The Pace

[LoveToRide]

http://www.cosportbikeclub.org/local/ThePace.html

Hi Folks,

I was surfing around and found this. It's a reprint of a 1991 article by Nick Ienatsch. I was 17 when the mag came out and I read the article the first time! It taught me as a young sportbike rider that the real fun was in the corners, not the straights, and that I didn't need to be doin' 120 to have a great ride. I found that after all these years I still agree with a lot of what Nick was saying, and figured I'd pass it on.

Blaine

[FZRDude]

Definitely a profound article.

[djalbin]

Blaine,
If you enjoyed reading Nick Ienatsch's article you should get his book Sport Riding Techniques, How to develop real world skill for speed, safety and confidence on the street and track (copyright 2003). It's available online at Whitehorse Press
http://www.whitehorsepress.com/product_ ... ts_id=4388

I believe the book is available at Barnes & Noble and Borders.
Then if you want to compare Nick's techniques against a couple of other riders, you can read ...

Reg Pridmore's book Smooth Riding the Pridmore Way, Advanced motorcycle skills through confidence and control (copyright 2004)
http://www.whitehorsepress.com/product_ ... ts_id=4500

and Lee Parks' book Total Control, High performance street riding techniques (copyright 2003)
http://www.whitehorsepress.com/product_ ... ts_id=4308

These are also available at the above bookstores and Whitehorse Press.

Don

[orionburn]

I'm remember some squid asking on another board "What's goes through your mind when you're doing 130mph?" I responded with "There's more going through your head doing a tight right hander at 40mph then running straights at high speeds."Anybody can go fast in a straight line

Live for the twists, not the straights.

[wortdog]

I have Lee's book and Nick's book, some good stuff in there. There's even a picture of a FZR 1000 in the same colorscheme as mine on page 117 of Nick's book

[djalbin]

Eric,
Must be cool opening up a book and seeing your bike on the pages.

Nate,
You made a good point about 130 mph straight-line versus a 40 mph sharp angle off-camber decreasing radius turn. 130 mph on the open road is exhilarating for a few seconds. Then it turns into routine ho-hum...
at least on the FZR1000. On an open straight road, all tucked in behind the windscreen, laying on the tank, the FZR1000 just purrs. Nice and smooth, and warm, and relaxing. Feels like you could ride all day that way (pick a day without a lot of strong cross-winds). But you had better have good throttle control and body positioning to take that 40 mph sharp angle off-camber decreasing radius turn without upsetting the bike. Especially if the suggested speed is posted as 20 mph or less.

Ooops, I almost forgot. There are a couple of exciting 130 mph straight-lines. One is on a road course on the front straight, or back straight, where you have to drop your speed from 130 mph to 40 mph for the approaching corner, The other is the 1/4 mile drag strip. Zero to 130 mph in under 11 seconds is exciting (132.96 mph in 10.52 seconds according to Cycle World)

Don

[LoveToRide]

Don, thanks for the tip on the books. I can't even remember the last time I read an actual book, and not just a magazine or article on the net.

[gane]

Don, thanks for the tip on the books. I can't even remember the last time I read an actual book, and not just a magazine or article on the net.

other excptional books, Keith Codes, Twist of the Wrist and The Soft Science of M/C racing., were my intro to road racing texts. G.