[megaspaz]

Here’s the end of season banquet vid… if this don’t get you pumped… bring it!

[megaspaz]

Do you have any goals in regards to riding? Putting around, canyon carving, racing maybe?

as far as your questions…

1) Depends on what kind of riding you do… maintenance for me is pretty pricey since I race my bike as well as commute and canyon carve.

2) Depends on your level of what becomes uncomfortable for you. I’ve heard of people your height refer to the ninja 205 as being cramped as well as others saying it’s fine. Sit on as many bikes as possible to get a feel of the riding position… make sure you have someone hold the bike upright for you while you do this as that will give you a better feel compared to sitting on something resting on a side stand.

[megaspaz]

Welcome!

California’s a great motorcycling state. Whatever kind of riding you decide to focus on there’s a community willing to help out and make it fun. Feel free to ask questions, we don’t bite… hard…

[megaspaz]

dainese full metal racers. protection without sacrificing feel. i’ve crashed in them on the track 3 times and they’re still useable.

[megaspaz]

in california? never really…

[megaspaz]

type 4 designed to fit into a single sided swingarm such as ducati and aprilia supersports. reversible also since the bike has a single sided swingarm…

in terms of front stands there’s 3 kinds. one that the bottom of the forks rest on. one if your forks have spools. and one that has a pin designed to fit into a hole in your steering head from the bottom.

[megaspaz]

ah… memories… i dropped my bike before… the good ol’ days… ^__^

[megaspaz]

Is that dry weight? the sv650s weighs in at 367 dry. 440 seems awfully high for that kind of a 650 twin bike.

[megaspaz]

I’ve ridden with peter a few times at thunderhill. He certainly was fast and talented. The kicker about this tragedy is that he crashed and was ok, waving to the workers only to be hit by another rider. RIP rider.

http://peterlenz.org/

[megaspaz]

interesting… definately seems like a worthwhile investment… kinda like an onstar for bikes…

[megaspaz]

oh the kickstand thing… that’s easy… there’s 2 wires that go to that kickstand switch, let’s say green and black. Get your self some male and female connectors. Cut those 2 wires. for the black wire closest to the kickstand, put on a female connector. The other black wire, put on a male connector. For the green wire closest to the kickstand put on a male connector. The other green wire put on a female connector. With your kickstand off, plug the wires farthest from the kickstand into each other. Let the other wires just hang there. When you put the kickstand back on, plug the green wires together and do the same with the black wires.

[megaspaz]

pffft… duct tape and zip ties… works every time… ;-P

[megaspaz]

ah yes… that they do… you still have to negotiate the corner to avoid it though. Although, bear in mind for trackdays, not all corners will have workers. typically at thill, t3 is unmanned while t1 and t5 are manned. t10 isn’t manned either. t9 and t11 are. t14 and the starter tower are manned. In races, all the towers are manned as well as some non-corners.

corners are corners, either you have unobstructed view or you don’t. Funny that I’ve never crashed in a corner like t3 on the street or the track, but i’ve crashed my brains out on a corner like t9 on highway 49. which one again is more challenging? none of them. Elevation blind corners are just as dangerous as that right hand mountain side corner. If the track is supposed to be easier, then by golly, we wouldn’t have crashes on these corners at all at the track, now would we?

[megaspaz]

are you under the impression the flag guy in the towers actually direct riders? they really don’t do anything but observe and wave flags only when shit happens. some towers do make great reference points though. for t1 at thill, the 1st corner tower is a great reference point since you can’t see anything at ground level. The tower at t9 on the other hand won’t help you determine anything about the exit though… unless you want to exit way shallow and run off on the kink on the left to t10. people who use the tower for t5 end up in the dirt on the inside of t5a since that turn is like laguna’s cork screw, sharp left and a quick right downhill. the t11 tower, while a great reference point for the exit, doesn’t help you on the entrance. The optimum turn in point for t10 is right before the top of the crest. You have to start turning in before you can see the curbing and the apex. Anything later than that, you’re either gonna have to slow down a lot to hit the apex or you’re gonna go wide on the apex and wide on exit which is a crappy short dirt ride. If you use the t10 tower on the left for a turn in point, you’re turning in too early and are gonna run off on the inside of the turn or hit the curbing. At race pace, race track blind corners are every bit as challenging as rolling around a mountain…

[megaspaz]

yup. you gotta take into account, this guy started in the first grid, which means he’s fucking fast. when he got pushed off, that put him around last so he was catching up to guys who are slower than him. The difference between the top runners and mid-pack to end-of-pack is pretty large.

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