redkow97

mine is currently mounted behind my butt on the vertical portion of my superbike tail. I don't look down as I'm passing someone, or trying to - I just like to be able to see, "ok, it took me 4 laps to get around that one guy... I was turning 1:20's for those 4 laps, but dropped back down to 1;18's after I got by him. During an actual race, I might consider mounting it some place I can see it (i.e. over the speedometer), but i guess catching the next guy ahead of you is more important than lap times. Positions count for points. Lap times don't.

starting on too large of a bike is common because for every 1 person who crashes horribly due to a rookie mistake on a high-powered bike, there are 9 people who say, "I was fine; you can do it too." Obviously it CAN be done, you're just tempting fate a lot more. Learning to ride on a liter bike isn't a death-sentence; it's just unnecessarily increasing the odds of a crash. Furthermore, who do new riders usually talk to regarding bike advice? I'd wager that more often than not, it's other riders - not people who USED TO ride. The probability of talking to someone who crashed their GSX-R 1000 the first week and then quit riding is pretty slim compared to talking to the much larger segment of the population who again says, "I learned on a liter bike, and I was fine."

I use my lap timer as a very general yard-stick for my current pace. Having multiple beacons to track splits would be ideal, but at a given track, I know my first couple of laps should be over 1:xx in order to avoid a cold tire crash. What's funny is tracking your lap times over multiple years. My "B" group best laps are now routinely eclipsed during tire warm-up I also like to be able to see how much time I'm giving up when I can't get around someone. If I know i'm capable of a 1:18 at Nelson Ledges, but I'm not able to pass the rider in front of me who is holding me to 1:20's, there's something wrong with my approach to getting around him or her. The GPS timer would just show me where the other rider is slowing me down. Hugely helpful, but also pretty expensive...

all joking aside, the implication that women inherently crave the "power" associated with being male or having a penis is laughable. I am completely willing to admit that American culture carries a subconscious paternalistic bias in virtually all facets of life, but I reject the notion that the functional result is women wanting to be more like men; they merely want to be regarded as having the same rights and abilities as men, as they should. ...but I still don't think discount trackdays is "equality.";)

the ultra-lap is the way to go. I used to have the XT mini, and it's a fine timer, but little "quirks" would irritate me... - not enough storage (could fit maybe one day in it. my ultra holds a a season's worth of info) - no automatic turn on when it passes a beacon. With riding gloves on, it's hard to manipulate the buttons on the mini. It also turns off automatically after 5 minutes of inactivity. Between sitting on hot-pit prior to a session, and then taking it slow to warm the tires on my first lap, there were times the timer would shut off before I ever passed the beacon The same happened during red-flags. Very happy with the Ultra.

Yeah, but the "average" NFL players; the guys earning $600k a year who barely make the roster, are going to be the ones who cave first. There are a LOT of NFL players who live way beyond their means. The Mannings of the league can piss away money with impunity, but the rest of the team tries to live the same lifestyle without the paycheck to support it. Watch what happens when the 2nd and 3rd string guys miss that first $80,000 paycheck, but still have 3 mortgages and 10 car payments to make. They'll change their tunes pretty damn quick, and pressure the higher-paid players into settling with the owners. and if not, fuck it - I would love to see replacement players on the field. I'd try out to be one just for shits and giggles.

The Teknic "Chicane" gloves, and "violator" boots are a hell of a cheap way to get on track. Last year's design of glove runs like $20 a pair. They are NOT a Knox Handroid, or a Held Phantom, but they offer protection for 1 crash. I've seen $300 gloves fail, and $20 gloves survive a crash looking brand new... It depends more on how you crash than what glove you have. The $300 gloves just might survive 2 or 3 crashes, where the $20 gloves are one-time-use. I'm not advocating gambling on something as important as your hands, but the STG folks claim they won't sell anything they wouldn't use, so the protection has to be at least decent in the $20 gloves. I have 2 pair of the Chicanes, and the set i've had for 3 years is just getting to the point where I'm considering not wearing them on track anymore. Just wearing through the leather a little where the bar-end sits on my right palm.

yeah, that's the problem with April... I will happily spend $15 extra to ensure decent weather. April can be awesome - i did my first trackday ever on 4/19/08, and I got sun-burnt pretty badly that weekend. I did NJMP on 4/30/09, and it was 40 degrees and raining.

I didn't ask, because my wife would have crucified me, but I think they'll cut you good price (with the same free shipping) on 2 rears and a front if they have the stock to support it. I want to say someone on the WERA board mentioned that they bought 2 rears and a front and thanked TJ for "hooking him up" with the extra rear.

I'm not saying i disagree with "recruiting" female riders to grow the sport, I just inherently dislike the inequity of giving only one gender a discount. Turn the tables, and tell me it wouldn't raise some eyebrows. There's no "men's rate" at my local yoga studio, softball league, field hockey, gymnastics gym, or any other female-dominated sports. I'm not pissed off about it, I reject the notion that it's "fair."

I thought the little "tongue-out" smiley adequately conveyed that I was joking, but the fact is you give discounts to women that men aren't eligible for, correct? Equality would be everyone paying the same price regardless of gender. The inequity in numbers of male vs. female riders isn't due to any conscious effort (at least none I've witnessed) to exclude women. Conversely, running a female-only track day would be explicitly doing to men what you're claiming implicitly happens to women. That would appear hypocritical. Perhaps I just haven't met enough ignorant a-holes, but who are these men who "don't care to share the track with women?" I want to see more people at the track regardless of their gender - it keeps costs down and the tracks profitable.

Just ordered a set. TJ said, "let the guys on the forums know that we're running low on the 190 combos." so you liter bike guys need to act fast if you're interested. As always, Riders Discount blew me away with their customer service; or rather, TJ blew me away with his customer service. The line was busy when I called the first time. I called back 5 mins later and left TJ a message. Within the hour he called me back and got my order taken care of. I've had multiple awesome customer service experiences with TJ, so no hesitation whatsoever to recommend him as a go-to vendor for stuff like this.

to some extent, I think the manic behavior legitimately rationalizes some of the crazy shit he's spewing. The claim that he can use or not use coke any time he wants sounds ridiculous to us - that's the complete opposite of most addicts. ...but the manic/bipolar behavior would explain it pretty well. When he's high on Charlie Sheen, I'm sure he doesn't need or want the drugs. But when the pendulum swings back the other direction, the drugs are the only thing that keep him from being totally depressed and self-destructive. In a way, he's self medicating astonishingly effectively. the result is a totally fucked-up human being, but I think Sheen's about as "normal" as we're ever going to see him.

Track surface is probably LEAST important to newer/slower riders. You wont' be going fast enough for it to matter. Nelson is a bit bumpy, but compared to the street, you won't think so. Compared to other tracks, it's bad, but not awful. I run my "rain" suspension setting at Nelson because of the bumps. No big deal. The grip is far better than it looks. Especially early in the season when it's likely to be cool and damp, I'd feel safer on Nelson's surface than Mid-Ohio's. even in the dry, Mid-O feels "slicker" to me. I would not call Nelson's surface "squirrely" YOU WILL BE FINE. Any issues you have your first time there won't be due to the track conditions. Priorities for your first time there should include (in this order): 1) knowing the layout of the track. Nelson is pretty flat, so there aren't any blind turns as you crest a hill, but knowing what's coming up next will eliminate a lot of potential mistakes. there is only 1 hard braking zone at Nelson. Ask an instructor to set you a conservative braking marker there, and you can move your brake marker forward from there. 2) learning and staying on the race line. Not only is this the fastest way around the track, it's also the smoothest riding surface at Nelson. Stay on the line, and many of your track surface concerns disappear. 3) Have fun. Riding at 80% or even 50% of your limits is way more fun than being terrified of running off into the grass. As Jbot mentioned, there will be Advanced guys out there turning laps in under 1:10 As a novice, you will literally start off in the 1:50 range, and HOPE to break 1:30 by the end of the day. Once you start breaking the 1:12/1:10 barrier, the track surface matters. For you, it won't be an issue. Nelson is no worse than your favorite back road, and while that's not a glowing endorsement, the track staff at least checks that there is no loose gravel, dirt, leaves, or other debris on the track, and warns you in advance of anything to look out for. One time I was there, a car event had pulled some dirt onto the track at the apex of one of the turns. They coned it off to keep the bikes from getting into bad traction areas. Is that ideal? hell no - but it's something you wouldn't get on the street, and the staff looking out for our safety.

I am not in the tech/networking industry, but as a general rule, certifications help get you an interview - they look good on paper. experience gets you a job. What's clutch is when you can get your employer to pay for the certifications. They may not be teaching you anything, but they're legitimizing your experience.

i threw up in my mouth.

I'm not trying to be the fastest guy in intermediate, and I'm not (quite ) cocky enough to make the claim that I would be, I just don't want to get in anyone's way in Advanced. I really wish trackdays worked differently, and they just divided up the registered riders into 3 groups based on skill and lap times... Hand everyone a transponder at the start of the day, and by the third session, it would be very clear who wasn't registered in the proper group. So someone at the front of "I" group one day might be mid-pack "A" the next if a bunch of fast guys went home. The grouping would be based solely on who else is at the track THAT DAY. This would prevent "I" from selling out in 20 minutes and "A" being mostly empty too.

I'm going to register in Novice and terrorize the instructors. I need to find something that's the functional equivalent of a water balloon, but doesn't contain an element that causes loss of traction. Suggestions welcome. ....but for realz, I'm torn between Intermediate and Advanced. It's been a long winter, or I'd be confident with registering in Advanced. I should probably sack up and just do it. Count me in for May 14th. That's the weekend after my finals end, so if I'm not out in April, I will DEFINITELY be out in May. I'll register in the next couple weeks.

because gearing down doesn't increase horsepower. If the bike is running out of gear before it runs out of power, then yes, gearing up will increase top speed, but that's not the case with a 250. It runs out of power before it runs out of stock gearing. Gearing down will only cause it to run out of RPM at a lower speed, not a higher speed. Think of it in human terms - on a 21 speed bicycle, if you're chugging along as fast as you can possibly go in 21st gear on flat ground, another gear isn't going to make you go faster, it's just going to make your legs work harder - you already can't pedal any faster because the resistance is matching your legs' strength. The same is true of an engine. An extra gear doesn't magically give it more power, and thus more top-speed. It max X horsepower at Y RPM. Once the force of the wind = X horsepower, you're done. the only way gearing down would make a bike faster is if you weren't able to get to Y RPM, which I think would be exceedingly rare - maybe even impossible. Look at the bonneville salt flats times. If all you needed to do was re-gear bikes, no one would be bothering with power adders.

for those who didn't watch the video, the 122mph ninja 250 needed nitrous to get there. Plus the bike didn't have mirrors (that's a significant source of drag) and they had a more aerodynamic tail on the bike, not to mention what looked like a 15 yr old girl riding it. She's going to get in behind the fairing a lot better than most people (notice I didn't say anything about her being light, because it doesn't matter) It also appeared that they weren't running a front brake for some reason - better acceleration, I assume, or just less un-sprung weight.

but that's only a theoretical calculator - it doesn't account for wind resistance. Gearing a bike up only works if you still have extra power on tap. You can't gear an EX250 to hit 120mph any more than you could gear a civic to hit 200mph. At a given speed, the horsepower at the wheel is equal to the force of the wind pushing back. Changing your gearing doesn't change how much power you're putting to the ground, just what RPM you're at when you achieve equilibrium with the wind.

I hate you all. After reading this thread, I spent about an hour of my civil procedure class watching video of Nelson Ledges. It better be nice out by 4/16, or I am going to be cranky...

nice bike. welcome.

i'm going to have to question your math there... Example?

if it's comfortable while in a riding position, you're fine. by May, it's usually so damn hot in the paddock that you're going to be walking around with the arms and shoulders hanging behind you anyway. I use a bungy cord as a 'belt' at the track.