2013 1199R track bike project

Wilks, Engine and electronics... and steeper steering angle... the geometry has changed on the 15R . and the pani is so sensitive to small changes...

But above all, i hate changing wheels to wets....

Shaka.. yes i did... it s not about better times... i ve done what i set out to do.. and unless i go racing, i won't better that... need the drag of racing to do so... so i probably won't better myself without taking a risk i don't want to take...

kope999R said:

Shaka.. yes i did... it s not about better times... i ve done what i set out to do.. and unless i go racing, i won't better that... need the drag of racing to do so... so i probably won't better myself without taking a risk i don't want to take...

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With all due respect, and admiration for what you are doing....If that is the belief that you have about rider training then you had a poor instructor or didn't go to a professional school. Speed at your level is a byproduct of understanding how the bike works, reacts and feels. Which allows you go ride safer and smarter. This in turn gives you the confidence to go faster. Racing has nothing to do with it, only the mentality of the student.

"so I probably wont' better myself" is an indicitave statement that you have simply convinced yourself of something that isn't true.

Just my opinion and I hope my tone doesn't come off offensive, here are some smiley faces just in case

Shaka , i always respect a well founded opinion . Such as yours.

And so it goes. And the theory.. But once you head below certain times, it get s pritty blurry. I know if i want to drop another 3 seconds in Spa , tuition is a must. But also means trying stuff my body and brain at 55 may no longer cope with .. It s not the knowing, it s the doing... It easy to think: let s keep that thing pinned in 6th at 270kph and crank it over in blanchimont. It s the doing part that s tough . And i did that last year to hit 2:43's.. And i know the new R will get me in the 2:41's . Or should. We. Ve learned a massive lot on setup .. But i know i am flirting with my limits. And no tuition will make me wander in criple or dead land for another second . For the same reason i won t be racing . As i ll never be able to pick up close racing in a year without risking life and limb.. In a car, that would be different. .. On a bike ?? Thanks but no thanks .. [emoji3][emoji3][emoji3][emoji3]

kope999R said:

Shaka , i always respect a well founded opinion . Such as yours.

And so it goes. And the theory.. But once you head below certain times, it get s pritty blurry. I know if i want to drop another 3 seconds in Spa , tuition is a must. But also means trying stuff my body and brain at 55 may no longer cope with .. It s not the knowing, it s the doing... It easy to think: let s keep that thing pinned in 6th at 270kph and crank it over in blanchimont. It s the doing part that s tough . And i did that last year to hit 2:43's.. And i know the new R will get me in the 2:41's . Or should. We. Ve learned a massive lot on setup .. But i know i am flirting with my limits. And no tuition will make me wander in criple or dead land for another second . For the same reason i won t be racing . As i ll never be able to pick up close racing in a year without risking life and limb.. In a car, that would be different. .. On a bike ?? Thanks but no thanks .. [emoji3][emoji3][emoji3][emoji3]

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Again, that's not what training does. Training makes your comfortable with new limits, without going over them. That's why I question the training you are recieving. I don't know what they have where you live, I know in the UK they have actual schools, but I have no idea what is available in Belgium. That said, the first time I went to the Yamaha Champions Riding School, I came home and knocked five seconds off my lap times and felt like I could do that one handed. With so much less rider effort that I went from cutting sessions short and skipping the final sessions, to riding every minute possible and then going to the gym after the trackday. Training builds fundamentals, and again, I'm basing this all off trackday pics and reports, your fundamentals are lacking. That's why you have this fear of the "danger zone".

Don't think of training as "take this school and go faster", that's not what it is. And it absolutely is about the knowing, not the doing. When you know you have the skills and technique your confidence improves dramatically and you crash less. Real training happens while riding at less than 60%, the old saying "slow is smooth, smooth is fast" comes into play here. You say that the laptimes aren't what you are looking for, then you turn around and say you want to knock two seconds off. I think your mental approach to how you ride needs a bigger adjustment than your bike.

Take this from someone who has been in your exact shoes and finally learned that training was more important than equipment. I now lap on a bone stock 750 quicker than I did on a fully built HRC kitted AMA superbike, with absolutely none of the fear of going down.

Henry Ford once said "Whether you think you can or you cant, you are probably right". The language in your explanations tells me you have simply decided you can't become a better rider, and I'm telling you if you are still alive, then you haven't seen your best yet.

Wow! Good stuff Shaka!

Where at in Oregon are you? Cause I could use your thought process and training to better myself on the track.

Interesting .. If the 2 seconds will come of, it won t be me doing much different. It will be the bike adding some top speed, revving faster , keep a tighter turn, let me get on the gass a tad earlier, keep it s nose down.. I know i have to hang off more. Again . At my size, genetic stiffness, etc etc, .. IT S DOING IT THAT IS THE PROBLEM. .. and i a' sure i could do better. But then again, what it would take me to get in a position to zctually do it , i won t .. )

kope999R said:

Interesting .. If the 2 seconds will come of, it won t be me doing much different. It will be the bike adding some top speed, revving faster , keep a tighter turn, let me get on the gass a tad earlier, keep it s nose down.. I know i have to hang off more. Again . At my size, genetic stiffness, etc etc, .. IT S DOING IT THAT IS THE PROBLEM. .. and i a' sure i could do better. But then again, what it would take me to get in a position to zctually do it , i won t .. )

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I know guys way bigger and way older than you that are flying around the track with ease.

Eugene "Doc" Brown is still racing occasional OMRRA rounds here at age 72 and still winning on a 10 year old Suzuki, and it's not exactly like Kevin Schwantz had the best body position ever.

There is nothing wrong with just going out there and making noise on the track if that's what you want to do, but you are still highlighting all of the physical reasons why you can't do something, affirming all the mental decisions why you refuse to, and not acknowledging all of the ways in which you CAN.

Going further, even at 34 years of age, basketball injuries have made it so I'm the least flexible person you will ever meet. I can't touch my toes, I can't sit cross legged and I can't hang off the bike. Yet I still manage to be aware of my contact patch, center of gravity etc and lap at a way more then respectable pace, and while I can't do it yet, I KNOW enough about the workings of riding that I no longer doubt that I can run with the front runners given enough seat time and training.

Ok coach ... [emoji2][emoji2][emoji2]. Your re right .. I don t want to.. At 55 at the end of only my second season of tracking after not having ridden a bike at all in 18 years doing times that witihin the team would have us hit 20 th in a 72 team race at Notoriously fast and daunting Spa makes me more than happy enough.. [emoji3][emoji3][emoji3] you re right , the motivation to search my ultimate limit is lacking. [emoji3][emoji3][emoji3]

flobrandx said:

Wow! Good stuff Shaka!

Where at in Oregon are you? Cause I could use your thought process and training to better myself on the track.

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Portland, shoot me a PM if you want to discuss. I am NOT an expert on anything by any means. However I've had a decent amount of professional instruction and am more than willing to pass on what I have learned if you are interested. After I did the YCRS a couple times, I honestly never saw the track the same way again. Bettering my skills mentally was the single best thing I ever did for my riding. I decided to do that after talking to the fast guys and finding they all had one thing in common, they took every opportunity they had to train themselves.

One last thread jack and I'll leave it be, because I truly do want to see Kope's 2015 bike, because it will no doubt be an amazing machine. I sorta hope he gets the forward facing Termi's....... But one thing I notice about riding motorcycles that you never see in any other sport is the notion that you only get faster through racing. I simply don't believe that anymore. Michael Jordan didn't only work on his game during playoff games, he spent thousands of hours perfecting his fade-away, ball handling etc when nobody else was even in the gym. Tiger Woods has likely taken a few million swings at the driving range, he doesn't just show up to a Tournament (ok, maybe he does these days). No boxer shows up to a championship match without months of preperation. And yet I hear people (mostly slow mind you) constantly tell track riders that they should improve through racing.

kope999R said:

Ok coach ... [emoji2][emoji2][emoji2]. Your re right .. I don t want to.. At 55 at the end of only my second season of tracking after not having ridden a bike at all in 18 years doing times that witihin the team would have us hit 20 th in a 72 team race at Notoriously fast and daunting Spa makes me more than happy enough.. [emoji3][emoji3][emoji3] you re right , the motivation to search my ultimate limit is lacking. [emoji3][emoji3][emoji3]

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Hey, nothing wrong with saying that either. We all enjoy the sport in our own way. You don't need to justify anything to me or anyone else, at the same time, no sense in throwing excuses out that don't really make sense. Just get out there and ride while trying not to touch anything to the pavement but tires and knee sliders.

Shaka . Tx . Ask yourself . Will you ever be a weightlifter throwing 400 pds in the air . ? Prob not . And no tuition will change that .. We all have our limits . And with riding bikes at those speeds in those places , its wise to know when you re getting close to them .. )

kope999R said:

Shaka . Tx . Ask yourself . Will you ever be a weightlifter throwing 400 pds in the air . ? Prob not . And no tuition will change that .. We all have our limits . And with riding bikes at those speeds in those places , its wise to know when you re getting close to them .. )

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This is true, but but we aren't talking about making you bigger or stronger. We are talking about exercising a muscle that has a lot more potential in it, that being your brain. I'm still not talking about improving your laptimes mind you, I'm talking about making you safer and smoother on the bike. Just from watching your videos, there are tons of things that are well within your physical capability to improve on. Will those things make you faster? Probably, it's a byproduct of skill. However you could also simply turn the same lap times you are now with 1/3 of the effort and little fear of going down. Which I think is your ultimate concern if I'm understanding you correctly.

shakazulu12 said:

This is true, but but we aren't talking about making you bigger or stronger. We are talking about exercising a muscle that has a lot more potential in it, that being your brain. I'm still not talking about improving your laptimes mind you, I'm talking about making you safer and smoother on the bike. Just from watching your videos, there are tons of things that are well within your physical capability to improve on. Will those things make you faster? Probably, it's a byproduct of skill. However you could also simply turn the same lap times you are now with 1/3 of the effort and little fear of going down. Which I think is your ultimate concern if I'm understanding you correctly.

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That is some good advice. Its all about being safer and improving your skills to minimize the probability of hurting yourself.

kope999R said:

Shaka , i always respect a well founded opinion . Such as yours.

And so it goes. And the theory.. But once you head below certain times, it get s pritty blurry. I know if i want to drop another 3 seconds in Spa , tuition is a must. But also means trying stuff my body and brain at 55 may no longer cope with .. It s not the knowing, it s the doing... It easy to think: let s keep that thing pinned in 6th at 270kph and crank it over in blanchimont. It s the doing part that s tough . And i did that last year to hit 2:43's.. And i know the new R will get me in the 2:41's . Or should. We. Ve learned a massive lot on setup .. But i know i am flirting with my limits. And no tuition will make me wander in criple or dead land for another second . For the same reason i won t be racing . As i ll never be able to pick up close racing in a year without risking life and limb.. In a car, that would be different. .. On a bike ?? Thanks but no thanks .. [emoji3][emoji3][emoji3][emoji3]

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Keep me posted on that . If you think a new bike over the bike you have will give up 3 seconds I want one .
I'm chasing 1.36 's at Phillip Island and all I need to do is upgrade my bike . Sounds awesome

Wilks. I am talking 2seconds on a 2:43 lap.. .. And come on guys.. Bikes have been getting faster and faster since the first one was ever made.. Still , pro riders will do even 5 seconds better on a base.. And 8 to 10 on mine.. Nothing new there either.. But i ll keep you all posted.. .) and on tuition.. I ve worked with top people on set up (private wsbk level) been looking at data systematically. Steve has me given his best... And the crew i ride with do 2:40 's .. And we talk corners like aaaaalll day long.. We follow each other for whole sessions.. Next year some expert courses at DRE are planned at dijon.. ..

kope999R said:

Wilks. I am talking 2seconds on a 2:43 lap.. .. And come on guys.. Bikes have been getting faster and faster since the first one was ever made.. Still , pro riders will do even 5 seconds better on a base.. And 8 to 10 on mine.. Nothing new there either.. But i ll keep you all posted.. .) and on tuition.. I ve worked with top people on set up (private wsbk level) been looking at data systematically. Steve has me given his best... And the crew i ride with do 2:40 's .. And we talk corners like aaaaalll day long.. We follow each other for whole sessions.. Next year some expert courses at DRE are planned at dijon.. ..

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I wish I had learned about data way earlier on. Riding out there blind really hinders your ability to improve. It's good that you have a team to help you with those things.
Regarding instruction, here is a review I wrote about the YCRS back in 2010 to give you an idea of what I'm talking about regarding a school, perhaps it will better explain what I'm trying to get across. I still don't know if they offer things like this where you are, but I imagine so.

My Yamaha Champions Riding School Review (this gonna be a long one) - PNW Riders

Since this time I've done several other schools and as my skills increased my laptimes plummeted with significantly less effort on the bike. Also using waaaaaay less tire, which is a good thing since I can't move around much due to injuries. Even won a few races giving up 250cc's to my competitors.

Shaka.. Thanks for the link..interesting read. you refer to my vids regularly to conclude that i do need tuition . It would be mighty helpful if you could point out some moments and make your point on where i could improve.. Tx

Shaka ever try Egosque?

kope999R said:

Shaka.. Thanks for the link..interesting read. you refer to my vids regularly to conclude that i do need tuition . It would be mighty helpful if you could point out some moments and make your point on where i could improve.. Tx

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Sure. I'm heading out to enjoy my sunday, but I'll do so when I have time to sit back and watch them again and note specific points. That's a lot of footage to go through. The general thing I notice is your braking and throttle inputs aren't very smooth or consistent. That's going to wreak havoc on your feel and comfort level and make it feel like you are teetering on the edge of disaster. Also burns tires etc faster and will cause you to expend more energy than you need to get around.

I think the fundamental difference in our opinions is that you are communicating to me that your skills and abilities are tapped out and the only improvement that can be made at this point safely is via the bike. I counter with the notion that you can get a whole lot safer and smoother on the track and build your skills measurably and the byproduct would be much less drama on track. Whether you choose to go faster or not is your call.

Mind you, all of this my opinion and worth exactly what you paid for it.