This has been a crazy year in MotoGP.  But even so no one was prepared for what happened on Sunday, when Marco Simoncelli was involved in a freak accident on the second lap of the Malaysian GP.  This wasn’t a normal crash.  Normally a crash takes the rider sliding to the outside of the corner onto the gravel and grass.  That was how these tracks were designed: with plenty of runoff space, so riders could feel free to really push it in the corners.  But this was a freak accident because somehow Simoncelli was still on the ground under the leaned-over bike, causing the bike to stand up and slowly veer onto the racing line where he was struck by oncoming traffic doing their best to avoid him.

It’s eerie watching the BBC recording of Sunday’s race.  The riders were struggling with the heat and humidity.  Simoncelli himself appeared to be struggling to focus and stay cool on the grid, ignoring reporters.  And this was known to be a difficult track with less grip than it had in previous years.

There are probably things we could learn from the crash here, and there are certainly enough redundant YouTUBE videos of the same two video clips showing the crash… and I have mixed feelings about that.  But a couple of things I’m sure about is Marco Simoncelli was a great rider, and clearly one of the contenders for future MotoGP thrones.  And his death was too early, and too unfortunate.

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No not twins… Twin cylinder engines (like you find in Ducatis and Harleys, also popular sportbikes like the RC51, SV650), and also single cylinder engines for that matter (like you find in dirt bikes and scooters) have a quality that higher powered four cylinder engines don’t have. We call it “tractability” or manageability; there’s something about the tempo of the engine firing that makes it easy to gauge how much power you’re putting down to the ground with a corresponding twist of the throttle. Low revving v-8 muscle cars have a similar quality: each pulse equates to an amount of power that’s easy for our brains to quantify intuitively. Whereas inline-fours are more like turbo powered engines in car world: you open the throttle and it takes a moment for the engine to spool up and power to be translated to the ground… This lack of directness makes it easier to over-rev and lose traction, whereas twins help you make the most of their power. This is especially useful in low traction environments like off-road, or deep into a corner with the bike leaned over… Twins (and singles) just help you make the most of what you got.  So it’s no wonder why people who ride them love them so much…

Then why aren’t all bikes twins or singles? The short answer is: they make less power than fours.  Ducati is the only sportbike company that is fanatical about sticking to the twin cylinder engine in their sportbikes.  But the only way Ducati can be competitive in production class races is to fight for rules that allow bigger displacement engines, like running the 848 twin against 600cc fours. Because a 650cc twin makes much less (around 30hp less) power than a (comparable) 600cc four. But in the premier MotoGP class, even Ducati had to go to a traditional v-four in order to stay competitive.

Interestingly Yamaha’s MotoGP bike is an inline 4, but they tried to get the best of both worlds by tuning the engine in a way that two cylinders fire at a time (or close enough together), so that the four behaves like a twin in order to get better tractability and power management (same thing) through the corners.  They trade off a bit of overall engine power for the benefits that come from a twin – while still making more power than a twin of the same size.

So which do you prefer? The screaming top end power of a four, or the finesse-ability and the (po-ta-to po-ta-to) character of a thumpy twin?

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The computer in your phone can crunch a spreadsheet full of numbers faster than you, remember more dates and facts, and that’s nothing compared to what your desktop or server can do…  But that’s just comparing surface brainpower.  It turns out that there’s no computer (today or in the immediate future) that can do the calculations necessary to catch a fly ball: something your ten year old nephew can do.  And no computer can do the calculations necessary to ride a motorcycle to work through traffic.  Because whereas our brains work on a two tiered system: conscious thoughts, and also below-the-surface calculations that often present as intuition or reflexes, computers only have the first one.  And this has real practical applications for how you learn to ride better…

When you ride a motorcycle, your brain is actually performing billions of calculations a minute to keep you upright and away from other traffic.  But consciously you might just be thinking about how good it feels, or where you might find parking by work.  Whereas when you’re developing a skill (like throttle control) you have to consciously work at it, once you learn it you do (we say) it “automatically”… So really we’re trying to take these skills and make them automatic.

How do we do that? Simple.  Conscious focused effort + time…  When you work on some skill intensely or try to solve a problem, then go away go to sleep and come back the next day, your brain actually works on the skill while you’re doing other things.

So it helps to schedule your practice sessions in twos and threes.  The more frequent, the better.  Don’t just take an advanced riding class and stop, but schedule  a track day a couple of weeks later to work on what you’ve learned.  Don’t just plan one group ride, plan a couple, because whatever you work on in one day will probably improve by the time you get to the next… That’s why I tell new riders to just get out there every day they can, even if it’s just for half an hour to the grocery store and back.  An hour every day is better (and safer) than riding for six hours every Sunday.  And when you’re ready for it, the best thing is to simply ride to work every day, and ride to play every weekend.

Also, get plenty of rest in between sessions. A good night’s sleep in between riding practice sessions gives your brain time to process and write lessons to the  ”automatic” part of your brain’s hard drive.  It sounds basic, but that’s the secret to learning ANYTHING really…just ask the geeky honors students you went to school with.  Cheers!

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1. Working on throttle control…
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3. Can you improve your sense of balance?

A study by Carnegie Mellon University found that pedestrians are three times more likely to be hit by motorists the week following daylight savings time changes. And although I think motorcyclists are more aware of their surroundings than those in cars, pedestrians can show up at the most unreasonable moments.

No pedestrians were harmed in this YouTube video

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Ever try to teach your (let’s not say “elderly”, but older) mom how to use a new electronic device or computer?  Me: “What did you just do?” Mom: “I didn’t do anything” Me: “You just pressed something, what did you press?” Mom: “I don’t know what you’re talking about I didn’t do anything!”  The problem is we’re always DO-ing something without realizing what we’re doing.  Since the beginning of motorcycles and bicycles in the 1800’s people have been countersteering…  But it wasn’t until recently people still insisted that they just sorta’ shifted their weight around (even the best riders in the world insisted that was what they were doing at one point)….

The challenge with anything motorcycle related is that the human element is HUGE.  It’s hard to differentiate what the rider is doing vs what the bike is doing…  That’s why I think THIS project (an autonomous motorcycle) is so interesting.  They really can eliminate the human element (eventually when the thing learns to ride)…

The other part I find interesting is that you can have an autonomous car do stunt moves into a parking space, but you can’t teach a robot to ride a bike through simple obstacles that a twelve year old could manage on a dirt bike.  It’s THAT hard.  You may not realize it, but riding requires all of your senses, attention, spatial perception, judgment, reflexes, and planning skills.  And so far you can’t program a machine to beat a twelve year old.

But if you allow your inner geek to dream a bit, imagine what such an autonomous motorcycle could do one day…  Find the three ideal lines that no one is taking on a racetrack (just set it to Rossi-mode), or deliver medical supplies to out of the way places overnight…  Pretty cool.

Harley is hot these days.  They figured out what they do best and have started to put their best stuff into it…  Of course there were some casualties: Buell, for one… But in return we got the redesigned classics based on the Sportster line like the 2009 Nightsters, and new for 2010 1200cc “Sportster Forty Eight”, the “Fat Boy Lo” with beefy looking forks and cool exhaust…just to mention a few. They’ve managed to make them new and classic looking at the same time, along the lines of what Ducati did with its Sport Classic line.

Feet forward is still NOT the best way to ride, but if you like to touch your toes then you might as well do it on a Harley.  If you’re buying an older cruiser, then you might still do better with one of the big four (Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha) versions because of reliability and handling on older models.  But if you’re planning on buying new, Harley seems to have worked out the reliability issue in the past several years…so if you want a feet forward cruiser, you better go for the real thing.

Are they good city bikes?  I’m not sure…  Feet forward isn’t just a problem for cornering, it’s a problem around potholes too not to mention slippery weather riding.  But if you have to have one, then now is the time…they’re making some of the best bikes they’ve ever made right now.

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This blog isn’t really about announcing new bike models and products…but we’ll make an exception for the newest Ducati, the Monster 796… Most of you know that the Monster is the original city bike… A sporty bike specifically designed for real world riding and commuting around cities…the look of the original Monsters helped a whole generation of us decide we wanted to ride. With the redesigned 696 they did it again by modernizing everything that made the original Monsters great.

The new 796 is mainly about minor tweaks… a wet clutch (better for when you’re stuck in traffic) plus a few more horses without much more weight, which makes the 796 a better all around bike (the 696 seems a tad under powered for spirited riding). For the truly power hungry there’s always the Monster 1100 that went on sale a few months ago – although it lacks the impossibly light weight of the smaller Monsters…and might still feel heavy and slow compared to typical super-sports in the same price range…

So here’s a quick “cheers” to the folks who brought us one of the first performance bikes with city bikers in mind!  And a link to a proper review from people who actually know how to do stuff like that.

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Those are neat tricks! But in all seriousness, it can be a hassle riding to work everyday. You need to think about your riding gear, transporting things like your laptop, briefcase, meeting clothes, also you have to consider your parking situation… And these things really are big hurdles to get over. But once you figure it out for your situation, it’s actually much more practical than facing reduced subway service and rush hour crowds. That’s just my opinion.

What’s the biggest hurdle you face riding to work?  And if you have a solution, how do you work around it?  Cheers!

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One fact of the post 9-11 police state is that “normal” conduct for officers is much more aggressive than it used to be.  If you were pulled over in Russia for speeding, you could get out of the car and talk to the police officers. In many places in the U.S., try that and you’ll find yourself face down on the pavement with your hands cuffed behind your back.  Put on some leather and a helmet, and overreacting police officers becomes a real problem.  Police often take out their guns or wave their batons and make verbal threats.  Is this the way civil servants should treat people in a free democratic country?  No.  But that’s how it is for now… so be careful.

Most police officers are respectful and reasonable – doing a difficult job. And many police officers ride, and don’t see bikers as a threat. But there are just enough insecure and obnoxious ones to make us wary.

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The cool thing about motorcycles is that you actually don’t need a good sense of balance to ride them.  Twist the throttle, and the magic of gyroscopic forces does its work keeping you on a vertical plane.  But when the wheels start to slide (and also for tight low speed maneuvers) your sense of balance is what keeps you from hitting the ground.  Ever see someone catch an unexpected slide?  How did she do that?  It happens too quickly to think about what to do.  The only way is if your steering, throttle control, and sense of balance are in sync to save your butt from the pavement.

So how do you improve your sense of balance? This is one of the most complicated functions the human brain performs.  Portable computers don’t run fast enough yet to perform all the calculations required to maintain balance while riding a motorcycle (video on a robotic motorcycle).  So how do we hone this complex skill?

Balance on a motorcycle comes from a combination of a physical sense of balance plus steering ability and throttle control.  But that first part, the physical sense of balance can be best honed off the motorcycle.  Because a motorcycle is inherently stable in motion, any non-motorcycling activity that requires left-right balance will help – like riding bicycles or unicycles… But an even better way, especially during the colder wetter months, is by spending time on a balance board.

You might want to be careful the first time you step on one. Maybe even wear your helmet (just kidding, although it might not be a bad idea for some).  If you’ve never been on a balance board, it takes a little getting used to, even if you have a great sense of balance.  But once you get the hang of it, it can go a long way…

Have you spent some time on a balance board?  Tell us what YOU think.  Cheers!

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