peterhively
Well-known member
MotoGP/FIM spec curb paint does offer grip as good or better than the asphalt. Sonoma, not yet. The track surface and the paint, are a little tired. Grip as good as the asphalt? No. You can touch the paint with some lean angle here and there later in the day without drama, but I stay off it early in the day when it's chilly, and don't use it with much lean angle.
There are a few curbs at Sonoma I run over on purpose, but only straight up and down or close to it. Exit of 7, exit of 1.
If you clip the curb on the entry to that corner, you've hit a bump, that's also off camber, and painted, that pretty much nobody else has been riding on, so it's dusty, with a lot of lean angle, which is a lot to ask of your front tire.
As for braking, I'm easing off it at that point but I'm certainly not getting my braking done before turn in...because I'm not yet at the slowest point of the corner. But that's another topic.
There's a nice smooth line just outside that turn 7 entry curb. Two feet wide of that there's a bump. I go in between the curb and the bump, but if I am a bit wide for some reason I ease up on the brakes and the steering until I'm past that bump.
There are a few curbs at Sonoma I run over on purpose, but only straight up and down or close to it. Exit of 7, exit of 1.
If you clip the curb on the entry to that corner, you've hit a bump, that's also off camber, and painted, that pretty much nobody else has been riding on, so it's dusty, with a lot of lean angle, which is a lot to ask of your front tire.
As for braking, I'm easing off it at that point but I'm certainly not getting my braking done before turn in...because I'm not yet at the slowest point of the corner. But that's another topic.
There's a nice smooth line just outside that turn 7 entry curb. Two feet wide of that there's a bump. I go in between the curb and the bump, but if I am a bit wide for some reason I ease up on the brakes and the steering until I'm past that bump.