Aragon 2014
I’m surprised by how little I’m seeing on FB about the Aragon race. I’m sure there is more social media going on than I’m seeing but when that much stuff happens I except to see more ranting from haters.
I think I know why there is so little BS about this race. It was a well organized event. It was run using the rules and the rules make sense. The track is challenging and low risk.
How low risk is the track? So low risk that first and second in the world championship were willing to keep going on slicks till they crashed. So low risk that of 3 crazy high speed crashes 2 resulted in no injuries to the riders and little damage to the bikes. One crash dazed the rider when his head whacked the ground. It must be said that one rider had to run so far to get back to his bike that he may have been a little out of breath. How is that for good run off room?
The Flag to Flag rule won’t work for most and it sounds a little odd but it sure is better than stopping the race. This rule has passed the only test that matters, it works.
How good are these guys? One guy was so much faster than everyone else that you wondered what the point of showing up was. But racers all know that it’s called racing for a reason and they are all racers.
Even the haters sometimes know when to keep their mouths shut.
What a Moto GP Race!
Yes, I think I will watch that race again. Right now.
I really like being able to watch races on my computer whenever I want as many times as I want. I like it so much that I happily pay extra for the privileged. Right now there are no ads but as long as you don’t cut away from the racing, I do want to see the ads from companies that support racing.
Hint. Hint! HINT!
All Four Bill Bikes
This note just in from Bill, the owner of the FZ-09 that I posted about his forks:
“Ed
Thanks and it’s always a pleasure doing business with you. I’ve already been out on a few fast sweepers and am completely happy with the work.
Bill”
Bill has four bikes, I now have his BMW1000S, it’s the last of the 4 to get the LE touch.
Thank you Bill!
“Decisions, Decisions …”
Over at http://motorbikeroadracing.blogspot.com/ my friend MG is bitching about how the MotoGP officials messed up when they made Folger give up a position then gave him a ride through plenty on the last lap because he did not give up the position in time.
It use to be that we raced on dangerous tracks, on unreliable bikes with useless gear. It use to be that when you cut the course you lost a lot of time off road riding. Now we race at nice tracks with paved run off room on fast bikes with great gear. Now when you cut the course you don’t crash and many times don’t even lose any ground but that’s not fair to the riders who stayed on the track.
So Folger cut the course somewhere. He knew he cut the course and he knew he did not give up the position. When he later got the give up one position board after pulling away from those guys he should have slowed way down so that they caught him at the slowest part of the track giving him the best chance of letting only the one guy past and the best shot at getting back ahead and the most remaining laps to go after the next guy. Instead he kept going like a track day rider waiting for his slow friend who is on the other side of the track.
Folger caused and compounded this problem. He should be penalized for messing up the battle behind him and for not following the rules, not fussed over because the officials looked like poor parents trying to deal with a bratty six year old.
As to what MG says about DMG’s last AMA Pro weekend, he is spot on.
Up-dated with MG response: By the way, he is right.
Level III OCD
Look closely and you’ll see the top/left 3 boxes of gloves are right side up and the bottom/right 3 are up side down. Three rolls of shop towels and 2013 on Tony’s championship plate. I did not plan this, it happened all on it’s own…
Oahu Needs a Motorsports Park
This is an idea for that park:
The money problem can only be solved by a rich dude. Rich dudes are building dream tracks all over the country. A dream track in paradise is possible and it can make a profit.
Space is a big problem on a small island. Build a small track. 1/8 mile drag strip with road course. Infield pits and kart track. 1/8 mile dirt oval with infield motorcycle course. Short sand drag strip. Separate entrances for street and dirt tracks.
Noise is a big part of racing but is a bigger problem for the people who live near a track, thereby greatly reducing the possible locations for a track on a small island. Strict, self imposed and enforced noise limits. Air boxes and quite exhausts on all vehicles. Keep the race vehicles as quite as cars on the show room floor. Stock dirt bikes will be too loud but aftermarket exhaust makers can solve this problem. Apply this rule to generators too. A nice spin off of low noise is the PA system will cost less and you will be able to hear it.
There are fools who will say that it’s not racing without noise and that they make more noise with their street vehicle now. There are fools who will say that 1/8 mile drags are not real drag racing. There are fools who will say a ¾ mile track is too small and that the straight is not long enough. There are fools who will say all kinds of things about how this track is not good enough. All true, but you don’t have a track now do you? This argument leads to what you have now, no track. These fools did not race when you had a track and they won’t even if they lived in a place with a track. There are fools, don’t count them.
How Your Cartridge Forks Work
This photo shows a compression piston assembly taken apart on the left with the rebound piston assembly on the right. Starting on the bottom left is the compression holder that threads into the bottom of the cartridge body. Going up we see the compression stack, a bunch of shims stacked up in the shape of a Christmas tree. The piston. The washer, collar, spring and cap make up a one way valve. Nut to hold it all together.
On the right the order is reversed because the rebound piston controls oil flowing the other way. The shim stack is different because compression and rebound damping are opposite jobs.
Far right is the cartridge rod that the rebound assembly is attached to.
How does this work? The shims bend under the force of the moving oil. This opens the passages in the piston. How strong or weak the stack of shims are determines how much they allow the passage to open and therefore how much damping you have. The oil that has to be controlled is only the amount being displaced by the rod moving farther into the cartridge. Or the same amount being pulled back into the cartridge when the rod retracts. The cartridge is always full of oil. Your shock is a shorter version of this.
I change the shim stack to give you the damping you need. $460 to rebuild and re-valve your stock cartridge forks. No expensive kit needed.
Learn more about the pistons here:
New World Order
Like many bikes in today’s economy the new Yamaha FZ-09 has some cost saving measures inside it’s forks. All the damping is done in the right fork. They did this by just leaving out the compression and rebound pistons from the left fork. Both forks have springs.
This photo shows the main parts of the cartridge from the right fork. From the left. Comp piston assembly. Cartridge body. Reb piston assy on cartridge rod. Spring. Cap with pre-load and damping adjuster.
This bike will get stronger springs for the rider’s weight. I’ll put all the compression and rebound valving in the right fork and leave the left as is. So 2x the valving in one fork much like how some forks have all the comp in one side and all the reb in the other. Total for a rebuild, re-valve and new springs is $560.
If you want I can add the missing parts to the left fork and divide the valving between the two forks like normal. If you want separate comp and reb adjusters, I can put all the comp in the left fork and all the rebound in the right fork. I’m not sure how much the extra parts will cost.
So, if you’ve been bumming about the cost of a kit to upgrade your new world forks, bum no more, LE is here.
So Can You.
I watched a YouTube video today, it was the story of a guy who had a good career as a baker. One day he saw the Thunderbirds flying and decided he wanted to fly. So he worked to get his private pilots license. Next he joined the Air Force, did well in flight school and was assigned to fly the F-15. He met his wife because of this, she was flying F-15’s too. Next he moved to the F-22, then to the Thunderbirds.
At the end of his video he said something I’ve heard from a lot of people who master difficult stuff, I’ve even said it myself.
If I can do it, so can you.
There is no magic to being a great pilot, motorcycle racer, suspension tuner, teacher, parent. Just deciding you want to do it. Then showing up for the job.
Really, if we can do it, so can you.
Are you an Alien?
Marc Marquez goes so fast that he runs into ground clearance and grip limits. Because of these limits he changes his posture to give himself more clearance and grip for different parts of a corner. This helps him battle with the other 3 Aliens.
You are not going Marquez speed. Hanging off like MM when your knee is just skimming the ground and your foot peg is inches above the ground is worst than pointless. It’s extra work.
You are not going MM speed. You are not riding a MotoGP bike. You are not battling Aliens. You do not look cool in the photo’s trying to drag your elbow. You look uncomfortable. You look slow.
The Aliens and all other fast riders have mastered the basic skills of riding, like remembering to breath, braking & down shifting, counter steering, throttle control, lines, up shifting without flapping your arms like a bird, tucking in, looking where your going, etc, etc. They do this stuff so well that they don’t even think about it anymore. Then they add crazy skills on top of their base.
Can you brake hard to the apex of a turn while downshifting? Can you run all your laps on the same tenth of a second? No? Then work on the fundamentals. When you start going fast you won’t have to look for the track photo guy and pose, you will look good all the time.