Still drunk btw
Still drunk btw
4 nights out on the bounce - sobered up to go to work today for a bit then back on the sauce again.
Was actually planning on taking the bike today to work but ended up having to give one of my guys a lift. Shame really given the traffic on way home
Much earlier in the thread, there was a question about running wide through corners.
Here's a vid showing a classic "too early apex" mistake. Its a double bend and he hits the apex of the first half very early instead of apexing 2/3rd of the way round the second half of the double bend.
We all make mistakes and he was unlucky to find a car coming the other way but lucky to get away with just a wrecked bike.
What he should have done having made the apexing mistake is lean further and stay on his side of the road as he was nowhere near max lean angle. Having found himself well on the wrong side of the road, he made a good choice to dive down the bank rather than hit the oncoming car head on. For posting the vid., he's a dickhead. The Police will go after him for dangerous driving, I reckon as he's supplied them with all the evidence.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-26848603
I thought he hit the front brakes causing the bike to stand up?
You can't see the brake lever He apexes at 7 seconds into the vid. He should be apexing at around 9 secs by which time he is already crossing the white line. The bike does seem to sit up a bit at around 9 secs but he's never going to make the corner by then anyway as he should be at the white line at 7 secs, moving to the inside between 7 secs and 9 secs and he's moving in the opposite direction i.e. drifting out to the middle.
Having clipped the apex at 7 secs, he might have been ok if he had drifted out until 8 secs then tightened his line but he doesn't. He holds close to the apex until 8 secs so he is right on the inside as the second part of the corner tightens.
Try watching it again imagining what it would look like if he clipped at 7, drifted out as the first part of the corner opens out then tightened his line for a second apex at 9 secs. See it ?
Ah the cat n fiddle,
fantastic ride, can bite bad if you don't watch what you're doing
He would have made the bend no bother TBH, had he have been wider at the start and not target fixated on the car and aimed towards it - I don't think the bail out was at all planned really
If you look at the rest of his Youtube videos:
Yes really, Mr 160mph....
You'll see his line into left - handers is extremely poor in most circumstances. This time he just wasn't lucky enough, or was in too hot for once, to get away with it.
I know this because I have exactly the same block on left hand late apexing and can't shift it - but at least I know not to barrel into left handers being a nob
on corners: if a right hander, I move on the left hand part of the road and if going left i move over close to the lines this allows maximum visibility to me, is this the right thing to do? I am not as good going left either, always wonder if its because we go right more having roundabouts etc that go to the right!
Road position is different to track position.
On the road, for safety, you want to position yourself to have the best possible view and the most flexibility to change your line in the event of something appearing or the line tightening etc.
On the track, you want the position that will allow you to brake latest, carry most corner speed and accelerate earliest. In a race, you might compromise this to stop someone overtaking.
On the road, for a right hander you will feel like you have a lot more room to lean off and you will start the corner close to the gutter and move as far as you are comfortable with towards the middle of the road.
On a left hander, you have to get close to oncoming traffic on the approach to the corner and this feels more dangerous so is counter intuitive. The tendency is to get further onto your own side of the road as soon as possible as this "feels" less dangerous. The result is that you reduce your view of the road ahead and end up apexing early and consequently having to lean hard to stay at the apex for longer or drift out possibly onto the opposing carriageway.
On a lefthander it also feels harder to hold an apex as your head is close to a verge or hedge AND your brain tells you its dangerous as you can't see what's going on ahead. lol.
My advice would be to position yourself so you have 2/3rd of your lane to the left of you and practice lefthanders by moving from 2/3rds to the middle of your lane then back out to the 2/3rd mark. Aim to get the bike to the middle by 2/3rd of the way round the corner. Once you get used to that, try three quarters of the way out moving in to one quarter then out to three quarters again.
Once you've sussed that, practice chasing the vanishing point. This is where you constantly monitor the point at which the righthand side of the verge disappears behind the lefthand side of the verge. If the point is coming towards you, the bend is tightening. If it is going away from you, the bend is opening out.
Once you can do this, its simple to work out when to apex, how long to hold the apex and when to tighten your line and you can constantly adjust your lean angle to make sure you are always where you want to be on the road.
Its a lot easier to explain with a piece of paper and a pencil
Found this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkAtWiRq8Q0
Last edited by Jonny Wilkinson; 03-04-2014 at 10:56.
It makes sense, and the vid is great aswell.
Sure he says that's one of his pupils so assume he runs a training centre
Roadcraft school of motorcycling in Nottingham. He's intelligible because he's got a proper accent