2021 Tuono V4 Factory

Roadcraft V Machine Control !

It's 1980. And the word on the street with all the riding clubs .... the Police ... is .... 'He's a lovely rider, you never see him brake'.

And that was how it was! Riders, (and lets be honest ... it was the Police that steered this and took the lead) drove around desperately trying not to brake. FOUR .... THREE ... TWOOOOOOOOOOO for that sharp deviation bend that you could see approaching 300 metres away - Oh yes. He's a lovely rider. You never see him brake.

Why? Why did we get here?

We got here, because 'the system' was seen as the gospel, and that it asked us to gather up speed, harness the machine, set it all up before the hazard, and once we'd done that and only once we'd done it, would you gently get on the gas with a balanced throttle and go into the hazard.

Are those days over now? Ummmmmmmm ... 90% yes. But is there still a bit of DNA in the Police and the riding clubs where acceleration sense in king? Yes. Is there still a bit of 'I'll try and do it on acceleration sense, and if it doesn't work out I'll go to brakes?' Yes.

What's wrong with that?? Its good isn't it??

Put it on the back of the cooker and we'll come back to it.




Machine control.

If You told Rossi and Marquez et al that you gathered and harnessed the bike before the corner, let the bike settle, and then got on a nicely balanced throttle before entering the corner, they'd scratch their heads!!
'Why the feck are you doing that?' They'd ask. 'Thats not how a bike turns'.



If you want to drop a bike into a corner, you go in on a shut throttle. It puts a bit of weight on the front tyre which is good for grip. It compresses the forks and puts the geometry in a good place to sharpen up the steering, so the bike turns nicely.
So 'off gas' on corner entry is a nice healthy place for a bike to be.

What is the opposite of all that?

The opposite is 'on gas'. What does 'on gas' do to the bike?

'On gas' takes weight off the front of the bike and moves it to the rear. 'On gas' and it's rearward weight transference will extend the front forks and take them away from a nice turn in place to a 'stand up' place. 'On gas' basically makes our bike stand back up and takes weight off the front.

This is why Rossi et al scratch their heads and say 'why would you go 'on gas' just as you want to turn in.

From a machine control perspective, 'On gas' at turn in is a complete mismatch. We're trying to turn the bike and stand it up at the same time!

Lets add brakes :D

Old skool first. See a corner and brake as we approach it. Old skool system says get off the brakes before turning in - IPSGA you fools !!! So just before the corner what do we do? Yep, you guessed it, we dump the brakes, the suspension pops back up at us and yet again, just as we tip it in we take all that weight off the front and lengthen the geometry. The poor bike doesn't know what the feck is going on. 'Are we standing up or dropping in??' asks the bike, 'What are we doing, FFS??' !!


So Whose right??? The cops on the public roads or the racers on the track ??




Roadcraft, IPSGA, the system .. whatever you want to call it, is geared for safety. Basically it came about (cars first, and principally it was designed for cars) because the cops were taught how to interview, how to beat somebody up, how to gather evidence, how to do first aid ..... but they weren't being taught how to drive quickly. So 'Roadcraft' became the manual and the teaching tool for a 'national package' if you like, for teaching cops how to drive and to stop crashing! (worthy of note is that it was written in, what? The 50's??)


IPSGA, on a public road is a very good tool.

Off gas entry on a corner, is a very good tool.

Trail braking into a corner is a very good tool.


Oh Fuck!!!! So what do i do ????







The best riders, learn the rule book, learn it by heart, they can recite every page and paragraph, and then they put it away on the shelf, let it collect dust, and never look at it again!!



The best riders do not ride by rote!

The best riders are intuitive with their decision making!

The best riders have wonderful acceleration sense, and may ride for many many miles without braking!

The best riders understand that their front brake is so much more than just a tool to slow me down. It is fundamental in shaping weight transference. (as is the throttle).



So how am I going to do this bend?? Am I going to IPSGA it? Off gas it? Brake for it? (but get off brakes before turn in), Trail brake it (and just carry a teeny weeny bit of braking into my corner keeping that front nicely held onto the floor?).


You're going to do all of those and more!

From nadgery horrible 'into a dark abyss' bends that you'd IPSGA, to 'see it from 300m's away and 'get up to it and trail brake', to fast A roads 'off gassers'... a good rider is completely open minded to how he might negotiate a corner.

But a good rider, also understands that his front brake is a huge friend! Its a wonderful tool! The tragedy here is, that still .... still !!!! Clubs and police driving schools are slow to see this.
If I tried to broker a conversation about trail braking with driving school while i was still at work it would fall on deaf ears! They simply will not teach it! Why Not ???!!!!

Go and push your bike around in a carpark, with your front brake on!! Do you feel that?? Feel the weight of your fingers and no more on your lever? That brake light is just on, but you still easily pushing your bike about??

That is a very very useful tool! Go and practise it!

And if you ever ride with somebody who tells you at the tea stop 'Oh, its a shame you braked for that bend', you give him a good kicking.

:thumb2
 
Couldn't agree more Giles, especially this:

The best riders are intuitive with their decision making!

The best riders have wonderful acceleration sense, and may ride for many many miles without braking!

The best riders understand that their front brake is so much more than just a tool to slow me down. It is fundamental in shaping weight transference. (as is the throttle).

I wasn't for a second questioning the use of brakes but the over-braking of some running too deep, too hard into a bend because they didn't anticipate the slowing distance and the sharpness of a bend. Load the front? Yes, absolutely. Getting the right gear before the bend? We may have to agree top disagree but that's individual style. I tend to pick the same gear on the way in (using brakes as well) that I use on the way out, to get the best of transferring front loaded suspension (ie grip) into the corner then to load the back on the way out but try and do it smoothly. You can be smooth and rapid without them being mutually exclusive.
 
And that is what I meant when I criticised the new dynamic suspension on the GS/GSA. The front is dead because the suspension is continuously adjusting even leant over in a corner or adding a bit of front brake it will have none of it. That trail braking is setting the bike up to feel the front in a corner. Sometimes I do it, sometimes not.

Sorry for the interruption. Carry on.
 
And that is what I meant when I criticised the new dynamic suspension on the GS/GSA. The front is dead because the suspension is continuously adjusting even leant over in a corner or adding a bit of front brake it will have none of it. That trail braking is setting the bike up to feel the front in a corner. Sometimes I do it, sometimes not.

Sorry for the interruption. Carry on.

I've found the same tbh, although you do get used to it, it does mean you have to place faith in what grip you actually have as opposed to what you can feel.
 
Roadcraft V Machine Control !

It's 1980. And the word on the street with all the riding clubs .... the Police ... is .... 'He's a lovely rider, you never see him brake'.

And that was how it was! Riders, (and lets be honest ... it was the Police that steered this and took the lead) drove around desperately trying not to brake. FOUR .... THREE ... TWOOOOOOOOOOO for that sharp deviation bend that you could see approaching 300 metres away - Oh yes. He's a lovely rider. You never see him brake.

Why? Why did we get here?

We got here, because 'the system' was seen as the gospel, and that it asked us to gather up speed, harness the machine, set it all up before the hazard, and once we'd done that and only once we'd done it, would you gently get on the gas with a balanced throttle and go into the hazard.

Are those days over now? Ummmmmmmm ... 90% yes. But is there still a bit of DNA in the Police and the riding clubs where acceleration sense in king? Yes. Is there still a bit of 'I'll try and do it on acceleration sense, and if it doesn't work out I'll go to brakes?' Yes.

What's wrong with that?? Its good isn't it??

Put it on the back of the cooker and we'll come back to it.




Machine control.

If You told Rossi and Marquez et al that you gathered and harnessed the bike before the corner, let the bike settle, and then got on a nicely balanced throttle before entering the corner, they'd scratch their heads!!
'Why the feck are you doing that?' They'd ask. 'Thats not how a bike turns'.



If you want to drop a bike into a corner, you go in on a shut throttle. It puts a bit of weight on the front tyre which is good for grip. It compresses the forks and puts the geometry in a good place to sharpen up the steering, so the bike turns nicely.
So 'off gas' on corner entry is a nice healthy place for a bike to be.

What is the opposite of all that?

The opposite is 'on gas'. What does 'on gas' do to the bike?

'On gas' takes weight off the front of the bike and moves it to the rear. 'On gas' and it's rearward weight transference will extend the front forks and take them away from a nice turn in place to a 'stand up' place. 'On gas' basically makes our bike stand back up and takes weight off the front.

This is why Rossi et al scratch their heads and say 'why would you go 'on gas' just as you want to turn in.

From a machine control perspective, 'On gas' at turn in is a complete mismatch. We're trying to turn the bike and stand it up at the same time!

Lets add brakes :D

Old skool first. See a corner and brake as we approach it. Old skool system says get off the brakes before turning in - IPSGA you fools !!! So just before the corner what do we do? Yep, you guessed it, we dump the brakes, the suspension pops back up at us and yet again, just as we tip it in we take all that weight off the front and lengthen the geometry. The poor bike doesn't know what the feck is going on. 'Are we standing up or dropping in??' asks the bike, 'What are we doing, FFS??' !!


So Whose right??? The cops on the public roads or the racers on the track ??




Roadcraft, IPSGA, the system .. whatever you want to call it, is geared for safety. Basically it came about (cars first, and principally it was designed for cars) because the cops were taught how to interview, how to beat somebody up, how to gather evidence, how to do first aid ..... but they weren't being taught how to drive quickly. So 'Roadcraft' became the manual and the teaching tool for a 'national package' if you like, for teaching cops how to drive and to stop crashing! (worthy of note is that it was written in, what? The 50's??)


IPSGA, on a public road is a very good tool.

Off gas entry on a corner, is a very good tool.

Trail braking into a corner is a very good tool.


Oh Fuck!!!! So what do i do ????







The best riders, learn the rule book, learn it by heart, they can recite every page and paragraph, and then they put it away on the shelf, let it collect dust, and never look at it again!!



The best riders do not ride by rote!

The best riders are intuitive with their decision making!

The best riders have wonderful acceleration sense, and may ride for many many miles without braking!

The best riders understand that their front brake is so much more than just a tool to slow me down. It is fundamental in shaping weight transference. (as is the throttle).



So how am I going to do this bend?? Am I going to IPSGA it? Off gas it? Brake for it? (but get off brakes before turn in), Trail brake it (and just carry a teeny weeny bit of braking into my corner keeping that front nicely held onto the floor?).


You're going to do all of those and more!

From nadgery horrible 'into a dark abyss' bends that you'd IPSGA, to 'see it from 300m's away and 'get up to it and trail brake', to fast A roads 'off gassers'... a good rider is completely open minded to how he might negotiate a corner.

But a good rider, also understands that his front brake is a huge friend! Its a wonderful tool! The tragedy here is, that still .... still !!!! Clubs and police driving schools are slow to see this.
If I tried to broker a conversation about trail braking with driving school while i was still at work it would fall on deaf ears! They simply will not teach it! Why Not ???!!!!

Go and push your bike around in a carpark, with your front brake on!! Do you feel that?? Feel the weight of your fingers and no more on your lever? That brake light is just on, but you still easily pushing your bike about??

That is a very very useful tool! Go and practise it!

And if you ever ride with somebody who tells you at the tea stop 'Oh, its a shame you braked for that bend', you give him a good kicking.

:thumb2

Interesting read. Funny you mention off gas as a tool to set up the corner entry. Watching the flat trackers recently at the MCN festival and they were all absolutely closing throttle as they approached the bends and then tried to keep the accelerate /slide in control for max traction/least drift as they entered further and exited. A very fine balance was always a winner compared to fastest bike on the straight. But the throttle closed was their Q for the corner and their main form of braking.
 
And that is what I meant when I criticised the new dynamic suspension on the GS/GSA. The front is dead because the suspension is continuously adjusting even leant over in a corner or adding a bit of front brake it will have none of it. That trail braking is setting the bike up to feel the front in a corner. Sometimes I do it, sometimes not.

Sorry for the interruption. Carry on.
I’m not sure it’s only dynamic suspension, I could never feel front end grip on my 1150gs but just had to trust it to grip. The reason I sold it and moved on to a triumph with forks.
 


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