Blahg

Everyone in the motorcycle industry will tell you that you need to practice. From youtube content creators, to riding schools, to track schools, and even race schools, everyone will tell you that you need repetition etc. to develop muscle memory and get faster/better/safer/whatever. There is however a small problem in motivation in that equation. Like someone said in response to one of my other articles, “people aren’t trying to find excuses for not practicing other than ‘I don’t feel like it.’” If there isn’t enough motivation, you’re not gonna do it, right? If you go to the gym to “work...

  A general group riding tip, as well as track days (not racing… they get their own set of guidelines) is to not chase people. When you get passed or somehow end up behind a faster rider, don’t chase them unless you’re ready to pick your bike up off the ground. For street rides, I’ve had to pull enough bikes out of fields and bushes that I make it a point to remind people in my groups before rides. The problem is that the faster rider has more of a picture of what’s happening, their own plan for managing traction...

I just came across a funny little article on tvtropes. “The Arrogant Kung Fu Guy” https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ArrogantKungFuGuy in the context of an Initial D scene where guys with “professional technique” lose a battle to street drivers. Yeah I know, cue weeb jokes. This is actually something I see all the time everywhere. Track riders who say there’s no way street riders could be good. Trackday riders who don’t think there’s anything to learn from MiniGP. Even guys that blast parking lot practice as a waste of time.  It goes further than that, relatively new sport and supermoto riders who think cruisers...

someone asked me why my sv1k is the hardest of my bikes for me to ride. Here is my answer.  a few reasons and a few reasons the other bikes don't have those problems: starting with bikes: grom - well that's obviously easy as hell since I race equivalent sized bikes and spend a lot of time doing silly things like yeet-grom-do (my own stupid invention) https://www.instagram.com/p/B3QMqGjnhCj/ sv650 street/demo bike version - lighter, better setup, taller (extra height on the rear), narrower tire (so quicker steering) etc. sv650 track - even lighter, good setup, great tires when up to temp, etc....

A couple days ago I made a post along the lines of "if you're fast this isn't for you" (and of course got a lot of dissenting opinions heh). This time, I'm going to propose a new idea. We are all beginners.  Of course, the torrent of "I've been riding/racing/stunting/whatever for N years before you were born" comments will flood. But rather than pile on the circle-jerk, consider the following quote from Shunryu Suzuki: "in the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, in the expert's mind there are few." Or think about the first rule of Dunning Kruger club... (The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club...