Archive for category: Experience

When I talk about braking- I am not talking about picking up a six pack at a gas station for sure. There is extreme heat, G-forces and wining tires!

You also need to know that I’m a ‘burned child’ in regard brakes. In all the years of riding and racing, I’ve had three major front brake losses out of high speed. Luckily all happened on a track where there is plenty of space to at least reduce impact. My first one was during a European Championship race, when a brake piston seal broke. I was lucky cuz’ I could run this one out without hitting something. The second one happened way later when I was teaching. Brake fluid was boiling due to cheap brake pads (long story and I don’t want to go there). I won’t ever forget the impact at about 200 km per hour. The third one happened at Thunderhill West, when the G-forces of a huge tank slapper (another long story) pushed back my caliper pistons.

So yea, try to imagine that when I figured that there ain’t no brakes- that that happen at a time when I was late braking. You know… that comes with quite a surprise at ya. Great way to test your mental strength btw. For me- brakes need to be top notch and well maintained.

Braking in Pro racing is like martial arts. High temps taking and with a stopping power which makes your sweat comes forward off your face. MotoGP brakes cost a fortune and most of the time only go out to hand picked teams and racers. Today, I am still somewhat in need for high level brake equipment but not willing to invest that kind of money into bikes which are not prototype race bikes. So just like in my prime, I am abusing what’s there. One brake rotor after another needs to be replaced because they are binding and wrapping up, and my brake pads go like butter in the sun.

Let’s take my 2022 KTM 450 SMR Supermoto as an example. The bike had about 18 hours on it. You can say 15 hours of this were done at slow to moderate pace during classes- and about 3 hours at my pace. That front brake rotor is toast! I needed a solution and found it with BrakeTech braking rotors. Why?… because of how they are designed and materials been used. When looking closely at the picture, you’ll notice the rotor carrier is meant to be holding the majority of brake force, and not the buttons themselves. Besides this smart design, this rotor is about 2mm thicker, uses exotic materials and is real floated. That keeps temps at the actual disc in check and delivers a more linear bite and more even wear (more info in regard materials etc).

I am still glad that I kept looking in the BrakeTech product portfolio, because I also found brake caliper replacement pistons which are coming directly from MotoGP. High end titanium can take the heat way easier than aluminum materials, and ventilation holes around the pistons allow the air to go inside the pocket between piston and brake pads. Best part… they seem to have these pistons for Brembo and Nissin applications for an actual affordable price.

Don’t know yet if we are able to make a install video, but this is fairly simple. Maybe you’ll think about it when you next brake fluid change need to be done.

Headcoach Can Akkaya, Superbike-Coach Corp

There are lots of misunderstandings about how to setup a motorcycle suspension setup. I’ve seen questionable work from even supposed specialists. Those specialists make riders believe that one click on the front rebound could lower lap times by 7 seconds. I’ve really experienced this. There are a lot of things to look at, even motorcycle tire pressures.

Stuff like this is totally off reality of course, especially as I still saw his bike bouncing around on Thunderhill Raceway- totally out of balance. In fact i believe that an intermediate to advanced rider don’t even feel the difference of even 15 clicks- especially not on a OEM suspension system.

If you would approach the setup with logic, you wouldn’t have to spend $50 bux to let an expert do some ‘big deal clicks’ on your stock rear shock, which are most of the time not even going nowhere. You don’t need to be nervous to do it yourself, because the range of an OEM suspension is just to small to make a significant change in terms of stability and safety of your bike.

To really make a significant change to match your riding style and purpose- you need to make rearrangements to the geometry of the bike, and then to match the suspension to this geometry… for example:

• Super tight track: You want to drop the front end or to raise the rear a little
• Long braking travels: You want to drop the rear right height to keep weights low
• Long acceleration periods: add a chain link to use up chain adjuster recourse for a longer swing arm.

Please Note All Following Points

• There is NO “perfect” suspension setup- only the’ best compromise. A setup grows with your rider level.
• So when someone says “I’ve clicked you the same suspension setup as I gave to Valentino Rossi”, then this is logically not going to work for you well.
• Use the potential of a OEM suspension first before you buy aftermarket stuff… then you really know what it is capable of.

OK, the link below will open an additional page which you can print out to bring it to the track. It’s just hat this page is too much for this section here, because it throws a light on how to set it up right, and how to trouble shoot. Enjoy:

Motorcycle Suspension Guide by Erik

Superbike-Coach conclusion: Don’t be blind and use logic to see the reality. Even totally overrated suspension hero’s can change much on OEM shocks and forks. Don’t make a big deal out of it. Just make sure the preload settings are right, and bring it in a balance as close as possible. If the OEM springs are way too soft… exchange them it more harder ones. If you want to have it ‘real good’… you’re looking at 4-5 grand… easily! [….]

Even better… come see us in our ‘Suspension Workshop & Track Time‘ class.

Coach Can Akkaya tries the Rabaconda street tire changer to swap the rear tire on his Ducati 1199 which has a single sided swing arm. Rabaconda has an adapter for such wheels which should make it easy, so we’re swapping a rear tire of a single sided swing arm.

Rabaconda USA