Meet Keith Code

Keith started riding in the dark ages of motorcycling, the 1950's. He first raced in the 60's at age 16, again in the 70's, 80's and 90's. He went to design school; was a photographer; designed and manufactured shoes for the stars; sold pretzels on the street; was a full on drug addict in the 60's; cleaned up with Dianetics; became a writer, inventor and dedicated himself to understanding and teaching the art of riding motorcycles. He was the first person to put words to roadracing and riding, and his research continues today.

Keith lives in Glendale, California with his soul mate of 30+ years, Judy. He has one son, Dylan.

Keith's Milestones

Here is a chronological list of Keith Code's motorcycle activity; riders he has trained and discoveries he has made over the past quarter century.

1974   Becomes a typical California street squid canyon racer.
1974   Returns to racing at the club level after 10 years off.
1974   Does four club races, does well, wins one or two.
1975   Does a few more club races as top finisher.
1975   Gets a ride with Yoshimura in club events.
1976   Continues to ride and test for Yoshimura, wins some club events.
1976   Starts writing down his research on riding techniques.
1976   Begins the "Keith Code Rider Improvement Program" for club level racers. Gets astonishing results. Student lap times improve an average of 7 seconds a lap. Press dubs him The Guru of Roadracing.
1976   Gets to winners circle in his first ever Superbike race at Laguna Seca.
1976   Begins research on visual skills. Defines reference points and other key visual skills.
1977   Organizes the new-rider training for the AFM racing club and runs it.
1977   Does the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's Riding Coach course in Sacramento, CA
1977   Trains new riders at MSF courses and for dealerships.
1977-78   Begins publicly sharing his discoveries by holding lectures for racers on riding technique.
1977-78   Begins to apply training techniques to self and wins 11 out of 12 California events in GP and other classes.
1977-79   Active member, board of directors, AFM race club.
1979   Retires from Superbike racing.
1979   Keith hooks up with Richard Lovell and forms the California Superbike School. Richard came to America with the idea of starting a track school from his experience at Brands Hatch where he worked for the track's own school. On calling around to magazines, Keith's name was given to him as the guy who trained riders. The two established and ran the schools together until Richard went on to family business in Wisconsin in 1987.
1980   Starts the first high performance school, The California Superbike School
1981   Contracts with Kawasaki Motors Corp. to train dirtracker Wayne Rainey in roadracing techniques. The rest is history.
1982   Takes the Superbike School nationwide.
1982   Writes the instant best seller, A Twist of the Wrist book. Still selling in quantity worldwide.
1982   Superbike champion Eddie Lawson agrees to write his notes and comments in Keith's first book after attending Superbike School sessions.
1982   Keith asks and Eddie Lawson helps instruct at Superbike School sessions.
1982   Develops the no-brakes rider training format, used by many.
1983   Becomes first teacher to break riding into specific drills.
1983   Coaches Steve Wise for Honda race team. Steve was fearless but crashed a lot. He made it into the winners circle 11 out of the next 13 Superbike and Formula 1 races with Keith as his coach.
1984   Works with Superbike champion Wes Cooley for Kawasaki. Team Muzzy/Kawasaki staff member, Sparky Edmondson said, "What did you do to him? I've never seen anything like that before!" This after Keith brought him from a string of distant 7th place type finishes to the winners' circle after coaching Wes for only one race!
1984   Develops the panic-stop training bike.
1984   Works with national champion dirtracker Ricky Graham to start his roadracing career for Honda.
1984   First Twist book translated into Japanese.
1984   First Twist book translated into German. Becomes immediate best seller.
1984   Works with national champion dirtracker Bubba Shobert to start his roadracing career for Honda. Bubba went on to win the Superbike championship.
1984   Starts training dirtracker Doug Chandler in roadracing. Doug wins 3 Superbike Championships.
1984   Develops and implements first ever high performance step-by-step rider training format.
1984   Begins training Donnie Greene who goes on to win 3 National Championships after Keith's coaching.
1985   Holds seminars for racers to test techniques he writes about in The Soft Science of Roadracing Motorcycles book. Riders get immediate results. Publishes the book.
1985   Wayne Rainey likes the material and agrees to write notes for the book.
1986   The Soft Science of Roadracing is published and is still the only workbook for racers. Daytona Winner Dave Sadowski later says, "I don't need you as a coach anymore, I have the book with all the answers!"
1986   Writes, produces and technically directs the world's first rider training video. Still #1 in the world after 20 years.
1986   Soft Science of Roadracing book translated into Japanese.
1987   Develops on-track style instruction with immediate handsignal feedback.
1987   Develops on-bike video training.
1988   Twist video is dubbed in Japanese.
1989   Works with Thomas Stevens. Later becomes Superbike Champion.
1989   Coaches David Sadowski. Goes on to win Daytona and other races.
1989   Coaches Fred Merkel. Goes on to win world Superbike title.
1989   Addresses Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) on riding technology.
1990   Coaches Dale Quarterly. Goes on to win national championship and quits crashing.
1990   Student Doug Chandler wins his first Superbike race, acknowledges Keith's coaching.
1990   Twist video translated into Spanish.
1990   Twist video translated into German.
1990   Produces the first ever full season of roadracing on TV in America.
1990   Resumes coaching of Donnie Greene. Wins another National 250cc title.
1990   Holds first schools in Australia.
1991   Holds first schools in Guatemala.
1991   Starts coaching Scott Russell. Russell begins Superbike career and publicly acknowledges Keith's help. Wins USA and World Superbike Championships.
1991   Voted Motorcyclist Magazine's, Motorcyclist of the Year, for his students and other rider training accomplishments of the past decade.
1991   Coaches Jake Zemke for a season. Jake later becomes national podium regular.
1991   Coaches Mike Smith. Mike goes on to win National Formula USA title.
1992   Coaches factory rider Jamie James.
1992   Chuck Graves becomes Code student. Wins Formula USA title.
1992   At age 48 returns to 250 racing to research A Twist of the Wrist, Volume II. Does pretty well for an old fart. Winners circle at club events, runs in top 10 at some national events.
1992   Discovers quick turn riding technology.
1992   Writes Twist Volume II. Still number one book on high performance riding today.
1992   Discovers pivot-steering technique.
1992   Is honored by Motorcycle Safety Foundation for promoting rider safety.
1993   Discovers hook-turn body positioning technique.
1993   Writes the world's first researched understanding of Throttle Control.
1993   Dissects and presents understandable data on rider input and its effects on handling.
1993   Continues 250 GP racing for grins and giggles.
1993   Writes columns for Sportrider and Motorcycle Consumer News.
1993   Twist, Volume II translated into German. Becomes German bestseller.
1994   Gets into bicycles and invents a corrective device for rider's shoes, patented.
1994   Writes A Gear Higher book on bicycles featuring team Yetti rider Marla Strebb.
1995   Returns to Australia to do schools, by popular demand.
1995   Starts Australian franchise of Superbike School.
1995   Completely restructures Superbike School training format into 4 levels.
1996   Develops in-depth training courses for riding coaches.
1996   Does 125 GP bike schools with Moto Liberty to test new training techniques.
1996   Does Harley-only schools to prove new training format works with any rider.
1996   Ben Bostrom comes to school and then works with Keith.
1996   Eric Bostrom comes to school and consults with Keith on riding.
1996   Works with Roland Sands. Sands immediately quits crashing (one to three times per race) and goes on to win national title.
1997   Develops and releases the Steering Drill: trains thousands of riders worldwide.
1997   Starts Superbike Schools in the UK. Schools rocket to number one in nation.
1997   Coaches Sean Higby. Higby becomes top twins competitor.
1997   New visual drills added to the schools already successful ones.
1997   Invents, patents and implements the Lean & Slide bike.
1998   Coaches Tommy Hayden back to winners circle from injuries and bad finishes.
1998   Coaches John Kocinski. Wins World title next season.
1998   Creates the No BS bike to sort out countersteering and body steering.
1999   Lean & Slide bike sales overseas to foreign training centers.
1999   Australian branch expands into Malaysia.
2000   Consults with Chuck Sorensen. Chuck wins national 250 title again and again.
2000   Develops corner-attack technology and adds it to school curriculum.
2000   Develops Knee-to-knee, quick flick stability techniques and adds it to school drills.
2000   UK school wins top road school award at prestigious Motorcycle News annual awards.
2001   Race And Competition Experience curriculum developed.
2001   Employes radar at the R.A.C.E. schools for immediate feedback on technique.
2001   Schools expand to France and Spain.
2001   Invents corrective Body Alignment Device for rider training at schools.
2002   Both Twist books become audio books on CD.
2002   Completes and introduces his wheelie-trainer device.
2002   Schools expand to Greece.
2002   Australian branch expands to the Philippines.
2002   Norwegian DMV adopts Code technique-oriented approach to rider training.
2002   Student count reaches 100,000 riders trained at Superbike Schools worldwide.
2003   Twist, Volume 1 interactive CD version released.
2003   Keith's Slide Bike device becomes standard training for Police, Fire and Civil Defense officials in Singapore.
2003   The school adds Sweden and Ireland to its tour schedule.
2003   Superbike School rider's forum is launched at www.superbikeschool.com/bbs
2004   School adds South Africa to its tour schedule.
2005   UK Superbike School director, Andy Ibbott, coaches Thomas Luthi to 125cc Wrold Championship using CSS training.
2005   Coaches Leon Camier. Becomes British Supersport Champ.

Keith produced America's first TV series on racing.