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Track Days: why not
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As more motorcycle courses become available that offer "track days" to learn racing techniques, advanced riding or "more proficient" skills, the question arises: "For most street riders, will this make you safer?"
Without disparaging any method or instructor, several arguments can be made that most everyday riders should save their money, and perhaps more, by avoiding them. A book that teaches "Motorcycle Track Days for Virgins" (which used to be "for Beginners") is highly touted as preparation for those who plan to attend a track day, but it may also make sense to read it before deciding it's a good idea to go.
One may have a very high regard for many of the advanced and performance-oriented courses, the skills and techniques taught by them, the instructors, and even most of their students, but still come down on the side that says, "What you learn there will not increase your odds of surviving on the streets."
This may or may not run contrary to what the instructors of such classes say themselves. One such instructor and his sponsors argue that the "need for speed" is an almost innate quality for young (male) riders, and that track days allow them to get it out of their systems so that they aren't tempted to duplicate those maneuvers on the public roads. This is "safety-oriented" in only the most oblique way and based on a questionable premise.
In some cases, these courses grew out of the racetrack experiences of former competitors who believe they have something to offer that will teach better crisis-handling techniques when a dangerous situation can't be avoided. More on that below.
In another case, there's been an attempt to transfer a set of principles developed for the training of motorcycle police officers, who may sometimes need pursuit and high-speed skills most of us won't, to the general motorcycling public.
But along with a lot of truly useful and interesting information, and some surprising recommendations (like crossing the center line?), most of the courses seem to spend a lot of time on how to turn a motorcycle, particularly at high speed.
Outside of the racetrack, when would a law-abiding member of the public need to know these handling techniques?
Learning how to handle your motorcycle at speeds of 100 mph or greater, how to lean off your motorcycle to improve your bike's clearance, or how to pick your 'best' line through a curve may encourage unsafe behavior on public roads, and illegal behavior at that.
Specifically, there is not a road in the United States where it is legal or safe to ride at speeds of 100 mph or greater. Only a motorcycle in top mechanical condition has a reasonable chance of surviving the effort, assuming the rider is also in top physical condition and the roadway is free of all defects, the weather is clear, there is no traffic, and there are no blind curves (actually, curves of any kind) ahead of you.
A police officer who happens to observe that ride, or captures a rider's speed with radar equipment, will not be in the least bit sympathetic that he learned how to handle a motorcycle at such speeds in a well-regarded class run by people who hoped that he would become a safer rider as a result of their training.
Hanging off a motorcycle is a technique taught by some as a way to 'smoothly' and 'properly' handle curves and as an advanced skill to avoid dragging a peg in a fast turn -- and it looks so cool to some.
What that really translates into is how to increase your odds of making it through a curve at ILLEGAL SPEEDS. There is not a speed-signed road in this country that requires you to lean your bike more than 20 degrees (closer to 15 degrees) when you are riding AT the posted speed. No body lean or shifting of weight, whatsoever, is required to negotiate any speed-marked curve in
the country, at legal speeds.
Picking the best line in a curve is a racing performance objective. Usually the smoothest line through a curve is the one that requires the least steering correction through the turn, because that line is the least destabilizing and requires the least lean angle.
Depending on terrain and visibility, a safer line can often be chosen through a technique requiring a 'late apex' or 'late entry', but both of those safer lines require more aggressive steering inputs and steeper lean angles than the smoothest line.
Selecting the fastest line through multiple consecutive curves is certainly an advanced technique and exactly the objective for a police chase, but selecting it to maximize a civilian rider's speed is anything but safety-oriented. At legal speeds on speed-marked curves, you can choose virtually any path of travel (line) through it, without requiring any aggressive steering inputs.
If you question that general statement, look at the information a rider gets about the correct speed for a given turn on public roads in the U.S.
According to James Davis, "Almost 80 years ago, in about 1930, when cars (and motorcycles) were far less capable than they are today, it was recognized that states had an obligation to construct and maintain roadways that were essentially safe to drive upon. It was further recognized that despite the otherwise safe speeds you could drive on those roadways when they were essentially straight lines, some curves simply had to be constructed which could not be driven on safely at speeds the roadway was otherwise designed to support."
On straight-aways with good visibility and road conditions, the speed limit – the maximum speed permitted – is determined by measuring "prevailing speeds". These are calculated to be a speed that less than 15 percent of motorists exceed. The prevailing speed is slightly less than the 85th percentile speed.
As to curves, however, Davis continues, "The states agreed to provide warnings - signs that advised of upcoming danger. These 'caution-warning-danger' signs were invariably associated with tight turns.
"But how did they determine what speed to post on those signs? Some turns were tighter than others, after all.
"Engineers collaborated with automobile manufacturers and tire manufacturers and determined that automobiles could be expected to safely travel on any road of 'normal quality,' provided that they did not experience more than about .2g's of centrifugal force while making a turn. This was well below the traction capabilities of tires at the time. Better rubber compounds and better roadway surfaces since then have made their assumptions even more conservative.
"So test vehicles equipped with a swinging weight (a metal ball) inside them were constructed, with an indicator of the angle that weight made relative to vertical. In other words, if a particular curve were ridden at 35 MPH, the weight would be seen to lean, say, 15 degrees away from vertical because of centrifugal force.
"It turns out that when the weight angle was between 10 degrees and 14 degrees, then the vehicle was experiencing a sideways acceleration of very close to .2g's.
"So advisory speeds were established, rounded to the nearest 5 MPH, at whatever speed caused that weight to lean about 12 degrees. That, it happens, is the same lean angle your motorcycle adopts when riding that curve at that speed."
This means that when you enter a curve on your motorcycle at no greater speed than the speed limit or speed advisory sign for that curve, you will not be leaned over far enough for your tires to risk losing traction simply because of speed.
The article goes on: "You've heard it before, but I want you to really understand this: you, as the rider of a motorcycle, can ONLY determine its speed and direction of travel. The lean angle you and your motorcycle adopt in a curve is NOT set by you!
"It is absolutely and entirely determined by your speed and the radius of the turn you are riding. The faster you take that turn, or the tighter that turn is, the greater your lean angle will be. That's the law! (of physics).
"So advisory speed signs specify a speed that you can virtually guarantee is safe for you to ride that turn at. It is merely a 'caution-warning-danger' signal, not a speed limit. (Note that at least one state finds no difference between a speed limit sign and an advisory speed sign; and it can
successfully ticket you for exceeding the posted speed on that advisory sign. The vast majority of states, however, recognize the difference.)"
If an advisory speed limit is posted at 35 MPH, how fast can you actually ride through that turn with relative safety? It depends on whether there are other safety issues. If a sign is merely advisory, many riders will choose to take a turn a bit faster in order to experience the thrill of weaving through the twisties. Riding it at twice the advisory speed, however, will almost certainly lead to a crash.
In the real world, most riders will, at some point in their engagement with the sport, "go into a turn too hot."
Here's where those advanced skills learned on the track may be helpful, some might argue. But far more important than weight-shifting, picking a fast line of travel, and so on, the rider's understanding of how to use counter-steering is what will probably save the day.
For more articles on turning skills, visit Motorcycle Tips and Techniques. Send email to Cash@msgroup.org.
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