Gymkhana

"I filmed my own runs here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIthyL7uYq4
I'm hovering in 39-40 second range."

Vulfy, few years back, I too bumped into “Ride like a Pro” DVD, and soon, was spinning fig8 like a maniac. Cheesy it is, so I gave it to my riding buddy and he stopped dragging and walking his bike at low speed maneuvers. <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <woNotOptimizeForBrowser/> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]-->

Now, just watched your fig8 video and if I can be any help you need to focus on your vision …look over and far behind your shoulder and not at the cones or in between, you are not looking far enough,
say the bike is heading North, the very moment you arrive at your turning point, your head and most importantly your eyes should be facing South.
[FONT=&quot]But you need to set your turning point, before you get there; you should know where it is with your eyes closed! Lee Parks has a nice little trick for this; we should get together for a little practice. I need some exercise myself, makes a HUGE difference! Thanks for the inspiration.
BTW, I'm in Brooklyn
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Yes, I do notice that I'm not turning my head enough. Not to make excuses, but a lot of stuff is going on at the same time in those turns, even though that they look pretty tame on the video. But yes, I'm getting same feedback from different sources, about head turns. Thanks.

This is the latest video. A bit more head snap, and completely different line into the cone. Also was practicing with applying more front brake to scrub speed faster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv7Unuvvh-o

There is a very interesting comment over at amgrass forums, about turning the bike on its rear wheel. I'm definitely trying that out in the next session.

I'm definitely interested in practice sessions, I'll send you a PM with details.

There is a bit more lively discussion on Gymkhana going on over at amgrass.com
Good info and feedback there, if you are interested.
I'll still keep this thread going with whatever info I or whoever else can provide.

I've roped the girls into doing some practice this weekend if the weather is clement & intend videoing it for them & myself to see areas that need practice. Head turning is a biggie...
If allowed, I will share. Last weekend we went mud plugging so they are feeling very confident, unlike myself.

I have 2 DVD's about offroad riding and it helps a lot.
I'm interested in the “Ride like a Pro” DVD.

Is there other good learning materials available that help with this?

None that I know of, unfortunately.
The closest is probably Ride Like a Pro for super slow maneuvers and just handling the bike overall, and Lee Park's Book and his training (haven't taken the class yet).
For now the best source are the forums. One of the founders of UK Gymkhana organization mentioned that they are producing a book on Gymkhana, but when it will be ready or what exactly it will included in it, I don't know.
They do seem to be very capable riders, with connections over at Japan, so their info should be coming straight from the source.

For now, YouTube, forums and practice, lots of practice. Questions raise up, post them here. At this point, a few people are practicing this, so somebody will probably respond with their experience and what helped them.

It looks like I'm starting a Northern Nevada/Northern California chapter of AMGRASS. Just waiting on the paperwork to make it official.

I'm now looking for a good place to get cheap 12" orange cones. I have a friend in construction who may be able to help but he's out of town til the weekend. A timing system is about $700 (not bad at all considering it includes the display). So then just need some folding tables, clipboards, and copies of membership forms. And then most importantly, someplace to hold events (and insurance).

I've been posting this to the Northern Nevada ADV Google Group if anybody nearby wants to join (link in my sig).

Rob

I picked up a set of these. Can't beat the price and they seem like they'll work well enough.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002MBCETK/ref=pe_175190_21431760_A1_cs_sce_3p_dp_1

I like those, and for $35 I think they're worth picking up a set (or two). But the problem is that Reno has really nasty winds that tend to blow through after lunchtime. They can gust upwards of 25 mph and those little discs would just blow around. I think we'll need real cones for it to really work, but I do like those little ones to use as "non-penalty" markers.

I'm thinking of taking the route of doing courses more like the police competition ones, but with not quite as many cones. And boxing the cones with gypsum like they do in autocross. It seems simpler than having to have a bunch of cones in different colors and having people have to remember that one color means go this way, another color means go the other way, and stripes on them mean other stuff. Just seems darn confusing.

Rob

I hope that those don't break when you ride over them, anyone tried it already?

I haven't driven over them, but they're thin flexible plastic with lots of give. Not brittle in warm weather, at least.

I was curious so I tried stepping on them and bending them. They'll crease if you bend them sharply but pretty much retain their shape.

edit: and you probably don't want to drive over them. I can imagine the front tire sliding out from under you if you turned over them, like a flattened pop can or any other slick debris.

I prefer the low cones since I feel I can get closer to them and maintain a better line without worrying about hooking the cone. There is a fair point to be made that they are more dangerous than the tall cones if you run over them, and you could make the argument that navigating tall cones without knocking them over is a better standard of skill. Since I'm not going pro or anything, I prefer choosing a line around a low cone and just making sure I don't put my contact patch right on top of it.

I know the Euro standard cone size is 45 cm (or about 18"). I still prefer the 12" due to lower cost, lower height, lower weight, but still heavy enough to not blow over easily. And like MotoMind said, you can lean farther without fear of hooking them. I guess I'll wait and see if AMGRASS requires 18's or if we can use 12's.

Rob

Latest practice session. 8's 8's and more 8's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dSYiWj1VLcY

Lots of questions about cones........
Currently we have about 8 types of cones, and I can say one thing - DO NOT BUY PLASTIC CONES

They are made like crap, not much better than a Solo cup, and almost have no value - and most imprtantly they are very dangerous. Cheaping out? get some tennis balls. About as cheap and solid as you can go.(Used balls anyway)

PVC - the way to go, size matters but get what you can afford - we are using the 18" standard orange cone at AMGRASS

Speaking of AMGRASS, we had a meltdown and accidentally deleted most of our members, so if you cant login, please sign up for another account with the old username, and PM if you have any issues - sorry for the inconvenience.

Yep looks like 18" is the standard, so that's what I'll order. Upside is that's the same size they use in autocross, so if I ever wanted to sell them (or switch to autox events), I'll already have the correct equipment.

Dredman... if you want help running the forum or anything like that, let me know. I used to run about a dozen different powersports-related forums. Got out of 'em when I grew bored of ATVs and haven't seen the need to start any new ones lately. :)

Rob

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4B9L5XkPr0A&feature=endscreen

:huh

It's quite amazing. I was looking really hard for rear braking, gear change etc but saw little if anything of either. I can't believe he is controlling speed round the cones just on the throttle, or using front brake. Scary.... must watch again.

First time I find a movie of Gymkhana with the same bike as mine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2ym7aJ3Z14

Nice and simpel

I'd do this in Indy in a minute if we could get it organized! I think it'd really help people (including me ) learn how to better control a bike and be a safer rider. My only concern is how to get started. I'm not sure where we could find a spot to practice.

Any empty parking lot with decent pavement would do. If you haven't done anything like this before, you don't need a big space to start running simple drills such as figure 8's. As simple as they sound, 8's are quite addictive especially once you are trying to improve your own time or your friend's.

My latest run:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weQIyTVEfvQ

10 foot start/end box, 10 feet between box and first "cone", 40 feet between "cones".
41 second for 5 laps.



Beat that, and you are on your way to addiction