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The FOGs Groove (aka The Pace) : When we FOGs talk about being "in The Groove", we are talking about being smooth! When we say, "that was a great rideout", we mean that we were ALL smooth! When we say, "he's a dangerous rider", we mean that he doesn't stick to our rules. Well Pradeep sent me this article from a US biker mag,. and it basically describes what we do every weekend! So keep up the good stuff guys and girls and enjoy the article.... Read it, Learn it, Live it! THE PACE BY NICK IENATSCH .... Racing involves speed, concentration and commitment; the results of a mistake are usually catastrophic because there's little room for error riding at 100 percent. Performance street riding is less intense and further from the absolute limit, but because circumstances are less controlled, mistakes and over aggressiveness can be equally catastrophic. Plenty of roadracers have sworn off street riding. "Too dangerous, too many variables and too easy to get carried away with too much speed," track specialists claim. Adrenaline-addled racers find themselves treating the street like the track, and not surprisingly, they get burned by the police, the laws of physics and the cold, harsh realities of an environment not groomed for ten-tenths riding. .... But as many of us know, a swift ride down a favorite road may be the finest way to spend a few free hours with a bike we love. And these few hours are best enjoyed riding at The Pace. .... A year after I joined Motorcyclist staff in 1984, Mitch Boehm was hired. Six months later, The Pace came into being, and we perfected it during the next few months of road testing and weekend fun rides. Now The Pace is part of my life - and a part of the Sunday morning riding group I frequent. The Pace is a street riding technique that not only keeps street riders alive, but thoroughly entertained as well. THE PACE .... The Pace focuses on bike control and de-emphasizes outright speed. Full-throttle acceleration and last minute braking aren't part of the program, effectively eliminating the two most common single-bike accident scenarios in sport riding. Cornering momentum is the name of the game, stressing strong, forceful inputs at the handlebar to place the bike correctly at the entrance of the turn and get it flicked in with little wasted time and distance. Since the throttle wasn't slammed open at the exit of the last corner, the next corner doesn't require much, if any, braking. It isn't uncommon to ride with our group and not see a brake light flash all morning. .... If the brakes are required, the front lever gets squeezed smoothly, quickly and with a good deal of force to set entrance speed in minimum time. Running in on the brakes is tantamount to running off the road, a confession that you're pushing too hard and not getting your entrance speed set early enough because you stayed on the gas too long. Running The Pace decreases your reliance on the throttle and brakes, the two easiest controls to abuse, and hones your ability to judge cornering speed, which is the most thrilling aspect of performance street riding. YOUR LANE IS YOUR LIMIT .... Crossing the centerline at any time except during a passing maneuver is intolerable, another sign that you're pushing too hard to keep up. Even when you have a clean line of sight through a left-hand kink, stay to the right of the centerline. Staying on the right side of the centerline is much more challenging than simply straightening every slight corner, and when the whole group is committed to this intelligent practice, the temptation to cheat is eliminated through peer pressure and logic. Though street riding shouldn't be described in racing terms, you can think of your lane as the race track. Leaving your lane is tantamount to a crash. .... Exact bike control has you using every inch of your lane if the circumstances permit it. In corners with a clear line of sight and no oncoming traffic, enter at the far outside of the corner, turn the bike relatively late in the corner to get a late apex at the far inside of your lane and accelerate out, just brushing the far outside of your lane as your bike stands up. Steer your bike forcefully but smoothly to minimize the transition time. Don't hammer it down because the chassis will bobble slightly as it settles, possibly carrying you off line. Since you haven't charged in on the brakes, you can get the throttle on early, before the apex, which balances and settles your bike for the drive out. .... More often than not, circumstances do not permit the full use of your lane from yellow line to white line and back again. Blind corners, oncoming traffic and gravel on the road are a few criteria that dictate a more conservative approach, so leave yourself a three or four foot margin for error, especially at the left side of the lane where errant oncoming traffic could prove fatal. Simply narrow your entrance on a blind right-harder and move your apex into your lane three feet on blind left turns in order to stay free of unseen oncoming traffic hogging the centerline. Because you're running at The Pace and not flat out, your controlled entrances offer additional time to deal with unexpected gravel or other debris in your lane; the outside wheel track is usually the cleanest through a dirty corner since a car weights its outside tires most, scrubbing more dirt off the pavement in the process, so aim for that line. A GOOD LEADER, WILLING FOLLOWERS .... The street is not a racing environment, and it takes humility, self assurance and self control to keep it that way. The leader sets the pace and monitors his mirrors for signs of raggedness in the ranks that follow, such as tucking in on straights, crossing over the yellow line and hanging off the motorcycle in the corners, If the leader pulls away, he simply slows his straight way speed slightly but continues to enjoy the corners, thus closing the ranks but missing none of the fun. The small group of three or four riders I ride with is so harmonious that the pace is identical no matter who's leading. The lead shifts occasionally with a quick hand sign, but there's never a pass for the lead with an ego on the sleeve. Make no mistake, the riding is spirited and quick in the corners. Anyone with a right arm can hammer down the straights; it's proficiency in the corners that makes The Pace come alive. .... Following distances are relatively lengthy, with the straightaways taken at more moderate speeds, providing the perfect opportunity to adjust the gaps. Keeping a good distance serves several purposes, besides being safer. Rock chips are minimized, and the police or highway patrol won't suspect a race is in progress. The Pace's style of not hanging off in corners also reduces the appearance of pushing too hard and adds a degree of maturity and sensibility in the eyes of the public and the law. There's a definite challenge to cornering quickly while sitting sedately on your bike. .... New rider indoctrination takes some time because The Pace develops very high cornering speeds and newcomers want to hammer the throttle on the exits to make up for what they lose at the entrances. Our group slows drastically when a new rider joins the ranks because our technique of moderate straightaway speed and no brakes can suck the unaware into a corner too fast, creating the most common single bike accident. With a new rider learning The Pace behind you, tap your brake lightly well before the turn to alert him and make sure he understands there's no pressure to stay with the group. .... There's plenty of ongoing communication during The Pace. A foot off the peg indicates debris in the road, and all slowing or turning intentions are signaled in advance with the left hand and arm. Turn signals are used for direction changes and passing, with a wave of the left hand to thank the cars that move right and make it easy for motorcyclists to get past. Since you don't have a death grip on the handlebar, your left hand is also free to wave to oncoming riders, a fading courtesy that we'd like to see return. If you're getting the idea The Pace is a relaxing, noncompetitive way to ride with a group, you are right. RELAX AND FLICK IT .... I'd rather spend a Sunday in the mountains riding at The Pace than a Sunday at the racetrack, it's that enjoyable. Countersteering is the name of the game; smooth, forceful steering input at the handlebar relayed to the tires' contact patches through a rigid sport bike frame. Riding at The Pace is certainly what bike manufacturers had in mind when sport bikes evolved to the street. .... But the machine isn't the most important aspect of running The Pace because you can do it on anything capable of getting through a corner. Attitude is The Pace's most important aspect: realizing the friend ahead of you isn't a competitor, respecting his right to lead the group occasionally and giving him credit for his riding skills. You must have the maturity to limit your straightaway speeds to allow the group to stay in touch and the sense to realize that racetrack tactics such as late braking and full throttle runs to redline will alienate the public and police and possibly introduce you to the unforgiving laws of gravity. When the group arrives at the destination after running The Pace, no one feels outgunned or is left with the feeling he must prove himself on the return run. If you've got some thing to prove, get on a racetrack. .... The racetrack measures your speed with a stop watch and direct competition, welcoming your aggression and gritty resolve to be the best. Performance street riding's only yardstick is the amount of enjoyment gained, not lap times, finishing position or competitors beaten. The differences are huge but not always remembered by riders who haven't discovered The Pace's cornering pureness and group involvement. Hammer on the racetrack. Pace yourself on the street. Copyright MOTORCYCLIST Magazine November 1991 issue

The FOGs Groove (aka The Pace)

When we FOGs talk about being "in The Groove", we are talking about being smooth! When we say, "that was a great rideout", we mean that we were ALL smooth! When we say, "he's a dangerous rider", we mean that he doesn't stick to our rules. Well Pradeep sent me this article from a US biker mag,. and it basically describes what we do every ...

Updated: Aug 06, 2007 2:35am PST

Tips On Tyre Pressures [Ben 2007_06_05] : You'll get a lot of opinions on what tyre pressure to run, but the correct tyre pressure for you is not a matter of polling other rider's opinion. Here are the basics you'll need to decide for yourself. Start with the bike manufacturer's recommendation in the owners manual or under-seat sticker. This is the number they consider to be the best balance between handling, grip and tyre wear. Further, if you're running alloy wheels on poor pavement, consider adding 2 psi to the recommended tyre pressure just to reduce the likelihood of pothole damage. Just as you would for a car, increase the pressure 2 psi or so for sustained high speed operation (or 2-up riding) to reduce rolling friction and casing flexing. Check your tyre pressure regularly as they say. In order to get optimum handling a tyre has to get to its optimum temperature which is different for each brand of tyre. Most of us don't have the equipment needed to measure tyre temperature directly so we measure it indirectly by checking tyre pressure since tyre pressure increases with tyre temperature. Tyre temperature is important to know because too much flexing of the casing of an under-inflated tyre for a given riding style and road will result in overheating resulting in less than optimum grip. Over-pressurizing a tyre will reduce casing flexing and prevent the tyre from getting up to the optimum operating temperature and performance again suffers. Sliding and spinning the tyres also increase tyre temperatures from friction heating. A technique for those wanting to get the most out of their tyres on the street is to use the 10/20% rule. First check the tyre pressure when the tyre is cold. Then take a ride on your favourite twisty piece of road. Then, measure the tyre pressure immediately after stopping. If the pressure has risen less than 10% on the front or 20% on the rear, the rider should remove air from the tyre. So for example, starting at a front tyre pressure of 32.5 psi should bring you up to 36 psi hot. Once you obtain this pressure increase for a given rider, bike, tyre, road and road temperature combination, check the tyre pressure again while cold and record it for future reference. Each manufacturer is different. Each tyre model is different. A tyre design that runs cooler needs to run a lower pressure (2-3 psi front) to get up to optimum temperature. The rear tyre runs hotter than the front tyre, road and track. So the rear tyre cold-to-hot increase is greater. Dropping air pressure has the additional side effect of scrubbing more rubber area. For the track you'll have to drop the cold tyre pressures an additional 10/20%. Track operation will get tyres hotter (increasing the cold-to-hot pressure range) so starting at say 32/30 psi now should bring you up to the same temperature (and pressure) that 35/39 psi gave you for the street. Don't even think about running these low track cold pressures on the street. Finally, dropping tyre pressures on street tyres for track use has its limitations, so street compound tyres on the track often get too hot and go beyond sticky to greasy. That's why you have race tyres. Race tyre compounds are designed for severe operation at these higher temperatures for a limited number of thermal cycles. On the other hand, race tyre on the street usually won't get up to the appropriate temperature for good performance. At street speeds, the race compound often won't perform as well as a street tyre. Posted by Ben on 5th June 2007

Tips On Tyre Pressures [Ben 2007_06_05]

You'll get a lot of opinions on what tyre pressure to run, but the correct tyre pressure for you is not a matter of polling other rider's opinion. Here are the basics you'll need to decide for yourself. Start with the bike manufacturer's recommendation in the owners manual or under-seat sticker. This is the number they consider to be ...

Updated: Jun 05, 2007 11:36am PST

Road Map To Hatta & Kalba : Download and printoff your favourite trip! You won't need Mark or Ben anymore!

Road Map To Hatta & Kalba

Download and printoff your favourite trip! You won't need Mark or Ben anymore!

Updated: Apr 14, 2007 2:20am PST

Counter Steering : Here are explanations of motorcycle stability and steering! Although reading both sections will give a greater understanding of motorcycle dynamics, the sections do “stand alone”, so read either or both at your leisure! Motorcycle Stability Keeping balanced in a straight line, assuming the road is flat and there is no crosswind, is a matter of keeping the combined Centre of Gravity of rider and motorcycle vertically above a line joining the contact patches where the front and rear tyres touch the road. If the bike starts to lean there are two ways to correct this and restore the situation where the contact patch line is under the Centre of Gravity: 1) Move the Centre of Gravity OVER the new contact patch line. 2) Move the tyre contact patch line back UNDER the new Centre of Gravity. 1) Ever seen someone balance a bike that is NOT moving forward? The primary balance method is moving their body to try and maintain the Centre of Gravity over the contact patch line...tricky! A much easier way to balance, once moving forward, is to use method 2: 2) Moving the tyre contact patch line under the new Centre of Gravity. This can be done by steering the motorcycle. If the bike starts to lean to the left for example the Centre of Gravity will now be vertically to the left of the contact patch line. Restoring balance simply involves steering the front wheel to the left, the front of the bike moves left and the bike tracks left. Once the Centre of Gravity is back over the contact patch line, straight line balance is restored. Several factors conspire to help keep the Center of Gravity over the contact patch line, helping keep the bike upright and moving straight ahead with little or no rider input. As you will see the stabilizing effects of these factors increases with increased speed: A. Forward inertia of the motorcycle will tend to keep the bike moving in a straight line. The motorcycle will be less susceptible to outside forces trying to change its direction. Think of two identical shopping carts: Push one straight ahead at 10 mph. Push one straight ahead at 100 mph (this is a MENTAL exercise!) Drive next to carts, (don’t forget...it’s a MENTAL exercise!) apply force sideways, 90 degrees to the forward direction. If the same force is applied sideways for the same duration to both carts, lets say enough force/time to make the sideways velocity 10 mph, then the DIRECTION change for the 10 mph cart will be much greater than for the 100 mph cart. The Cart travelling at 10 mph forward will now be travelling 10 mph forward 10 mph sideways which gives an angle of 45 degrees to the original direction. The Cart travelling 100 mph forward will now be travelling 100 mph forward 10 mph sideways which gives an angle of 5.7 degrees to original direction. The sideways velocity will be the same for both carts, just angular change of direction will be much less for the 100mph cart. Both carts have inertia, but the greater inertia of the faster cart makes its resistance to a change of direction higher. Inertia is a function of mass as well as velocity, so as mass increases inertia also increases. As I am sure you know, it is more difficult to deflect a heavy shopping cart than a light shopping cart traveling at the same speed. A heavy bike travelling at speed will have greater inertia and tend to be more stable than a light bike travelling slowly. B. Steering geometry (primarily “trail”) will tend to straighten the bike if it starts to lean: If you projected a line through the Centre of the bike steering head to the ground you would find the tyre contact patch is behind this point. This distance between the two points is “trail”. This makes the front wheel inherently stable and want to “follow” where the steering head (and hence motorcycle) is going. Generally, a larger trail will tend to produce a slower steering, more stable motorcycle. As a result of “trail” if the bike starts to lean left, even without rider input, the front wheel will turn to the left (buy a cheap model motorcycle and try it: roll the bike forward in a straight line, then lean the bike to the left, the front wheel will turn to the left without steering input). The force on the wheel returning it to the “in line” position, should it get out of alignment, increases with speed. This effect is similar to a weather vane pointing into the wind: the greater the wind speed the more rotational force returning it to face into the wind should it get out of alignment. C. Gyroscopic forces, primarily of the two wheels, but also other components whose axis of rotation is in the same direction as the wheel spindles, tend to resist any change in the angle of lean of the motorcycle. Gyroscopic “resistance” to a change in lean angle increases as the rate of rotation of the wheels increases and the rate of rotation increases as road speed increases. A phenomenon known as gyroscopic precession also has a minor effect but does tend to correct the steering if the bike starts to lean. Precession translates a force trying to rotate the axis of a gyroscope in one plane into a force trying to rotate the axis in a plane 90 degrees offset in the direction of rotation of the gyroscope. Whew! What this means for the motorcycle is that a leaning movement to the left, through gyroscopic precession, will tend to turn the front wheel to the left. This is why a quarter rolled on the floor will tend to keep upright: if the quarter starts to lean to the left gyroscopic precession makes it TURN to the left, steering the contact patch under the Centre of Gravity. So: The stabilizing effect of inertia increases with speed. The stabilizing effect of steering geometry increases with speed. The stability brought about by gyroscopic effects increases with speed. These are three major reasons why “speed stabilizes the motorcycle”. Of course there is a flip side to this: all these effects that make the bike track “straight and level”, by definition, also conspire to make it more difficult to turn a motorcycle at speed. Speaking of turns...how do we initiate a turn when we actually want to???? Motorcycle Steering Any turn produces centrifugal force on the motorcycle, tending to make the bike lean to the outside of the turn. To balance this centrifugal force the Centre of Gravity must be offset toward the inside of the turn. A left hand turn requires a lean to the left. A right hand turn requires a lean to the right. This applies to all turns, fast or slow. What do we need to do to accomplish this? Our aim is to transition from straight ahead riding to being stabilized in a turn. If we intentionally move the contact patch line from vertically beneath the Centre of Gravity, the bike will start to lean. For example, if while riding the bike straight ahead, we press on the left bar the front wheel points to the right. The front wheel tracks to the right (sometimes called “out tracking”). So the weight of bike and rider is now to the LEFT of it’s “support” on the ground, the tyre contact patches. Because the weight is to the left, the bike leans to the left. It is important to note, for a LEFT turn, we initiate a lean to the left by pressing on the left bar, turning the front wheel to the RIGHT. This is often referred to as COUNTER STEERING: a turn to the left initiated by turning the front wheel to the right. The harder you press the quicker the lean; the longer you press, the further the lean angle. Once the bike is leaned over to give the turn radius you want, ease pressure on the bar. Motorcycle steering geometry (primarily trail again), tyre profile and other factors tend to keep the bike stable in the turn. Depending on a number of factors, the motorcycle may even track through the turn with no subsequent steering input (ie it may require NO steering force in the turn to keep the bike stable through the corner). “Out tracking” works down to virtually zero speed. Once stabilized in a corner the front wheel will be turned to some degree in the direction of the corner. At higher speeds the steering angle will tend to “self adjust”, however at lower speed, for tight turns the steering may not “self adjust”, so, even though you are counter steering to initiate the lean you may need to turn the bars yourself in the direction of the turn once you are leaned over. Once you are in a turn the lean angle can be adjusted by again counter steering until the angle is corrected. Press on the inside bar for more lean, outside bar for less lean. Gyroscopic inertia and precession do factor in, again to a minor degree, in turning: turning the bars to the right will produce a precession force in the front wheel which would tend to lean the bike to the left. As gyroscopic inertia increases so does the force required to turn the handlebars and so does the resultant leaning force due to precession. Precession does not increase the magnitude of the force, it just translates the direction. The precession torque trying to lean the bike is always less than the steering torque the rider applies. Have someone sit on your motorcycle, now try and lean your motorcycle by lifting up on one end of the front axle, pulling inline with the fork tubes, and pushing down with the same force on the other end of the axle, again, in line with the fork tubes. This is the location and direction of the precession force. Even allowing for the fact your bars are longer than your front axle by perhaps four times, so giving around four times the torque or “twist” for a given force, you can see there is not much effect on your 500lb bike! Ever watch motorcycle racers on a track ride an “S” bend? From leaned over full left to leaned full right in under a second. Imagine how hard you would have to pull up and push down on the front axle to do that! Again with higher gyroscopic inertia you have to press on the bars harder or for longer, so even though you do get some precession help this is more than offset by the higher force or longer time required pressing the bars to get the front wheel to “out track”. Also a front wheel with higher gyroscopic inertia tends to be heavy and that affects performance in other ways (Increasing the un-sprung weight….but that’s another story). “Out tracking” uses gravity to do the work for you. Ever fallen while walking on ice? If your feet slide to the right, YOU will “lean” to the left. This is effectively “out tracking”, moving your contact patch away from your Centre of Gravity. This “lean” happens quickly: gravity is strong!

Counter Steering

Here are explanations of motorcycle stability and steering! Although reading both sections will give a greater understanding of motorcycle dynamics, the sections do “stand alone”, so read either or both at your leisure! Motorcycle Stability Keeping balanced in a straight line, assuming the road is flat and there is no crosswind, i ...

Updated: Oct 17, 2007 4:52am PST