Hi, guys.

As I mentioned a few months ago, I attended the Yamaha Champions School at Miller Motorsports Park last September. It was by far and away the best investment in time and money that I've ever made in motorcycling.

Nick Ienatsch (author of "Sport Riding Techniques") and Ken Hill are the lead instructors and the driving force behind the Yamaha Champions School. They have the experience and credentials to back up what they are doing, and they have an excellent method of teaching (relaxes and intense at the same time, if you can imagine that). If you ever get a chance to attend one of their schools, you will not be sorry.

Recently, Nick and Ken opened up a website called FasterSafer.com, where they will be sharing a wide variety of tips and techniques. Scott Russell (Mr. Daytona), who was a guest instructor at the school I attended, is also a contributor there. I would encourage you to check it out. There is a small membership fee to gain access to the members area where the really good stuff is, but there are some useful videos and articles available for free.

We are riding the fastest production bike on the planet, and over the years we've tried to encourage those of our members here who have been injured (some very seriously) in accidents, many of which could probably have been avoided. And we've lost a few members who did not survive accidents.

I would REALLY encourage you to check out FasterSafer.com. Nick and Ken are all about going REALLY fast and being REALLY safe. Many of their students have gone on to win championships, and few have crashed on the way to those championships.

They know what they're talking about, and what they are talking about REALLY WORKS.

Highly recommended. -bg

* Last updated by: bgordon on 1/28/2012 @ 4:49 PM *

Here's an email exchange I had a few days ago with Nick Ienatsch of FasterSafer.com and the Yamaha Champions Riding School. It's a question I've had in my mind for several years, and haven't had a chance to ask anyone "in the know" until now. I don't think Nick would mind if I posted it here.

My question:

One of the things that I've wondered about over the past couple of years riding track days is this: How can you find the edge (maximum lean angle that leaves you on your wheels) without going past it? I asked a racer friend this question and his answer was: "You can't". I'm not sure I buy that.

I'm not interested in ending up on the ground, but I'd very much like to know if there is a way I can get a sense of how far I can lean the bike over in a corner. While the answer to the question is probably "It depends...", I wonder if there is a process that one can go through (given an understanding of the 100 points of traction, trail braking to the slowest point in the corner, super smooth application of brakes and throttle, race tires warmed up on a dry track on a warm day) to seek out the maximum safe lean angle?

And I wouldn't be surprised if the answer to the question is different:

• when you are trail braking,
• when you are in a corner at maintenance throttle, and
• when you are accelerating out of a corner.

Never having been on the ground, I wonder if, when you exceed the maximum lean angle that your bike/tires can handle, does it go real fast (too quickly to save), or can you get close to the maximum lean angle and get some feedback from the bike that tells you you can't go any further (and lets you save it). If the latter, what does this feedback feel like?

You guys have all been there, but I haven't.

Nick's response:

Your question is what we all would like to know: Where's the limit? Here are a few thoughts, all dealing with warm tires because cold tires lose grip suddenly and completely. Body Position: When your body position is "right"...like Stoner, Hayden, Rossi, etc...your knee will touch before your tires lose grip. The knee becomes the lean angle gauge and you know when it starts to touch down, you are approaching the edge of the tire. We use this as a gauge for our students desiring to run more lean angle: Is your knee touching? If not, and your body is "right", you can run more speed into the corner and carry more lean angle.

And then it becomes a matter of how hard/much your knee is touching. In our three-day schools, we've begun to run the students back and forth through a single corner, allowing them to increase speed in this controlled environment to get a feel for lean angle. We will us a Sharpy marker pen to draw a line up the tread of the rear tire and encourage them to wear this line off, step by step. Our R6s will use the entire tread of the rear tire, but not the front. You will notice the racers touching their knees down at turn-in, and then even tucking their knees up against the side of the fairing as they use maximum lean angle. Watch AMA 600 Supersport because they are on average race tires, nothing special. What they can do, we can do.

You ask about feedback at the limit. Yes, the tire will do its best to warn you of traction loss before it lets go... The front will go slightly light and loose in your hands as it begins to tuck, the rear will spin slightly and step out, squirm. This gets us right back to how you add throttle, brake and LEAN ANGLE points... if you're aggressive with any addition of those points when you're near the limit, it will be gone quite quickly. That's why we run students back and forth through a single corner and ask for a little additional speed each run. No big steps. It's also why we insist on linear control inputs no matter how fast our students go... near the limit, everything counts.

-bg

* Last updated by: bgordon on 2/4/2012 @ 9:19 PM *

I'm going to disagree with Nick. First photo, #85's feet are the feeler gauges. Knees so and so are more for balance. Second photo, knees are up. 85 takes the tighter line on 222. Third photo, #52 has knee down. However, #7 takes the same tight line with knees up as is setting up #222 in the second photo. Note the rock behind #7 bike. Note rock in front of #222's bike in second photo.

First you need to crawl on your toes, bg. Pack a lot of tape on the side of your boots. Stick you toe on the peg as comfortable and natural as can be. Stay upright on the bike. Start to drag your bike slow through the turn. You should be stepping up the laps, you start to lean over more to tag the tape more. Once you go though the tape, you have to repack that or you will go through boot bottoms. Better know a good shoemaker that can re-shoe your heel/toes or buy cleats for the tips like I did. Once you tag the tape, you know where to set the cleat. then you tape over the cleat.

You are not ready for knee. You have to haul into that turn like really haul into it and start scraping shit. All you need is to tag or slight drag the tips off the ends of the foot pegs. When that pedal starts to lift up, you may begin to tag fairing. Remove the lower if you want to set a knee down.

Lots of instincts at speed. Gotta feel it first. Forget that knee crap. That comes later. Go slow, tag and build up more speed till it's too slow, you now have to set a knee over, which sets the bike more upright. The speeds are [you] going in a lot faster and it begins with peg drag/footaped.

The art of knee down.

I'm gonna have to disagree with ya Hub, although you probably know a lot more about this stuff than I do.

With proper body position and foot position on a modern sport/race bike, your knee should touch down before your foot or your footpeg or any other hard parts.

The guy with #1 two posts above has nowhere near the proper body position. He's leaned over way more than he would have to be if he was off the inside of the bike.

And I don't think the knee out is for balance as much as for getting the center of gravity off towards the inside of the corner.

I kinda don't think this guy is dragging anything but his knee, and sometimes his elbow:

Just my $.02, though... -bg

* Last updated by: bgordon on 2/6/2012 @ 10:57 AM *

Good read from one of the Orgs I'll be riding with this year... Nick Ienatsch is credited for teaching the author.

Bigger Chicken Strips! A Paradigm Shift!

by Mark DeGross

Chicken Strip:
chick-en strip [chick uh'n strip] noun
1. A thin slice of breastmeat from a chicken, often baked or deep fried in batter.
2. The area on the side of a street motorcycle tire that is unused because the rider is afraid, ie chicken, to lean the bike over farther, using all of the tire.
Clearly my riding skills have improved, my chicken strips are nearly gone!

Maybe you were like me when I started riding sportbikes. After every street ride, I would look at my tires and see if I was able to decrease the size of my chicken strips a bit. More often than not, they stayed the same size, but occasionaly they would get smaller. I thought that meant I was improving as a rider and I’m ashamed to admit, would subtly brag about it to my riding buddies. Us males are so ego driven (you female riders are too), always wanting to brag about our recent accomplishments or conquests to a certain degree or another. So having small or no chicken strips at all is often seen as trophy for us to display to the world and a chance for us to pat ourselves on our back. How shallow, huh? Now if you are honest enough to admit it, I’m betting you’ve banged your chest a few times as well. However, I want to challenge that thinking and have you take a closer introspective look upon your riding. If your chicken strips are small or non-existent, then you are using a good amount of lean angle. You are risking much to be at those lean angles, especially if you are on the street vs. the track. One small error and BAM, you’re surfing asphalt which typically will leave a mark. So why use all that lean angle if you don’t have to?

Paradigm:
par·a·digm [par-uh-dahym, -dim] noun
Grammar
1. a set of forms all of which contain a particular element, especially the set of all inflected forms based on a single stem or theme.
2. a display in fixed arrangement of such a set, as boy,boy’s, boys, boys’.
3. an example serving as a model; pattern.
Synonyms
mold, standard; ideal, paragon, touchstone.
Maybe if you got out of the paradigm you’re stuck in you’d see things for how they really are.

Let me take my screw driver and turn a few clickers in your head to adjust your thinking, a paradigm shift if you would. How about being the smoothest, safest, smartest rider of the group and still be the fastest by using the LEAST AMOUNT OF LEAN ANGLE needed, rather than scrubbing those tires to the edges? ”What? I can be all of those things without risking as much as I used to?” I can hear many of you saying. Yes, that is exactly what I’m saying. Believe it or not, they are not a contradiction at all. Many of us started riding motorcycles on the dirt. The technique and body position for cornering on a dirt bike is to push the bike underneath you. Inside arm straight, out side arm bent, using the knobby tires and berms for grip. As we began to ride street bikes, many of us didn’t break this habit. As such, we are habitual on the street of doing the same. However, on the street, we don’t have berms and there’s no such thing as knobbies for the street, so we end up using too much lean angle for our speed. It rewards our ego though, because the high lean angles use up chicken strips, thus fooling us into thinking our riding skills are higher than they are. Or maybe you didn’t grow up riding dirt bikes, but have quickly figured out that by pushing the bike underneath you uses up more chicken strips, thus giving you bragging rights to your friends and riding cohorts. By whatever means you’ve arrived at this point, I don’t mean to burst your bubble, its just not the optimal body position to ride a sportbike.

Ballast:
bal·last [bal-uh'st] noun
Grammar
1. Nautical – any heavy material carried temporarily or permanently in a vessel to provide desired draft and stability.
2. Aeronautics – something heavy, as bags of sand, placed in the car of a balloon for control of altitude and, less often, of attitude, or strategically placed in an aircraft to control the position of the center of gravity.
3. anything that gives mental, moral, or political stability orsteadiness: the ballast of a steady income.
4. gravel, broken stone, slag, etc., placed between and under the ties of a railroad to give stability, provide drainage, anddistribute loads.
In the past, lead was sometimes used as heavy ballast to help keep a ship steady.

Ever been on a spirited street ride or maybe at a track day and some “dude” just flat out paces you through the corners? Then you get a chance to chat with him afterwards and notice his rear tire has noticeable chicken strips, wondering to your self, how the heck did he just do that without using as much tire as I am? I’d wager that he is using his body as ballast, getting his upper body off low and to the inside of the bike. Just the opposite of what I described before in the dirt riding example. By getting his upper body off the bike to the inside, not so much his lower body, he is actually pushing the bike more upright because his body is acting as ballast for the bike rider combo. This adjusts the center of gravity for the combo, resulting in the rider not needing to use as much lean angle as other riders. Less lean angle equals less risk equals more safety. You get the picture. A rider using this technique can use less lean angle, yet more speed or pace than other riders who push the bike underneath them. When that break comes at the local latte stand, a quick comparison of tires shows the rider using his body as ballast has larger chicken strips than the other rider, yet he ran a faster pace and was safer by using less lean angle. We’ve been teaching this method in our schools since inception in 2004 and many of you reading this know exactly what I’m getting at. Its a great tool and skill to master that will pay dividends on both the street and the track. Hence the title of this blog post…we need to get more riders to understand this concept.

In June 2011, I was asked to help instruct a large group of municipal motorcycle policeman along with Chris Johnson of Washington Motorcycle Safety Training. We were brought in to help the officers with their high speed cornering techniques. Moto-Cops are renown for their technical ability on these big bikes to do slow speed 180° turns in one lane along with many other low speed maneuvers. After watching them perform these skills, it was quite obvious they were pushing the bike beneath them, which clearly was required to pull this off. When it came time for them to work with us, many of the officers were still trying to push the bike underneath them, resulting in poor cornering speeds, frustration, and unnecessary risk. Chris and I worked with them, explaining everything and more that I describe above. After two days we were successful and the officers showed much improved riding, comfort, corner speed, and confidence. We look forward to going back to work with them again in 2012. I use this experience as an example of the effectiveness of what we are teaching. It works, it’s more efficient, and it’s a safer way to corner. I wish I could take credit for the technique, but I have to give props to Nick Ienatsch who wrote Sport Riding Techniques and is the Chief instructor at the Yamaha Champions School. I can’t say enough great things about Nick’s teachings and I strongly encourage you to read his book as well as attend one his courses at the school. The following video is a quick unscripted impromptu shoot we did from the day, giving a glimpse into what I’m discussing here. Thanks to Rey Sabado of Shobaby.com for the video and posting.

This may be a round about way of getting my point across, but truly, I want to see it come to fruition. Nothing would make me smile bigger than to quietly be a part of a group ride and hear riders arguing who had bigger chicken strips while simultaneously bragging who was quicker. How’s that paradigm shift coming for you? Got chicken strips? I hope you do…if you want to keep improving them, come see us at one of our Performance Schools this year, where we teach this more in depth with our lean machine in our S3F – Smoother, Smarter, Safer . . . Faster training system. Until then, ride safe and keep those chicken strips.

Pass the BBQ sauce, plz.

Great article, Dogo. Thanks! -bg

My approach is to drag the peg [first]. The next step is to drag the knee rather then drag the pegs. The knee out is the lean over i.e., getting ready to = That balance when to hit knee down. You want high speed knee down, not get around traffic is to sit up and counter their moves. Traffic is dangerous, i.e., passing.

Here are the questions:

1. Do you have the instinct to run into a corner, know you are going to drag the pegs or you are not that leaned over;
a. You cut in too soon.
b. You were not even fast enough to enter that leaned over?
c. You can drag pegs in the slow turns.

If you do not want to use that big of a bike to use parking lot practice in, get a 250 ninja and that says it is low peg street drag... The pass the test to step on the pegs to bring you back up. Are you going to keep a knee only tactic or use a peg down, know your spring moving up on the peg. That spring can only move so far up. Then, you're going to drag things.

Going into a turn fast is instinct... No thinking involved.

My approach is to drag the peg [first].

Hooligan!

"Texas Tornado" wrote and I quote out of RRW-pg.38 Feb '12 issue, 'Colin Edwards Interview'...

Why he started a riding school:

"It ingrains the fundamentals, so when the bike's sliding, instead of you sh-tting your pants like most people do, you get used to it, it becomes natural. With the bike moving around, you become more confident and your instincts of what to do get better."

when the bike's sliding, instead of you sh-tting your pants like most people do, you get used to it

Makes sense. You sure wouldn't want to chop the throttle at that point! -bg

Here's the best picture I could find showing knee down without dragging boot or hard parts. Max Biaggi:

Best one I can find: Mark DeGross (the author of the blog I posted).

There is this raggedge; lean over instinct. Shave both sides or you haven't come close to leaning over and kissing parts. I would drag my pegs to a razor point so I would have less peg, more ground clearance. I was scolded to change out my pegs, because they assumed they'd get punched by it or whatever the odds were, I had a different idea about peg shaving.

Maybe my approach about a lesson or how about I just say do it so you know knee drag is half the story about lean and tuck and all that shaving tape off the knee, off the pegs, or off the shifters and covers. I was on less tire if that really mattered.

It also depends on what you are riding!
On a stock zx-14 you are going to scrape the pegs before downing your knee. On a modern race bike with high rearsets... my guess is that you will run out of tire first. Then there is also the suspensions etc. NO?

* Last updated by: dragking on 4/17/2014 @ 5:40 PM *

You can drag knee on a stock 14 before dragging hard parts....

This is a good example of what would today be considered "poor" body position for cornering today. Body weight is all at the center of the bike -- no attempt to shift weight toward the inside of the corner. I'm sure he's going very fast, and pushing the limit, but if he had a proper body position (by today's understanding), he would be able to get through the same corner at the same speed with less lean angle (more safely), or he could get through it FASTER at the lean angle he has now.

You want your butt crack on the inside of the seat, your inside knee out to the side, the toe of your boot on the end of the footpeg, the heel of your boot up on the bodywork, and your head looking right about where the right-side mirror would be if it had mirrors on it. Foot position can change as you get to a more severe lean angle and the knee isn't as far out to the side.

I'm not saying he's doing it wrong -- it's just that the guys we watch at the professional level have learned to do it faster and safer over the last couple of decades by shifting their weight to the inside of the corner, and we can learn from them.

You can feel this effect on a street bike just by shifting your upper body and head to the inside of a turn -- forget the moving to the side of the seat and the knee out -- just move the upper body. The corner will feel much better to you.

Thanks for posting, Hub. -bg

* Last updated by: bgordon on 2/10/2012 @ 9:22 AM *

If an era could come back and prove you'all wrong is how to do it? I'm just asking? How can he come back, break the record with the same style. Are you saying, one could not win with a seat up style? Would you bet against this man? Not me!

Are you saying, one could not win with a seat up style? Would you bet against this man? Not me!

At the top levels, yes, I am saying that and yes, I would bet against him.

These guys are greats, for sure, but they wouldn't keep up with Stoner and company today. -bg

First off, we need a reality check. We are discussing night and day bikes to night and day riding styles. Lets narrow this down:

1. Sit up = Obsolete
2. Knee down = Obsolete
3. Drifting in or backing it in = Better be on par or sit home knee downers to sitter uppers. New control and soon to be on the obsolete list in I don't know when...

How many skills can you now pack under yourear end? If I were your age, bg, I'd be drifting around a corner. This is what someone should be teaching you if not grooming that 2yr old. And if the kid is 3? Someone has a year on you down the road is how you go grooming.

So the question now is, who is the faster rider? The sitter upper or the knee downer, all are on equal bike. That was 1978 and 'The Bike' had enough Kenny time was everyone was knee down at that time. That would be a good showdown to see some sitter upper against a knee downer with all that tire and a lot more ground clearance.

Would in safe.T.erms be better to control a bike sitting upright or off the bike, trying to gain control back again? The idea is; If the bike is straight up and down the road, would the sitter upper be as comfortable upright as leaned over? Would the body english sitting off the bike who is sort of leaned over, where the bike is at a certain degree of lean down the road. This was all one bike sitting upright, with two riders at their seating position.

I would have to guess the sitter upper in this case, has more control as the bike seems to be straight up. If I use the other scenario...

... The control factor says in body english; Safe or sorry? I find more safety upright and in control. You have weight off to the side. That has less weight on the tire. That could slip some. If you have a strong knee, you can push yourself back up. If you can push a peg down, that can push the bike back up with a little steer and now some body english too. YOur body moves faster than your input sort of calcs out. YOu are already over the bars and the thought process just caught up = Human error.

If you are still asking old man, maybe you need to step it back to the basics? This is a two ply tissue issue. You skid the pegs or hardware on the upright. You are now in the knee down and that is more the same area you are in without tagging parts.

If you sit upright and start scraping, put that gopro on the side of the bike, see how low you are going. You are not even leaned over far enough with a knee first. Hard to describe unless you start shaving things. Be careful old man! It gets more addicting you keep going out.