What bike have you ridden to the limit of it's performance?

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I'm happy with the tyres sliding on dirt, happy with the rear moving a bit on tarmac, I don't like front wheel slides on tarmac, I find them a bit unnerving, thing is though I don't think I'm going that quick when I get slides.

On tarmac I've probably had 2 front end slides, both on track and both ended up as crashes. I've had a fair few rear wheel slides under power but they don't really register. If you're getting front end slides and not crashing or going fast maybe they aren't slides ?

Most decent racers can save a rear slide.
Only folk like MM can save a front slide.

Most people who ride off road at any speed can save a front end slide, you wouldn't save one if you were riding at 100% though, that's were people like Marquez are better than the rest.

[rodbargee]

no particular credit here Just straight line Empty motorway zx12r "unrestricted" well off the clock and wouldnt go any faster (Millau BRIDGE NEW MOTORWAY AT THE TIME) Had to stop in Le Mans for a new rear tyre afterwards too. had to put a 190 on it instead of a 200.

Just before ....

[Tricky]

I couldn't find the pic (don't know the rider's name) of the Ducati at a track launch where the guy is knee down a giving the photographer the bird (or similar). That's probably many levels above anything I could do.

Ah, that must have been Ruben Xaus at the Hypermotard launch I'm guessing?

What about a Thumbs up?

Not bad - better than this old has-never-was-been's effort

[KungFooBob]

This one is so old it was taken with a camera that saved the picture to floppy disk...

[Mr. Dazzle]

TBF you look like you could probably get your knee down with the bike on a paddock stand

Still better than I can manage though.

[KungFooBob]

I used to be able to get my knee down in 10ft circles in McD's carpark on my FZR400

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

This one is so old it was taken with a camera that saved the picture to floppy disk...

LOL the bike is nowhere near the edge of the tyres

[KungFooBob]

This one is so old it was taken with a camera that saved the picture to floppy disk...

LOL the bike is nowhere near the edge of the tyres

Pah, that's me saving a front end slide with my knee!

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

I used to be able to get my knee down in 10ft circles in McD's carpark on my FZR400

Looking at you on the R6, you could probably get your knee down in a straight line on an FZR400, the seat height is very low, I've raised the seat on mine by 20mm and it's still low.

[Potter]

Most people who ride off road at any speed can save a front end slide, you wouldn't save one if you were riding at 100% though, that's were people like Marquez are better than the rest.

I'd be very surprised if the average bloke can actually process what's happening and save any sort of serious slide without it being mostly luck.

I've had unexpected slides, but when it didn't end up in a crash it was mostly luck that I was in a decent position and on the right throttle point where it didn't end badly, it certainly wasn't a conscious thought, those events happen so quickly that unless you're capable of feeling it as soon as it starts to happen, process it and you have the skill to save it then you're riding on luck.

Of course, if you're a ham fisted goon then those moments will be more frequent, so if you're a smooth rider your luck will be more likely to kick in, but I'd still wager that it's mostly luck for anyone this side of a WSB level rider that has an unexpected slide and can process it and save it as an actual conscious action.

I'd be equally as dismissive of anyone that thinks they can get into a boxing ring with Mayweather and dodge his punches, it's only the top (relatively) few skilled people in the world that can operate at that level.

For me the slide has usually happened and it's over before my brain catches up with what's going on, by that point I'm either on the floor or 10yds away.

[Mr. Dazzle]

It's even harder than that.....there've been all kinds of studies across all kind of "fast reaction" fields. Basically lot of these things are literally too fast for a human to react to. The classic example is a tennis serve, top players serve so fast that the ball gets from their racquet to past you faster than it's humanly possible to react. Doesn't matter how good you are, human anatomy simply ain't good enough for your eyes to see, pass it to your brain etc. in time for you to return it.

So how the fuck does anyone do it?

They anticipate. You have to be good enough that you can tell which way the ball is going to go just from seeing what the other player does. All of that is subconscious. It's the same with anything like that - tennis serves, front/rear slides, penalty shoot outs etc. You have to recognise the signs before it's even happened. Top racing pros are super human

[Le_Fromage_Grande]

Any front end slides I've had have been unexpected, and how I've saved them I couldn't tell you, I just reacted to it.
I remember the first time I rode on a proper MX track, I kept losing the front end and falling off, usually on the same corners, a mate advised me to practice on the much smaller flatter practice track at the same site until I could ride round without falling off and at a reasonable pace, don't know what I learned, but when I went back to the big track I no longer kept falling off through losing the front end, I found other ways to fall off at higher speeds, eventually I stopped falling off and got faster, I wasn't a quick learner.

[Rockburner]

This one is so old it was taken with a camera that saved the picture to floppy disk...

LOL the bike is nowhere near the edge of the tyres

Isn't that the whole point of 'knee down' though?

[Yorick]

Losing the front end on dirt and tarmac is totally different.
I can drift the Husky at leisure.

Big no no on the Suzuki.

[Horse]

I couldn't find the pic (don't know the rider's name) of the Ducati at a track launch where the guy is knee down a giving the photographer the bird (or similar). That's probably many levels above anything I could do.

Ah, that must have been Ruben Xaus at the Hypermotard launch I'm guessing?

That's the one! Thanks

[ZRX61]

Does this include ones I've thrown into hedges?.. or would that fall under "limits of your talent"?

[Couchy]

Most decent racers can save a rear slide.
Only folk like MM can save a front slide.

I couldn't find the pic (don't know the rider's name) of the Ducati at a track launch where the guy is knee down a giving the photographer the bird (or similar). That's probably many levels above anything I could do.

I won’t share the photo of me knee down giving the photographer the bird but it isn’t hard you’d easily do it

[wheelnut]

A fizzy in Spain when I was 18. To its limits and beyond. The fizzy ended with no pedals and I still have the gravel rash scars.

[Screwdriver]

The beauty of motorcycles compared to virtually any other mode of transport is that the rider does not merely control the device, they are part of a complex bike-rider system. I have taken virtually every single machine I have ever owned to the red line in top wide open throttle. I will typically do that on day one.

Is that “the limit of its performance” (sic.). No. That’s just flat out. Any one of the thousands of professional racers could “get more out of it” than either I am able or willing to do. If you want to see what it is they do, try throwing your bike into Paddock Hill bend a gear higher than you like and brake 5 metres later than you dare. You’ll need to go in a LOT earlier than usual, like about 10 metres. You’ll have to bank on drifting out towards the apex because you’re aiming to hit the curb on the inside already.

Having successfully drifted the bike and hit the apex to perfection, you are now still drifting wide waiting to slide onto the curb to find that particular patch where you can start winding the throttle on. Six inches too hot and you’ll be spinning up on dirt shortly before entertaining the audience with a cartwheeling machine. You’ve just found the limit. Now do it again, and again. Six inches is no exaggeration, top riders aim for a patch of track the size of their tyre footprint (at the limit…)

I know where the limit is ( in theory!) and I am happy to keep a good 10% away from it. Give myself some wiggle room. If I am ever able to reach the theoretical maximum “limit” of my own bike-rider combination, there is still a group of my peers who will find an extra 1/10th on the same bike in the same circumstance. I don’t know how they do it and my skills aren’t even in the same ballpark as the BSB/MotoGP guys “it’s ain’t even the same sport” (Pulp Fiction). Those guys might just as well be from another planet as us mere Earthlings. They aren’t called aliens for nothing.

[weeksy]

When you think you're 10% and realise you're not even remotely close.



Canepa, he's no alien. But watching this video destroying a fast group, well, it's just daft