“Filthy” Phil Nicoletti is our man in the trenches, working every day on his Muc-Off/FXR/ClubMX Yamaha to prep for Anaheim 1. This means he knows more about the sport than us mere mortals who watch. Ask the man in the arena, as they say, yadda yadda yadda.
If you’ve got a question Phil has an answer. Email Phil@racerxonline.com if you want in next week.
(Note: Some questions have been lightly edited for clarity.)
Hey Phil!
I love reading your section. The straight shooting gritty responses are always appreciated.
In the most recent Unphiltered you talked about working on weaknesses. I'm new to racing MX and my corner speed and technique need a lot of work. I'm wondering if you could share 3-5 drills or things you work on to help improve cornering.
Warm regards from the cold great white north.
-Matty T
Matt,
I appreciate you reading and sending in your question! One of the most effective thing I believe you can do is “no rear brake” motos. They help a huge amount. You will be surprised how fast and how much roll speed you can find with no rear brake. You will eventually see that it works better in a lot of areas not to use the rear brake. The next step to that when you get more comfortable with that feeling, is go to no rear brake and no clutch. The no rear brake will teach you momentum, and the no clutch will teach you to keep steady throttle control. It’ll make you learn not to be so on and off with the throttle. You’ll be really surprised how close you can get to your fastest lap time prior to doing those drills. You might think it’s hard to do, but the watch will show you’re going the same speed while gaining a lot more control and skill, and the more you do it, the better you will get and it will just blend into your normal riding. Another great tool is to just become aware of stopping power. Set up two cones spaced apart. You set them up to where you are going down a straight away and the first cone will be your braking point and the second cone will be the point where you have to be completely stopped. Start farther apart until you get the feel, and practice trying to get the cones as close as possible. If you’re practicing on grass, be careful…….I’ve bitten that bullet.
Hey Phil,
Firstly, thanks for answering our questions and giving us the pro level perspective.
My question is about body armor, specifically chest protectors. If you look back to motocross racing in the 70's you'll see a lot of top level racers wearing chest protectors with shoulder pads under their jerseys. Seems to have faded out by the 80s to where we are now you only see smaller and lighter chest protectors that seem more designed to only deflect roost. Do you (and other pros) feel like that type of old school protection is too restrictive and or not very effective? I can't help but wonder if the shoulder pads would help prevent at least some injuries, but I'm not fast and never was so what would I know?
Best of luck in the coming season!
Harvey Mushman
Harvey,
I haven’t worn a chest pro in years. Maybe 2010 was the last time I wore one, until this year for WSX. WSX, or the FIM, require you to wear a chest protector. Which to be honest, I wasn’t really a fan. At least twice a day, I would put my jersey and helmet on, I’d sit on my bike and realize I forgot to put it on. A chest protector is a great thing. I’m not denying that at all. I just don’t like to wear them. In the summer time they are HOT AF! But my old man always told me, you always wish you had more protection on when you hit the ground. Ain’t the the f$&@?!$ truth! It’s like knee braces, some guys like them, some guys don’t. If I forget my knee braces, I ain’t riding that day. I’ll tell you that right now. But to answer your question about the restriction, I actually don’t feel it’s a restriction anyway, to be honest. I just feel like an NFL linebacker when I have it on! Then I look porky in pictures and people will say I’m old and not training. But to be honest, I believe Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas makes it mandatory for the riders to wear chest protectors. Might be a few other teams that do as well. But for the most part comes down to rider preference. That’s like anything in this game when it comes to protection.
Phil,
Can we talk about the reason so many riders get hurt that so many people don’t know about? You know what I’m talking about. It’s easy to blame tracks or other riders or “pushing it” but tons of crashes happen…well tell us why, Phil.
Weege
I would assume you referring to incidents with guys getting hurt because of bike problems. Dean Wilson touched on this in his Gypsy Tales pod, mentioning the hush hush on bike failures in this sport that cause injuries. 90 percent of the time those failures are swept under the rug and never heard about. People just assume the guy weeded because he made a mistake and that’s why he’s out. You’d be surprised how many big crashes happen because of bike issues. But then the riders will never say that in public. Why is that the case in our sport? Who the hell knows! Bikes lock up mid rhythm, shut off mid rhythm, hubs break mid rhythm, transmissions break mid rhythm, and chains snap mid rhythm. Everyone on the damn starting line has had that happen. Even the elite riders on the very best teams and bikes have had serious issues as well. Let me tell you what: there is NO WARNING! So picture coming to an intersection in your car just cruising along and all a sudden, your car sticks wide open, and you have no brakes. What in the hell are you going to do? It’s probably going to be a disaster, but at least you have time to think. Better make it count! You get basically zero warning or time to react when a bike goes bad in a rhythm lane. Unfortunately these things happen, and that’s man vs machine. Sometimes, things just happen and that’s the nature of the beast, but I always have a problem when the issues come from negligence. Which unfortunately, happens a lot. Too many hours in chains, hubs, pistons, cranks, valves, the whole 9 yards. That part is the worst. Then there is the flip side, like when internal parts pass through quality control that aren’t actually okay. Like when a company changes a manufacturer, and the new manufacturer changes the material just a tad bit. But no one really knows until something happens to that part that never happened before. We just trust they are okay, until they aren’t. For real, this is the demon in our sport we all fear so much with dirt bikes. Failures that are unexpected. I hate even talking about it because it freaks me out. All of this makes an elite engine guy, elite crew chief, and elite mechanic priceless. Absolutely priceless, and helps give piece of mind.
