Coach’s Blog
You are here: Home / Coach’s Blog

Featuring Moto-Gear Custom Leathers

/0 Comments/in , /by

Let me introduce to you Moto-Gear, a motorcycle leather specialized factory.

What’s so special with them besides that they sponsor Superbike-Coach now?… they are able to make quality leather suits exactly the way you want it, for way less then stock suits of their competitors. So besides custom measurements- the entire suit can be designed the way you want it.

Here is my design draw I gave them with my measures:

And this is how I got it from Moto-Gear withing a couple of weeks. I actually got two, but there was something wrong with our measurements- but here is the thing… Moto-Gear just took it back and corrected it without complaining or asking. That is service!

The pictures below show the suit goes through production, and you can tell their eye for detail to get it as close as possible to the draft. What I really like are the sponsor patches and my 36, which is all printed. Suits are starting at $650, and yes the extras cost you a fee- but also that pricing is oversee-able and won’t kill you financially.

For the 2nd suit I even could drop off special requests which are not on the portfolio, like no collar around the neck (that’s how I use to have all of my race suits in pro racing)- or the racing hump size on the back. The biggest upgrade you can do is to go with Kangaroo leather instead of Cow. I use to always have Kangaroo leather in racing because it’s lighter and can take more. Though I had to let that go for a while when I went with other brands. Now, finally after all those years I can surround this body with this luxury again. Kangaroo leather is thinner, lighter and has more flexibility. Just to get in and out is way easier because of that.

Moto-Gear can make your suit for racing purpose, sport or regular street riding position as 1 or 2 piece. Single jackets are also on their portfolio. I gonna truly enjoy the lightness and perforated leathers in the hot Californian sun.

What else is so special with them?!… Well, they will have a discount for all Superbike-Coach students. Now how cool is that?!

Go check them out: https://moto-gear.us/

https://www.facebook.com/CustomMotoGear/

Headcoach Can Akkaya, Superbike-Coach Corp

#motogear #continental #Arai #techspec

The Paradox of Speed and Control

/8 Comments/in , , /by

Have you ever noticed a paradox with riding street motorcycles and racing, from the lowest to the highest level like MotoGP?!

Did it come to your attention that the front runners of all MotoGP categories leave the crashing to the riders in the backfield most of the time? That’s happening even though the race leaders are faster and have a dog-fight for the victory. Hm… right?!

I remember when I was a professional racer and I had only eyes for my riding performances. I remember there were many crashes behind me at Assen TT Circuit/NL, and I couldn’t understand why and how some slower racers were crashing, while I was marking every entry and exit with black lines to take a trophy home. Hm… right?!

There are beginner riders struggling with low speed maneuvers and don’t know why. Maybe because they are going so slow that their wheels lose any gyroscopic rotational force, and therefore stability. Hm… right?!

A less experienced rider recalls more likely what I call a ”protective reaction”. This is decision making, mostly wrong, triggered by pace. A feeling of “too fast” ends up in the dirt for actually no good reason most of the time.

Let’s consider another example. Here is track day rider Joe who is riding C group level and gets pulled by an instructor to a pace he’s never ridden at before. Those instructors are often short on teaching skills, so Joe goes back out again with a sloppy pointer that his body positioning sucks and with the muscle memorized pace. BUT… with the instructor is also the matching line for the higher pace gone, and Joe is- or could get in trouble.

Or let’s say you don’t know what counter steering is. Never learned it properly because you read it in a book and decided that you got this. You become faster and faster, but you can’t hold the lines like others and you are massively in danger all the time. It might be because the way you use to steer the bike can’t keep up with your mid-turn pace anymore.

So the two elements ‘speed and control’ found each other paradoxically at a certain rider level, correct? Also, it’s not always the most obvious reason to point out, isn’t it?!

This is not at all an invitation to just go faster! We need to understand that a certain momentum is needed to create stability in a beginner rider, even though it sounds paradoxical. We need to take time to let our eyes and brain get used to higher paces, so that we know what to do before doing a track day. We need the knowledge, skill, and experience to master our bikes first- and only then to reach out to the stars :-)

Headcoach Can Akkaya, Superbike-Coach Corp

Ego and Emotions – Our worse enemy?

/2 Comments/in , /by

Everyone has an ego- some more some less. A healthy ego can be a moving substance for personal achievements in all parts of life, so it’s not totally negative if you ask me. Actually I believe that a goal orientated healthy ego even made lots of things possible on this planet. Also it is the driving motor for some in regard competitiveness in sports, especially on professional levels.

Nothing is wrong with ego as long it is well channeled. It’s human nature and part of every Alpha, which ain’t bad either, if well dosed to really make a good leader. When looking around in your world, you might find lots of negative things based on ego driven decisions or actions- and maybe even a few positives. You might want to share them in comments below.

In my world- it’s the sport I’ve channeled my ego with. A highly competitive and actually violent environment like professional motorsports. I’m not saying that this is the way for everyone, but for me it was because I’ve had learn to control my ‘big as the Rockies’ ego. I had to because it protected me and sometimes others! Why?… that’s because an unleashed ego caused me to over shooting turns or even to crash and to get unreasonably hurt. That means I can’t do what I got paid for- to race. When an ego based, mostly bad decision leads to another f’up, then it just pushes you into anger and emotions.

If you are driven by these feelings, then you probably are what I call a ‘out of the belly’ racer. Out of my own experience dealing with myself and many professional racers I can say that you might look good here and there and that you might have fans on your side, but you probably never gonna win titles on a bigger scale. Channel and dose wisely, and you’ll get the ‘Quan’.

I have an extremely sensitive sensor for ego-driven riders/students because I’ve been there- I know. So their problem is my zero-tolerance for them, because I know they WONT to take anything, neither from me or someone else- but they came because they actually KNOW that they have skill issues and lack of knowledge. See the conflict?!  But if they try, they would never admit that they’ve learned something and in the end I don’t get any credit because they ‘knew it all’ actually.

But there are others I’ve worked with and who had that kind of ego. Those who were willing to hold back and to listen. To forget arguments like ‘this is just a small track’ and ‘I’m to fast for you anyway’. They were biting on their lips and let me decide what to learn next based on what I’ve seen what they need. Guess what… wonderful things happened to them. They became safer, faster, and gentleman riders who stopped crashing at any occasion.

I still didn’t get the credit from them though. Hurts my ego :-) :-) :-)

Headcoach Can Akkaya, Superbike-Coach Corp

Featuring Continental Motorcycle Tires

/0 Comments/in , /by

I can’t put in words how happy I am to be back on Continental street and race tires, because these guys know their stuff. I mean… those Conti race tires are even hand-made actually, and every tire undergoes a solid inspection as it should be.

Back in Europe, long time after I’ve retired from pro-racing, when I started coaching- I was sponsored by Continental Germany. Now you might say ‘yea, he’s gotta say they are good’, but you’re making a mistake if this is holding you back from trying a set ones. Besides a extremely high grip level, these tires are consistent, predictable and giving plenty of feedback of an upcoming limit. That’s what I’ve liked the most. Costly? No, and the endurance of those tires is surprisingly high for a grip level like that.

Today I have plenty of choices, not just in regard compounds. Superbike, Supermoto, Dirt bike, Adventure bike… all covered with plenty of tire types within. Their portfolio covers everything which has a need for tires.

The state of the Art production line in Germany goes other- better ways then others. Their concept to manufacture 2-compound tires (MultiGrip) is way smoother and comes with less failure risks. The TractionSkin, a revolutionary new micro-rough tread surface, virtually puts an end to tire break-in.

German Ex-MotoGP rider Alex Hoffmann went to test Continental tires at Brno Circuit, CZ and he went pretty hard on them. Below his video, and I’ll come with one pretty soon as well.

Continental tires are solid, reliable and affordable. Give it a shot. You won’t regret it. Order your set: https://www.continental-tires.com/motorcycle

#contimotousa #ContiTrack

Headcoach Can Akkaya, Superbike-Coach Corp

Body Positioning Class Rescheduled

/0 Comments/in /by

Sorry, but due to the announced heavy rain for Sunday 3/3/2019, I’ll have to pull the plug and to reschedule the Body Positioning Class to 3/31/2019.

Yep, I know it sucks but when you consider that this procedure is hard to find anywhere else- that an entire track class just changes date for the good, then it might eases the pain. Nobody loses spot or admission fees.

Only with Superbike-Coach Corp!

Headcoach Can Akkaya, Superbike-Coach Corp