MotoJitsu

[knyte]

...Greg got a GT recently:

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by knyte

[Wintersdark]

Hah nice.  His is one of the channels I always recommend to newer riders - less entertainment, more real, solid, no-bullshit information.  

[Stew]

Just been watching some of his videos, common sense clear information and no ego. We are always learning on bikes. I'm working on my emergency stops again at the moment, so that my lowest level of skill/muscle memory/instinct is as honed as it can be.

[knyte]

That's exactly right, the learning never stops, and is why I like his channel so much.  Lifelong learning.  I was hoping to book another course this year, buuuuttt....heh 2020 has been a complete wash for such things.

It'll be interesting to hear his feedback on A mode

[Wintersdark]

You have advanced riding courses up there?  There's nothing locally.  I'd love to do a nice intermediate/advanced course - something beyond parking lot fun, as I do plenty of that on my own.  I think I'd really enjoy something like that, as it's fun to get a good discussion of techniques going on in an instructional situation where hopefully people can put egos aside.  

My experience has been people in "in person" discussions such as on group rides and whatnot tend to struggle to put ego aside and really talk about what works and doesn't for them, and listen to other ideas.  It gets worse the more people you have, too, where nobody wants to look like a "noob" or whatever. 

I love it, personally.  I'm always hearing new, different techniques, which I always try out.  Some get adopted, some don't.  Some work a bit better than what I used to do(only using the inside hand to steer, as per Total Control), some are literally game changing.  I just learned to trail brake properly last year, and it totally changed how I ride solo.

Once you get into a course, while you'll always have That Guy who Already Knows Everything, people are generally there specifically to learn, so it's a more conductive atmosphere.

But yeah... 2020.  *sigh*

[Stew]

1 minute ago, Wintersdark said:

You have advanced riding courses up there?  There's nothing locally.  I'd love to do a nice intermediate/advanced course - something beyond parking lot fun, as I do plenty of that on my own.  I think I'd really enjoy something like that, as it's fun to get a good discussion of techniques going on in an instructional situation where hopefully people can put egos aside.  

My experience has been people in "in person" discussions such as on group rides and whatnot tend to struggle to put ego aside and really talk about what works and doesn't for them, and listen to other ideas.  It gets worse the more people you have, too, where nobody wants to look like a "noob" or whatever. 

I love it, personally.  I'm always hearing new, different techniques, which I always try out.  Some get adopted, some don't.  Some work a bit better than what I used to do(only using the inside hand to steer, as per Total Control), some are literally game changing.  I just learned to trail brake properly last year, and it totally changed how I ride solo.

Once you get into a course, while you'll always have That Guy who Already Knows Everything, people are generally there specifically to learn, so it's a more conductive atmosphere.

But yeah... 2020.  *sigh*

In the UK we have the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IaM) , which includes motorcyclists.
It's a brilliant course, one on one riding with an instructor, who tailors the course to suit you. Test (for me anyway) was done by a police motorcyclist, following me on his police bike, which had me a bit freaked out, as I thought at the end he might confiscate my license
Someone should look at setting up similar in the USA, it is superb.
I believe @BBB is an instructor with them.

 

[Wintersdark]

19 minutes ago, Stew said:

In the UK we have the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IaM) , which includes motorcyclists.
It's a brilliant course, one on one riding with an instructor, who tailors the course to suit you. Test (for me anyway) was done by a police motorcyclist, following me on his police bike, which had me a bit freaked out, as I thought at the end he might confiscate my license
Someone should look at setting up similar in the USA, it is superb.
I believe @BBB is an instructor with them.

 

The US has lots of motorcycle schools (and tracks!), though of course it's location dependent.  The youtuber Greg in the video is a huge proponent of them, for good reason.  Sadly, here in Canada, though, they're extremely rare because people get all "not in my backyard!" about "nearby" racetracks.  Nearby being defined as "within earshot on a quite prairie evening" or "within two hours drive of my house".  IIRC, there's a few in Ontario, but they're some 6000kms from here.  Stupid big country.

There's a track in Edmonton, though that's still some three/four hours out.  Dunno if there's an accessible intermediate or advanced school out that way, but I'd assume so.  I'd consider taking a trip out for a weekend course.

Edited August 21, 2020 by Wintersdark

[Stew]

1 minute ago, Wintersdark said:

The US has lots of motorcycle schools (and tracks!), though of course it's location dependent.  The youtuber Greg in the video is a huge proponent of them, for good reason.  Sadly, here in Canada, though, they're extremely rare because people get all "not in my backyard!" about "nearby" racetracks.  Nearby being defined as "within earshot on a quite prairie evening" or "within two hours drive of my house".  IIRC, there's a few in Ontario, but they're some 6000kms from here.  Stupid big country.

There's a track in Edmonton, though that's still some three/four hours out.  Dunno if there's an accessible intermediate or advanced school out that way, but I'd assume so.  I'd consider taking a trip out for a weekend course.

I meant to include Canada, and actually, everywhere. My bad

 

[knyte]

There are a couple of tracks here, but I've yet to comprehensively figure out which one to go to.

One is south of Edmonton (about 1/2 hour from the downtown core) at Castrol Raceway, and I think they have a moto-track day, but can't find it offhand.  Found it last year, but I wasn't ready - plus it ain't cheap.  Safety training and such for the first visit, and IIRC you don't need it again on subsequent visits.

There is also Stratotech Park, north of the city near Ft Saskatchewan, again roughly 1/2 hour from downtown.

I think you'd have to register here first:  

MotorsportReg | racing, track day, HPDE, autocross, sport bike, karting & motocross events

---

Online event registration for 1,000+ motorsport clubs, racetracks...

There used to be a couple of private motorcycle advanced courses.  The course I really wanted was through CTEC, but they don't offer it any longer.  I did the basic course with them and they were fantastic.  There was very little theory, it was all hands-on riding and very intense.  They really drilled the 'good' habits into us, and I liked their style and overall approach.

I checked earlier this year, and there is another private course that can be had, but it looked a bit 'meh', plus everything was shut down because of Covid-19 so I just put it out of my head.

Looked again just now, but nothing appealing came up

For now I guess it's just drills from MotoJitsu, DanDanTheFireman and MC Rider.

Edited August 21, 2020 by knyte

[WKE002]

When I was learning/discover counter steering, many Youtuber explain and show, for beginner like me, they have two hands on handlebar and they comment to press/push left and bike go left, motojitsu explained/show very clearly using cruise control so as one can see clearly his one hand push will put the bike in that direction, no bull, simple. 

[Wintersdark]

Yeah, I looked pretty hard into Castrol, as that's the closest to me (I'm technically in Calgary, but more like Okotoks), but that was kind of a balking point.  There are "open" track days - one or two days a month - but to do them you need:

• An annual membership, roughly $100, to EMRA
• Entrance fee ($225)
• A single piece or zip together leather riding suit (omg so much)
• Full length gloves
• A full face helmet (mine fails as while it's ECE0.25 rated, it's modular and modular helmets are a no-no there)
• Proper full length riding boots (I've ridden in leather work boots my whole life - getting a set wouldn't be bad for sure, but it's another big cost)
• The safety licensing class

So it wouldn't be bad, but despite having armored pants and jacket, leather and steel boots, gloves and helmet, I'd need a full set of separate gear specifically for that.  It'd be awesome to have for sure, but $$. 

Realistically, I'd need a trailer too, and a hotel - you need to bring your own fuel and such, and I don't know how much I'd be into a 3-4 hour ride home after a track day.  

Just makes the whole thing really expensive to get in to, and again - there's only a tiny handful of track days per year.   A huge expense to go maybe 3-4 times in a year. 

Ah well, it is what it is.  

[Stew]

14 minutes ago, Wintersdark said:

Yeah, I looked pretty hard into Castrol, as that's the closest to me (I'm technically in Calgary, but more like Okotoks), but that was kind of a balking point.  There are "open" track days - one or two days a month - but to do them you need:

• An annual membership, roughly $100, to EMRA
• Entrance fee ($225)
• A single piece or zip together leather riding suit (omg so much)
• Full length gloves
• A full face helmet (mine fails as while it's ECE0.25 rated, it's modular and modular helmets are a no-no there)
• Proper full length riding boots (I've ridden in leather work boots my whole life - getting a set wouldn't be bad for sure, but it's another big cost)
• The safety licensing class

So it wouldn't be bad, but despite having armored pants and jacket, leather and steel boots, gloves and helmet, I'd need a full set of separate gear specifically for that.  It'd be awesome to have for sure, but $$. 

Realistically, I'd need a trailer too, and a hotel - you need to bring your own fuel and such, and I don't know how much I'd be into a 3-4 hour ride home after a track day.  

Just makes the whole thing really expensive to get in to, and again - there's only a tiny handful of track days per year.   A huge expense to go maybe 3-4 times in a year. 

Ah well, it is what it is.  

Aye, I understand why they have those sort of regs, but it puts it out of my price bracket. Never owned a set of leathers, and would only wear them for something like that, so very expensive luxury.
And you'd almost certainly need a trailer, the bike might not be rideable to get home with.

I'd love to get on a track with my bike, but I know I am not very quick, and I don't want to feel rushed, or like a rolling roadblock. I'd just like the opportunity to go as fast as I felt comfortable, safe in the knowledge that there was no oncoming traffic or massive potholes around the next bend.
With the advent of 24hr shopping and such it is even hard to find a parking lot to practice slow speed turns etc. nowadays.

[Wintersdark]

1 hour ago, Stew said:

Aye, I understand why they have those sort of regs, but it puts it out of my price bracket. Never owned a set of leathers, and would only wear them for something like that, so very expensive luxury.
And you'd almost certainly need a trailer, the bike might not be rideable to get home with.

I'd love to get on a track with my bike, but I know I am not very quick, and I don't want to feel rushed, or like a rolling roadblock. I'd just like the opportunity to go as fast as I felt comfortable, safe in the knowledge that there was no oncoming traffic or massive potholes around the next bend.
With the advent of 24hr shopping and such it is even hard to find a parking lot to practice slow speed turns etc. nowadays.

Yeah.  It's a huge luxury expense for maybe 3 uses per year - I mean, if you've got the cash, I'm sure it's super rewarding, but that's just not gonna work for me.  I mean, I'd far sooner get a brand new rear shock I'd enjoy daily than a set of leathers I'd wear only for that.  If I could be out on a track more regularly, it'd be different, but access is way too limited here. 

And we've got the same issue: no empty parking lots.  I mean, I can tool around in a Walmart lot at night (and almost certainly get a visit from curious boys in blue), but there's nowhere in town I've found I can occupy a parking lot with cones and such during the day.  

[BBB]

On 8/21/2020 at 11:36 PM, Stew said:

In the UK we have the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IaM) , which includes motorcyclists.
It's a brilliant course, one on one riding with an instructor, who tailors the course to suit you. Test (for me anyway) was done by a police motorcyclist, following me on his police bike, which had me a bit freaked out, as I thought at the end he might confiscate my license
Someone should look at setting up similar in the USA, it is superb.
I believe @BBB is an instructor with them.

 

I am indeed 👍🏻

On your other post @Stew, the IAM do skills days, where you get track time with an IAM track instructor. They are meant to be super-chilled as they aren’t open to the public, so they avoid the muppets/posers who crowd other track days. Only one was run this year due to COVID though.

[Stew]

15 hours ago, BBB said:

I am indeed 👍🏻

On your other post @Stew, the IAM do skills days, where you get track time with an IAM track instructor. They are meant to be super-chilled as they aren’t open to the public, so they avoid the muppets/posers who crowd other track days. Only one was run this year due to COVID though.

Local (Dumfries) IAM have a regular sunday ride out, so I mibbe take a wee wander down this weekend, after the bike has had it's big service and is all lovely and super duper.
IAM trackday sounds perfect.