, nthe same urn! t changes romperson o person: untMary hinks llcurves re righteninglyarrow, t any speed.

SR Space

You may egard he space/area f a turn as being ixed,unchanging n every aspect* nd dimension, ut practically*peaking, tisn' t rue.When or some eason ourattention ecomes 1)narrowedand hunting rantically r (2) ixed n something Survival eactions 3and #4), he door s hrown ideopen or every rror n he book.Andbecause hese SRs eallydo happen o people, he amount f spacetheycan actually ee and use s reduced. his s bad.

ko

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While iding, every decision ou make s governed y theamount of space you have, hink you have, eel you have or believeyou have. Look ver any iding ction ou care o and his s rue orall.The wobasic unctions speed nd direction hanges) fa motorcycle retotally ependent n he amount of space you have o do either f hem.Unlikemost of he standard iding rocedures e have nvestigated,hisone has no mechanical adgets o assist ou.

Fixed Attention

Each f us knows ispersonal pace as, at one imeor another,been manipulated ySRs. A crack n he pavement, dark or discoloredspot on he road, urbs,manhole overs, hite ines, atches, nyand allcan be a s ource or concern nd attention apturing ixation.nmotorcycleiding,oo much pace arely s a problem: otenough pace,always s a problem. Rs connected ithspace re he worst.

Allridingsurvival-reaction-triggersave not enough space"

as their common denominator.

FaultyDesign

A realor magined ncontrollableeductionn space as harm othe bodyas a potential esult. Rs #3 and #4 are he mmediate esult. fyou were designing our body, would ou have t staring. t he car whichjust pulled ut n ront f t ,or would ou design t to have a broad iewofthe road, o find avenues f escape? he reasoning evel" f this ype ofsurvival eaction s easy o understand, ven f aulty: Keep n eye onthings hich ould arm ou."

Through the comer if youhave some bad spots youtend o look at them and missthe rest of the turn.

lf I am having trouble, tryingtoo hard or tense, I tend tofunnel everything down tootight-

Narrowed or f ranticallyhunting visual awarenesslost = no decisions = notime = tull blown SurvivalReaction Panic. You maycall i t an adrenaline ush:We call i t r ider error.

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ldeal See

We've pent nearly n entirebook iguring ut what he bikewantsfrom ts rider nd how he can manipulatehose esign eatures o get hebest possible esult . owwe're ooking t what he rider wants rom herider: Howhe can see enough pace o stay calm, et his ob done andmake orrect, ccurate ecisions.

You can get stuck n a rut on how ar ahead o look. There sn ' t anystandard o this but usual ly ooking ut a l i t t le ar ther helps most r iders .WileyCoyote would not run nto so many walls or off so many cl iffs f helooked ahead more.

D.G.

Definitions

Vision:The act of sensing i th he eyes.

Aspect: Part , eature r phase.

Practically: rom a practical oint f view; rom he standpoint f actualusage.

Staring: To ook witha steady, ftenwide-eyed, aze.

Notes

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CHAPTER 21

Vision

Sometimes us t go ou t andwatch the othet guys ride toget a ditterent perspective onthe track and what 'm doina.

ls someone ollowing? Atclub level racing oo muchattention is spent on therider n front. Follow heleader s a common Sflgenerated error.

Reference oints RPs) Revisited,The Missing Link

The subject of Reference Points (RPs) was apparenily* overed oeveryone's satisfaction n TWIST . Using RPs on the road or track worksand graduat ing p to wlde screen vis ion, where you can use a l l of theRPs and s t i l l see the whole scene in front of you, s an important , ract icaland useful ool .

The only hing missing rom hat echnology n "How o See" was abet ter understanding f survival react ions. The discovery ha t vis ion SRsalways accompany breaks in "concentration" gives us a crack o drivea wedge nto hat barr ier.

Wide Screen Review

How bout quick eview f hewide creen ision rill?

Dri l lOne:

1. Picka spot or an area on he wallor space n ront of you o ookat. Stare t he area but do t n a relaxedmode, otglaring"

intently-.2. Withoutmoving our eyes, become ware of the whole ieldofyour vision o that each object n rontof you can be dentified, a

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chair, ,a amp, he door, tc.) ,without ooking irectly t heindividual bjects.

3. Sti l l ooking t youroriginal pot,move ourawareness(attention), ot your eyes, romobject-to-objectn rontof you'

4. That's wide screen. Do t some more.

Drill Two:

1. With oureyes, nd one object bout 5 degrees o the right fyour ieldof vision nd one 45 degrees o the eft.

2. Shift our ocus romobject-to-objects ast as you can, gettinga sense f how ong t akes o do so.

3. Go back o staring t the original pot n ront of you (from drillone) .

4. This ime,move ourattention awareness) ack-and-forthn

the wo objects onyour ight nd eft) , ett ing sense f how ongit takes o do so.

Whichmethod,moving oureyes or moving ourattention, s hequickest? owmuch uicker s t? Obviously,l icking ourattention/awareness round n your ieldof vision s ar quicker: t moveswith he speed of thought.

Loss Of Concentration

When we see howwell he wide screen iewworks nd hink fthe dea of osing oncentration t seems dd because oncentrationmeans o focus down on something. hat's exactlywhat we don't want!Doone more experiment or me.

1. Pick ourspots n rontof you,one a few eet n rontand o the

rightof you, one a bit arther way o the eft and wo on the wall,one on he right nd one on he eft , n yournormal ieldof vision,as fyou were ooking t he road and had our RP's.

Movlng your awarenesgaround n your field of viewwithout moving he eyesgives a broad, continuous

visual unde rstanding ofyour surroundings.


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Your Attention can bedistracted by anything. Icrashed once because wason a tighter ine gettingaround a backmarker ut hadthe same speed as last lapMy $10 wa s on him not thesDeecl.

ln faster stuff you can look tothe farthest point ahead tojudge the distance.

When you do this t opens upyour thinking.

2. Move your eyes as rapidly as possible rom one o the next,stopping s briefly s possible o focus on each before moving othe next.

3. Do his orabout 0 seconds.

4. How do you eel?

Almosteveryone ets at least some slight eeling f disorientationfnot outright izziness romdoing his.Disorientation s one of he directeffects f SRs #3 and #4. This s he primary ause of mental atiguewhile iding motorcycle, specially hen iding ast. t is a bad hing.

One more experiment,fyou will .

1. Pick he same our spots s above.

2. This ime,whilemoving oureyes romone o the other, eepyour ieldof attention ide, o you can be aware f the rest of hearea where ou are sit t ing, hile hift ing our ocus rom one pointto

theother.

3. ls that easier n you?

4. Finally, ust o make you eel better, stare" t your arthest ointand shift ourawareness, otyoureyes, rom each one of the ourpoints o the next.

5. Better? t should e. Giveme a call f t sn ' t) .

Controlled iew

The ability o get a wlde screen view s clearly nder our control,when you remember o do i t . lfyou ookaround he roomnow, t spracticallympossibleo see t any otherway but wide.When ou ride, hisisn't he case. SRs close down yourviewof space when riggered; t's areaction o something. l yourchairwere suddenly oving t 70 mphthrough he room,would hat r igger Rs?

Mechanicallypeaking,he eye doesn't ctually arrow ownwhatcan be seen, ou simply ren' t ware f all you can see when ourattention s captured r directed lsewhere. hen you remember o doit , the width of your awareness s totally controlled by the mind. Canyou rain ourselfo remember? illpractice elpput you more n controlthan you are now? say t can, but you have o decide or yourself , ypractice. s yourattention wide ight ow? Could t always e "held ut"that wide?

Street Traffic

l'll ellyou my secret. discovered his whole hingone Sundaymorning n 1974while idingo Griffi th ark o street ace withmy riends.had a vicious equila angover. y ieldof viewwas about wo eet wideand knew hiswasn't oing o work; felt oston my own street! suppose

out of necessity, y attention opped ut wideand I could see" again; teven made mostof my "condition"isappear. rom hen on, when leftmyhouse, would sually emember o push my attention utwide. he mostamazing hinghappened s a result . never again ad any rouble n4


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CHAPTER 22

Vision

When you get too "focusedyou need a new perspectiveto improve.

Narrowed attention ocks youinto one particular ine andthat's trouble.

Wide Screen Control:DifferentDrills

Everyone as experienced hat s descr ipt ively. ut ncorrect lycal led tunnel is ion" r "target ixat ion." say ncorrect ly ecause, f ter al l ,the "lights"are always on if your eyes are opened but SRs distract youfrom keeping he wide screen view. The eye doesn ' t actual ly arrow downwhat s seen, you simplyaren ' t able o see the wide view when yourat tent ion s captured r directed lsewhere. s there a difference? bigone .

Under Control

The differences whether t s under our ontrol r not:whether tis a totally nchangeableunction f the body r if t s adjustable i th hemind*. rom he dril lswe've lready ried ou should e able o see t scontrollable hen you remember o do i t .

Take A Walk

A great ime o practice holding ut"your attention s while aking awalk.Whilewalking, ee how ong ou can keep ourattention utwide.Aslightlyougher ril l s o walkcurbs r railroad racks, alancing n hecurbor rack. f you observe omeone rying his you willsee hey begin ylooking ne or wo eet n rontof hemselves, ust ikenew iders o. Mygame s o look as ar down he street r rail as possible, eeping he widescreen iewand my balance s well . f you un or exercise, o he samebasic hing utnotice hen ourattention arrows own, nd hen,command t back out. You may experience ome ery nteresting hingswhile oing his.

I t May Be Hard

Youmight otice ome esistance hile oing hese ri l ls . t maymake ou eel strange t irst . Youmay also experience omethingpleasant, othmentally nd physically. enerally, hen ou eel good t seasier, nd when ou don't , t 's harder. n act , t s observable hat aperson ho s eeling oodhas his attention utwideand one who sfeeling oorly oesn' t . s t any wonder hat something hich was worrying(distracting) person an be ound o exist s a cause or most accidentsand mistakes? nd, oddly nough, imply idening our ield of attentioncan make you eel better.

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CHAPTER 23

Vision

You don't have to spend thatmuch attention on where youare going if you're looking atthe whole track in front ofyou.

Everything you noticecosts affention. Wide-Screen-Vision makes hemless expensive!

The Two-Step

How much of what you can see on a road surface s reallyimportanto you? s t possible o have oo many RP's? What teps anyou ake o defeat he SRs connected o visionand space? Howcan youtellwhen ou are over our head"?What s he difference etween pointand a reference oint?

On any oad urface, our attention an hang-up n mostanything.Chewed p or discolored avement re classic t tentionstickers ut arely ffect he bike. n raffic, nycar (parked r n motion),pedestrian, urface rregularity,raffic ight, ntersection, nything here s,can claim ourprecious 10 worth f attention. o whydo you ookatthem? What f you didn't ookat them? hese re allguaranteed R #3 or#4 riggers. And ike he otherSRs, when a rider ecomes ware offixed attention, e knows t detracts romhis iding.

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Master Link

It'sveryeasy o linkal lof the other SRs o this one. Throttlechanges, teering djustments, ightening n he bikeand braking rrorsalloccur ecause fsome ituation hat has ixed ourattention. ouwouldn't o on/off he gas fyouwere sure of yourspace. he same s rueof mid-turn teering orrections nd ensing-up n he bars tobe ready or

steering hanges): Without ixed attention, none of them wouldhappen. Do you agree?

Reduced RPs

Some endurance acers ave been nown o ridenearly s ast atnightas they do during he day. Even withgreat ights, ou can't see mostof the hings isible uring he daytime. have a similar i tuation. tWillowSprings, n late afternoon, artsof three key urns the exitof Turn One,the entrance o TurnTwo and he entrance o Turn Nine)become heets fgolden ight. o me, t 'seasier nd ess distracting.o ride hose urnsduring hat imeof day simply ecause ou can't ee rack etails.

Am I saying o abandon RP's? Yes, when hey are us t distractingthings and not rue Reference oints.

The Two-Step

At the Superbike chool, we have devised* method o cheat heproblems ffixed attention going nto turns; we call t the wo-stepturn-entry. At the entrance o every urn we tape marks down on thepavement. l suppose t seems ikean odd dea o put giant marks down onthe pavement or he purpose f training iders o quit ooking t othermarks on the pavement, ut t works). he irstmark s a r eminder o lookinto he urn because 9 percent fall riders eave his mportant ob untilfar oo ate. The second mark s the urn-point tself. he wo-step goesl ike h is :

1. You spot our urn-point s early s possible. hiscould ebefore ou brake, hile raking, nywhere-as arly s possible.(That's ne step).

2. Just before r riving t your urn-point ou ook nto he urn o

see where exactly)he bike hould o. That's he second tep).It'salso called he wo-step because t makes ou aware of two

major teps, 1)where o turn and 2)where o go afterwards, efore ouhave done hem.

The difficultartof this echnique s allowinghe bike o go straightuntilyou have eached our urn-point. Rs are begging ou o turn hebikeat the same imeyou ook n. This s he "gowhere ou ook" urvivalreaction, R #5. The wo-step echnique elps ou defeat t .

You've got to get comfortablewith the track around you.You sweat n the AM to ge tgood times and then find youcan do them eftortlessly nthe PM.

The two-step s goodpracilce.


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(1 ) Step one of th e fw oStep: Spot your turn-entrypoint as early as possible.

(2 ) Step two: Look into theturn to your mid-turn argetamomen t BEFOREyousteer the bike.

Two-Step olution

The two-step solves an enormous umber of potent ial roblems.Firs t of a l l , what would el lyou how quickly o turn he bike and how far tolean it over if you didn't already know where you wanted o go? Yo u haveto make hose decis ions while turning the bike i f you don' t do the two-step. Practically peaking, hat's oo late. In other words, he two-stepgives you al l the information ou need o produce* ccurate teer ing squicklyas possible .

Knowingwhere you're going also gives a bet ter picture f the turnand allows you to set the speed more accurately or the turn-entry point.This also takes some of the stress* out of braking because t is clearer howmuch braking s needed and where t is needed. The overbraking R canbe l inked o this as wel l . And looking-in arlypaves he way for get t ingback nto he throt t le ooner, tar t ing he whole hrot t le control process atthe ear l iest oint .

Using he two-step and wide screen attention together gives youan ideal scene whereby yo u can keep rack of your turn-point and whereyou wish o go in the turn, at the same ime.

The two-step s a r iding technique or handl ing turn-entryspace. The same problems f f ixed at tent ion an of course occur mid-turnor in the exi t as well as in the entrance. et ' s set up a dr i l l o handle hewho le u rn .

Speed and Space

The hrottle s your pace egulator nd contains al f he answer.The more you wind t on the less space you have o see and act n a givenamount of t ime. At 60 mph you wil l be 100 yards down he road n about3 .0 seconds; t 120 mph, you're here n half hat ime.

When you can't see everything hat you want to or feel rushed olook at too much with oo l i t t le ime o do i t , you are r iding over yourhead. Try this:

1. Back-off n the speed or a lap or two, (or on one sect ion of yourfavori te oad) , o you can see everything ou need o see, without

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feeling ushed r having o "hunt" our way hrough t.Attentions t ick ing n hings s an SR.

2. Make he space or hat urnor section omfortable o be n. Goonly as fast as you can see.

3. Bring he speed p gradually, singwhat ou can see as agauge fyour ealskil l n hat area.

4. When you again notice ouare going aster han you can see,realize hat you are running nto the same barrier at a new,higher evel.

Goal Of The Dril lThe goalof thisdril l s o find he speed which llows ou otally

comfortable, ide-screen, mooth-flowracking f space hrough he wholeturnor section f road. t 's not an easy dril lbut fyou persist , hebreakthroughs re eally ewarding.

Unstick ourattention ndwin.

Thishelps olve otsof turn entry roblems ecause ou are ahead f

yourself nd helps o keep ou rom hrowing ut he anchor oing n.Toomany RPs s not good; he ewer ou have he better. use my urn-pointas an end-of-breaking arker s well .Get off he breaks, urn t and getback o the gas; hat 'swhere he un begins. he wo-step ets up ordoing hiswithcontidence.

D.G.

Def in i t ions

Distracting: iverting he attention.

Devised: nvented.Produce: To create y physical r mental ffort.

When going quick, I think I'mon the verge of missing myturn-points, ut that's us tpart of going quick.

Looking in early, alignsyour vision accurately orthe mid-turn and exit .

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Hard braking s easy: Beingcontrolled and hard akesknow how.

CHAPTER 24

BrakingNothingNew

The average raking distance asn' t changed much n the past15 years! Forstreetbikes r racebikes, nce he backwheel s off heground,with 100 percent f the bike's weight eing arried y the ontwheel, hat 's he end of he game where rakings concerned: ou've unup against he aws of physics. acers ave been able o get he backwheel p, under raking,or wo decades!

This s a remarkable tatist ic hen ou consider he echnicalimprovements ade n he past 15 years. Brake iscs re made f carbonfiber; 900cc treetbike eighs bout150 pounds ess; ires are stickier;fork ube diameters re way up and ork lex s way down; rames arestiffer; uspension s much more ompliant nd much more djustable; ndeverythings much more expensive.

Also unchanged s the terror of hard braking. No other controlon the bike can produce uch dramatic esultswithso littleeffort.SRs runwildwithmost iders nder eavy raking.

Practical mprovements

There have been mprovements , ncluding:1. A more posi t ive ee l rom he bike; eedback nder braking sposi t ive nd accurate .

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2. Radial ire echnology llowsor steeper ean angles hilebraking. o,while he maximum traight ' l ineorces re prettymuchthe same, he echnique f carrying ome braking owndeeper ntothe urns entrance as been mproved ndyou indmany idersus ing t ,

3. Braking ver ough avement s somewhat ess ikely o ockupthe wheel ecause f allof he above mprovements, speciallynthe areas f weight nd suspension. his s an mportantactorwhen you consider he act hat most acetracks ave pavementripples aused y racecars; hose ipples re usually t he brakingpoints.

4. Brake ade has nearly een eliminated. oucan be pretty ure ofwhat ou'l l avewhen he ever s squeezed.

Efficient Braking

You're ble o structure* our braking rom beginning o end n anumber fways, ncluding: asy t f irst , radually pplying ore everpressure; ardat irst , hen easing p; ight, hen hard, hen ight gain;and all he combinationsn between. hich s best?

Trapping yourself nto heavy braking at your turn-point sworking against he desired esult. The basic product end esult) fbraking s to get he speed et accurately or he urn. t's difficultoovercome he SRs #7)which ompel* ost iders o graduallyncreasethe braking orce nd windup with oo much t the end. There re at eastfivepotential ad esults:

1. Turning he bikewith oo much brake; ne of he more ommoncauses f crashes.

2. The urn entry speed s wrong; usually oo slow.

3. Too much attention n the braking orce; not enough n whereyou're oing ndwhat ou're oing.

4. Missed urn-point; uts ou off inegoing n.

5. Too ow a turn-entry; radual nstead f decisive urning o avoidSR #7 above.

The istcouldprobably lso nclude oo much suspension ction tthe ransit ionromon-the-brakeso off-the-brakes.

Rear Air

Getting he back end off he ground ith he brake s, or some oddreason, un o do. Allwe're alking bout ere s when t should e otf heground nddoing t at he beginnings more ifficultor most iders.Everyone has he feeling hey can abuse he front brake whether heyhave ever ocked t up or not. But here are only wo real ules of frontbrake use and abuse:

1. Don't nap t on oo quick. That ottoms*he ront uspensionand willallow he wheel o lock).

The lighter wheel parts area big reason you can carrymore brake into the turnsthan before.

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Snapping on the brakelever oo quickly s notproductive except fo rphotos.

Grabbing t too hard, tooquick upsets the bike. Pull it,let it settle. then hard, thenliaht at the end.

I'm going to use the rear ifI'm off the track.

People using rear brake hardare scary to me. You can seethe shiny spots on their tirewherc it locked up.

It's ust a waste of time, Youspend too much effort gettinga liftle braking from the rear. Idon't even pu t my foot on itexcept coming nto thegarage.

2. lf the ront wheel ocks p, oosen p on he ever, o he wheelcan urn and stabilize he bike. You ose 100 percent fyoursteering hen he ront wheel s ocked).

lf the bikebottoms ard under braking, ou need more springormore compression amping-provided ou aren't napping he brake onbut are pullingt as you should, irmly nd smoothly. Rs go off ike

fireworksfyou ockup he ront wheel. he Superbike chool as a brake-training ikeequipped ithoutriggers, nd t 's almost mpossibleo crash.Yeteven on that machine,most iders re entative ith he brakes t firstpu l l .

Rear Brake

It s my recommendationhat you master sing nly he rontbrakeexcept hen iding n slippery onditions. ockinghe back brake lsoputsthe bike out of control. he ear wheel, pinning, rovides he vast majorityof stabilityor he bike rom he steering ead back. n other words,everything ut he ront-end s kept stable y the gyro orce of the spinningrear wheel.

The obviousmathematics f the situation re hat he ront wheelcan do 100 percent f he braking nd he back at hat point ust ocks pno matterwho you are. Learn o totally elyon the ront brake or quick,clean topping;hen, f you sti l lhave a use or he rear, o ahead nd useit. But realize hat he rear brake s the source f a huge number fcrashes othon and off he rack. 'll eave he inaldecision p o you.While t s rue or most iders hat a motorcycle il lcome o a fullstopquicker ithbothbrakes pplied, n racing, ou don't ome o a full stopuntil ou're one.

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ln-TurnBrakes

Everyone as used he ront brake n a turn before nd most bikeshave a tendency o stand up when he brakes re applied. While t is truethat you should avoid using he brake once sett led nto a turn, here

are exceptions like mergencies) here t s necessary. rashes ftenoccurwhen he rider eaves he bike at a steep ean angle r ries o hold tt ight n he urnwhile raking. pplying he ront brake and consciouslybringing he bike up at the same ime is the correct procedure oremergency n-turn braking.

,-u

mRry

Brake MagicThere is no real magic n high-tech brakes except HOW you use

them. Working hrough he SRs that keep you from using he brakes hemost eff ic ient ly harder t the beginning) uts you in control .Controlwithbrakes means you have options*.Being stuck with a big handful t the endis the least at t ract ive f al l and SRs drive you into hat scenario.

You can use the brakes o your advantage by braking earlier han someonewho goes n real ly deep because he can go wide and you repass him witha bet ter planned entrance. f you can make a la te braking maneuver workby st i l lget t ing our urn-point hat ' s great . f not , hen you are ust racing.Some r iders go on and off of them while set t ing up a turn. Braking s a oneshot deal, no on/off/on.

D.G.

Def in i t ions

Structure: To give arrangement o. To construct systematic ramework.

Gompel:Oblige; o force o a course faction.Bottoms: Compresses o the imit .

: ' ' , t , . \

---A ./

Braklng alter you are In aturn is an error but some-times necessary. What isthe right way to do it?


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CHAPTER 25

TractionPros Cons and Uses

Whatdo you do with raction? here an you use t best? Howcanyou abuse* t? Howdo SRs mask ourabili tyo find raction imits? Whatis traction? oes understandingraction ake t any easier o find helimits? oes t all justcome down o how brave ou are?

Your ense of traction s an mportant ubject ut t can get blownout of proportion;t can even become he cause f mistakes nd lawed.riding lans.

A little tire spin helps to get itturned on the exit. Excesstire spin looks great but it isgoing the wrong way.

How do you llke yourTraction? Scratch andslide/grip bite: Your deaot it can affect your style.

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New Technology

New ire and suspension echnology an cover up and allowriders o "get away with" basic idingerrors. Going anyon iding ndtrack acing n he 1990s s an nteresting ituationor someone ho Gettingtheexittractionrightstarted idingmotorcycles n 1957.Old ractionmemories nd standards ;Lil #; i;:::i:;fri:die hard and 'm not hat brave.The 1990s ubber as nearly nbelievable

grip n comparison o what last aced on n he 1970s but out on the rackI see hisas a problem or new hot-shot iders oming p and 'mcontinually mazed t how ast some of hem go without clueas o howand why.

Traction Riders

Af of the things hat arise rom this are very interesting. Riders who Ane.w pproacho he urnrelysolely n he perception" fmaximumraction avea certain tyle-they ,?:f:,!i:":;::il::n:iY"develop. hey appear o be ost f they can't eel hat particular and of toomanyhinsstonce.traction nd don'tbelieve hey're oing ast unless heydo feel hattraction. ere are some of he results:

1. "Feeling"heirway nto urns, tooslow urn-in ate).

2. Lowentries, start urn-in oo early).

. 3. Mid-turn teering orrections, slow urn-inmakes he inal esultuncertain ntilmid-turn).

4. Too much ean angle, from low urn-in nd rom an attempt oget he ire oad up so heycan feel" t) .

5. Greedy mid-turnhrott le pplication,to eel he irebite).

6. Excessive heelspin t exit, to keep t loose o knowwhere hetraction s-usually, ut not always, plus point) .

7. Changing urn points, their bject s not o get he bike urned Easingff not hargingaccurately ut o bring he traction o their range). t":::"i;X::,';:',:,:,"i^lf'

8. Suspension et oo stiff (also, o feel he raction etter). speeds ot haryins'

There most probably re additional ossible egative esults.

Smart Traction

Don't ge t me wrong, finding the traction limits of the new rubber is The ardest ar l s indingan accompf shment. How you find it and then use it is our topic. Look at it '!:^?:': imit oins n: he

this way; if maximum ire grip is your major target for a turn, ii*;u;";;;;easiests on he exit'

how you ride. Any l ine which gets a t ract ion rider to a point where histires give back this grunt and bite feeling against he pavement, will be a Try o exptoreifferentines,good ine. But t isn't rue, at least not or all urns, and, t it gets out of ',ZXi-;:t:;:f::y;In.'*

hand, t can add he above ight rrors o the rider 's ortfolio ftechniques .

I remember ayneRainey n 1986-1987 pending n enormousamount of his ime at the races rying o f gure out how o make a fast rst The eattyard arts indinglap and t was a battle ought otally with raction. s it any wonder hat he the imitvervurn, veryap'led so many irst aps n his WorldChampionship-winningears, 990-1991-1992? n 1986-1987 e was making llof the above ight rrors n 107

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Too much entry speed canalso foul you up if you go oftline.

Good entry speed makes themid-turn easier.

Just this yeat I finallygot agood feel for the middle ofthe turns where I knew whatthe bike was doing under me

You never seem to haveenough traction f you arepushing.

search f the raction imits.s i t a crime o make hose rrors? o. ook atwhat he did with hem. The point s that t isn't he only way o go about t:Eddie awson id t without he extra xcitement.

Traction Terror

The ion's hare* f survival eactions onnected o traction are

at the urn-entries.We know hat he verydefinit ion fgoing n too fastis "not ure f you can get t urned". nd, while unning ide n he urn s aconcern, ossible oss of traction anks igh on he ist of SR riggers. sthis rue or you, oo?

Once n he urn, our hrott le ction ontrols raction ut ight tthe beginning, ou are essentially t the mercy of the speed you havewhen he brakes are released.

Crash Statistics

Factually, t's uncommon o go into a turn too fast! Watchracing or20 or 30 years nd ell me what ou observe. y eyes ellmegoing n too fast s ow on he scale f crash auses. t is rare. Going nwith he brakes n oo hard and crashing s another hing; hat causescrashes airly ften nd s an obvious ider rror. hat most iders misjudgetheir urn-entry peed, sually n he slow ide, s a major tumbling lockto clean nd quick urnexecution.

Brave or Smart?

It may require extraordinary ravery but the most productive use of

maximum tract ion is r ig ht a t the turn-entry. The speed you have at turn-entry s "free" you don' t have o do anything more or i t ) but any s ignif icantspeed ncreases wil l have o be earned n the hardest nd most dangerousways: with extra mid-turn nd exi t accelerat ion, he two most commoncauses of crashing.

My advice? Get a good, sol id grounding n standard idingtechnioues nd add he t ract ion imits a ter. Technioue s wh ere most r idersare weak and when you combine hese wo elements , ou are hard o beat .Equal ly mportant s the fact hat good echnique l lowsyou to approachthe l imitsof t ract ion nd defeat many of the SRs connected o i t .

Traction Defined

Tractions he necessary mount f grip needed o ge t he obdone. You decide f the ob is to r ide on the t ract ion imitor get through heturn quicker and cleaner. You're winningwhen you can do both!

Some uys lide he rontand some he back, l ike o get bothends goingand playwith raction t he end of he urn. To me hat 's he most un but

slidingsn' tbravery, t 'san extension fyour

skil land abili tyo control hebikewith hrott le.

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CH APTER 26

Racing

Racing carries over o strcetThe high speeds of racingmake the street easier. YoLhave more control becauseyou adapted to higherspeeds. You don't go intopanic mode as easy.

On a 500 I work on gettingoff the corners better so I canimprove the bike, Iike makingrideheight changes, gearingselection, etc.

The Tools and Goals

What s the difference etween iding nd racing? How mportantpartdoes our iding killplay n racing?Whatare he parts f racing?

When t 's ust you and he rack t can be perfect: ther iders dd anew set of barriers o the game. You've otall he standard idingtechniques o deal withplus he competit ion'selentless* rgument hatyou don'tbelong n rontof them. SRs add yet another imension* o thegame of racing, s do yourowngoals o succeed nd mprove.

The Tools

Racing as a number f tools you use o accomplish hese oals,and each one s a complete ubject n tself

1 . Your ike e t -up .

2. Your iding kill

3. Yourown attitude, r "mental" ondition.

4. Your hysical ondition.The irst , ike et-up, s practically mystic rt or most iders. o

matter owadjustable he bike s, inding he correct et-up s oftentedious* rial-and-errorrocedure ven or he best iders. uspension,gearing nd engine ombinations hese days are practicallyimitless. hisbook does not address hose subiects.

-\

c S\uspension diustabil i tygoes up with dollars spent;both factors are practically

l imi t l e s s .

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The second, our iding kill , as a number fparts o understand:That's mainly hat we're alking bout n his book. t often equires reateffort o apply what you know o ditterent ituations nd not become tuckin a riding ut. Every op rider know has had days when hey ried wiceas hard and come up withno change n ap imes. On he other and,understanding orrect echniques, hich greewithmachine esign ndrider equirements, l lows ou o spot and eliminate iding rrors nd not

confuse hem withother roblems.The hird, attitude r mental ondition,s often he most difficulto

adjust.Many iders ount n racing o smooth ver ife's ough dges, tleast or he ime hey are iding, ut ife 's psets avea way of riding ithus. Save or mechanical alfunctions,have ound here o be an actualreason or reduced erformance r crashing, hich ould e uncoveredwithcareful uestioning,n every situation. hat 's he downside. heimportant art s hat mental ondition s yourhorsepower o pushthrough R barriers nd gain understanding, nspiration nd efficiencywithyour iding kills.

The ourth, ourphysical ondition, ustbe good enough o do hejob of riding;f t 'snot,yourattention an become opelessly tuck n hemanifestations f poorphysical ondition. acing s an outward-lookingactivity nd attention n he bodydrives ou nward. hysical onditioning.is oftenconfused ithmental onditioning. hey do affect each other o adegree. Mainly, t ired body riggers Rs which esult n mental atigue.There re housands fqualified ealthcare rofessionals ho addressth i s .

Numerous xamples xist,both past and present, f riders trong

in one or woareas ut acking n others, ho have never uitemade t.Yet guys who are us t mediocre* n al l our have done extremely ell.Serious laws n one willaffect l l he others.Without ett ing oocomplicated, an you grade ourself n each?

lmportant Parts

The wo other main components f racing re not ools but arenevertheless uite mportant:

1. The competition.

2. The rack.The irst of these, he competition, sually as some affect n how

hard ou ry.Traditionally*,ap imes ome downwhen he competitionstough nd stay he same or slowerwhen t sn' t . This s a part of the gamewhich s played othon and off he rack.What he competitions doingcan either nspire r deflate ou o some degree. iders ill nstinctively-use anything hey see as a weak point gainst ou.A common xample fthiswould e o "show wheel" o someone n a placewhere ou're li t t lequicker but an't eally ass), rying o ratt le hem. Passing n a placewhere ou know he other uywillget you back, utdoing t to break isrhythm., s another ery workable xample.

The second fthese omponents, he rack, s he playing ield.Here again, ou are using he ools f racing,mainly iding killand bike

Focused but not too focusedis the right way to go racing.

Good physical conditionmakes t easier to doconsistently. You've got to begood for the duration.

Everybody wants to getunderneath you going in andyou have to go of fyour goodlap time marks to protectyour inside. Once you breakfree, then you can put sometime on them.

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Doug Ghandler ecomingthe 1990 SuperbikeChampion. One of the fewriders who has al l fourtools of racing n order.

lf you use someone else fora marker, you're ost, PaYattention to your own riding.

set-up, o conquer t .While ach urnhas ts own character, our ob is ocorrectly eapply he standard iding echniques o each urn.The mentalaspect an definitely ome nto play here. Riders ave racks hey ikeanddislike,ypes f urns hey eel strong n and some hey don't eel strong n'Trouble ithdownhill ections s a complaint oftenhear. Bumpy ections

are another lassic ource f trouble. he old saying, everyone ides hesame rack," s both he good and he bad news. f you're oing aster hanthe competit ion,ou've igured t out better han hose uys; fyou aren' t ,you haven't .

ln Competition

Your iding kills ust one of the our mportant oolsbut withoutrock-solid lanon how o approach he rack, n close ompetit ion,ou canwindup riding he other uy's ace.What s here o be gained y changingyour iding o match nother 's , hile icing or25th place? Realist ically,competitorn 25th place s making s many r more errors han you are nbasic echnique. t 's un o beat someone ut ong-termmprovementsmore mportant.

! '

hb.".

b%

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Running valuable laps practicing yOur own style puts you to Don'tottow,ou'tt ever ass

work on your problems, not solving someone else 's . St ick with yourplan, t is the one you can change.

That's Racing

Nevermake he mistake f hinking omeone s holding ou up;

that's acing, nd you're olding ourself p. Nevermind hat you un uphis ailpipe n he middle f every urn and become rustrated;hat's acing.You're aster n he urns but he outbrakes ou and gets ahead; hat 'sracing. he unfortunateruth s hat he s n ront and you are blowingt nmore places han he-for whatever eason. ln act, f you un up onsomeone nd have o roll off, hat's ou blowing he basics f throttlecontrol).

I could ave had him n another ap.

My ireswentoff.

Tratficgot me.I know can beat hese uys.

There s another ld saying: TheBS stops when he green lagdrops." nd one of the great oys of racing s the act hat everyone strying heir best, o matter hat hey say. That's acing.

Racing Gauges

There are a number fways o gauge our skillor improvement:

1. Who you can beat and where ou can beat hem. Home-trackguys are hard o beat on their own urf lf both of you go to a newtrack nd you smoke im, hat's n nteresting tatist ic. our killstransfer o other racks whereas isdon't; ou are better. ntiyou're unning p ront, his s he east mportant auge.

2. Your overall ap time improvement. rom practice-to-practiceor race-to-race t he same rack ou should e mproving our aptimes.Keep our ap-time heets n a binder*or accuratecomparison.

3. How as t others have gone on the type and model of bikeyou have. This s especiallyrue fyou aren't unning p-to-dateequipment. indout how ast otherswenton what ou're unning.

4. Your imes compared o the fastest guy or the lap record. fyou startout he season unning 0 seconds ff he eaders ndthen cut hat gap downa bit each ace, hat 's good ndicator.

5. Your rack section imes, both in terms of improvement ndmeasured gainst someone who is faster. Cut he rack ntoimportant ections nd get a friend o t ime you and someone asterin each ection. hispinpointshe exact reas o target or

improvement nd shows ouwhere ourefforts re working ndwhere ourefforts re not working. ave our imer eparate hefast sections rom he slow ones whenever ossible.

You'll ind lots ofimorovement t first hen tgets harder when you arecloser to the quicket times.

^. *A S"t-

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You should be able toimprove n the race a bit andat least do the qualifyingtimes consistantly.

I'm trying to get race distancesettings on the bike so I runthe weight, ires and fuel loadfor the race in qualifying.

Sometimes you just get PO'dand have to go for it, ikewhen you don't find goodsettings until the finalpractrce ess,on.

The baslc idea in racing isto beat the other guys.Once you have your riding

technology well in handand have some commandover your SRs, t wil lhappen more easily.

6. Your practice r qualifying imes compared o your racetimes. At he op, you rarely ee big imedifferences romone othe other. n he middle nd ower kill evels, iders ften elyongetting pumped" or he race o go aster. suppose ou could allthat a plan but at which killevelwould ou ike o be riding?

Inspiration

Inspirationomes nder he heading f mental ondition. t is hearea of breakthroughsn racing nd t really s a tool. Adding dash ofinspirationo go faster s an mportant ar tof racing. t takes hat veryingrediento push hrough he SRs which ight ou, ooth-and-nail,orevery ingle dditionalncreased .25-mph, or every alf degree f eanangle, or every1/1OOth-secondarlier n he gas, or every dditionalounce f steering nput ressure, or every oot of widened ttention n hetrack.Pushing hrough survival eactions makes ou feel good. t canbe a cons cious r an unconscious ecision o go aster, urnquicker, lide

more and so on.Whatdoes hat mean? t means ou'rewinning he nternal truggle

against he SRs and hat's uaranteed o improve ourspiri ts .When wetalkabout t as a tool, hat means t should e used onlywhen needed ndwhen appropriate* nd not as a cure-all, here re dozens f examples friderswho started ff strong, ruly nspired, utcame o a grinding alt ntheir areers hen nspiration lone would o onger ork.

The Basic Racing Goal

The goal n racing s to beat he other guys. You have o f igure outhow to go faster han hem. There are four ools o use or that purposeand even hough your r iding ki l l s the most mportant ne and wil l br ingyou the most reward, t can be "overused

Keep it fun.

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Think about his : Once you have a good understanding f thestandard iding echniques, t ' s ime o look oward he other ools or help.Over he long run, new ways o apply he basics wil lpresent hemselves.But on a part icular ace day, t ' s unreal o improve our basic ski l lsenoughto matter. At the next ap ime "band," hese basics wil l s t i l lbe si t t ing hereas the main barr iers . can promise ou that .

It 's not easy o get al l the basics under your control .Far rom t.Riders who consis tent ly e t them rightare rare; but you can be beat ingdead horse, expect ing more rom he s tandard echniques han s avai lableon a s ingle day. Just as being n good physical ondi t ionwil lnot mproveyour suspens ion r eng ine , o u r id ing k i l l s anno t mprove sou r ou t lookon the day, a mis- jet ted arb or a lack of s leep.

What 's he condit ion f your our ools of racing? How well do theywork? Which s your worst? Which s your best? Don' t orget your best .

Getting utwithother iders ives ou irsthand xperience ith hem. t 'svaluable ecause ou can see what not o do. n many ases hat can bemore mportant han seeing hat o do. Your ike et-up should e doneby experienced eople ho can get t r ight nd safe. Ridingskill- Youacquire hat.After eading hismaterial , ou knowwhat he propertechniques re. Nowyou need ome addle ime o perfect hem. Mentalcondition By being repared nd having plan ou can keep t un andhave a good atti tude. hysical Basics ikegood ood and cardio-vascular xercise re needed o stay it.Adequate hape ives ou ullattention o spend n he race, specially owards he end.

I began acing ecause was nspired y one o{my dols. oucan get aterrific mount f personal atisfactionutof his sport .Mypersonal oal sto perfectmy skills gainst he rack not he public oads); eating heother uysproves was more kil lfulhan hem on hat day. Winningnational hampionship eans had a clearer icture f the season ndmade ntell igent ecisions hroughouthe year.

D.G,

Def in i t ions

Relentless: nyielding, i t i less.Dimens ion : x tens ionn a given i rec t ion .

Tedious: iresome r boring ue o extreme ength r slowness.

Condi t ion ing : ak ing u i tab le ora g iven urpose .

Mediocre:Moderate-to-lown quality: verage.

Traditionally: t ime-honored ractice. customary ethod r manner.

tnstinctively: rompted y nstinct, atural; nlearned.

Rhythm: Regular ecurrence f elements n a system f motion.

Binder:A notebook overwith ings r clamps or holding aper.

Appropriate: uitable; i t t ing. 1 1 5


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Rider Ghecklist

1. Oil at Proper LevelA . E n g i n eB.Transmiss ionC .C h a i nD. Forks

2. Wheels Are In Line

3. Forks Don't Bind

4. Ghain Adjusted

5. Tire Pressures Are GorrectA. Cold Pressures ront - Rear-B. Hot Pressures ront Rear-

6 . S teer ing Head Bear ingsTight

7. Front Axle Gap Bolts Tight

8. Axles Tight

9. Wheels Are Balanced

1O. Controls Are Comfortable and Usable

1 1. Fork Travel Correct(Forks hould not bottom out or to p out)

12. ShockTravel Gorrect(Shocks hould not bottom out excessively ut should use most of th e shockt rave l .

13. Throttle Operates Smoothly(Doesn't tick,no excessive re e play.)

14. Brakes Work WellA. Pads re making ood contac t n d isc .B. Pads re not b inding isc .C. Enough ad mater ia l .

15 . Ti res Have Enough RubberA. Unevenly orn or s tepped i res can cause andl ing i ff cu l t ies .B.Old ac ing i res dry out and become greasy."C. Race ires work best when they have ust been scrubbed n and have plenty

of rubber.

16 . Enough Fuel

17. Master Link in Pface(Master inkshould be safe ty wired unless t is an endless ha in . )

18. Someone to Record lap Times

Most of these tems are not h ings ha t a technica l nspec tor ooks at . They arei tems hat d i rec t ly ffec t our abi l i ty o put your equipment o use as a racer.They ensure hat you can make taround he rack wi thout maior mishaps(enough uel ,etc .) .


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Rider Checklist

1 Oil at Proper LevelA . E n g i n eB.Transmiss ionC C h a i n

DForks

2 . Wheels Are In Line

3 Forks Don ' t Bind

4. Chain Adiusted

5. Tire Pressures Are GorrectA. Cold Pressures Front Rear --B. Hot Pressures Front Bear

6. Steering Head Bearings Tight

7 Front Axle Cap Bolts Tight

8 . Axles Tight

g Wheels Are Balanced

1O Controts Are Comfortable and Usable

1 1 . ForkTravel Correc t(Forks houldnot bot tom out or top out )

12. Shock Travel Correct

1 3

1 4

1 6

t t

1 5

(Shocks hould not bottom out excessrvely ut should us e most of the shockt rave l .

Throttle Operates Smoothly(Doesn ' t t i ck ,no excessrve ee play. )

Brakes Work WellA Pads re makrng ood contac t n drscB. Pads re not brnding i sc .C. Enough ad mater ia l .

Ti res Have Enough RubberA. Unevenly orn or s tepped rres an cause andl ing i ff cu l t ies .B.Old acrng rres ry out and become greasy."C Race i res work bes t when hey have us t been scrubbed n and have plenty

of rubber.

Enough Fuel

Master Link in Place(Master rnkshould e safe ty wired unless t r s an endless ha tn . )

Someone to Record lap Times

Most of these tems re not hrngs ha t a technrca l nspec tor ooks a t . They areI tems hat dr rec t ly ffec tyour abr l i ty o put your equrpment o use as a racer.They ensure hat you can make t a round he rack wrthout malor mtshaps( e n o u g h u e l , t c )

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(Use hese and makecopies or your notes.)

Race Day Record @Date

Track

RacingOrganiza t ion

Length olTrackNumber f Turns

Weather Condi t ions

Ambient Temperature

Elevation

Classes o be Run

Tires Run: Brand

Compound/Number Front Rear

Rear-Cold

Rear-Hot

Rear

Air Correction Air Screws

Float Level Other

Tire Pressure Front-Cold

Front-Hot

Ti re Mileage: ront

Je t t ingMains Pi lo t

S l ideeedle

Gasoline ype

Gas/Oi lRat io

l g n i t i o n i m i n g

Spark Plug Heat RangeCam Timing: n take Exhaus t

Exhaus tValve Adjus tment : n take

Gear ingCountershaft

Shock DampeningFront-Com pression Rebound

Spring Settings

Rear Sprocket Overa l lRat io

Rear-Compression Rebound

Rear-Pre-LoadFronr- Pre-Load

Lap TimesPractice RacesPos i t ion ach

Poin ts Earned

L ap

Prize Money Won

Comments


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Rider Checklist

1 Oal at Proper LavelA . E n g r n eB.Transmrss ionC . C h a r nD. -orks

2 Wheels Are In Line

3 . Forks Don ' t Bind

4 Chain Adjusted

5. Tire Pressures Are CorrectA. Cold Pressures ront RearB. Hot Pressures Front Rear-

6. Steering Head Bearings Tight

7. Front Axle Cap Bolts Tight

8. Axles Tight

9. Wheels Are Balanced

1O. Controls Are Comfortable and Usable

1 1 Fork Travel Correct(Forks houldnot bot tom out or top out )

12. Shock Travel Gorrect(Shocks hould not bottom ou t excessrvely ut should use most of th e shockt rave l .

l3 Throttle Operates Smoothly

(Doesn ' t t rck , o excessrve ree play. )14 . Brakes Work Wel l

A . Pads re making good contac t n d isc .B. Pads re not brnding i sc .C . Enough ad mater ra l .

I 5 . Ti res Have Enough RubberA. Unevenly orn or s tepped rres an cause handl ing i ff icu l t ies .B. Old ac ing i res dry out and become greasyC. Race i res work bes t when hey have . ;us t een scrubbed n and have plenty

of rubber.

Enough Fuel

Master Link in Place(Master rnkshould e safe ty wired unless t ts an endless harn . )

Someone to Record lap Times

Most of these tems re not h ings hat a technica l nspec tor ooks a t They arei tems ha t d i rec t ly ffec t our abi l i ty o put your equtpment o use as a racer.They ensure ha t you can make taround he rack wi thout malor mrshaps(enough uel ,e tc . )

1 6

1 7

1 8


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(Use hese and makecopies or your notes . )

Race Day Record @Date

Track

RacingOrganiza t ion

Length {Track

Number f Turns

Weather Condi t rons

AmbientTempera ture

Eleva t ion

Classes o be Run

Ti r e sR u n :B r a n d

Comoound/Number

Ti re Pressure : ront -Cold

Front -Hot ,

Ti re Mileage: ront --- - -

Je t t ingM a i n s

Needle

Front - - - - Rear

R e a r - C o l d

Rear- Hot

Rear

Pr lo t ArrCorrec t ron - Air Screws

Sl rde - . . . - - - - . - F loa l Leve l Other

Gasol rne ype

Gas/Oi lRat ro -

l g n i t i o n i m i n g

Spark Plug Heat Range

Cam Timing. n take - - -_- Exhaus t

Valve Adlus tment : n take -- Exhaus t

G e a r i n gCountershaft Rear Sorocket Overa l l Ra t ro

Shock DampeningFront -Comoressron Rebound

Spr ing Set t ings

Rear-Compressron- ebound

Fron t - P re -Luao

Lap Times

Rear- Pre-Load

prac t ice . _ , RacesPosr t ron ach Lap

Porn t s Ea rned

PrrzeMonevWon -

Comments


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