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On a sporty bike it’s even more important to secure yourself on the bike with your legs, more so than on a more relaxed bike (e.g., a cruiser). Really take that to heart and try to loosen up your upper body as much as you possibly can.

Also, you really don’t need to give the bike much throttle to keep it stable in a corner. At the very least, get on “neutral throttle” (not accelerating but also not decelerating). Ideally, however, you want to judge your entry speed such that you can actually be accelerating slightly (slightly, not full-on) throughout the corner.

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Good call. Hijacking terminated.

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So TrialsRider, what can his training buddy actually do for him? I assume he’s there to “catch” him if he screws up, but it seems like the training buddy is almost more at risk for getting hurt than the rider…

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I thought I recognized that parking lot. That’s Pacific Raceways (says so in the video info).

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You got to ride with David Hough and you have the gal to mention me in the same breath?

On another note, I feel like we should probably venture out together one of these days. Spring is here and us fair-weather riders (that’s me, not you) can finally come out from our caves.

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As TrialsRider suggests, the issue could be mechanical. In addition to the great tips he offers, I’d also suggest checking that your rear suspension can move through the full range of motion without hitting anything. A common problem I’ve seen on bikes with aftermarket exhausts is that the new system is incorrectly installed and gets in the way of suspension travel. Stretch or compress the suspension heavily (depending on where the pipe goes) and your swingarm might hit the pipe and suddenly stop, making it impossible for your suspension to keep your tire on the pavement.

Your riding style can also dramatically affect your traction. Especially in corners its important to have steady throttle control and slight acceleration through the corner. This will keep enough weight on the rear and will improve your rear tire traction. There are other things you might unconsciously be doing mid corner (holding too tightly on the bars and preventing them from doin’ their thang, moving around the bike at odd moments, etc.) that can cause small slides. If you haven’t already, I’d highly suggest a couple good riding books, especially ones focused on sport riding. My recommendations in no particular order:

Sport Riding Techniques

Performance Riding Techniques

Total Control

All of these are great books, though I definitely prefer the first two to the third. In the end, I’d really suggest you read them all. The Keith Code “Twist” books are the source for everything, but all the drugs Keith did back in the day messed up his clarity of thought and ability to communicate and teach. His disciples (the authors above) do a better job of not confusing the $%!@ out of you.

Honestly, chances are that you’re not sliding at all. Many things can give you the illusion of sliding when you’re really not. If you’re loose on the bike, smooth on the control inputs, and on the throttle in corners, you’re probably nowhere near a lean angle at which you have to start worrying about that stuff.

Bottom line: check your equipment and think about your riding, but chances are there’s nothing to worry about.

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If my guess is correct, it was not a BMW employee giving the talk, but a visiting suspension expert given an opportunity to use the dealership as a venue (obviously with the intention of attracting BMW clients as well). All I mean is that I’m guessing that the suspension info was not in any way tailored towards BMW motorcycles.

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Ahh yeah…

That would be Barry of KFG, right? If so, he’s a great guy, though I can’t speak to his presentation abilities.

If you really want to work on your own suspension, so be it. I’ve actually found that, given the amount of time I want to put into it, it’s too dangerous to try messing with it myself. There are so many variables in setting suspension that, even with a solid understanding of theory and a clear sense of what the bike is doing “wrong,” I’ve only ever managed to make things worse. Ha! For people like me, a $40 set-up from Barry is waaaaaaaay better an investment that hours and hours screwing up your suspension.

I guess it’s worth noting that if by adjusting your suspension you just meant setting your sag, that’s a deterministic process you can obviously do without paying anybody. Beyond that, it gets real tricky real fast.

Like you suggest, if you really want to figure suspension out (not that I have), the pros tell me you just have to spend hours and hours riding, then tweaking, then riding, then tweaking, then riding, all to develop a good sense of exactly what a given combination of settings means on your bike.

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Eon hit the nail on the head. You (the OP) have the perfect outlook.

You’ll be so happy when you wreck guys on big bikes and leave them wondering what happened…

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It’s one thing to post in a video that has a warning. That way people don’t have to watch it. But not everybody wants to be scrolling through a forum post on their lunch hour just to see an impaled leg chillin half-way down the page. How’s that chicken leg tastin’ now?

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If you live in California during summer time, every 500 miles is probably alright. However, if you live in an area where it rains a lot, or where you get lots of dirt and gunk into your chain during normal riding, you’ll definitely want to clean your chain more often. In practice, I (living in Seattle) tend to clean and lube my daily-rider chain every 100 miles or so.

If you do any more serious riding, however, I’d lube your chain even more often. For instance, I clean and lube my chain after the first session of every track day I go to.

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…but you gotta snipe them on clearance. You can get REAL nice helmets for scorpion/HJC prices.

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“A lot of shopping.” Cute. You’re WELL within “healthy” for a motorcycle fan. If you want to see a lot of shopping, you should check out what somebody with a bad track habit has done during the off-season. Count yourself lucky that you haven’t gotten that bug yet

Looks like you got a lot of good stuff! Congrats! Glad to see you added pants to your inventory. I hate seeing people constantly posting up pictures of their legs after crashes.

By the way, if you really want to be sunglass-free, you’re probably going to want a dark smoke visor. The Scorpion dark smokes aren’t THAT dark, so you can even get away with using them at night (only if you get caught with your proverbial pants down; definitely avoid it if you can) so long as you’re in an area with lots of street lights. Light smoke is just not going to be enough if the sun is directly in yours eyes.

…and double-bubbles are great!

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I was about to say the exact same things…and then saw he already said them.

So yes, +1 to:

1) Adjust the levers so that they’re in a natural position and you don’t have to contort your wrists, and

2) Ease up your grip on the bars! Grab the bike with your legs by squeezing the tank, not by hanging on with your hands.

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How you taunt us.

I got caught unexpectedly in a downpour a few days ago (or was it just yesterday?) on what at first appeared to be a nice clear day. The weather gods saw me getting cocky and had to set me straight.

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