MOTOGP » Stoner keeps 'new set-up' on top

Don't worry Stonerettes, we have seen God fall from the championship when leading it into the last race and handing it to the man who didn't expect it. It's not over yet....

://www.moto-racing.co.uk/Guides/motorcycleSuspensionSetup.htm#Front%20Rebound

Saran - sorry mate, but your physics is wrong. You're totally right that you use throttle in a turn but that's to reduce the coefficient of friction at the rear by making the rear do more work - it has to deliver both lateral and forward acceleration. Same (but in reverse, as it were) applies if you use a bit of rear brake to get the back out a bit on entry, but obviously you have to be more subtle as the rear is unloaded if you're on the front brakes at the same time.

saran, this might be how you ride your Vespa, but not a racing bike!

Saran, you're a funny guy.

Saran - for what I'm talking about, have a look at 'Garry McCoy Slide King of Scotland' on youTube - he backs it in under brakes and then pins it to keep the rear hanging out there. There's a great one of Gibernau also on youTube: 'Gibernau powerslide'. In both cases if they'd backed off they'd have had monumental highsides as the front bit from the weight transfer forwards. Most likely reason for Stoner's fall was he got on the power too hard (so much for the infallible TC argument) and unloaded the front too much - hence it was a lowside not a highside. Stoner's mistake, certainly, but exactly the other way than the way you suggest. The handlebar-cam shows that also.

Saran there's no racing team that would just stretch the forks forward in order to enlong the wheelbase. This alters weight distribution which is a crucial handling parameter.

Also, you are wrong in your saying that entering a corner in neutral will send you to hospital. Keith Code positively suggets doing "gravity runs" that is ride down a mountain with the engine switched off, in order to gain a more intimate feel with your motorcycle's handling. We are doing this here in Greece, and are having good fun, and let me tell you we are leaning quite a lot because every km/h you lose you make up for very late and with great difficulty. None of us has crashed however.

About the front unloading on the throttle: Yes, the front unloads when opening the throttle and this helps with its traction but sometimes, if the throttle action is abrupt, if it comes in with a "kick" then the bike gets momentarily unsettled and if the bike is really on its limit then this might cause a front end crash.

Oh, and in case anybody asks, Keith Code is the writer of "A Twist of the Wrist" 1 & 2 and is also the founder of California Superbike School. The best read on motorcycle handling thoough in Tony Foale's "Motorcycle analysis and chassis design. The art and science". (The title might be a bit differet) The best motorcycle read I've ever gotten my hands on.

Oscar. Correct if I am wrong but I think a highside is caused when the rear tyre bites if the throttle is backed off, not the front.

Jack - re the front unloading helping traction - that's quite true if the weight on the front that has to be accelerated sideways is too great for the total force that the front tyre can generate but the reverse if the weight isn't sufficient to maximise the c/f potential of the tyre. Ask any old-time Porsche 911 driver what happened if you lifted off the throttle mid-way through a fast corner and got some weight on the front - instant spin. Yet too much throttle and they'd understeer like pigs, especially in the wet, until you broke the back traction, that is...