Fundamental riding question.

[BugCountry]

The single biggest problem I have had while learning to ride so far is pulling out when stopping right in the middle of a hill and I'm talking like 30 degrees because it's hilly in Pa where I live and there's one big hill in west hamburg where people frequently turn off and I stop right in the middle behind them. This may seem obvious to others but how should I brake and then let off to accelerate. If I let off the brake and don't release the clutch fast enough I end up drifting backwards or overrevving it. I think part of my problem is the huge deadzone on the clutch lever before it starts to engage, but as for which brake to use, rear or front? As is typical as a new rider I have yet to find the sweet spot in the clutch and the perfect amount of throttle to apply when pulling out. I have never driven manual anything save for my old honda cl360 I used to have so it a bit of a learning curve. So far I have found that it takes relatively little of the arc of the lever to disengage the clutch so when I pull it all the way back it takes seemingly forever till it starts to grab again. I even though of putting some type of positive stop on the lever so it won't go back quite as far but for now I'm just going to try and get used to it.

[Loonette]

Once you've finished coming to a stop and you're in 1st gear, try staying on the rear brake - hard enough to hold the bike entirely. When it's close to your time to get going, let the clutch out with enough throttle until you can hear/feel the friction zone. The gradually let out the rear brake - if you start to roll back at all, you'll only need to give a little more clutch/throttle action to get things going.

Practice this on a hill somewhere with no traffic several times. That way there won't be any panic when you've got cars waiting behind you. Soon enough you'll get to know exactly how your bike behaves under these conditions and it will all become second nature. You'll be fine!

Cheers,
Loonette

[BugCountry]

Thanks Loonette, I'm determined to master this, so I will definitely give this a shot.

[Fast Eddy B]

Some people use the front brake when holding on a hill. I find it easier to seperate the throttle and brake, and use the rear to hold on a hill.

Using the rear brake it helpful when stopped even on a flat surface. If (God forbid) you get rear ended it keeps the rear tire on the ground, so you can control the bike better.

When these cars stop on the hill, is there enough room to go around? Is it legal to filter where you are?

Also, you might want to go back to a parking lot and practice some trailing brake figure eights (good for throttle control), as well as hillstarts without any traffic.

[RideYourRide]

Using the rear brake it helpful when stopped even on a flat surface. If (God forbid) you get rear ended it keeps the rear tire on the ground, so you can control the bike better.

If you get rear ended you're probably no longer going to be sitting on the bike. I wouldn't worry too much about which brake you're holding onto.

[flw]

There are several good vlogs on utube and livevideo covering aspects of turning and others. Some of the better ones in my opinion are by rideryourride and columbia7200 as well as others. These are off the top of my head. I subscribe to others but don't remember there screen names.

I learn visually so I find it very helpful so see thing like counter steering, braking/emergency braking, group rides and general riding issues etc...