Engine stalling while in a turn = disaster?

[Sev]

Where are you guys getting your "okay to sift in a corner" info? Jeff - you said MSF? I was told they teach just the opposite.

One of the 8 parking lot tests to get our license was a 40 foot diameter half circle (could be wrong, about 4 rows of parking stalls) in which we had to do the following while staying in the pylons (1 meter apart):
1. start in first gear
2. take it up to shift speed
3. shift into second
4. continue a short distance and shift down to first
5. exit the 1/2 circle and turn around to reenter from exit point
6. should be in first, reenter the circle and continue around
7. shift into second
8. shift down to first
9. pull up to stop line and stop

Touching the cones, going outside, or putting a foot down = lost point and starting over.

Basically you're going from the outside of one set of parking stalls to the outside of the other, while shifting up once and down once, then turning around and starting over.

It's a valuable skill to have if you ask me, as I'm usually popping into second as I finish a turn, the added power to the backwheel helps me to straighten out coming off the turn.

[mattf]

The only time I'm sure not to shift is at the very beginning of the turn as I first lay into it. My bike has very heavy engine braking, which can screw up the whole corner line. At the very beginning, I'm typically either right against the center line or the shoulder line, and rear-wheel braking can send me out of the lane.

I don't have the horsepower to break the wheel loose, so if I have to shift, I rev it just a touch higher than I think I should just to be sure I'm not too low. I've had it chirp the rear wheel when downshifting with too little throttle before.

Matt

[mendel]

What happens if you are in a turn and your engine dies or maybe you shift wrong and kill the engine?

What happens if you are in a turn and a deer runs out ahead of you? At least if your engine dies you have as much runout room as you need, oncoming traffic and the edge of the road notwithstanding.

My MSF-equivalent course taught emergency braking on a curve (and tested us on it for our next license level)

[jdrestore]

I just finished the MSF course this weekend and one of the exercises that we did was done on an oval the size of the range where we entered the turn in 2nd and changed to 3rd half way through the turn and then we had to decellerate and downshift to 2nd halfway through the straightaway before entering the next turn which we would then shift to 3rd halfway through. The point of the exercise was to be able to match gear to road speed and to be able to up shift and down shift.

[Toyuzu]

I just finished the MSF course this weekend and one of the exercises that we did was done on an oval the size of the range where we entered the turn in 2nd and changed to 3rd half way through the turn and then we had to decellerate and downshift to 2nd halfway through the straightaway before entering the next turn which we would then shift to 3rd halfway through. The point of the exercise was to be able to match gear to road speed and to be able to up shift and down shift.

Thanks for the input on the MSF instruction. Your description of the training makes sense now. If the speed in the corner allows for correction (as it SHOULD ) then you should be able to adjust the gear, throttle, brakes etc. mid-corner.

The skill and control required to execute such maneuvers mid-corner are very important to safe operation of a motorcycle on public roadways.

My question is: When did MSF decide to teach such things in a three-day course?

I had to learn on my own - but could I have learned before ever riding on public roads?