Baron's Log : From n00b to whatever comes next

[LittleRedNinjette]

If that's a gsxr shock, I just got one too. Just the shock though. I want to bike lower.

Hopefully I'll get mine in soon...

[Baron]

Originally Posted by LittleRedNinjette

If that's a gsxr shock, I just got one too. Just the shock though. I want to bike lower.

Hopefully I'll get mine in soon...

That it is, if I am not wrong it's a 2007 showa. The person I was got it from was using it in his 300, so plug and play I hope. lol :P

[LittleRedNinjette]

Nice. Not sure when I'm going to be able to get mine on. Its in my box of stuff to put on the bike. Lol

[Baron]

Originally Posted by LittleRedNinjette

Nice. Not sure when I'm going to be able to get mine on. Its in my box of stuff to put on the bike. Lol

I'll put it on for ya, sure it will be on my bike but still it'll be on one. :P

[LittleRedNinjette]

Now that the bike is on the road i got to get over to my boyfriends shop to do the shock and some electrical stuff.

[Baron]

Originally Posted by LittleRedNinjette

Now that the bike is on the road i got to get over to my boyfriends shop to do the shock and some electrical stuff.

Nice.
I just got my new gloves. woooohooo

[Baron]

With this


Circe 2.0

• Engine Oil Drain Housing...Done
• Left Side Fairing replacement...Done
• Galfer SS Brake Lines...Done
• Chain + Sprocket set change
• Woodcraft Clip Ons
• Flush mount Turn Signals...Done
• Integrated Tail Lights
• GSXR Rear Shock...Done
• Double Bubble Windscreen...Done
• Go Pro Setup...Done
• Ram Mount

Baron 2.0

• Race Gloves...Done
• 2 Piece Racing Suit
• Track Day

[csmith12]

[LittleRedNinjette]

MADE IN THE USA!! I love seeing that.

How did the shock instalation go? I haven't put mine in yet...

Not sure what i'm getting myself into.

[Baron]

Originally Posted by LittleRedNinjette

MADE IN THE USA!! I love seeing that.

How did the shock instalation go? I haven't put mine in yet...

Not sure what i'm getting myself into.

Neither have I lol. Been too busy with personal stuff, not to mention we had a cold week over here. lol
Oh well next week. :P

[LittleRedNinjette]

Well why the heck did you list it as done??

[Baron]

Originally Posted by LittleRedNinjette

Well why the heck did you list it as done??

Errr errr errr eerrrrr
Purchased ?

[LittleRedNinjette]

[Baron]

Originally Posted by LittleRedNinjette

I live in the future :P

[LittleRedNinjette]

So your telling me you have one of these?

[Baron]

Originally Posted by LittleRedNinjette

So your telling me you have one of these?

No I have the flux capacitor installed within Circe :P

[Baron]

Update: Got myself a new chain - The RK GB520GXW-106 Gold 106-Links XW-Ring Chain. Saw a good deal so jumped on it.
Also, found a reasonable quote on insurance which means my riding season could start as soon as next week. I guess I am done spending for now, the few that I didn't get I am going to get it either next season or whenever I can.
Time to install everything!!!

Circe 2.0

• Engine Oil Drain Housing...Purchased
• Left Side Fairing replacement...Purchased
• Galfer SS Brake Lines...Purchased
• Chain...Purchased
• Woodcraft Clip Ons
• Flush mount Turn Signals...Purchased
• Integrated Tail Lights
• GSXR Rear Shock...Purchased
• Double Bubble Windscreen...Purchased and Installed
• Go Pro Setup...Purchased and installed

Baron 2.0

• Race Gloves...Purchased
• 2 Piece Racing Suit
• Track Day

[/QUOTE]

[Baron]

Originally Posted by Baron

Circe 2.0

• Engine Oil Drain Housing...Purchased and Installed
• Left Side Fairing replacement...Purchased and Installed
• Galfer SS Brake Lines...Purchased and Installed
• Chain...Purchased and Installed
• Woodcraft Clip Ons
• Flush mount Turn Signals...Purchased
• Integrated Tail Lights
• GSXR Rear Shock...Purchased
• Double Bubble Windscreen...Purchased and Installed
• Go Pro Setup...Purchased and installed

Baron 2.0

• Race Gloves...Purchased
• 2 Piece Racing Suit
• Track Day

Skipped on installing the showa rear shock.
Alrighty then
Insurance...Done
Ownership...Done

Spent the past few days riding, getting used to it. Bloody hell have I missed it. Haven't been able to go on long rides because of the rather dreary weather going on over here but hopefully will soon. I also tested out my Go Pro setup. The results look promising. No shaking even at relatively high speeds(see linked youtube video), POV might need a little work but otherwise is okay. Since I am not using the new Hero model and not Hero 3 or 4 for that matter, the quality is not uber high but for someone who isn't a motovlogger and just using it for casual use, it's not that bad.

Link to original page on YouTube.

[csmith12]

Cool! POV needs to come up just a hair imho.

[Baron]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Cool! POV needs to come up just a hair imho.

My thoughts exactly. I'll have to experiment around to make sure it doesn't shake but I've got my fingers crossed.

[Baron]

Annnd we are back. It feels good to be back to the routine however something is off.
I feel rusty, could it be that it's my second season and it has been over 7 months since I last rode. I am not going to say that I am or was a good rider by any means but I was okay as far as beginners go....I hope.
An example would be cornering, for some reason I tend to overshoot my corner because I can't sodding pick a good line. If I slow down too much I can't lean, if I don't slow down I usually overshoot my corner and sometimes both.

Link to original page on YouTube.
On a side note, I adjusted the POV a bit.
Maybe I am thinking too much.......oh well time to read Total Control And Twist Of The Wrist 2.

[choneofakind]

push on the inside bar, sir!!!!

[Baron]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

push on the inside bar, sir!!!!

Was doing that.....or I think I was.

[choneofakind]

well do it some more! you went wide on a not so turny turn.


I can't be too critical. I recently did the same thing on a canyon road in CA, but it was way tighter than that.

[Baron]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

well do it some more! you went wide on a not so turny turn.


I can't be too critical. I recently did the same thing on a canyon road in CA, but it was way tighter than that.

My point exactly, this one should be way easy. I used to take this road all the time and I never ....never....had any problems.
I think I just need to take a day off, head off to the twisty roads to get used to it all over again.

LOL Be critical. The more honest and critical the comments are, the better I will strive to be.

On a side note, I think I feel kind of nervous pushing on the bar too much.......could be an SR or just nervousness.

[choneofakind]

that's alright. It's early in the season. Take some time to take it slow.

Think in your head as you do the actions;
Slow
look
press
roll.

back to basics.


you'll get back into it with practice. we all get rusty when we stop riding for winter.

[Baron]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

Think in your head as you do the actions;
Slow
look
press
roll.

back to basics.

Thanks. That shouldn't be too hard to remember. I am also trying to get rid of some survival reactions(SRs) out of my riding. The urge to brake during tight corners was one of the, but I was able to get rid of that.
Oh well, back to the basics.

[csmith12]

Originally Posted by Baron

LOL Be critical. The more honest and critical the comments are, the better I will strive to be.

K, I will be critical and blunt honest for ya.

So you blew a corner, but you did get lucky those oncoming cars were not closer.

If you were on track, we would work on throttle control first. But since you're on the street, read the chapters on vision in TOTW2, keep it between the lines, don't let your throttle hand write a check your arse can't cash, ie. keep your entry speeds in check and ASK ME!!! if you don't understand something or need examples.

Get back out there and scrape the rust off! Push that bar harder!!! You're not even in the same zip code of the limits of how fast that ninja can turn and it aint gunna fix itself.

[Baron]

Originally Posted by csmith12

K, I will be critical and blunt honest for ya.

So you blew a corner, but you did get lucky those oncoming cars were not closer.

If you were on track, we would work on throttle control first. But since you're on the street, read the chapters on vision in TOTW2, keep it between the lines, don't let your throttle hand write a check your arse can't cash, ie. keep your entry speeds in check and ASK ME!!! if you don't understand something or need examples.

Get back out there and scrape the rust off! Push that bar harder!!! You're not even in the same zip code of the limits of how fast that ninja can turn and it aint gunna fix itself.

Will do.
I'll probably need some help with that book either way, so I will be asking a lot of questions.
I want to get this rust off so bad and get back to a point where I can start building up on what I learnt last season but ...this...stupid...argghh

[Baron]

Quickly wanted to post this before heading out.
Went out with a friend for my birthday ride today. He was on his stock 300, given his 30 odd years of riding and track experience he was mostly quite some distance ahead of me but we had fun. Thought I made a short clip out of it.
Oh and if someone sees an advertisement on the bottom of the video, just wanted to tell you, hold your horses, it's not my doing, apparently my video has "Matched third-Party content" and well long story, there's a banner a few seconds in the video.
Either way, video's sped up a bit since for some reason it seemed ridiculously slow while in real life it felt more or less what the video speed is....oh well perception of speed I guess.

Link to original page on YouTube.

[csmith12]

Nice Baron! Progress being made I see.

[Baron]

Originally Posted by csmith12

Nice Baron! Progress being made I see.

Thanks
Today was a good. Got some of the rust off and learned loads. Exactly the reason why I ride with experienced riders. Just following his lines helped me a lot.
I've started reading TOTW and there are a lot of things that I've been doing wrong. The biggest one being the first SR. Even during today's ride there were instances where I felt the familiar want of rolling off the throttle but I shook it off for the most part. The S turns being the case where I would let it roll of slightly before slowly rolling on immediately. I still have to start to lean more.
One of the rather big things I noticed today was the way my friend launched. He's done a lot of stuff which includes drag racing and it shows. He'd launch so fast from the line that before I knew it, he was already at least a hundred meters ahead of me(I'll post an example video in a bit) and he was on a 300.......there's isn't exactly a lot of difference between the two. Amazing rider.
Really showed me how much I have yet to learn.

Also another thing I noticed was how everything in the recording seems so slow. What felt fast or moderately paced in reality seems sluggish in the video.

[Baron]

Alrighty then!!!
Been busy......really really busy. Big changes coming along so I haven't been able to post that much, so expect a big post tomorrow but for now. Been riding a lot. Here are a few clips for those who are on IG and those that aren't.

https://instagram.com/p/4npIB0m3u9/

https://instagram.com/p/4dQVacG3jB/

https://instagram.com/p/4NqkTPm3nc/

https://instagram.com/baronflame/

[csmith12]

Cool!

If you can overcome sr's 1, 2, and 4, you will have made great strides in your riding. Even at high levels of riding skill, sr #1 comes up from time to time.

Good luck and keep progressing.

[Baron]

Hurrah!!!
It’s been a while since I posted here. It’s been a very busy season for me. I’ve had downs and I’ve had ups, did a lot of new things, went down a couple of times but managed to get back right up. So this will be a long post.

First things first, I put about 14k on Circe this season. Not bad given that my season started in Mid-May and ended in the beginning of December. Combined with &k from last year I now have about 21k under my belt.
All in all it has been a good season, I learnt to some extent how to hang off in the corners and take them more aggressively, I did become recklessly aggressive and that’s just a reflection of my mindset at this point in time. As my riding buddies say, I ride like I am running away from something.

About the three times I went down this season.

1. Went down three times this season, all them a result of loss of traction. First one happened when I was taking a left turn, manhole cover came out of nowhere, traction gone. Luckily the fairing survived that one since the handlebar took the brunt of it and acted like a frame-slider. It got bent, the shifter was bent but apart from that everything seemed okay. A week later after straightening out the handlebar, replacing the shifter, I was all ready to go.

2. The second one happened when I got caught in the rain on my way back. Visibility was poo so when I saw a red light which for some reason I had missed, I braked hard, the front wheel locked and down I went, the fairing took a bit of damage this time but apart from that everything was okay. A day and a spare fairing later, I was good to go again.
At this point, riding and gym were my two ways to escape reality and run away from my issues so there was no way I was letting anything like get in my way.

3. The third instance was simply because although we haven’t had snow snow so far, I was going home at night, damp road, lost all traction turning, went down on the right. Good thing was that my buddies house was right around the corner, so parked Circe over there for the winter, as I had originally planned and that was it for me. End of the season.

Two things I take away from these three things,

1. I am glad that I follow ATGATT, if it wasn’t for it, I’d probably have road rash and at the very least cracked elbows from impacts.

2. I really really need to go the track. I am very aggressive by my nature and the fact that my aggression spills into my riding is …well…let’s just say that it’d going to get me killed if it goes on this way. So while university does drain me of any money that I do make, I will try to save up some for some basic track gear and head to the track next year. There is also the fact that I need to get a new used 250 or some other bike as a track bike because I can’t afford to wreck my primary mode of transportation.

Hopefully I;ll be more active post March when the term ends and I get a respite from my ever busy schedule.
….To be continued.

[choneofakind]

Uhh... Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think you need to get to the track, I think you need to learn to ride for the conditions. All 3 of those scenarios you described were easily avoidable by using caution to ride only within what the conditions allow.

Yes, track will build skill (mostly realizing how stupid it is to go fast on the street for your first couple days) but I don't think you overriding yourself is the issue. I think the issue you have is not being aware of the limits of grip due to the weather conditions.

[Baron]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

Uhh... Don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think you need to get to the track, I think you need to learn to ride for the conditions. All 3 of those scenarios you described were easily avoidable by using caution to ride only within what the conditions allow.

Yes, track will build skill (mostly realizing how stupid it is to go fast on the street for your first couple days) but I don't think you overriding yourself is the issue. I think the issue you have is not being aware of the limits of grip due to the weather conditions.

Any ideas how I should go about doing that?

[choneofakind]

1) slow down when the road conditions aren't ideal. As you've discovered, wet and/or near freezing roads don't have as much grip as hot dry roads. This means you have to be safer with the brakes and turning. Easiest way to fix this? Slow down and brake more gradually. The rest takes care of itself.

Also, when you have conditions like this, find a big parking lot and practice stops CAREFULLY. You want to get to the point where you can feel the wheels squirm or flirt with locking up. Again, CAUTION here. Idk how much finesse you have with things like this, but if you can't feel it on a motorcycle, hop on a mountain bicycle on a trail in the mud/gravel/roots and teach yourself at safer speeds.

Pay attention to what your tires are telling you and ride for the road conditions. You can get away with a lot more when the pavement is hot and dry and your tires are hot. When everything is wet and cold, the limits are that much lower.

[Baron]

Originally Posted by choneofakind

1) slow down when the road conditions aren't ideal. As you've discovered, wet and/or near freezing roads don't have as much grip as hot dry roads. This means you have to be safer with the brakes and turning. Easiest way to fix this? Slow down and brake more gradually. The rest takes care of itself.

Also, when you have conditions like this, find a big parking lot and practice stops CAREFULLY. You want to get to the point where you can feel the wheels squirm or flirt with locking up. Again, CAUTION here. Idk how much finesse you have with things like this, but if you can't feel it on a motorcycle, hop on a mountain bicycle on a trail in the mud/gravel/roots and teach yourself at safer speeds.

Pay attention to what your tires are telling you and ride for the road conditions. You can get away with a lot more when the pavement is hot and dry and your tires are hot. When everything is wet and cold, the limits are that much lower.

Thanks. I'll try that as soon as I get Circe out again.

[toEleven]

Originally Posted by Baron

1. ...taking a left turn, manhole cover came out of nowhere...
2. ...I saw a red light which for some reason I had missed...

Glad to hear you're making progress and consciously developing skills.

While I do agree with Chris/chone about slowing down for the conditions, I overlooked (or he didn't mention) anything about vision. The snippets of your crashes that I highlighted above both involve stationary objects that you did not see. Slowing down is a safe place to start, but make sure you couple it with improved vision. Manhole covers don't come out of nowhere my friend.