redkow97

damn, that's a steal... My parents live in Broadview. It's just south of Cleveland.

I'd like to hear his take on the race - my arm-chair racer instinct says his tires started to lose grip late in the race, but it's just as possible that some of the more experienced guys pulled the pin and started lapping faster with 6 laps remaining.

I've posted this before, and it's comically old, but I think still interesting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAMm0GMghN8 I'd like to see it today with a Z06, a streetable SV650, and a moto GP bike.

^ until the car gets insanely exotic enough to match a bike's acceleration, yes.

the car/bike debate will rage on long after any of us are still around to argue it. The fact is that different tracks play to the strengths of different vehicles. Bikes accelerate like nobody's business, but can't maintain the same corner speed as properly balanced sports cars. a course with a bunch of sweeping turns and few acceleration zones would clearly favor a car, because it maintains more speed through turns. A course with a bunch of relatively low-speed turns that are all followed by a monster-acceleration straight would see the bike making up any time it loses in the corners, and ultimately pulling away from the car. how many people actually know how to ride/drive their bike or car to its potential anyway? Most people only know how to accelerate hard, and they think that makes them a good driver or rider. Nothing could be further from the truth. I think it would actually be an interesting experiment to put an 'average' driver behind the wheel of a 599 and an average rider on a liter bike, and see who turns the faster lap. That would at least start to show which vehicle is easier for the masses to lap quickly.

I have a pair of tickets to Mid-OH for AMA weekend. I'm sure that will have its own thread by July 1. many beers will be had. to bring this thread back on topic, During lunch on Saturday, I was talking with one of the control riders (and Bucky Badger's teammate), Ron Hix, and he might be racing in the AMA American Superbike class at Mid-Ohio. www.hixracing.com (Brian, aka Bucky Badger, is #803 btw - definitely faster than he makes himself sound) Ron's exact words were, "we'll see how it goes, and I'll look at last year's qualifying times to see where I'm at. If i think I can make the cut, then yeah, I'll enter and let the pros lap me" (followed by a big smile). Ron's being modest. He rode 4 AMA races in 2009, and finished every one in the top 20, with a 12th as his best so far. Top 10 is only a matter of time. Not bad for a guy riding against bikes with serious sponsorship money in their engines, suspensions, parts bin, etc.

the first bike to go down was leaking oil. The rest fell victim to the first bike's fluids. not sure exactly how the first guy went down though. If he had low-sided, i would have understood, but it looked like he stood the bike back up and then crashed. maybe locked the front? and Moto2 is the shit! 40+ bikes on teh grid? yes please. top 20 riders turning lap times within 1 second of each other? hell yes! I had never heard of Kenny Noyes until that race, but you bet your ass i'm looking him up today. 31 yr old American kickin some ass for the first half of the race! I was hoping he'd podium, but 7th on a grid of 40 ain't too shabby.

Big +1 to everything STT-Brian said. nelson ain't pretty, but it's not nearly as bad as it looks. At a novice pace, there's no reason to run off track. the race line is decently smooth. breaking 1:10 is seriously fast at Nelson. I probably ride in the 1:18-1:20 range. the back straight is MUCH faster than the front straight. front straight is 4th gear (i actually take turn 1 in 4th) on a 600, and you can get into 6th gear on the back straight if you have the balls to hold it wide open through the kink. At your second trackday, you won't. That said, you want to at least have neutral throttle through the dip. DO NOT go through it on the brakes. It just upsets the chassis. if you want to go through the kind slow, that's not a terrible thing, just brake before-hand, and then throttle through it. It's totally unnatural, but it's definitely safer. if i can convince my wife that riding 4 times in one month is affordable, I might be there on the 22nd, but it's doubtful. I MIGHT be able to come spectate and pit-bitch for you though.

anyone going to be out May 10 or 11 with NESBA? i'll be at Mid OH for 5/11 and then 6/28 and 6/29.

^ i based my comment off something I saw on the STT forum. Someone posted that "STT is listed on Gingerman's schedule on 5/16, but it's not on STT's schedule." that could have changed.

check for a PM - I'm getting a new ramp on Tuesday. My old, homemade one should be available. I have 2 finals this week and one next week, so i'm right there with ya...

learning to ride an '04 is a better upgrade than buying an '08. There was a NESBA control rider on an '01-'03 GSXR 600 this past weekend. those bikes are pigs compared to the '04+ models, and he wasn't having any problems running down much newer bikes. a high-performance bike with a low-performance rider is only fast in a straight line.

legally, a contract requires a promise AND "consideration." i.e. he promises you the bike, and you have to give him at least $1 to seal the deal. The seller may revoke at any time before you've fully accepted the contract (by giving adequate consideration), and notification that the seller has taken "substantial steps" to enter into a contract with another buyer IS adequate communication of revocation. but yes, it's a shitty thing to do.

it's not "closed," but it's also not advertised on their site. Monte had posted to "spread the word," so I did. It may have only yielded a couple of spectators, maybe another rider or two. In any case, 30 minute sessions is more riding than my legs can handle, but it makes it easier to get open track for sure. I like to either go out for 12 minutes, rest for 8 and then go back out for 10, or just chill teh first 5 minutes of the session, head out for the middle, and roll in a few minutes early. I'm sure STT will make a judgment call the morning of the event - I've been to events before where 30 minute sessions were possible, but the coaches just need a break. If there are always "I" or "B" guys on the track, the coaches may never get 20 minutes to rest. i'm sure we'll have tons of open track no matter what happens.

soo... would the 2 advanced guys be willing to ride "I" group passing rules and have 30 minute sessions all day?? I can dream, right? I invited a couple of other novices who may or may not have actually registered. They were supposed to contact STT about suit rental last week.

Saturday only. I was pitted like 4 or 5 spots down from Hoblick. If you look at the pic he posted, the maroon FJ Cruiser in the very back of his shot was right next to me.

I kind of agree with your wife. I'm not going to tell Sam or anyone else how to parent; I just don't like the idea of introducing a child to the danger involved in riding a bike until they're really old enough to appreciate the potential consequences. Maybe 7 or 10 is old enough for some kids. I'm sure it's different for all kids. But get the girl some riding pants man... a quick thought about how much pain she'd be in if you were to go down, and it'll make you sick that you didn't spent the extra hundred bucks to protect her legs too. glad she's taken interest in the bike.

for anything I can't do myself, I've heard good things about MPH Ohio. they did the suspension install and setup on my friend's SV650. Pricing was reasonable, and the work was absolutely top-notch. They'll likely be refreshing my forks and shock next winter.

Turn One was $60. Not cheap, but I thought it was well worth it 1) because they did it fast (took them 40 minutes - would have taken me well over an hour, and I'd still be second-guessing myself) and 2) because they'll stand behind their work and tweak stuff with you all day. Marshall also watched the another guy 'jump' on my suspension to see the compression and rebound in action, and they made adjustments accordingly. You can get a friend or two to help you do it, but there were 3 guys from Turn One working on my bike at once, some of the time with me sitting on it in a race tuck to simulate riding. I don't have that many friends who know enough about bikes to trust their judgment!

+1 I'll definitely be back to conquer Putnam in the dry. i was just getting comfortable riding at a decent pace, and putting lines together, and then my legs started to give out, and the weather got worse. All in all, I'm really happy with the day. only light rain, and I convinced myself that I DIDN'T forget how to ride a bike over the winter :-D got my suspension set up by Turn One, and the bike is feeling better than it ever has. the MidWest NESBA staff runs a good show, and everyone I met made me want to come back. CR with the fringe on his leathers made me laugh every time I saw him head out. I gotta talk to that guy at Mid Ohio...

nice meeting you Hoblick. I think there were more than 6 people went down though. I witnessed 5 people crash or run off track. 2 in the first session, then 3 more in the 5th session. In all but 1 case, I was one or two bikes behind the person who crashed, so I had a front-row seat for the action. it definitely got sketchy during the 2nd afternoon session and beyond. the 'spitting' rain didn't really make the track look wet, but it absolutely compromised the grip. I had two pucker-moments within 10 seconds of those 3 guys going down. It got crazy real quick. First guy had his rear slide, recovered, but rode off track. the guy immediately behind him target-fixated and followed him off. I was the third. The next turn, the guy (now 2 bikes in front of me) lost the rear, while my rear tire slid as well. They red-flagged the session at that point, and I was just happy to make it around to the pits with the bike still upright.

or just take it off and dump it out. My belly-pan is 4 dzus fasteners and 2 allen bolts. If i'm REALLY lazy, I have some fuel hose in my box-o-spares that I've used to siphon water out. It doesn't get every last drop, but the heat from the exhaust dries what's left pretty darn quick.

well enjoy your tickets. feeling justified doesn't make lane-splitting legal.

I'm not ADVOCATING citizens arrests - but how can you get down on someone for stopping someone else from breaking the law? where else would this be tolerated?

makes me never want to drive again. I'm paranoid enough about going through an intersection when my light has JUST turned green. Now i have to worry about people just ignoring the red light all together, and plowing through 20 or 30 seconds afterward??? epic fail. At least there's video evidence to convict these morons.