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nick, traction feels very different on asphalt than it does on dirt. on dirt you are basically constantly sliding. on asphalt there are basically 3 stages before you are really "out of control"... you start off with 100% traction... riding in a straight line doing nothing... bike does nothing unexpected does exactly what you want, then comes pressure walking like under braking or hard in the turns.... you'll feel all of the sudden the front of the bike goes away from the turn an inch or two. if you are on the gas, you aren't on enough gas. if you are on the brakes, don't worry too much about it. after that it starts skipping, this is what most people think of as a slide but its still got plenty of traction... this is where you usually are on dirt, and on asphalt this is where those cool black streaks come from. if you go past that stage you basically lose traction and the bike slides away like in my avatar... actually my avatar is a good example; i had spent street tires on the track (bad idea) and i was dancing between the first and second stage of sliding until i hit the only real crest on the track and my available traction plummeted. that combined with not enough gas (i was maybe half gas) meant my front tucked and the bike slid away
one thing to keep in mind is what they call 'points of traction'... maybe thinking it of traction currency would be easier... you get $100 of traction. braking at half force takes --lets say-- $50... turning in slowly takes --lets say-- $20... so turning in slowly at half brake is only $50+$20 = $70... haven't spent all your traction... but what about braking at full force, $90, and trying to turn in quickly, $35,... well guess what buddy you owe $125 of traction and you've only got $100. have fun sliding! every thing takes traction... if you are going to use a lot of traction up, use only that traction... don't try to spend traction here and spend traction there, you will run out of traction real fast. also keep in mind the traction points for your front tire and rear tire are separate... gas moves traction points from the front to the rear... brakes/slowing down; the opposite
set your speed, point the bike, pin the throttle.
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