Pausing/Stopping at a stop sign

[accent]

I havn't been riding too long.
Now I just start engaging the real traffic.

everything time I come to a stop sign, I have difficulty pausing my bike.
I hold down the clutch and break and break to stop. Then downshift to 1st or 2nd gear. then take off.
Is there anything wrong with my apporach to a stop sign?
Or it just takes skill and pratice?

I ride a ninja 250 by the way.

Thanks all inputs welcome.

[sharpmagna]

You're suppose to downshift into 1st before you come to a stop. That's the way the MSF teaches it anyways. Did you take the MSF course by chance? If not, you should really consider it.

[accent]

You're suppose to downshift into 1st before you come to a stop. That's the way the MSF teaches it anyways. Did you take the MSF course by chance? If not, you should really consider it.

Yes, I did take the course.
It was really helpful.
I think the problem I am having it's because sometime I try to take of with 2nd gear. are you supposed to take off with 2nd gear? even when the bike is moving very slowly at the stop sign?

[Shorts]

You learn to "pause" at a stop in thte ERC course (we took it last monthish). You'll want to be in 1st so the bike has enough juice to take off. In 2nd on most bikes, if you pause like that, you'll really lug (or stall) the engine and have a hard time accelerating out if you've applied the brakes like you should for a long enough pause.


The exercise we practiced this "California stop" as our instructors like to call it was in conjunction with the low crawl clutch feathering down the 5" widetrack. You'll want to get into 1st before getting to the stop sign so that all you'll need to control is the brake and clutch. Use the clutch in the friction zone to keep the bike balanced and slightly pulling forward, but use the brake enough to pause at the sign - apply some brake just before the stop sign so that when the bike actually pauses, you're at the sign and not in the intersection. The idea is to do this as smoothly as you can, and keep the bike as straight and the bars as steady as possible (none of the swing the bars back and forth to balance).

[Social Distortion]

this isnt really answering your question, but a recommendation in regards to pausing. IN my neck of the woods ( burbs of Chicago) cops looks for every chance to pull over a biker, so though in a car, most cops would let a California stop slide, if i do that on my MC- its ticket city!

so my suggestion, at a stop sign, come to a full stop. You cant get enough pratice starting off in 1st gear from a dead stop! Not only is it the legal thing to do, but its also the safe thing to do as some cagers also do a california stop and not always yield to the 1st person at a stop sign.

good luck buddy!

[Koss]

I also would suggest comming to a complete stop, in first gear. For example, if your rolling through a stop sign, even at low speeds, if a car shows up it would be pretty easy to panic or just slam on the brake and really jerk the bike to a halt. You may not have your feet positioned to catch the bike quick enough, or catch it to late. I actually seen someone drop their bike in that exact situation.

As for stopping in first gear, its ment so that you have enough power to quickly accelerate if someone behind or to the side of you can't stop in time or just wants to hit you. Yes, you can take off in second gear, but you would have to use alot of clutch to feather your way up to any sort of speed... losing precious time in the situation.

Downshifting while comming to a stop is important, but when learning on your first bike, I wouldn't worry about it to much. Just get down stopping and ending up in first gear with the clutch pulled in the whole way. This is so that in an emergancy situation someone wouldn't forget about pulling in a clutch, or downshifting to quickly, during a quick all out stop. Yes, you can stop in a shorter distance using engine braking during downshift... but when the poo hits the fan, you dont wanna work against your bike if you arn't 100% level headed and experienced. It might be to many things happening to quickly.

[Shorts]

Downshifting while comming to a stop is important, but when learning on your first bike, I wouldn't worry about it to much. Just get down stopping and ending up in first gear with the clutch pulled in the whole way. This is so that in an emergancy situation someone wouldn't forget about pulling in a clutch, or downshifting to quickly, during a quick all out stop. Yes, you can stop in a shorter distance using engine braking during downshift... but when the poo hits the fan, you dont wanna work against your bike if you arn't 100% level headed and experienced. It might be to many things happening to quickly.

I like that input right there. You want to set the fundamentals of a complete good solid stop. So, get that down. Having to repeat starts and stops is not a bad thing. Once you have the skillset down pat, you can move to modify the skills to a more relaxed type movement.

Anyhow, if you're ready for it, go practice in the parking lot. The easiest and safest thing to do.

[Kim]

this isnt really answering your question, but a recommendation in regards to pausing. IN my neck of the woods ( burbs of Chicago) cops looks for every chance to pull over a biker, so though in a car, most cops would let a California stop slide, if i do that on my MC- its ticket city!

so my suggestion, at a stop sign, come to a full stop. You cant get enough pratice starting off in 1st gear from a dead stop! Not only is it the legal thing to do, but its also the safe thing to do as some cagers also do a california stop and not always yield to the 1st person at a stop sign.

good luck buddy!

+1

My husband will pause at stop signs, whereas I prefer to come to a complete stop. For one thing, I'm still not great at just pausing, for another it allows me to be sure it's really safe to proceed.

[MicheleZ]

I like to come to a complete stop - however, when I do decide to do a California stop, I use both brakes to slow the bike down as I approach the sign, while shifting down to 1st, as I get to the sign, I only use the back brake (by feathering it) while I also use the friction zone and throttle to keep the bike balanced. This allows me to do a very long California stop. I love doing the slow race at red lights, which really helps fine tune the CA stops. My CA stops are usually long enough to be a considered a complete stop.

[Sev]

Hokay, so because I'm not totally sure who is saying what, I'm going to start from the beginning and tell you what I think is the right way.

Under normal braking conditions (you see you need to stop a ways down the road) you should start by downshifting through each gear individually, fully releasing the clutch between each shift, and blipping the throttle to match engine speed to wheel speed.

So you're in 4th slow down a bit by rolling off the throttle, then pull in the clutch and press down on the shifter pedal. Blip the throttle (rev to a little higher then you were at before, it should just be a flick of the wrist) and smoothly release the clutch. Roll off the throttle again and slow down in third. Light pressure on the rear brake pedal will keep your light lit up alerting cars behind you that you are stopping.

Do this for all gears until you are in first. You should then be using your front brake to complete the stop (you can do this with the clutch pulled in and throttle closed).

In my opinion, this is the safest way to come to a stop as you can accelerate at any time (should something come up fast behind you) and it saves some wear on the brakes Not that, that is important haha. Basically you're always in control of engine throttle vs speed while you're slowing down. This is important (to me).



As for emergency braking... pull in the clutch all the way, smoothly squeeze the front brake, smoothly press down on the rear brake (right) and stomp on that shifter as fast as you can. 10, 12, 14 times, as many times as you can, as fast as you can stomp stomp stomp. then you're stopped, put your foot down, shoulder check... and you're good to go.

Any time you come to a stop, or approach an area that would require that you are about to stop you should be in first gear.