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First road test(s) of my leathers...

  1. #1
    Bizarro Zoolander Petorius's Avatar
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    First road test(s) of my leathers...

    I did my last track day of the year on Friday with Penguin. Had a great day, probably some of my best riding ever in a few of the sessions. I'm finally getting a feel for the body position I need on my SV naked (bars, stock low pegs), and starting to dial in the lines I want to take at Loudon.

    The "highlights" of my day:
    I did my first trackday ever in July in pouring rain, and had a great day, so I was a little too confident going out for the late-morning session on Friday just after it started to rain (on Q2s). I went easy for about half a lap, then started pushing it. On lap 2 I got way too aggressive on the drive out of T2, lost the rear, and had my first encounter with the pavement. I couldnt believe how gentle it felt sliding at that speed! The bike ended up in the air fence, I ended up off the line on the outside, and we both escaped relatively unscathed. A new clutch lever and frame slider bolt later, and we were back in action.

    In the afternoon, I was working one-on-one with one of the instructors (Steve ?, great guy), alternating laps between following and taking the lead. I had a few solid laps in a row where I felt like I was really nailing the lines, and started pushing the pace a bit in front of Steve. Scott had just told me to dial back my lower body position a bit, and I was concentrating on hanging off less. It felt awkward, as I have a fear of dragging the low pegs on my bike, and I was thinking about it too much going into T3. I came in hot, got nervous about clearance, and held onto the brakes too hard and too far into the corner. The front tucked and I hit the deck very awkwardly, somehow coming to a stop face-down. This was the second-to-last session of the day, so I called it a season at that point. Damage to the bike was minimal, just broken levers and some grinding of my headlight. I'm still a little sore today, but nothing serious.

    To put a cherry on top of all this, I somehow lost my key at the end of the day. No idea how. I saw it in the bike after I had loaded everything up, pulled it out, and walked over to help somebody else load up. 10 minutes later, I couldnt remember what I had done with it. An hour later, I decided it was gone for good. That should be fun replacing, as I dont have a spare.

    Penguin instruction:
    Was awesome! The classroom sessions focused on walking through the common reference points and lines for each corner. We also looked at John Owen's photos and discussed body position, then practiced on a bike on stands. It was very helpful, although I think the body position I need for my SV naked may be slightly different than the body position for a typical sportbike with rear sets. The on-track instruction was excellent, I got plenty of time with an instructor, including at least one full session of one-on-one. I would definitely recommend the track experience to newer riders.

    Pictures:
    My girlfriend (an aspiring photographer) came along for the day, and took some very cool pics. You can see some on her blog here http://sarabawt.wordpress.com/. So far she has only posted shots of me and my buddy Mike (on the ZX6R), but I will update this if she posts more of everyone else. Next season I will ask her to take more shots of everyone else for at least a few sessions.

    I can't wait to get back out there next year! First thing on the list for the winter is rear sets (and a new key). I have decided not to get a dedicated track bike, but I will now be able to think of my current bike as a true street/track bike, and push it appropriately on the track. It has most of the hardware (emulators, shock), now it just needs some attention from GMD.

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  2. #2
    Lifer Chippertheripper's Avatar
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    Re: First road test(s) of my leathers...

    Your bp looks fairly decent. Spine in line with the plane of the bike for the most part.
    Being tall, I call that a win.

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  3. #3
    Senior Member bstnsboy's Avatar
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    Re: First road test(s) of my leathers...

    Who is the beautiful girl in the pictures after the wedding pic's? wow!

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  4. #4
    Lifer Chippertheripper's Avatar
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    Re: First road test(s) of my leathers...

    Rebecca.

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    Cliff's Cycles KTM
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  5. #5
    Get Weird! maxim_X's Avatar
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    Re: First road test(s) of my leathers...

    The position shouldn't be that different from another bike. Just be sure to be comfortable and relaxed, follow with your head and let the rest of your body come inline behind it. Did you practice not blipping on downshifts?

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  6. #6
    Bizarro Zoolander Petorius's Avatar
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    Re: First road test(s) of my leathers...

    Quote Originally Posted by bstnsboy View Post
    Who is the beautiful girl in the pictures after the wedding pic's? wow!
    Highest bidder gets her contact info. Ready, go!

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  7. #7
    Bizarro Zoolander Petorius's Avatar
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    Re: First road test(s) of my leathers...

    Quote Originally Posted by maxim_X View Post
    The position shouldn't be that different from another bike. Just be sure to be comfortable and relaxed, follow with your head and let the rest of your body come inline behind it. Did you practice not blipping on downshifts?
    I was doing both throughout the day, still not sure I'm sold. Blipping in the T3 shoot definitely contributed to my crash though.

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  8. #8
    Lifer
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    Re: First road test(s) of my leathers...

    Sorry to hear about the down. Upside is that what everyone says about these SVs seems to be true; they crash pretty well.

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    Quote Originally Posted by maxim_X View Post
    Did you practice not blipping on downshifts?
    Wait.. whut? NOT blipping?! Someone drop a knowledge smack down on me here. I thought you were supposed to blip. Not upset the chassis, all that.

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    Last edited by nhbubba; 10-06-13 at 08:16 PM.

  9. #9
    Bizarro Zoolander Petorius's Avatar
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    Re: First road test(s) of my leathers...

    Quote Originally Posted by nhbubba View Post
    Wait.. whut? NOT blipping?! Someone drop a knowledge smack down on me here. I thought you were supposed to blip. Not upset the chassis, all that.
    The idea is that you get a larger benefit from the attention you save not blipping than from the chassis-settling effect of blipping. I am torn. I find the tail wag to be terrifying, but I also find smooth blipping (especially going into T3) to be somewhat difficult, and I lose some braking force trying to do the motion right.

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  10. #10
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    Re: First road test(s) of my leathers...

    We had a good discussion on this blipping topic at the TTD day Monday. There was no unanimous agreement. It was also suggested that it can be beneficial in some corners more so than in other corners. And some corners you may not want to blip at all.

    It might help when you drop one too many gears going into turn 1, and wag the tail like you were trying to sweep the track clean for the person coming in behind you. That was a nice oh shit moment.

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  11. #11
    Get Weird! maxim_X's Avatar
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    Re: First road test(s) of my leathers...

    Yeah NOT blipping. When your hard on the brakes, setting up for a corner, hanging off, your already letting the clutch out and to add another process of operating the throttle is physically and mentally something I don't want to do. Others may disagree on the entire topic like we talked about at NYST. But, to me, a bit of wag is better than crashing by trying to blip. Also downshifting should be as late as possible without upsetting the chassis or turn-in.

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  12. #12
    Lifer jasnmar's Avatar
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    Re: First road test(s) of my leathers...

    Wait... wut? Why would we use the clutch to downshift? When did this happen?

    I get a stomp, maybe with a blip. What the hell would a clutch be used for?

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  13. #13
    Have you seen my baseball GingahNinjah's Avatar
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    Re: First road test(s) of my leathers...

    was nice meeting you on friday guy. sucks you lost the key but look forward to seeing you back out on track in the spring

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