Touch Points

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Published: Friday, 08 May 2015 06:34

Written by Super User

The Touch Points

Given how badly we handle compared to the bike.  Do I need to remind you of the image most of us have seen when a bike gets stable AFTER the rider falls off :-).  Strategies for controlling our movements and making sure we are as stable as possible are a good thing.

Touch points are exactly this.  It’s not some sort of Friday night pervert scoring system.

When you are sitting on a bike, riding down the road you actually do need to hold onto it or you would fall off.   So somewhere along the way we need to hold on without using the controls to hold onto and therefore doing control inputs that we shouldn’t be doing.

When we are hanging off the side in a corner this becomes even more important.  Again we don’t want to be hanging onto the bars and swaying around on the pegs or swinging back and forth on the bike.

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The Tire Pressure Dilemma

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Published: Friday, 08 May 2015 19:06

Written by Super User

The Tire Pressure Dilemma

An often asked question is “what tire pressure should I be running”. The answer of course like so many things to do with motorcycling is not as simple as 36/41!!

The answer depends on what tires your running, what bike you’re running and in what way you’re intending to run. On the race track we run lower pressures, but why? On larger bikes you tend to run higher pressures. How low can you go? What are the other effects of having a tire pressure too high or low?

So let’s break this down into sections and then you might start to get a handle on each bit one at a time.

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RoadCraft - The lines

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Published: Friday, 08 May 2015 09:17

Written by Super User

Road Craft

Basic handling skills are an essential ingredient to all riding.  But there is a lot more you need to know to ride.  The environment you are riding in plays so much in how you should be riding, both to be safe and also to be fast.

The road is one of the most challenging.  For two very obvious reasons, firstly there are lots of others out there also trying to be safe and fast and there is so much of it you never know what’s around the next corner or where the damn thing goes really.

Hopefully this next section will help out a lot with the decisions and skills you need to be a confident and safe road rider.

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RoadCraft - Vision

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Published: Friday, 08 May 2015 09:20

Written by Super User

Vision

, what a wonderful gift.  I never know what to be thankful of the most a working set of eyes or all the girls out there that make me appreciate them!!

But honestly, when it comes to motorcycling, your eyes are your most powerful tool and still the most neglected ones. 

 “how fast would you be going if you were blindfolded?”

A lot of fast track riders, ride without using their eyes particularly well, they run from near point to near point, never using their eyes with the skills to open their options.  You can see this on the road when they are no longer fast, they are Pattern perfectors.  They run into the same problems when you start to race because now the world and their patterns are changing and they have to be able to adapt to get past the rider in front or just because the rider in front is now dictating when they brake, accelerate and corner to some degree.

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