Riding Style - 500 GP to MotoGP

That was the way Doohan rode, he had a really odd style.

 

It frightens me to think that someone who can't do something as basic as blipping the throttle and braking at the same time is out on a racetrack.

 

Its a comparison overlay of Marquez vs Doohan's riding styles. That's just how Doohan rode. I'm not going to tell him he's wrong

 

It's not easy to have the right eye closed at 38% and the left eye closed at 26%.

 

I think the difference in fitness is due to the new riding styles, and extra body movements compared to back in the day. You gotta have better cardio if you're backing the bike in and leg dangling 100 times in a race. Same with motocross, if you're scrubbing jumps and wrestling a 240lb dirt bike on every jump then you gotta be in good shape. Is it neccessary to go fast? Is it neccessary to take supplements and intake protein every 3 hours? Do most people do things because the cool kids are doing it? All can be debated...

 

One of the big factors in fitness is the amount of force that is needed to control the bikes, especially on the brakes. The bikes are on the brakes longer and harder then they used to be.

 

No shit. Tough to criticize someone who had the #1 plate on his bike for long enough that people forgot what his other number was...

 

To answer the original, narrow question:

Riding styles adapt to exploit the maximum available from the tires and other technology of the day. That's all it is, nothing more, nothing less. If the old 500 style provided an advantage over the new style, that's what Marc et. al. would do. MotoGP riders are all motorcycle geniuses, if there's a trick or advantage no matter how small they'll find it fast. Wasn't any different back then, if the current style provided an advantage they would've moved in that direction.

There's a larger philosophical discussion about whether the guys of the old era would do well now, and vice versa. That can't be answered. If I'd been born 20 years earlier or 20 years later, I wouldn't be the same person. Maybe I wouldn't even like murdercyles let alone racing. Some guys would've been just as fast and talented, some wouldn't pursue the sport at all and would've ended up as CPAs. Some wouldn't have the temperament for the new MotoGP. I do think cream rises to the top though, and assuming similar opportunities and upbringing etc. I think you could take a 20 year old Mike Hailwood and he'd easily bang bars with Marquez and Jorge. And vice versa.

I think it's more interesting to think about all the guys that are age appropriate now who never got the shot because of accident of birth. Somewhere in India, there's a 25 year old riding a scooter who has major cajones and brakes later than everyone in his town. Maybe if he'd been born in Spain he'd be stomping a mudhole through Marc's little ass. It'll be exciting to see riders come up from these huge untapped countries.

 

Your guess is as good as anybody's here since none of us have ridden anything comparative and definitely nowhere near that level

 

A 1980's GP racer tucked in behind the windscreen on the straights.

A 2018 GP racer tucked in behind the windscreen on the straights.

It's no coincidence the riding styles are identical. The 1980's bikes smelled better tho

 

Mick Doohan was the original Mongo.....he was so dominant in his prime that he damn near killed off GP racing!

 

Doohan had such a strange style. Today we're taught to get that knee out, get your head out where the mirror would normally be, etc. (mostly). Doohan, instead, just kind of swiveled/pivoted around the tank and shoved his inside shoulder forward, which kinda made his head pop up and sit tall in the seat. Bizarre to watch, really, but worked well for him, obviously. I don't remember anyone else doing it, either..

 

Kawi had their 1978 MotoGp bike on display


Eccentric chain adjusters, SV650 sized fork legs complete with square edge fork brace, solid iron rotors, adjustable rear sets (4 position) some trick assed looking AP Racing calipers, Dymag 4" wheels, creative pipe routing, and the custom body... neat stuff considering the vintage.
It would be great to be able to get to ride it and compare it to say a new ZX10.

 

I didn't start watching GP til the late 1980's and by then Kawasaki had quit. So it's quite interesting to see what they were doing in 1978.

Musta been weird for world champ Kenny Roberts tho, he races for Yamaha and rolls up to the track one day in 1980 to see Kawasaki unloading a "KR500" claiming it has a "monocoque" chassis and King Kenny was prolly like "hell boys, we're all mono-cock if you think about it."

 

All that tech at the time and no front fender...

 

On a dry track, especially when it's hot out, pulling the fender can help with rad air flow.

 

but it can be answered. human brains are the same now as they were a couple thousand years ago. if some smarty pants from 1000BC was instead born today, he/she/it would have the same aptitude as el joker born 20 years ago. people are just a product of their time and technology. someone wired to go fast will go fast, regardless.