Hints and tips for the new month

[jmac01]

My mate Keith reckons it's good to be out of the loop.

The Effort Loop, Just Relax

From golf to boxing to sex, just relax has become a well worn, and almost meaningless, icon phrase. Any coach in any sport at any level ought to be issued a T-shirt with that phrase printed on the front. However, while tension may be the most obvious component of any neophyte's mode of operation, the instruction to just relax rarely solves it. Motorcycle riding is certainly no exception, riders at all skill levels exhibit curiously uncomfortable and unproductive body gestures that result in tightness and muscle soreness, especially when they're thrashing at the controls and trying to go "fast".

If just relax is truly the cure then tension of some sort must be the malady. Tension is: confused effort. Where does it (tension) come from? How does it affect the machine? How do we control a motorcycle? How can the machine control you?

Coordinated Efforts

There is some physical force required to ride motorcycles or play action games. During those moments of output, energy produced by contracting our muscles must flow through the body, and for a rider, to the motorcycle and its controls to accelerate, slow or steer it. Coordination in any sport equates to the very specific avenues along which the player's precisely measured energy must be pointed and travel to reach its intended target at its intended time and exact place. For examples, swinging a baseball bat or braking, both require force be applied to a lever, to arrive at their intended destination, at the exact intended time. This requires output, so just relax must actually be defined as economy-of-effort. It cannot mean no-effort.

Lever Advantage

Once a rider expends some energy to operate one of the bike's control levers he starts a chain reaction of events. Levers are devices used to allow a person to achieve a mechanical advantage over some resistance. To move a 200 lb. rock with a ten foot pole you need only expend about 20 lb. of effort, a mechanical advantage of 1:10. To move a 400 lb. motorcycle with a 150 lb. rider, it requires only a pound or so at the throttle (also a lever), which is then stepped-up by another series of levers, the engine and drivetrain.

That slight motion of the wrist probably ends up producing around a 1:4000 mechanical advantage under full acceleration. The hydraulic braking system is a mechanical lever as well, so are your handlebars and the frame's geometry which give you an advantage over the enormous gyroscopic forces created by your wheels spinning around. Even the forks and shock are levers of sorts which control the input and output of external forces like bumps and cornering forces of the bike.

Your body is nothing but a simple set of levers animated my muscle power, and is also part of the control package. But maybe it shouldn't be.

Power Struggle

When we look at what happens when a human interfaces with a motorcycle, we can see that physical tension while riding simply means there is a question about what lever to move and how much to move it. That's where we run into the problem and tension is a perfect description of a problem. The two sides of the problem are: (1) the intention to act, for example, to accelerate and, (2) opposing that is the fear of what might happen if too much pressure is applied to that particular lever. What can happen?

Instability, loss of traction, too much speed and a bad line requiring too much lean angle or an undesirable destination could all happen as a result of excess enthusiasm with the throttle lever. Why wouldn't you be tense with those potential results breathing down your neck at every corner? As an amplified lever, the throttle is probably a mile long!

The Brake Lever

The brakes are no less of a mechanical advantage in fact they're greater. Most bikes will stop quicker than they accelerate. An 1100 XX Honda goes 0-60 in 2.91 and 60-0 in 2.72. While it is a far simpler device, that 8 inch lever on the right bar, after being stepped-up by the master cylinder and the caliper, is more powerful than the entire engine and drive train. Over or under enthusiasm with either of these speed-adjustment controls is no doubt responsible for the lion's share of rider errors. We like to feel their power but often fear them at the same time.

Confidence

Confidence is the ability to predict the outcome of your actions on the motorcycle, but the trouble is, that terrific mechanical advantage the machine provides for a rider puts him or her at far more than arm's length away from the action and that tends to promote over-control, which is an error in itself, and usually leads to others.

Since our sport has the potential of physical damage and pain connected to it, tension does creep into the riding equation. It's the result of trying to stop some unwanted thing from happening.

Good and Bad

Interestingly enough, that which we wish to happen has the direct result of increasing an unwanted result. For example, desiring to go faster, then running wide in a turn, is common and illustrates the point. Increased speed, increases the bike's tendency to run wider.

A quick review of some key motorcycle hardware, like: frame stiffness, geometry like rake and trail, suspension, tires, wheels, ergonomics--and software (riding techniques) advancements-- , e.g., hanging off, quick steering, good throttle control, even the use of reference points and other visual skills, etc., are mainly aimed at combating a motorcycle's tendency to run wider than the rider desires. But riding at enthusiastic levels pretty much demands some good corner speed, doesn't it? Again, tension and effort are the notorious bad results.

Effort Begets Effort

It's the effort to avoid something from happening, by interjecting your body into the system, that is the culprit. What develops are the problems of trying to operate the control levers of the machine to create the actions of smooth, confident and in-control riding by this new component, the body, that is simultaneously trying to stop an accompanying unwanted action. With these enormous levers at his command, and fear to contend with, it is no wonder a rider can be overwhelmed as a result of a simple control error and once a chain of errors has begun to get out of hand, overuse quickly becomes part of this equation. I'm sure you have experienced this.

A riders inability to differentiate between the force produced by the machine and the amount of force required to control it is the basic misunderstanding--especially in an emergency--it's a characteristic present in any new rider's approach to a motorcycle: either too much control or too little of it. We've all done it.

Recycled and Amplified Energy

When tense, the body becomes a sort of storage unit and an active amplifier for any input it receives. Headshake, wobble, even front and rear suspension movement can and do transfer to the body and then back again to the bike--if the rider reacts to them with a counter effort. We know with a dead certainty that tensing on the bars immediately affects the bike and creates understeer, the tendency to run wide. Essentially, you instantaneously become an active and unwanted part of the machine's dynamics, prolonging or even creating poor handling.

Whether the unwanted situation originates at the bike, as in a little headshake; or in the body, from fear, the results are similar. And to add to the confusion, the bike now tends to amplify that input once more. Here we have levers acting on levers acting on levers, it can turn into a real mess and suspensions aren't designed to and can't handle it. The rider has interjected himself into the suspension system and created a "loop".

[jmac01]

Sorry, It's a long one.

Perfect Suspension

The Human body is pretty much an infinitely adjustable suspension unit. It has perfect, passive-damping; for example, when you jump and land on your feet there is no rebound. It also has perfect active-damping; like when you stand on the pegs to go over a bump, dip or depression in the road or off-road. The body is incredibly more efficient than any suspension system that has ever or will ever be designed for a motorcycle, provided you have the key to its programming.

Do you understand that when a rider stands on the pegs and uses the correct amount of effort (in active suspension mode) to handle a bump he has defeated that bump: the energy it has produced won't recycle back into the bike's suspension. He's out of the loop. Everything calms down very fast; in fact, it never even begins to unsettle the bike. All of this must of course happen within the range the bike's suspension and its settings: fork and shock travel, damping, rigidity, head angle and so on.

Rider's Program

A vital part of cornering is to maintain the machine within its suspension's range of effectiveness. Once the settings are adjusted to their optimum capabilities for the conditions, it's all up to the pilot to maintain them there for as long and as often as possible. To keep these two systems separated (the bike and rider) requires the least possible amount of rider involvement.

Obviously, to use the superior capabilities of our own suspension system requires an unusual, reverse-posturing for a person engaged in a high activity sport--it requires nothing. If you fully grasp the fact of your body's perfect damping then you must also see that it works best when disengaged or relaxed. Just throw a piece of steak down on your kitchen counter--that's the perfect damping characteristic of these bodies. Just relax is how you engage the body's best suspension qualities, it really does work.

The Relaxed Onion

There are layers to this idea of being relaxed and removed, out of the suspension loop; but continuing to maintain good control over the bike sometimes makes it seem necessary. Then too, if you get into a tight situation and become afraid, that doubles the difficulty.

You may not be able to handle the fear but you can take a close look at your own situation on the bike; for example, how you relate to the controls. Boots can be too thick making it awkward to change gears; levers can be too high or too low, putting a bend in your wrist; gloves too loose to downshift and brake smoothly, leathers too tight, arms too long or too short, seat too tall and so on. Look at how much effort you are using to work the controls, how often you use it and how long you apply it. If you are in the effort loop, get out of it.

ⓒ Keith Code, 1998

[TyD]

my tip: Have fun when you ride, the more you have fun the more your bike will have fun, and everyone knows when your bike has fun it will have magical powers which will make you go faster.. well maybe not.. but have fun when you ride..

[imdying]

Ok, so we started with the twist grip, we'll continue down the same lines...

Cables... you have to have them, and they always break when it's most inconvenient. This shouldn't trouble any motorcycle enthusiast, as making replacement inners or indeed whole cables is a skill that is within reach of everyone.

What you'll need

Inner cable
Generally on a pocket bike, all you will ever need is 1.5mm thick inner cable.

This comes in two major types:

• Wire rope - You will probably never see if all you do is pocket bikes. It is often stainless, and thus harder to work with (solder). You can spot this as it's highly flexible and looks like a woven piece of rope... say it has 6 main strands, each of those is made up of say another 6 tiny strands, much like real rope.
• Bowden cable - The other type is the good old bowden style cable, which you can see here Bowden Cable Image - Wikipedia. This isn't as flexible, but is usually a regular type of steel, and easy to solder.

Inner ends
These are usually brass, and for carbs generally about 3mm OD x 3mm tall, and for throttle grips, 6mm OD x 6mm wide. The easiest thing to do is pop down to a model/hobby shop and get yourself a length of 3mm and a length of 6mm brass rod. Then you can make pretty much anything you'll come across pocket biking. However, these can also be purchased from any on to it motorcycle mechanics or part supply store.

Solder
Strictly speaking some solder is better than others for this job, but keeping it simple, get yourself some 0.7-1mm 50/50 solder.

Soldering iron
Good things to use include a medium to heavy duty soldering iron (75-100W), or an LPG torch. MAPP and butane can also be used but are a little brutal (they get things seriously hot, which the inner cable does not like), but if you're cunning and keep the flame off of the work and just use the radiant heat, you can get by with them at a pinch. Take it from me, don't bother unless you're in a bind, get a soldering iron or an LPG torch.

Flux
Trusty Duzall will do the job, any welding supply shop will sell you a small bottle. If you're a super tight bastard and plan on making zillions of cables, you can water it down 50/50, but don't bother is my advice.

Basic tools

• Vice - A vice to hold the cable whilst you bash the end of it. Tight new jaws make a big difference to whether the cable unravels when you give it the learn with a hammer.
• Hammer - Just a regular claw hammer will be fine, it's only to open the cable up.
• Cable cutters - Cable is hard on wire cutters, so you're better off with a cable cutter like the Felco C7. Anything will cut it, it just depends on how much damage and unravelling you can put up with (you can weave the cable easily if you do).
• Bench grinder - To clean up any excess solder from your end pieces.
• Drill and drill bits - A lighter drill is the easiest to use when using 1.5mm drill bits. A heavy drill is easy to lean off centre, which will snap the drill bit.
• Files - For finishing your ends before and after soldering etc.

Making the cable

Prepare the cable

• Cut a piece of cable off the roll, about 50-100mm longer than you'll require
• Buy or make some appropriately sized ends
• Thread the first end on the cable
• Hold the cable in the vice with about 4-6mm showing through, standing straight up
• Bash it right on the end, so that it splays out like a trees branches. This gives the solder the ability to get right into the cable, making for a stronger joint
• Take the cable out of the vice, and put if back in the same way, but with the end pulled up against the splay (that is preventing it from coming all the way off)
• Use the jaws of some wire cutters, or some needle nose pliers, to gently pull the end up over the splayed out portion. Work slowly, lever on the end too much and it'll pop over the splay, and of course you'll never get it back over the splayed out cable

Solder the cable

• Once you have the end in place, i.e. with approximately 1-2mm of cable showing past the end, dip the end in the duzall to wipe out any oil and grease that would cause a 'cold' (bad) solder joint (which is weak and will fail when you're leading the Australian champs or some other equally evil time)
• Don't dip any more of the actual cable itself into the duzall as this will clean it, allowing the solder to wick down the cable, making a solid portion that doesn't want to bend (like around your throttle grip). Should it wick down the cable, it's not the end of the world. Working the cable backwards and forwards will work harden the solder fairly rapidly, and this will make the cable somewhat flexible again, but is not ideal
• Now heat the cable and end with the soldering iron, heat the end first, it has the most mass and will take longest to heat
• You'll know when it's hot enough because the solder will flow when you touch it against the end
• You can apply a small amount of solder to the tip before you start if you like, this will increase heat transference from the bit to the cable end.

Finish the job

• Once you're satisfied the cable end is sufficiently soldered to the end, you just need to clean it up
• Use the grinding wheel to dress the flat faces (the tip of a typical carb end, or the sides of a typical throttle grip end), and then use it to dress any excess solder. With practice the amount of excess solder you put on will reduce, so keep at it
• Finally use the wire wheel on the bench grinder to clean up the end to a nice polished finish
• Now grab then end and cable in your hands and heave on it... you shouldn't be able to get anywhere near pulling it off.
• Lube the inner in some light oil as you thread it back through the outer, clean the free end with a rag, and then reapply the process to the final end.
• Put the cable in your bike.
• Drink beer

[TheClaw70]

ImDying, awsome post, mate. Bravo.

Jmac, i've been reading a little of that Keith Code stuff and found it to be very enlightening.

Thanks for sharing it.

[jmac01]

He's a smart cookie thats for sure. My favorite thing that he teaches is throttle control rule no. 1 never roll off if its unplanned. Its a simple thing but it really works. You can slow or even pause your roll on if you need to but rolling off just creates more problems than it solves. This rule alone can stop so many unecessary crashes from happening and instead you just go faster, brilliant.