Barber Lowside with Mary!

[Lenny ZX9R]

This was filming Mary Wagner at Barber this weekend! Mary has really improved her riding since we rode last at Pitt Race. Mary should be very proud of her progress, as I certainly am!
The lowside was due to me NOT having enough heat in my front tire from going a little slower to film. I should have realized that when I pushed it a little going into turn 1! My mistake! Believe it or not the bike is not badly damaged and I rode it back into the pits! Lesson learned and I will be using a different tire manufacturer in the future!

 

[Otto Man]

Any crash you walk away from is a good one. Curious...what'd you have on the front?

 

[Thunderace]

I especially like the pants on that corner worker! Sorry to hear about the crash Lenny. Never a good day, but at least you weren't hurt. Well, at least during the crash you weren't hurt.

 

[Lenny ZX9R]

Any crash you walk away from is a good one. Curious...what'd you have on the front?

I had a set of Dunlop Med slicks. They don't hold the heat like the Pirellis!

 

[Lenny ZX9R]

I especially like the pants on that corner worker! Sorry to hear about the crash Lenny. Never a good day, but at least you weren't hurt. Well, at least during the crash you weren't hurt.

Thanks Big Jim! it's always those clipon adjustments that hurt! LOL!

 

[Menotomy]

Fellow member of the Barber lowside club checking in. I turned out fine and the bike only has minor damage.

 

[rob92]

I'm pretty sure the drool on Lenny's front tire had something to do with it...

 

[Otto Man]

I had a set of Dunlop Med slicks. They don't hold the heat like the Pirellis!

Nope, sure don't. A cold tire crash is a cold tire crash - but as you found out, Dunflops are even more finicky than most brands when the temp drops. I high sided my brains out at "da beav" several years ago in similar conditions - cold morning practice. Where? Oh...on pit out. Second gear, doing about 30. Didn't even make it out on track, I had about 2 degrees of lean angle when the rear spun up.

Cold tire crashes sure do keep ya humble. Glad you're alright!

 

[vinny337]

Glad you're good to go! Do you know the guy on the R1 with the bright orange wheels?

 

[Lenny ZX9R]

Glad you're good to go! Do you know the guy on the R1 with the bright orange wheels?

The guy riding the bike is our own Will Leinker! He was riding Walt Hash's New R1 ( Walt Runs the Yamaha Demo Program)

 

[vinny337]

Cool, you guys were having some fun out there... I'm loving the wheels, gotta hit him up.

 

[Southerly]

Sorry to here you joined the club as well. Sounds like you did less damage to yourself in the low side than doing maintenance.

I guess the question is, were you still having fun?


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[Lenny ZX9R]

Sorry to here you joined the club as well. Sounds like you did less damage to yourself in the low side than doing maintenance.

I guess the question is, were you still having fun?


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Unfortunately going down is part of our sport, but you ask if I'm still having fun I will give you a big "hell Yea I'm still having fun"
Riding a motorcycle at some very fast speeds is very challenging and exhilarating! I choose to be a participant in life and not a spectator and riding and racing motorcycles is the thing that makes me challenge myself to do better at it. This weekend was a challenge with the conditions and even though I had an "oops" I still learned something.
This is a sport that makes you think and you have to be able to adjust your riding style to a variety of conditions, the cold being one of them!
This is the reason that I love this sport and am happy that I can pass on some of the knowledge that I have to other people so that they can have the same challenge and discover their ability's on their motorcycle!

My bike will be fixed and ready to go for next season! Its the adjusting of clipons that I have some difficulty with! LOL!

 

[Southerly]

That was the answer I expected, and I have to agree with it.

Not quite what I said when you asked me on Saturday, as I was still a bit shaken (but not stirred) and hadn't yet reconciled myself to the revised appearance of my bike. By the end of the day and the pot luck life was good again.

A few Tylenol ease the headache and I am starting to track down parts. It should be ready to go again in a week or two. Now the big problem is the long wait for RA.


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[gcally]

Cold tire crashes suck!! It must have been pretty cold for the tires not hold temp after a couple laps. You guys were just cruising around and not pushing hard at all. That is scary that the Dunlop slicks would not hold temp. Does Barber have decent traction when it is cold out? I really want to put it on my schedule for next year.

I learned my lesson the hard way. Back in the day I low sided at GNF during first lap of practice. I was carrying too much speed coming off of the back straight trying to push a little too hard.

 

[adotjdot]

I know what I am getting Lenny for X-Mas this year...a pair of Mechanix gloves and a allen socket and ratchet set. Protect those hands my friend! ;-)

 

[wmhjr]

Lenny, you've got me worried now, man! I was planning to try some Dunlop GPA-Pro's (the AMA spec tire) this year. I've been running Pirellis. I watched that video and it sure didn't look to me that those tires should have been that cold. Your entry speed and lean angle were probably the highest there of any previous part of the video, but it didn't look unreasonable I unfortunately couldn't make it to Barber this year - had a great time last year. But now I'm a little concerned about the Dunlops. How cold were the track and ambient temps?

 

[vinny337]

Lenny, you've got me worried now, man! I was planning to try some Dunlop GPA-Pro's (the AMA spec tire) this year. I've been running Pirellis. I watched that video and it sure didn't look to me that those tires should have been that cold. Your entry speed and lean angle were probably the highest there of any previous part of the video, but it didn't look unreasonable I unfortunately couldn't make it to Barber this year - had a great time last year. But now I'm a little concerned about the Dunlops. How cold were the track and ambient temps?

I wouldn't be overly concerned about using Dunlops, they do require heat. I've done the same thing Lenny did on Dunlops more than once (not intentional) but I still run them. One thing to remember is they do not work well in colder/lower temp because the carcass is much stiffer. They need heat and once you get them up to temp they work pretty good. I've tried Pirelli's for the first time in 5 years last time I rode and said I'm switching to Pirelli's next season. Like Lenny said you're going to have to change your riding style when the temps drop, but that goes for any tire. Crashing is a part of our sport especially when you start pushing, that's also goes for any tire.

 

[Dave561]

I rode dunlop all weekend. GPA on the SV and Q3 on an R6. Never touched the ground. Only issues I had were sloppy technique. Not saying that was the cause of any of the crashes this weekend, but I know I would have had less oh sh $% moments if my technique was smoother of a few corners

 

[wmhjr]

Thanks. I'm guessing that I might just keep the Dunlops I have enroute for the middle of the summer then and stick with Pirellis for the beginning and end of the season. I knew the carcass was a lot stiffer, and the feel is a lot different. I wonder how the GPAs will do down at Jennings on that sandpaper?

Dave, my technique has really improved but I think I've got way more opportunity to get smoother than you! IOW, I've still got a lot to work on. I actually made a conscious decision to slow down a little toward the end of this past year to work on a few things rather than just having fun chasing you, Kenny and some other guys around. Still had fun, but tried to be a little more disciplined.