Gymkhana

[Harvey Krumpet]

Great vids GISdood & liquid-ice. I'm going to have to travel 100's of kmh's to enter a comp if one gets organised. Living at the edge of the world has it's price. They high light the difference between big bikes & little bikes IMHO, it's like watching myself on the two bikes.

GISdood, I started this when my girlfriend cocked a leg over a bike for the first time, basic handling 101. We enjoyed it that much that we have continued, I've also realised it has improved my general riding immensely. After a recent ride with our instructor he commented on the high standard of Jasmins riding for a novice. She has had very little open road time so it's directly attributable to the cones. I keep getting reminded when I watch other bike sports that the skills we use at 20 kmh are the same as those 200 kmh. Can't be a bad thing.

[CaptainSWJR]

One thing I noticed the other day was that I was faster if I shifted my weight before the turn.

I'm riding the bike on the straight slightly leaned over with my weight already shifted. When I get into the turn, the bike goes from mildly leaning one way to mildly leaning into the turn with my fat ass hanging off the side.

It's sort of necessary on my part because my bike will scrape floorboards otherwise. It's not exactly designed to cut corners...

Those floor boards start draggin sooner than you'd think.

[Harvey Krumpet]

That's exactly what Stoner & Rossi etc do, same reason too. Smoother more stable turn in, better control & maximising ground clearance for more speed.
Stick a 46 on the side of the bike!

[Motogymkhanaman]

We try and keep our backside firmly in the seat and use just the upper body (along with its very heavy head) to change the position of the combined C of G. There usually isn't enough time during an attack to move any part of the lower body.

[Vulfy]

Got tired of GP8 last session, so was trying to knee drag..... no knee dragging, but no more chicken strips on rear either now. I was close though. A few more practices and some brass balls, and I should be able to drag it. Haha

Also christened DRZ with a small drop. Handled it like a champ !

GISdood glad you and others find this thread useful and entertaining. Nice video

[TheWall]

Originally Posted by Vulfy

Got tired of GP8 last session, so was trying to knee drag..... no knee dragging, but no more chicken strips on rear either now. I was close though.

On a DRZ?!?! That's impressive! You've probably got more ground clearance than my Wee-Strom, and the group-think on the V-Strom forum that I also frequent is that you've really got to have no fear (or else you're body position is all screwed up) to touch a knee on the Strom.

I've dragged my pegs in the corners on the street a handful of times, but I've yet to touch a knee...which is a good thing since even my leathers don't have knee pucks like the real sport-bike guys wear :)

[Harvey Krumpet]

Originally Posted by Vulfy

Got tired of GP8 last session, so was trying to knee drag..... no knee dragging, but no more chicken strips on rear either now. I was close though. A few more practices and some brass balls, and I should be able to drag it. Haha

Also christened DRZ with a small drop. Handled it like a champ !

GISdood glad you and others find this thread useful and entertaining. Nice video

No,no, no! I haven't got my eights sorted yet!

While I think on. As per my posts above, is using the front brake to achieve full lock a viable / correct technique or a recipe for disaster? It works a treat but excuse the pun, I can see a downside..

[TheWall]

Originally Posted by Harvey Krumpet

...is using the front brake to achieve full lock a viable / correct technique or a recipe for disaster? It works a treat but excuse the pun, I can see a downside..

There's some good food for thought in this post (as well as some of the follow-up comments) about braking in a turn. It's directed more at road/track riders than gymkhana riders, but the bike doesn't know if you are on the street, on a track or on a gymkhana course :) I've been playing with braking in turns during my daily commute, but very, very tentatively

[Harvey Krumpet]

Originally Posted by TheWall

There's some good food for thought in this post (as well as some of the follow-up comments) about braking in a turn. It's directed more at road/track riders than gymkhana riders, but the bike doesn't know if you are on the street, on a track or on a gymkhana course :) I've been playing with braking in turns during my daily commute, but very, very tentatively

I did some advanced tuition a wee while ago & one of the things we practiced was braking in a curve. Once we had the technique down it was quite amazing how hard you can brake. Part of it was counter, counter steering to stop the bike tightening it's curve & enabling us to change line in the corner while braking. The session was aimed at avoiding Mr & Mrs Myopia or their dog while road riding.
Cheers for the link.

[Harvey Krumpet]

This needs to be translated, I think it may be a bit about technique & bike set up before the actual Gymkhana. Vulfy is the 3rd or 4th rider up, yellow DR

[tokyoklahoma]

I've been reading this thread since the beginning, and have been practicing with my wife since her MSF-BRC in the local lot.

I know the skills I learned autocrossing in the early '80s have kept me alive during some "interesting" moments driving, so I'm sure GK skills will do the same on the bikes.

One question, I have spent most of my life trying to prevent getting my balls split, so how do you halve a tennis ball?

[CaptainSWJR]

Originally Posted by tokyoklahoma

I've been reading this thread since the beginning, and have been practicing with my wife since her MSF-BRC in the local lot.

I know the skills I learned autocrossing in the early '80s have kept me alive during some "interesting" moments driving, so I'm sure GK skills will do the same on the bikes.

One question, I have spent most of my life trying to prevent getting my balls split, so how do you halve a tennis ball?

Draw line, puncture, cut away from fingers.

[tokyoklahoma]

That, I can do!

When we first went to the lot, and I tried to figure-eight, U-turn etc. I was frustrated as to why it was so difficult for me.
Then I realized, I had the habit of standing on my pegs while going slow, with my old dual sport. Doing the same maneuvers sitting down was "getting in my head".
After an hour of practice, I was hitting the stops on right turns, but still need to work on my lefts.
Next time I'll add some more speed too.

[Motogymkhanaman]

Clamp hacksaw frame into a vice with the blade uppermost. Draw the tennis ball along the blade a few times and it will be beautifully cut in half. Keep your fingers out of the way or better still, wear those old bike gloves you meant to throw away years ago.

[CaptainSWJR]

Originally Posted by Motogymkhanaman

Clamp hacksaw frame into a vice with the blade uppermost. Draw the tennis ball along the blade a few times and it will be beautifully cut in half. Keep your fingers out of the way or better still, wear those old bike gloves you meant to throw away years ago.

I started to flame you for this. Then I realized I'd be flaming you for your tennis ball cutting technique in a thread dedicated to riding around in parking lots slow on motorcycles.