Gymkhana

[TheWall]

Originally Posted by Harvey Krumpet

A side effect of this is for the first time in 30 odd years I'm happy with the front right on the point of locking & actually know what it feels & sounds like. Amazing thing we are doing.

Indeed! It's *HARD* to learn how to push a bike to -- but not over -- the limit, but it wouldn't be nearly as rewarding if it was easy.

Originally Posted by Vulfy

Of course I have another 5 seconds to go, to actually have ANY authority on explaining things....

ROFL -- that puts you about 35 seconds ahead of me!

[Harvey Krumpet]

Originally Posted by Vulfy

DRZ has a very harsh kick when opening throttle from closed or almost closed, so I have to keep up the RPMs to avoid that surge. Triumph is a bit smoother in that regard, but it feels lazier coming out of the turn. I found that the best times I achieved were on open throttle through the turn (not fully open, but not closed either) on both bikes, and just controlling speed with brakes. That way its a lot smoother transition into the turn and out of it, while still keeping the speed through the turn.

Of course I have another 5 seconds to go, to actually have ANY authority on explaining things....

The TDM is abrupt on & off the throttle and I'm trying to do the same thing, keep the revs up & use the back brake. I'm not smooth with the brake, I release to early & the bike lunges wide or I realise that as I'm accelerating I'm still standing on the brake. Gah! The DT is great, you can let the revs fall to nothing, feed in some gas & it just gently picks itself up. It does get light hard on the gas compared to the TDM, I should think the DRZ is the same when you give it a handful.
5 seconds......... I'm 17 secs.Should not even be posting really...

[Motogymkhanaman]

Braking techniques in Moto Gymkhana.

As most of us soon realise, the use of the brakes is way different to the methods we use either on the road or on the track. We use the brakes not only to control the speed as usual, but also to control the amount of driving force available. By now it should have become clear that when the bars are at full lock during a turn, we can no longer steer the bike in the conventional way. To overcome this problem we must be able to steer the bike by regulating the amount of power reaching the rear wheel. If we add power, centripetal force tends to pick the bike up (recover) and if we remove power, the bike tends to bank over more (capsize). At the speeds we are rotating at, the margin for error is quite small and a moments hesitation with the throttle opening could have us on our ear.

To overcome this problem, our Japanese friends determined that the best way of regulating the amount of power (driving force) reaching the rear wheel was to keep the throttle open and moderate the engine revs by applying the brakes. They then calculated an optimum amount of driving force that would be sufficient to have maximum steering whilst carrying the bike round the rotation as quickly as possible.

Imagine that your throttle instead of being a nice analogue control had a series of detents numbered zero to ten. Zero would be closed throttle and ten would be wide open. Same thing for the brakes, zero is no pedal/lever pressure and ten is maximum pedal/lever pressure. The optimum difference between the amount of throttle and the amount of brakes using this scale is two units. We can obtain two units difference in a number of ways, two of throttle and zero of brakes gives us two, but with the problems of hesitation, three of throttle and one of brake is getting better and four of throttle and two of brake is better still. For new riders the recommendation is to have as large a throttle setting and as much lever pressure as possible so long as there are two units being delivered to the rear wheel.

Sadly we don't have a series of handy detents on the throttle or brakes, so we have to work these out for ourselves. Added complications arise when we realise that the power available from the rear brake is much less than that available for the front brake.

When teaching new riders the various techniques the Japanese start them out by using the rear brake only until they have got the hang of keeping the throttle open while they do so. The rear brake will very soon fade and the brake fluid start to boil if we rely on the rear brake only so we must bring in the front brake at some point. The top tip is to initially use the front brake to augment the rear so that as we add a little front we can remove a little rear.

When using the front brake it is good advice to initially use only the middle finger on the lever otherwise it's all to easy to apply too much pressure on the lever and lock the front wheel!

As can be imagined, these crucial techniques take some learning and require a lot of practice to master, but as most of the fun in Moto Gymkhana is in the learning, getting the techniques right is a very rewarding experience.

[Vulfy]

^


PLEASE publish that motogymkhana manual already!

[Storm Shadow]

it sounds so technical to get good times,

[TheWall]

Originally Posted by Vulfy

^


PLEASE publish that motogymkhana manual already!

Seconded!

[Harvey Krumpet]

I started riding in the muck & a hangover from that was to ride with the front brake covered. I've only broken this (bad) habit in recent months. Now I have to start doing it again.

[Storm Shadow]

todays practice, the external view, dont laugh,but feed back welcome

i got the witches hats out today set up a gp8, not sure how far appart 10 meters maybe, and an off set cone weave, as well as a narrow few gates

http://youtu.be/Hk1WeDXrDgY external view

http://youtu.be/FmdjxoFO8pI internal view

[Vulfy]

" So Vulfy, hows your bike ? ", you might ask.
" Are you enjoying it? ", you might ask.
" How are those lap times? ", you might ask.

In return, I would ask "What bike?"

"Oh you know, the DRZ", you might reply.

"Oh the DRZ that got STOLEN two weeks after I got it? That DRZ?"


FUCKERS!

So I'm back on my Triumph, and a couple of grand lighter bank account.
Live and learn...

1. Insure FULLY, not just liability.
2. Chain to something, especially lighter bikes, and do not rely solely on brake locks.
3. Cover, and chain the cover so its not easily lifted.
4. Don't assume that a beater, older bike will not pose as an interest to the thieves.

I'm still selling my Triumph, and there is a good chance that I will be bike-less for some time, until I can recover and pool funds to cover for the stolen DRZ.

A bit of an annoyance, but nothing I can't get over. Season might be cut short this year, but I'll be saving whole winter, and will come back in force, come the spring time.

Of course, Triumph is not sold yet, so I'll make the best of it, while it is still here.

[GISdood]

Well... here was my first attempt at a timed GP8. I continued for a while after this recorded run, but the highway gearing (16t CS sprocket) was requiring way too much clutch useage. Additional disclaimer** this is my wife's DRZ, not the bike I'm used to riding every day, but I figured it would be more fun than my big yellow pig of a DR.

Enjoy, and feel free to offer critique, advice, mockery, etc...




And a little about the video setup... I had my P&S camera set up off to the side on video mode, and I had my ContourGPS camera mounted to the right fork tube below the front fender. Synced and combined the two together in Sony Vegas 10.

[Motogymkhanaman]

That would be a decent time apart from the fact you did SIX rotations of the figure 8 when it should only be five, I worked your time out to have been a very creditable 45 seconds had you finished when you should have.

[Motogymkhanaman]

Vulfy, sorry to hear about the loss of the DRZ to the lowlife thieving scum. Perhaps it's natures way of telling you that the mighty Triumph is still a force to be reckoned with!

[Harvey Krumpet]

Originally Posted by Motogymkhanaman

That would be a decent time apart from the fact you did SIX rotations of the figure 8 when it should only be five, I worked your time out to have been a very creditable 45 seconds had you finished when you should have.

Vulfy, that sucks. I hope Karma kicks in for the scum bags. Even better, I hope you get your bike back.

I must admit too having difficulty counting too. My G/F & i had a debate as to what constitutes 5 turns, as she says you can have 4 1/2 or 5 1/2. ,I've got a feeling it's about 45 secs when you really have to start committing in the turn to get better times, the threshold as it were.

[TheWall]

Originally Posted by Vulfy

" So Vulfy, hows your bike ? ", you might ask.
" Are you enjoying it? ", you might ask.
" How are those lap times? ", you might ask.

In return, I would ask "What bike?"

"Oh you know, the DRZ", you might reply.

"Oh the DRZ that got STOLEN two weeks after I got it? That DRZ?"

Dang, dude, that sucks! Sorry to hear about your misfortune.

[Storm Shadow]

Originally Posted by Vulfy

" So Vulfy, hows your bike ? ", you might ask.
" Are you enjoying it? ", you might ask.
" How are those lap times? ", you might ask.

In return, I would ask "What bike?"

"Oh you know, the DRZ", you might reply.

"Oh the DRZ that got STOLEN two weeks after I got it? That DRZ?"


FUCKERS!

So I'm back on my Triumph, and a couple of grand lighter bank account.
Live and learn...

1. Insure FULLY, not just liability.
2. Chain to something, especially lighter bikes, and do not rely solely on brake locks.
3. Cover, and chain the cover so its not easily lifted.
4. Don't assume that a beater, older bike will not pose as an interest to the thieves.

I'm still selling my Triumph, and there is a good chance that I will be bike-less for some time, until I can recover and pool funds to cover for the stolen DRZ.

A bit of an annoyance, but nothing I can't get over. Season might be cut short this year, but I'll be saving whole winter, and will come back in force, come the spring time.

Of course, Triumph is not sold yet, so I'll make the best of it, while it is still here.

oh those buggers, hopefully it gets recovered undamaged :-(