I suck at launching a bike. Clearly I need practice and a pile of it. Just wondering where you guys launch your bike at, to give me a starting point. 09 R6 gearing 16/44. Any tips, pointers, would be greatly appreciated thanks
for me, traffic lights were good practice. :up: If your bike is not street legal, try and find a parking lot you can use and see a traffic light. You may have to enlist a friend to trigger the light with a car or bike, so you can anticipate and control when it changes. If you can see the both directions of travel, use yellow for one direction as a 1 board.
too much rpm is bad, so is too little. I agree it's between 9-10k and gearing doesn't matter for the most part, it just changes the distance you cover before you let the clutch all the way out. load the clutch just to the point of slipping. again, not too much or the bike creeps, not too little or you will wheelie when you let it out. I'm a 2 footer on the ground guy (well, toes of two feet anyway lol! ) 3 fingers at least on the clutch, 2 fingers and you may fatigue just enough that you can't smoothly control letting it out. (then i use 2 in the race as do many others). you roll the gas as you feed clutch. if you do it right, you let the clutch out in 1 direction, and it takes longer than you think to get it all the way out without bogging, or lifting the front too high. practice makes perfect but then you still need to think about it for a moment before each start.
everyone has a technique! my R6 running 14/43 gearing and me being 190lbs is not the easiest but i find 6-7k...i let clutch out fast... as soon as front end starts to climb i hit second instantly... works great! I actually can beat many of my top R6 racers (well until the corner comes) some of my racers are 10-14k...crazy..go thru clutches every 2 wknds, others 4k and drop clutch..so it varies. ..my way you have to 1 foot it thou...my left foot is directly on top of shift lever so min i feel front coming up i push down for 2nd but keep throttle pinned... it works.
I tend to launch around 8k with a the clutch loaded up by the 1 board and holding on by my toes. from there is letting the rest of the clutch out and modulating throttle for optimal launch. Dont want to over rev and wheelie, also dont want to under rev and bog.
modulating throttle means your slowing down... pin that thing and control by shifting to 2nd gear..once i let throttle out at 6-7k i go wfo and never let off...as soon as she climbs up (10-12k rpm) yes you have to be FAST grabbing that 2nd gear thats why i keep left foot up/on the lever..you use that quick shifter to hit 2nd gear..the bike then just keeps going forward, not up..and your not rolling on/off throttle part way.. similar to launch control on the new ZX10 and how it works, you have to shift right away but it allows you to keep gas on and keep going forward... only stunters like to wheelie... plus modulating throttle is where most racers really mess up, either bog or wheelie.. http://youtu.be/Yqlb-WFukwk here ya go.. im the far left (on screen) white bike... stock engine (but tuned/race gas @114rwhp on mr12) and im 190+lbs w/o gear.. camera bike is a SS built bike by another shop, rider is about 40lbs lighter.. I never let off gas, he has to modulate even thou he is much lighter and should have 10+ more rwhp than me..i still get him into T1.. (dont watch race, i sucked bad, it was my frist time in over 20 years at the track lol..last month i dropped 3.2 secs a lap)
i agree about the modulating throttle thing. if done right, you are only giving more gas the entire time, not letting off. And for sure, shift to 2nd gear if you are up in the rpms and the front starts to rise too much rather than pull in the clutch or let off the gas, just shift. The time it takes for the shift to occur, the front is back down and you are now in the meat of the torque again.. pulling away from the others Even with more gearing, i find 2 feet on the ground works for me.. and with the feet dangling back i tend to stay down on the tank better. Never really was pressed for time to make the shift for 2nd gear. The 3rd gen R6 has a nice long 1st gear.
youre running a 14 tooth countershaft...that in itself makes a huge difference. Shoot... just going from a stock 16 to 15 makes the bike much easier to launch.
I need to get back down to OMRRA and see how my launches on my 675 stack up with those boys. At WMRRA they in general suck to much at starts to compare myself to them. Meaning...I shouldn't be pulling the next row up at my weight and skill level but that's what is happening.
meat of.. meaty.. it's all the same . MY bikes have torque.. don't yours ? and not sure if the gearing that way makes it easier or more difficult actually.. I find some of my best launches have been with small ratio gearing, like 17/44 that i have used at Daytona.
mines just a super stock version. smaller countershaft = torque multiplier. (which is <46lb ft stock) Im sure your supersport motor has the brawn to replace the tiny countershaft effect.
Thanks for the tips. Looks like a group of us are heading to the drag strip for practice. This gives me a solid place to start. Post a vid of that blackhawk start. I'm there a lot.
10k is about standard for all 600s (will vary with sprocket size of course). Just remember to slip the clutch A LOT, letting it go too quick will raise the front up very quickly
i just don't get this "it varies with sprocket size" thing.. the motor makes the best launch at the "Right" rpm. And even on an r6, i suspect it's below 10k . but that is just my opinion.
This is because, if you have a huge "stunna" sprocket, and you try to launch at 10 grand, your bike is going to do some back flips. The larger your rear sprocket (and the smaller your front) is becomes easier to wheelie.
