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Motorcycle Talk

If you are going to do it, you gotta know what you talking about; ese!

(Contributed by the fine folks @ www.maximum-suzuki.com)

• Back it in to a corner: To present the bike to a corner using the rear brake to slide the rear tire and give you more steering.
• Backing it in: Going into a corner with the rear of the motorcycle sliding while the rider is counter-steering. This is a way for a rider to scrub off speed and set the motorcycle up for a fast exit from the corner. I was going trying so hard I was backing it in to almost every corner.
• Binned it: Crashing and almost completely wrecking a motorcycle. Well, it's a parts bike now; I binned it in turn two.
• Brake check: Going into a turn, a rider will suddenly brake hard, forcing the often startled rider directly behind him to do the same thing. This brake check allows the rider in front to gain a bit of distance while the following rider recovers.
• Bottom out: When the suspension runs out of travel and bumps against its internal stops. My rear suspension bottomed out over the big bump after turn five.
• Brake marker: A track indicator placed off to the side of the track, marking a spot where a rider may wish to begin braking for a turn.
• Bus stop: A slow first-gear corner.
  
• Cage: a car
  
• Can: the muffler
  
• Chicane: A part of the track consisting of back-to-back left and right turns. Chicanes can be a part of the original track, or can be created, using cones and hay bales, to slow the riders down for safety.
  
• Chicken Strips: the unused (if any) portion of a tire's contact patch.
  
• Crosssed up: sliding sideways.
  
• DQ'ed: Disqualified. I thought I won, but I got DQ'ed.
  
• Dump the clutch: This is when a rider revs up the engine and quickly releases the clutch.
  
• Esses: A series of turns with quick left and right transitions. But then if you are one of my brothers you could say: "The road was full of esses, ese!"
  
• Full stick: full throttle
  
• Giggle factor: amount of fun
  
• Goin' to the store to run an errand: Going to ride up and down Turnbull canyon twice.
  
• Greasy or Snotty track: A slippery racetrack.
  
• Green track: A new track with no rubber on the surface, which can be slippery. I had to be careful during that practice session because the track was really green.
  
• Hairpin: A very slow, sometimes 180-degree, corner.
  
• Head shake: When the handlebars shake back and forth due to improper chassis set-up or bad bumps. Can develop into a tank-slapper.
  
• High-side: A type of crash in which the back of the motorcycle starts to slide out, then catches traction. flipping the bike, and the rider, topside onto the ground.
  
• Kitchen Pass: Spouse's ok to go out and RIDE!
  
• Leathers: The skin-tight leather suit a rider wears on the track. Racing leathers feature special, sturdy stitching, abrasion-resistant hides, and foam and plastic armor at key points such as the back, knees, elbows and shoulders. Leathers are cut to fit a rider when he is sitting on the motorcycle, so they look baggy when walking around in the pits. I got a new set of leathers today that fit me really well.
  
• Lid: helmet
  
• Low-side: A crash when the rear wheel, or both wheels, loses traction and slides away.
  
• Monkey Butt: It's what a NON long distance rider gets from too long in the saddle.
  
• Nose wheelie: A stunt to thrill the fans, performed when a rider applies a lot of front brake and positions his body to stand the motorcycle on only its front wheel as it comes to a halt. Also known as a stoppie.
  
• On the box: A top-three finish that puts a rider on the victory podium. I was happy just to get on the box today.
  
• On the deck: Leaned over all the way.
  
• On the gas: When a rider is going very fast. I tried to pass him, but he was really on the gas.
  
• Parked it: To be going slower than conditions allow through a turn. As I was coming up to turn three this guy just parked it in front of me.
  
• Pin it: To go full throttle, pin it wide open. Coming out of the last corner, I just pinned it and won.
  
• Pits or The Pit: Where the racing teams park their trucks and set up makeshift garages to work on the bikes and house the riders.
  
• Pit lane: The lane on the inside of the track, usually adjacent to the main straight, where riders come in to have quick work or tire changes on their motorcycles.
  
• Playing a tune: Adept use of the gearbox to keep an engine on the pipe on a road course.
  
• Podium or The Box: The victory stand where riders placing first through third stand to receive their trophies.
  
• Pucker factor: being scared.
  
• Pucks: The plastic knee skids, attached to a rider's leathers with hook and loop material, that riders wear to slide their knees through the turns. The riders use their knee skids to judge their angle of lean, and sometimes hold up the motorcycle if it begins to wash out from under them.
  
• Rail or Railing: to ride fast, particularly through a corner.
  
• Rippin: Going very fast. I couldn't pass Jason today; he was just rippin.
  
• Scratchin': riding very, very fast
  
• Skid lid: alternate helmet term
  
• Slab side: pre-alternator HD engines.
  
• Slip the clutch: To feather or fan the clutch lever back and forth to prevent stalling the engine or spinning the rear tire.
  
• Slug: A slow bike or rider. I was doing a fast lap until I got behind that slug.
  
• Snakes: The serpentine tar strips sometimes used to fill cracks on a racetrack.
  
• Squid: Half squirrel, half kid: a bad rider. That guy was being really squidly out there and should have been black flagged.
  
• Squid: Poseur, rich boy with no skills, or a ghetto fabulous wannabe rider.
  
• Stepping Out: when you're rear tire loses grip, particularly on the gas exiting a corner.
  
• Stoppie: A stunt to thrill the fans, performed when a rider applies a lot of front brake and positions his body to stand the motorcycle on only its front wheel as it comes to a halt. Also known as a nose wheelie.
  
• Squat: When the rear of the motorcycle compresses due to hard acceleration. The bike seems to have a lot of squat when it leaves turn three.
  
• Swapping paint: This happens when aggressive riders bang into each other while racing.
  
• Sweeper: A broad high-speed turn.
  
• Threading the needle: splitting lanes & swerving around cars without reducing speed
  
• Tank slapper: the nasty high speed wobble typical of ball bearing steering heads of the 70's.
  When the handlebars violently shake left and right due to improper chassis set-up or nasty bumps. Can result in a loss of control.
  
• Trail-braking: Keeping the brakes on late into a corner, after initial braking has taken place.
  
• Tuck the front: When the front wheel slides, and the handlebars turn into the corner, while taking a turn. I was doing well until the hairpin and my bike tucked the front.
  
• Wadded/ tossed it / biffed it: as in I wadded my bike (to crash), or my bike is wadded (messed up, maybe even totaled)
  Synonymous for crashing. I was riding too hard and biffed it in turn one.
  
• Wash out: When cornering, having the front wheel break loose due to a loss of traction. This usually results in a crash. My front end washed out in turn six.
  
• Whipped pot metal: English castings.
  
• We are just going for a nice easy ride: BAWAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!