Topic: Tony Foale coming to LA -motorcycle handing seminar

[Coulisnosaj]

Calling all knee sliders, racers, and motorcycle aficionados; Tony Foale is coming to LA for a two day motorcycle handing seminar this April (2011), this will take place before the AHRMA races at Willow Springs (4/22 -4/24) dates TBA. This is your chance to get the expert knowledge and advice on how to best configure your ride, either for track days, vintage racing or general understanding on how best to setup your suspension.     
Tony Foale is considered to be the "Einstein of two wheels",  he has written numerous books and articles on motorcycle frame design, chassis handling, but unlike many of his co-designers, he also started to explore the subject scientifically.  He has made numerous contributions to the complex subject of steering geometry, and motorcycle handling, both in practical experiments and mathematical models.

More info about the course content and comments can be viewed at http://www.tonyfoale.com/seminar/index.htm

Due to the current poor economic situation we have decided to keep the registration fee at the 2006 level of $250. 
Please go to http://www.tonyfoale.com/seminar/SeminarPayment.htm to make the payment via Paypal. 
Sign up now, admission is first come first serve; seating is limited to 60 participants for both days.

[simon#42]

the einstein of two wheels ........ really?

[turboguzzi]

the einstein of two wheels ........ really?

+1

nice, interesting guy, would surely come to listen to him but indeed, "einstein of two wheels"?

would put people like antonio cobas, britten, tamburini, phil irving just to name a few in front of him for the queue for that tittle....

TG

[simon#42]

the einstein of two wheels ........ really?

+1

nice, interesting guy, would surely come to listen to him but indeed, "einstein of two wheels"?

would put people like antonio cobas, britten, tamburini, phil irving just to name a few in front of him for the queue for that tittle....


TG

could not have put it better , and there are several more that i could name .  you did name my number one choice though TG  antonio cobas , who i was lucky enough to have met a couple of times , a man who turns his ideas into world championships is a clever man indeed

[Coulisnosaj]

correction, "considered by some"

[turboguzzi]

correction, "considered by some"

fine with me

[Rick4004]

I have been to one of Tony' seminars, and I highly doubt that and of the mentioned "antonio cobas, britten, tamburini, phil irving" have the background, training, and experience that Tony has in the theory of motorcycle handling dynamics.
There were very few questions asked at the seminar that he didn't answer, starting the statement with "I conducted a controlled study of that and wrote a computer program to graph and study the results". He shows the class a huge array of computer programs that he has created to study, explain, and predict how changing various factors will change the handling of a motorcycle.
There is no where else that I know of to get this type of training other than one of his seminars. They have been attended by engineers from all the major manufacturers. From what I heard, these Engineers sit quietly and never show any weakness to each other by asking any questions, then they corner Tony during the breaks so that no one else can hear them and grill him endlessly.

I flew 1000 miles and stayed 2 nights in a hotel to attend his seminar. It was well worth the effort.

Rick Denoon

[Retro Rocket]

I have been to one of Tony' seminars, and I highly doubt that and of the mentioned "antonio cobas, britten, tamburini, phil irving" have the background, training, and experience that Tony has in the theory of motorcycle handling dynamics.

Seriously.?  All the above mentioned people have made a living out of building extremely well built and handling motorcycles[including many famous world class winning bikes] and made a lot of money doing it, none of them needed seminars to upgrade their bank account, especially Tamburini and Britten.

[turboguzzi]

I have been to one of Tony' seminars, and I highly doubt that and of the mentioned "antonio cobas, britten, tamburini, phil irving" have the background, training, and experience that Tony has in the theory of motorcycle handling dynamics.
There were very few questions asked at the seminar that he didn't answer, starting the statement with "I conducted a controlled study of that and wrote a computer program to graph and study the results". He shows the class a huge array of computer programs that he has created to study, explain, and predict how changing various factors will change the handling of a motorcycle.
There is no where else that I know of to get this type of training other than one of his seminars. They have been attended by engineers from all the major manufacturers. From what I heard, these Engineers sit quietly and never show any weakness to each other by asking any questions, then they corner Tony during the breaks so that no one else can hear them and grill him endlessly.

I flew 1000 miles and stayed 2 nights in a hotel to attend his seminar. It was well worth the effort.

Rick Denoon

Rick, great to hear about your experience, would willingly go to hear tony, I really like his very hands on approach, but I for one appreciate even more what Cobas and Tamburini achieved with their ideas, i.e. world championships, so was just in disagreement on calling him "Einstein of two wheels", that's all and in any case it's my very humble opinion.

Appreciate that you admit not knowing about anywhere else to learn this subject. Well, here is one place for instance, the Motorcycle Dynamics Engineering department of the university of Padova run by professor Vittore Cossalter. Many of the current crop of italian race technicians who won world championships with Aprilia and Ducati have been trained there and these manufacturers sponsor quite a few of the Master and Phd thesis of the students:

http://www.dinamoto.it/index.html

and a few articles if you fell like reading

http://www.dinamoto.it/dinamoto/8_on-line_papers/papers_on_line_eng.html

another good place for in depth research, computer programs, etc is TU Delft, here is what they talk about in the yearly symposium:

http://bicycle.tudelft.nl/bmd2010/programBMD2010-version15oct2010.htm

Last, not doubting what you are saying, but engineers from which "major manufacturers" where there in the workshop?  

[simon#42]

I have been to one of Tony' seminars, and I highly doubt that and of the mentioned "antonio cobas, britten, tamburini, phil irving" have the background, training, and experience that Tony has in the theory of motorcycle handling dynamics.
There were very few questions asked at the seminar that he didn't answer, starting the statement with "I conducted a controlled study of that and wrote a computer program to graph and study the results". He shows the class a huge array of computer programs that he has created to study, explain, and predict how changing various factors will change the handling of a motorcycle.
There is no where else that I know of to get this type of training other than one of his seminars. They have been attended by engineers from all the major manufacturers. From what I heard, these Engineers sit quietly and never show any weakness to each other by asking any questions, then they corner Tony during the breaks so that no one else can hear them and grill him endlessly.

I flew 1000 miles and stayed 2 nights in a hotel to attend his seminar. It was well worth the effort.

Rick Denoon

am intrigued  to know what makes tony so well qualified , as far as i remember he made a few interesting road bikes and some race bikes that didnt win much .i suppose all the other designers mentioned where  too busy testing there ideas on the race track [ where good ideas are soon separated from crap ones] to be bothered writing computer programs . there is a saying over here that goes ' those who can do  and those who cant teach '

[Sam Green Racing]

To add to Simon's post, one just needs to look for a person that HAS had results.
A guy who's work has been copied world wide by the worlds top suspension companies and the only person to be called in by Honda when they admitted that with all their knowledge, they couldn't make a race bike handle if their lives depended on it.
He served his apprenticeship at Chevron Cars in Bolton England as a chassis engineer but was a motorcyclist at heart.
When I first got into racing, this guy was the FIM world record holder over the standing start quarter mile in the 500cc class but when it came to making a bike go round corners, he was the ultimate in the game. Although you won't see his name plastered all over fairings, thousands of bikes winning races to this day have suspension and chassis improvements by this guy.
His name is Ron Williams, you might not have heard of him but just Google Maxton engineering.

Sam.