Andrew Trevitt Archives | Inside Motorcycles Magazine

Trevitt’s Blog: The Ideal Line

Andrew Trevitt — Fri, 23 Oct 2015 23:20:25 +0000

Watch any road race practice session and you will see riders trying different lines almost every lap, as they search for the quickest way around the track. By race time the experimentation is done and the top riders rarely stray more than a few inches from their chosen lines, but sometimes you will still see significant differences between riders. The best line through a particular corner or sequence of corners is not always the obvious choice, and depends on a number of factors.

Trevitt’s Blog: “Rate of Change” Data Channels

IM Admin — Thu, 25 Jul 2013 17:40:19 +0000

One very powerful tool for data analysis - and a very necessary tool when dealing with more experienced riders or bikes close in performance - is the rate-of-change math channel. These math channels are generated by looking at how quickly a raw data channel changes over time, and show graphically how smoothly or how quickly that particular channel is changing. Here we are interested in studying that rate of change in very small slices, and the instantaneous rate of change of any particular channel can be found by taking its derivative.

Gearing and Anti-Squat

IM Admin — Thu, 01 Nov 2012 15:25:58 +0000

When your bike is accelerating, the weight transfer from front to rear acts to compress the rear suspension, making it “squat.” Countering that, the swingarm angle and the relationship between the swingarm and chain run produce a force that acts to extend the rear suspension; this is dubbed “anti-squat.” Ideally, these two forces combine to […]

Ride better using data acquisition: Braking

IM Admin — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 17:40:55 +0000

Another data channel that shows a significant amount of information about the rider’s habits – and is easily generated in almost any data acquisition system – is braking G. This channel shows actual deceleration in units of g, as opposed to brake pressure, which shows what’s happening at the lever but requires an additional sensor. […]

Ride better using data acquisition: Lean angle

IM Admin — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 17:10:24 +0000

One of the more useful channels to look at when using data to improve your riding is lean angle. This channel can show some interesting detail about what’s happening on the track, and it’s easy to visualize what is actually going on from looking at the data in graphical format. While many riders think absolute […]

The Contact Patch: Understanding Its Role in Motorcycle Handling

IM Admin — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 19:03:08 +0000

As most riders know, tires play a huge part in how a motorcycle works; steering, comfort, stability, cornering…almost every aspect of performance is highly dependent on the tires used. My last three blogs have shown how trail changes as the motorcycle moves on its suspension and leans into a corner. We know that trail is […]

Static and Dynamic Trail: The Subtleties

IM Admin — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 23:18:33 +0000

In my last couple of blogs, I’ve talked about trail and how it changes as a motorcycle moves about on its suspension or leans into a corner. Trail gives a motorcycle its steering characteristics; in general, more trail is better for stability while less makes steering easier. Combining what we know about static and dynamic […]

Static vs. Dynamic Geometry – Part Two

IM Admin — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 18:03:48 +0000

In my previous blog, I talked about how rake and trail change as the motorcycle’s suspension moves through its travel. But I also alluded to the fact that trail changes as the motorcycle leans from side to side. This is something non-intuitive, but a very real factor that must be considered when discussing handling. Vittore […]

Static vs. Dynamic Geometry

IM Admin — Thu, 12 Jul 2012 21:01:36 +0000

In two conversations I had this week, the topic of dynamic geometry came up, and how trail changes as the motorcycle pitches and leans its way around the racetrack. In the first conversation, I was talking with Bernie Broderick about his and his son Javelin’s adventures at the Barber Motorsports Park AMA round. They had […]

Chatter

IM Admin — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 22:48:03 +0000

If you’ve watched any MotoGP races this year, or read any reports, you’ll know that many riders and teams are struggling with chatter. Repsol Honda riders Casey Stoner and Dani Pedrosa are the most vocal, and it’s enough of an issue for them that Yamaha rider Jorge Lorenzo leads the points after five rounds so […]

Safety vs. Performance of Rider Aids

IM Admin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:14:00 +0000

Even though traction control and ABS have only recently become more prevalent on sportbikes, it’s been 20 years since those particular riding aids were introduced. Traction control was first used on Honda’s ST1100 in the early ’90s, while ABS first appeared on BMW’s K100 in 1988. Much of that delay can be attributed to the […]

Trevitt Returns Home: Joins Inside Motorcycles

Greg MacPherson — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 01:55:30 +0000

One of Canada’s best known motorcycle racers and journalists has come home, as former road race champion Andrew Trevitt has joined the roster of Inside Motorcycles magazine.

The British Columbia resident will contribute a regular feature to the magazine and produce a bi- weekly blog for its website, www.insidemotorcycles.com. He will also continue to work freelance as a senior editor for Los Angeles-based Sport Rider magazine, where he has worked since 1999. Trevitt’s first contribution to Inside Motorcycles will appear in the February/March, 2012 issue, which is due to hit newsstands imminently.