Questions for Keith Code - Round Two

[Keith Code]

S1000RR Training Bikes

Sounds good, certainly. And I'm sure with exercises that focus on honing one's sense of speed and dialing in corner entry like the no-brakes-or-shifting drill, big power won't matter much. I don't have any first-hand liter bike track time under my belt and I've never been to your school, which is partly why I was asking. Common knowledge dictates "you don't want big power as you're learning". I suspect it's much less of a factor in a controlled environment in the context of structured learning, but I can't testify to that, lacking that experience. Would definitely be exciting to hop on one of those bikes as part of the training.

Alexey,

That's the way I feel about it too. Riders have poor visual skills and body positioning and throttle control and lines and, and, and...on any bike. It's not the bike creating the problems.

Meanwhile, the new S1000RR is very rideable, very nimble, very clean and linear power, very stable, very comfortable for a wide variety of riders. I saw 200 people sit on the bike at the Long Beach show and say it felt no bigger than a GSXR 600 or CBR 600 or R6. There is no intimidation factor of it being a big bike when you climb on.

Beside that, you can adjust the bike through its electronics to behave. In RAIN MODE it "only" delivers 150 hp and throttle response is much softer. You can graduate up through the different traction control settings as you wish the power to become more instantaneous. It goes up from RAIN to SPORT to TRACK to SLICKS. Each of the settings makes the throttle response more direct but full power is achieved in all settings above RAIN.

Keith

 

[Lovedoc]

That's pretty exciting Keith, I've never ridden a liter sportbike, and honestly thought they were overkill. The chance to ride one is definitely enough to bring me back this year. Will they be available at Code Race? I'm thinking about that too. I'll have to adjust to the blue though.

 

[Keith Code]

That's pretty exciting Keith, I've never ridden a liter sportbike, and honestly thought they were overkill. The chance to ride one is definitely enough to bring me back this year. Will they be available at Code Race? I'm thinking about that too. I'll have to adjust to the blue though.

Lovedoc,

Exciting, OMG yes. I'm waking up every morning with a high heart rate just thinking about it.

I think the overkill of using a liter bike is based on old technology and I'd agree with it from that perspective. The weight, the power curves, hell, just the idea of riding a bike that'll get to 60 in under 3 seconds is enough to get the glands working themselves into a froth!

To answer your question, we don't have any other bikes (beside a few F800 STs) so you are riding the S1000 no matter which date you choose, unless you use your own bike of course. Be great to see you out again.

Another feather in the BMW cap is the Race ABS. So even if you find yourself into a corner too fast and grab too much brake lever the bike will forgive.

Keith

 

[PDUB]

Green Rider

Hi there! My name is Paul, and I just bought an '88 Harley sportster 883,and the other day I went to wrap the negative coil for the battery around the post, and it was a bit longer than needed, so it was accidentally touching the bike when I tried to start it.....and bam the thing won't start anymore!Did I just blow a fuse ? or is it more serious than that?and if I blew a fuse where are they? and which ones did I blow? PLEASE HELP!

 

[Lovedoc]

Hi there! My name is Paul, and I just bought an '88 Harley sportster 883,and the other day I went to wrap the negative coil for the battery around the post, and it was a bit longer than needed, so it was accidentally touching the bike when I tried to start it.....and bam the thing won't start anymore!Did I just blow a fuse ? or is it more serious than that?and if I blew a fuse where are they? and which ones did I blow? PLEASE HELP!

I'd repost this in the Garage or General section. Keith teaches us how to go faster, though I'm sure he's worked on a few bikes too,

 

[louemc]

Umm Keith, I'm just wondering....with this shift to BMW....Would you happen to have a bunch of Green Leathers taking up space that is needed for your new suits?

Just to help Ya out, if you could use the help, I could buzz by and take some of that stuff off your hands

 

[Lovedoc]

Umm Keith, I'm just wondering....with this shift to BMW....Would you happen to have a bunch of Green Leathers taking up space that is needed for your new suits?

Just to help Ya out, if you could use the help, I could buzz by and take some of that stuff off your hands

I'm waiting till Will gets back to find out about the surplus ZX6R's

 

[Keith Code]

Umm Keith, I'm just wondering....with this shift to BMW....Would you happen to have a bunch of Green Leathers taking up space that is needed for your new suits?

Just to help Ya out, if you could use the help, I could buzz by and take some of that stuff off your hands

Now that you mention it, we sure will have some green suits. I think we'll give our full time coaches their suits if they want them but we do have a few we'll sell off, yes.

Keith

 

[Keith Code]

I'm waiting till Will gets back to find out about the surplus ZX6R's

Will just got back and he's now starting to worry about moving our ZX6s and I think we still have a couple of ZX10s as well. Quite a few of them have already sold, I know that much but he takes care of that so I'm free of the details. mechanic@superbikeschool.com will get you to him.

Keith

 

[Keith Code]

I'm waiting till Will gets back to find out about the surplus ZX6R's

Will just got back and he's now starting to worry about moving our ZX6s and I think we still have a couple of ZX10s as well. Quite a few of them have already sold, I know that much but he takes care of that so I'm free of the details. mechanic@superbikeschool.com will get you to him.

Keith

 

[Maverik4k]

Hey Kieth very excited to see those BMW's out there!

Question: What is some good training for road racing while in the off season?

Cycling?

Gym?

Running?

Dirt biking?

Thanks

 

[Keith Code]

Hey Kieth very excited to see those BMW's out there!

Question: What is some good training for road racing while in the off season?

Cycling?

Gym?

Running?

Dirt biking?

Thanks

You have to pick and choose but the current fad is cycling. You don't have to be muscle bound, take a look at most GP racers, they are thin and wirey.

Keith

 

[Lovedoc]

Will just got back and he's now starting to worry about moving our ZX6s and I think we still have a couple of ZX10s as well. Quite a few of them have already sold, I know that much but he takes care of that so I'm free of the details. mechanic@superbikeschool.com will get you to him.

Keith

My new race bike is NOT gonna match my leathers
And it was a good deal. Thanks for the info Keith.

 

[latindane]

Hi Keith,

I've been reading through this thread since I "discovered" it thanks to Lazerus pointing me to the Training sub-forum (thanks budman for making this a sticky). I think it's awesome that you started with "part I" of this thead umm... wow! almost four years ago! and still going strong. I'm taking my time to read through this; there's a lot of good stuff to digest.

I'm on page 19 of this thread (getting there) but can't wait to ask you a question because I really miss my motorcycle and the track already. I moved (back) to Denmark from the bay area a few weeks ago, and need to figure out how to get a bike here, etc. So I apologize for a post that is not immediately useful for anybody focused on the "BA" part of "BARF"... but as YanaBanana said elsewhere: Barf has world-wide domination

My questions:

• Do you hold superbike schools in Europe?
• Do you know of good tracks and/or schools in Northern Europe (Scandinavia, northern Germany)? Or others farther away if I can rent a bike rather than having to haul mine there?
• I guess, more in general, how do I keep feeding my recently-acquired track addiction now that I'm missing CA, Infineon -ahem- Sears Pt., and the little knowledge I had started to gain re: tracks, trackday and school providers, etc.?

My focus is on learning; I've got a lot of learning to do and love it. I went through both your books, some others, and have some more in the way from amazon.co.uk that I saw referenced in this thread... but just ordering them made it very obvious that I need to get back on the track soon, hopefully get an early jump on the 2010 season.

 

[Keith Code]

Hi Keith,

I've been reading through this thread since I "discovered" it thanks to Lazerus pointing me to the Training sub-forum (thanks budman for making this a sticky). I think it's awesome that you started with "part I" of this thead umm... wow! almost four years ago! and still going strong. I'm taking my time to read through this; there's a lot of good stuff to digest.

I'm on page 19 of this thread (getting there) but can't wait to ask you a question because I really miss my motorcycle and the track already. I moved (back) to Denmark from the bay area a few weeks ago, and need to figure out how to get a bike here, etc. So I apologize for a post that is not immediately useful for anybody focused on the "BA" part of "BARF"... but as YanaBanana said elsewhere: Barf has world-wide domination

My questions:

• Do you hold superbike schools in Europe?
• Do you know of good tracks and/or schools in Northern Europe (Scandinavia, northern Germany)? Or others farther away if I can rent a bike rather than having to haul mine there?
• I guess, more in general, how do I keep feeding my recently-acquired track addiction now that I'm missing CA, Infineon -ahem- Sears Pt., and the little knowledge I had started to gain re: tracks, trackday and school providers, etc.?

My focus is on learning; I've got a lot of learning to do and love it. I went through both your books, some others, and have some more in the way from amazon.co.uk that I saw referenced in this thread... but just ordering them made it very obvious that I need to get back on the track soon, hopefully get an early jump on the 2010 season.

latindane,

Yes, we have schools all over Europe, the Middle East, Greece, Scandinavia, South Africa, Spain and the UK. Just go to our web site and hit the link for our European branch--lots of schools over there and you can rent bikes at many of them.

You've answered you own question...continued education and coaching, it works!

Keith

 

[Danibee]

Hiya Keith. During hard accelerations I sometimes lose the ability to shift smoothly. What is proper foot positioning? What I really need is to do a school but money keeps that from happening so any tips, links, so forth would be highly appreciated. I can afford to buy the new video though.

 

[Keith Code]

smooth shifting

Hiya Keith. During hard accelerations I sometimes lose the ability to shift smoothly. What is proper foot positioning? What I really need is to do a school but money keeps that from happening so any tips, links, so forth would be highly appreciated. I can afford to buy the new video though.

Dani,

Could be a few things. First off, which way do you shift, street or GP? This has an influence on foot positioning.

Keith

 

[GirlCurves]

You rock Keith!

Welcome back from the travels.

Wow! This is really great stuff! I've read both Twist of the Wrist I and II, but never thought I'd get to tag along on a thread between Keith himself and BARF! Excellent!

 

[Danibee]

Dani,

Could be a few things. First off, which way do you shift, street or GP? This has an influence on foot positioning.

Keith

Street. I know gp would help w/this issue but am not sure if I want to switch it. Worried about coming in to a turn and shifting in to 3rd instead of down to 1st.

 

[Keith Code]

Shifting problems

Street. I know gp would help w/this issue but am not sure if I want to switch it. Worried about coming in to a turn and shifting in to 3rd instead of down to 1st.

Danibee,

First thing to do is sit on the bike in your normal riding position and check the gear lever position. If it is too low you have to reach for it and under acceleration that alone can create the problem.

In this case loosen the adjuster lock nuts and rotate the the threaded tube to raise the lever. Just make the lock nuts finger tight. Get back on the bike and see if it is easier to pull the shift lever from that position. Keep on adjusting it till it is just right for you.

GP pattern is easier upshifting for most people and it shouldn't take you long to master it. If you flip the pivot arm to reverse the pattern you will still have to adjust the lever for perfect up/down positioning.

Oh yes, one more thing. You shouldn't rely on the engine braking to slow you down for corners, you should rely on the front brake to do that job. So even if you were in 3rd for a 1st gear corner you still have more control over the slowing down process with the front brake than you can ever have with the engine.

Beside that, you shouldn't be riding that fast on the street for this to be a problem! Get to one of the local track day providers or come to school for that.

Keith