Was Stoner really squirrelly or what?

[dyeclan]

I'm totally new to watching Moto GP, but i watched Qatar the other day, and Stoner's rear end looked really loose. (Insert jokes here). Anyone else notice that his bike didn't exactly look planted? I didn't notice it on most of the others, but I saw a couple of times he looked like he was gonna back it in.

It's either that or I'm just a crackhead motogp noob and don't know nada.

[Kurosaki]

It's typical of the Ducati. They've been doing a lot of R&D to fix that problem with the rear end of the bike moving and pumping excessively.

That's why they built the CF swingarm and apparently it's been helping. Obviously the problem isn't totally gone but it's obviously good enough to be competitive... If you can see the bike moving from X hundred yards away, then it's moving alot for the rider. And if it looks violent on camera, imagine how the rider feels.

The D16 is a strange bike. It takes a real specialist to make it go fast. Whatever Casey is doing, everyone else hasn't quite grasped. Mika Kallio seems to be doing OK so far which is impressive for a rookie. The other bikes on the field are not quite as "hard" to ride. The M1 seems to be a pretty friendly bike, as evidenced by Yamaha going 2nd, 3rd, and 4th and their other achievements in the past couple years. I would probably call the Yamaha the best bike in the paddock overall. Toseland needs to get it together and step up with the other Yamaha riders...

[miks]

Hopefully Ducati get that problem fixed asap.

As for the Yamaha being the best bikes, I'd have to agree. I just hope the Hayatte team and the Kawasaki bike can get more competitive.

[Broom]

if i remember right the yamahas really weren't very well sorted out before rossi switched over from honda. i guess his crew they brought over along with an extra wad of money made a pretty big difference.

[miks]

Money makes the world go round, and also makes MotoGP teams better

[CC Cowboy]

If you were to watch the MotoGP races (or any other pro races) in slow motion you will notice the bikes are sliding and sqirming all over the place. These riders just know how to controll (most of the time) all the action.

[Purspeed]

When the rear tire exceeds 100% traction, the rear end will move laterally (side to side) in order to gain traction. Ideally, you want about 7% slippage when accelerating off of the line.

In a turn, losing traction can cause a highside.

These guys are experts at high speed ballet.

[smcbride11]

Originally Posted by miks

I just hope the Hayatte team and the Kawasaki bike can get more competitive.

I thought I had heard during the Qatar broadcast that the Hayate team was putting $0 R&D into their bike for the rest of the season so poor Marco was going to end up dropping back in the standings... I could be wrong, but it's disappointing - MotoGP drives a lot of the tech we see in our bikes and that does tend to imply that Kawi's going to fall behind Honda and Suzuki in the RR market. At our end, I'm not too worried, though - I'm not seeing much call for ABS or traction control on the Ninjette

[CC Cowboy]

Originally Posted by smcbride11

I'm not seeing much call for ABS or traction control on the Ninjette

I'm still waiting for the 250 to have an airbag so all the newbie don't get hurt in their maiden crash.

[smcbride11]

Originally Posted by CC Cowboy

I'm still waiting for the 250 to have an airbag so all the newbie don't get hurt in their maiden crash.

Haha, as funny as that sounds the new Gold Wings actually have that as an option, don't they?