startriding.com archives
The $$$ brakes on Valentino Rossi's 2006 Yamaha M1
During my last ride I was able to practice braking on a deserted strip of desert road. It's something I don't practice often enough, but after re-reading Sport Riding Techniques by Nick Ienatsch I was reminded how important it is. I did multiple passes from two speeds; 50 MPH and 80 MPH (I picked 80 MPH because that's a speed I often find myself going on the freeway).
On my first 50 MPH pass I was able to get the bike stopped in a decent distance. After I stopped the bike, I turned around and looked at the distance between me and my braking marker. I thought to myself, "Hey that isn't too bad." On my first 80 MPH pass, it seemed like an eternity before I got the bike stopped even though I was pressing the bike to the limit. After I stopped the bike this time, I turned around and looked at my braking marker again and thought to myself, "Damn... that is really far away."
It was a stark reminder that braking distances increase on a steepening curve in relation to speed. In other words, the stopping distance from 80 MPH is not simply twice the stopping distance from 40 MPH - it's a lot more. To illustrate, here are stopping distances for the 2006 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 as tested by Road & Track magazine:
October 2005
60-0 113.0 feet
80-0 196.0 feet
December 2005
60-0 109.0 feet
80-0 197.0 feet
That extra 20 MPH of speed added 83 and 88 feet, respectively, to the 60-0 braking distances. Keep that in mind next time you're barreling down the road, in your car or on your bike.
Labels: brakes, motorcycle
¶ 9:26 PM 0 comments
For those of you who've never done a trackday, they run a good trackday school at no extra cost. I highly recommend it as a first trackday for anyone who feels they're ready for the challenge of the track. Most trackday organizers will break up the riders into 3 groups (novice / intermediate / advanced), but Cal-Sportbike uses only 2 groups so everyone can get more riding time in.
Good ol' turn 4 Transportation was no gimme this time either. I had to borrow a friend's car (hers is set up for towing) and rent a U-Haul trailer. I was also hauling another friend's bike, so I had to get a larger trailer with enough room. I rented the 5x9 ramp trailer from U-Haul, which is excellent for hauling bikes. It has an easy ramp for loading/unloading and tie-down loops at all 4 corners.
the bikes loaded in the trailer at 5:30 am- hook up the trailer to my car
- drive to where my bike is stored and load it
- drive to my friend's place and pick him up / load his bike
- drive 90 miles from my friend's place to Willow Springs at 55 mph (trailer laws)
Shockingly we had enough time to stop at Mickey D's for breakfast and still made it there in time. Our other two friends arrived a little later and we set up camp in the parking lot. The weather was perfect. We finished taping up our bikes, got them through inspection and went to the rider's meeting.
Our pit area
Finally it was time to get on the track. This was my first time riding in the fast group so I was a little curious about the speeds. To my relief I was able to hold my own but there were definitely a few really fast riders. One of those riders was Jason Curtis, AMA Superbike racer. He was insanely fast around the track and smoked me repeatedly. He hosted a Q & A session late in the morning, which I have to say was really helpful in giving me a few things to work on. More specifically, his comments about his braking points and how far into the specific turns he was trail braking really gave me something to measure against. I worked on trail braking the rest of the afternoon and really made some good progress.
Jason Curtis, AMA Superbike racer, about to spank me
By the end of the day I felt like I had improved quite a bit on the big Willow track. I was definitely braking later, deeper and smoother, and I definitely picked up a lot of speed in a couple of areas of the track that gave me a hard time before. At the very end of the day I rode my friend's Suzuki SV1000 for a few laps to capture some onboard video (she's got a really cool little video camera hooked up to the nose of the bike). I eased up to make sure I didn't crash her bike, so those of you familiar w/ Willow Springs will notice I'm downshifting and braking a little early in places. That was really fun though. :) Enjoy the video, and some more pics are below.
Labels: motorcycle, trackday, willow springs
¶ 11:23 PM 1 comments
I do a lot of solo rides on my R6 to unwind, rarely less than 100 miles even though a supersport 600 is one of the least comfortable rides around. Yesterday was one of those days that required a lot of unwinding, so I hopped on the bike and just started heading north without any real destination in mind. The weather was good and I was looking forward to the fresh air.
Somehow I ended up meandering through some of so cal's back country roads to Ojai. I stopped for lunch and by the time I was through, it was about 2:30. It's been chilly around here lately and it rained a few days earlier, so I wasn't sure if hitting the canyons was such a great idea. However highway 150 on the way up to Ojai was pretty clean, so even w/ the chilled air and descending sun I decided to jump on my 2nd favorite motorcycle road, Highway 33 north of Ojai.
My "what the hell" attitude was rewarded by excellent conditions for this time of year. Except for a couple of spots, the road was in superb shape and debris-free. There wasn't a single cloud in the sky nor any wind. There was hardly any traffic at all and I was free to soak up all the super fun turns and twists that 33 has to offer. The weather was so clear that I could easily see the ocean from certain view points.
Highway 33 ranks so high on my list for many reasons. The good parts are never that crowded. The road is mostly in terrific shape. It's a long ride. The scenery is beautiful (it's in the Los Padres National Forest). Ojai's a great staging point. There's only one thing I don't like -- the long ride home on the 101 freeway.
Labels: highway 33, motorcycle, ojai
¶ 11:53 AM 1 comments
