| Author | Message | ||
     Barker |
The Detroit News. By Bruce McLaughlan http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/ 20070315/SPORTS03/703150454/1047 | ||
| Davegess |
This is pretty cool, I will try and keep an eye on it. | ||
| Barker |
Update Video rolling, we shifted the Buell onto the road for a ride Bench Racing: Bruce McLaughlan We're rapidly approaching the day when the project Buell XB9R will have to focus solely on the race track. It will be pretty hard to ride the bike when it's missing the forks, for example, as they undergo transformation with Traxxion Dynamics cartridges. But with spring unexpectedly arriving in Metro Detroit, the open road beckoned this week. Western Oakland County is blessed with twisty roads and elevation changes - the very elements that make some tracks so great. The area bounded by South Lyon-Milford on the south and Fenton-Holly on the north has a good share of interesting roads with relatively low traffic. The only thing that's missing is speed. Those twisty roads tend to have 45 or 50 mph limits posted - and enforced. Speed on the road isn't very sensible anyway, because other drivers aren't expecting it, and the roads aren't built for it. If you can put all that aside, riding through the countryside, especially in spring and fall, is great fun - and certainly better than sitting behind a desk. It's also a great excuse to dust off the team's viosport Adventure Cam on-board video camera. A couple of years ago, the Michigan-based viosport company (www.viosport.com) provided us with one of their rugged, compact helmet cams, battery, wiring and mounting hardware. Motorcycle riding - let alone racing - isn't within reach for everyone, and on-board video provides a really cool way to share the excitement. For a racing columnist, it also provides a unique way to communicate. For example, this week I put together a short clip to show the benefit of GP shifting - which can be hard to communicate in words but shows up great on the camera. You can see how the GP pattern - one up, four down - lets you use the strong calf muscles to upshift, while your foot stays planted on the peg. Upshifts are critical in racing, because any time spent shifting is time not spent accelerating. Downshifting on the race track usually feels pretty leisurely in comparison - because at the time you downshift, you're usually sitting upright, braking hard, and planning to turn. Leg angle also comes into play. During upshifts, the rider is often in a full tuck behind the windscreen, with acute knee and ankle angles. The extra muscle strength helps make up for the awkward posture. At downshift, the more upright angle relaxes the leg muscles for easier movement. To get this video snippet, I used the viosport industrial-strength clamp-mount to fasten the camera lens to the left passenger footpeg of the Buell XB9R. Pointed straight ahead, it affords a close-up view of the rider's foot working the shifter, with a little bit of road ambience thrown in as a bonus. The recorder was stuffed in a small nylon bag and bungeed to the passenger seat and tie-down hooks. You can see from the video that this combination offers a very steady picture. With the variety of mounting options that viosport provides, we'll be able to mount the camera lens on the tank, looking either forward or back, on the bars, under the tail looking back (which is a great angle for the race track) or on the side of the bike looking forward or back. With the clever strap they provided, we could mount the camera to the rider's arm, or use suction cups to mount it to the helmet. The problem with helmet-mounting in motorcycle racing is that the rider's head angle changes too dramatically. At full speed, the rider is in a tuck that points the lens downward. If you adjust for that, then all you get is sky when the rider sits up during braking. Most of the time, the helmet is shaking from the forces of accelerating, braking and cornering. It's possible to get a compromise view, but there are plenty of other options. Of course, these cameras are just as good for mounting in a car, on a bicycle, for snowboarding, skiing or inline skating. All it takes is some creativity. Next week, we'll see how the stock Buell engine delivers on the dyno. It's the "before" picture that we'll use as a yardstick in making engine improvements. Bruce McLaughlan, a racing enthusiast his whole life, began racing motorcycles 10 years ago and is rated "expert" by AMA, WERA and CCS. You can email Bruce at bmclaughlan@hughes.net. | ||
| Watrousmark |
Has anyone emailed him to tell him we're watching? And of course where he can get all kinds of advise on modifying for performance. |
