Gymkhana

[ohgood]

Originally Posted by TheWall

That video looks a lot like what Dzen was describing here. Notice how they start the turn well away from the cone, and are just about brushing the cone with their hips at the end of the turn? There's something I can shoot for...next spring

Ok, i see. I think were already doing that, jjust much uglier and notchy. We had a lot of overruns last weekend due to the surfaced breaking down and cold tires, cold ground. Not making excuses at all, just noticed the tires never bit like before. Mark and i were almost sub :30's but needed something to get there without a slide through the stop box. I think mark will slash :28 if he gears the bike (ninja500) way low so he doesnt need the clutch to make a run. His $400 'turd' is fast, nimble, and still using the stock clipns with bt45s for tires. YIKES! Hes going to kill when the bike is more properly setup.

I think we had the exact same tire profile too, for anyone keeping up ;-)

[Motogymkhanaman]

Maybe you should join forces with these guys?

http://vimeo.com/12067348

[ohgood]

Originally Posted by Motogymkhanaman

Maybe you should join forces with these guys?

http://vimeo.com/12067348

What theyre doing is great, but bike and car courses are too different. Cars cant navigate a bike course without drifting entire thing... I sure dont want to be out there while they are drifting.

[Motogymkhanaman]

Ahh, didn't mean on the same course as that would be a bit traumatic. What I meant was that here was an organisation and infrastructure that has the same ethos as Moto Gymkhana and which is aimed at a very similar kind of person. Maybe you could organise a Moto Gymkhana course next to their car course, from the videos they seem to have an awful lot of spare space.

[TheWall]

Originally Posted by ohgood

...with bt45s for tires. YIKES! ...I think we had the exact same tire profile too, for anyone keeping up ;-)

I see you're running racing slicks

I was very impressed with the BT45s when I put them on my wife's CB750A. If they were available in the right size for my XS750, I'd put them on that bike in a heartbeat. Of course, *any* modern tire would be an improvement over the 1977 tires that were on her bike (and my XS project) when we bought it!

[Harvey Krumpet]

Well, I finally did it. Full lock, full lean. Followed a small fraction of a second later by a wee lie down.

I ran out of front tire, they are not matching profiles so no chicken strips on the front for ages now & no way of getting the rear to the limit. This is on the wee DT, now sporting slightly bent bars to match my slightly grazed knee (ATGATT?)

I didn't fall far & it was instantaneous. I was practicing my fig 8's through the 1 mtr gate. Now, a few things have popped up as a consequence, when I tumbled I was fairly neutral on the bike, leaning with it rather than leaning out My turns were not tight enough leaning out & I guess I fell back into old habits. Another thing that became apparent, going from lock to lock how do you counter steer when your at the limit of lock to tighten the turn? It's doable but really unnatural, i think that's why I ended up leaning in, counter steering tightened the turn but keeping my weight outside made it very difficult. Also, trying to do a head snap as the bike was dropping into the turn caused me to go in the wrong direction I opened my radius immensely. Bizarre.
Admittedly my head space was crap & I was being aggressive, managed to scrape my boots doing full lock 360's, forcing the bike down & around to the point the outside toe was hard on the road through a whole rotation. Then I went too far.
I also noticed my speed in the exercise was consistently 18 - 19 kmh.
My conclusions.....? Don't practice when your shitty, at least don't push it. Focus on the basic techniques & most of all.... apply them smoothly, fluidly, silkily.

Oh, their is braking & their is acceleration, don't spin round in circles on a neutral throttle.

I'm even more awed by the pro's, I was really trying!!!!!!!!!!

[Harvey Krumpet]

Originally Posted by TheWall

I see you're running racing slicks

I was very impressed with the BT45s when I put them on my wife's CB750A. If they were available in the right size for my XS750, I'd put them on that bike in a heartbeat. Of course, *any* modern tire would be an improvement over the 1977 tires that were on her bike (and my XS project) when we bought it!

One of the best value tires going, they don't suit all bikes, my old 750 kwaka would tram line horribly & tank slap at high speed when they were half worn, but they never let go wet or dry. My fav on the TDM was 021's.
A mate who does eye watering mileages on a Honda Revere swears by BT 45's, he embarrasses your average sprot bike rider too

[Motogymkhanaman]

Our friends in Thailand getting in some serious GP8 practice.

http://youtu.be/CPJemLb-aF8

[Motogymkhanaman]

Playing over the weekend at the opening of the new Touratech showroom in South Wales. It's amazing what you can do in a small space.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0YHe...90rHk0bMklyOvQ

[ohgood]

Originally Posted by Motogymkhanaman

Our friends in Thailand getting in some serious GP8 practice.

http://youtu.be/CPJemLb-aF8

Man, I'm going to have to try it on my ms3 more.... If folks are getting mid 30's on theirs.

I wasn't slamming the bt45 earlier, looking back it didn't sound right. That's a great long wearing tire, cheap, and warms up nicely. Hoping to find an extra set of wheels for my drzand put bt45s on it actually. They'll stick much better than the "race slicks" (lol) I usd last weekend.

[Motogymkhanaman]

How do you counter-steer at full lock? Simple, by adding brake to capsize the bike further and tighten the turn or adding power to recover the bike to a lesser bank angle and hence widen the turn. When I said it was simple, I was joking.

[TheWall]

Originally Posted by Motogymkhanaman

How do you counter-steer at full lock? Simple, by adding brake to capsize the bike further and tighten the turn or adding power to recover the bike to a lesser bank angle and hence widen the turn. When I said it was simple, I was joking.

Well, the THEORY sounds simple enough, but teaching the muscles to do it properly...not so much But hey, if it was easy, it wouldn't be nearly as fun or worthwhile, would it?

By the way, glad it was just a few scrapes Harvey! Kudos for pushing the limits -- I've still got too much afraidium* in my spine to push that hard yet!

*It's a rare metallic element, chemical symbol "AF", that is yellow and tastes like chicken (with apologies to Robin Williams)

[Harvey Krumpet]

Originally Posted by TheWall

Well, the THEORY sounds simple enough, but teaching the muscles to do it properly...not so much But hey, if it was easy, it wouldn't be nearly as fun or worthwhile, would it?

By the way, glad it was just a few scrapes Harvey! Kudos for pushing the limits -- I've still got too much afraidium* in my spine to push that hard yet!

*It's a rare metallic element, chemical symbol "AF", that is yellow and tastes like chicken (with apologies to Robin Williams)

Bang on. I was trying soooo hard but it was like putting on a pair of pants two sizes to small, for every bit I got in another bit popped out. Geez I was mad! Even madder when I bit the bitumen.
Bloody good lean, though!!

[Vulfy]

Back from the storm...

ohgood: do you have any videos of you and your friends riding? really would like to see your progress to a 30 second GP8.

Harvey: glad you and bike are in working condition. Good thing you are pushing though.

AAAGH!!! NYC is in a bit of a stand still. Haven't been to work this entire week, but the deadlines remain the same. Only got phone and internet back yesterday. Good thing we had electricity throughout the whole ordeal. NYC is slowly getting back on its feet though.

I really want to get out there and ride again.

[RxZ]

I have BT45 tires on my Ninja 500 as well, and in the 3 years I have run them I have no reason to switch to anything else. That said, I have not tried out what you guys are doing, but I have no doubt they would be fine if I did.

Originally Posted by ohgood

Ok, i see. I think were already doing that, jjust much uglier and notchy. We had a lot of overruns last weekend due to the surfaced breaking down and cold tires, cold ground. Not making excuses at all, just noticed the tires never bit like before. Mark and i were almost sub :30's but needed something to get there without a slide through the stop box. I think mark will slash :28 if he gears the bike (ninja500) way low so he doesnt need the clutch to make a run. His $400 'turd' is fast, nimble, and still using the stock clipns with bt45s for tires. YIKES! Hes going to kill when the bike is more properly setup.

Originally Posted by Harvey Krumpet

One of the best value tires going, they don't suit all bikes, my old 750 kwaka would tram line horribly & tank slap at high speed when they were half worn, but they never let go wet or dry. My fav on the TDM was 021's.
A mate who does eye watering mileages on a Honda Revere swears by BT 45's, he embarrasses your average sprot bike rider too