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Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 6:11 am
by blues2cruise
dablade wrote:A fellow rider was kind enough to give me the following advice when I moved up to a heavier and larger motorcycle:
When making turns, look in the direction of the turn, focusing your field of view outward towards where you want to go, but not downward. If you look down, that is where you will tend to go. Drag the rear brake (never the front brake) during slow turns, and oppose it with the throttle/clutch friction. This will add slow speed stability. If you use the front brake abruptly during parking maneuvers while turning, expect your weight to shift to the high side. Other than that, get enough sleep before you practice. This will make you sharp and mentally/emotionally prepared to learn, and your senses will give you the most reliable input.
Regards,
Perry
Now that you mention it......I suspect I was not dragging the rear brake....I was basically just going idle speed.....very little throttle....
I'll be going back to the lot to practice again. More rpms, more feathering the clutch, rear brake drag...
Posted: Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:26 pm
by Teek
Looked fine, your turns were good for your speed. Slow down as suggested by dragging the rear bike and feathering the throttle instead of letting the bike just run on idle (or just drag the brake to start). I doubt I'd do any better on that long bike.
It will feel more stable at the slower speed with the brake on, which will let you turn a little tighter, and keep looking UP and over your shoulder to tighten a turn. For a Uie look over your shoulder at where you want to end up going and lean a little and countersteer a little, and the bike should dip right in and then you can feather on power to straighten up and go forward.
Two things that help me the most are keeping my eyes UP and looking through my turn as far as I can, it keeps my mind off the bike falling over, because I'm actively thinking about where I want to go, and we all know the bike goes where we look, so it feels much easier. I try to practice several times a month. Try using those parking spaces to do weaving, like with cones, that gets an easier turning rhythm up than circles. I do a lot of that so I turn both ways, and I can stay between the lines of two spaces, so I do it all the way down a row. And try to relax your elbows, shoulders and hands, because if you are stiff, the steering response will be likewise. That's true all the time. I have to remind myself to relax in tight canyon turns, when I do I turn so much easier, like the bike is doing all the work, which it is if I let it.
You look good on that bike! You'll be fine, just relax into the bike, it's your baby.
And yeah, EVERYBODY wants to turn left all the time!
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 6:14 am
by blues2cruise
Teek wrote:
Two things that help me the most are keeping my eyes UP and looking through my turn as far as I can, it keeps my mind off the bike falling over,
How did you know? LOL 
I do a lot of that so I turn both ways, and I can stay between the lines of two spaces, so I do it all the way down a row.
I'll aim for two the next time out.
And try to relax your elbows, shoulders and hands,
yes, I am still too tense. Although the last couple of times out, I was trying to make a conscious effort at not hanging on so tight.
because if you are stiff, the steering response will be likewise. That's true all the time. I have to remind myself to relax in tight canyon turns, when I do I turn so much easier, like the bike is doing all the work, which it is if I let it.
You look good on that bike! You'll be fine, just relax into the bike, it's your baby.
Thank you.
And yeah, EVERYBODY wants to turn left all the time!
Why is that?
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2008 7:33 am
by DivideOverflow
blues2cruise wrote:dablade wrote:A fellow rider was kind enough to give me the following advice when I moved up to a heavier and larger motorcycle:
When making turns, look in the direction of the turn, focusing your field of view outward towards where you want to go, but not downward. If you look down, that is where you will tend to go. Drag the rear brake (never the front brake) during slow turns, and oppose it with the throttle/clutch friction. This will add slow speed stability. If you use the front brake abruptly during parking maneuvers while turning, expect your weight to shift to the high side. Other than that, get enough sleep before you practice. This will make you sharp and mentally/emotionally prepared to learn, and your senses will give you the most reliable input.
Regards,
Perry
Now that you mention it......I suspect I was not dragging the rear brake....I was basically just going idle speed.....very little throttle....
I'll be going back to the lot to practice again. More rpms, more feathering the clutch, rear brake drag...
That is the biggest problem I saw. It looked like you were just doing idle with no clutch modulation.
I've never been a fan of the rear brake drag unless I'm doing the turn at a real slow speed and need to offset overthrottling it a bit (or if I need to slow down a little)... Almost all of the time I just use clutch modulation.
If you just leave it idle, the bike will feel like it wants to keep falling, and then your first reaction is going to be to resist it. However, if you keep the RPMs up a bit and feather the clutch, it will definitely make the bike feel more stable while going through the turn. If you keep the throttle stable, you will notice that the bike's tendency to drop will diminish.
The posture looked good. I sometimes hang off a tad when u-turning in real tight places (to bring the center of gravity off of the bike towards the lean), but I don't recommend it for 90% of street riding one would encounter. However, it isn't a bad thing to practice in the event you need it. Also, this isn't only on sportbikes that I've used this technique. I leaned waaay off my dad's Vulcan 1500 to get it to squeeze around a 1 lane u-turn. Don't think I would have been able to make it without the extra clearance.
Please critique me...constructively
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 1:43 am
by Grizz
When I got my first big bike I put safty cone's out in my back yard ( yes I have a large back yard ) the size of the space I wanted to turn around in and started to practice, grass is a lot easier to fix than black top, it also loooked like you might have been going a little faster than you should for trying to do tight manuvers, don't be afraid to make your turn with a foot down close to the ground.
Re: Please critique me...constructively
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:21 am
by dr_bar
Grizz wrote:When I got my first big bike I put safty cone's out in my back yard ( yes I have a large back yard ) the size of the space I wanted to turn around in and started to practice, grass is a lot easier to fix than black top, it also loooked like you might have been going a little faster than you should for trying to do tight manuvers, don't be afraid to make your turn with a foot down close to the ground.
Having a foot down throws the balance of the bike off, I'd only put my foot down if I felt the bike was about to go over...
Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 9:09 am
by MAKER
yeah, i mean agree with the above- you obviously have control, but you ned to counterbalance more in those tights to give yourself more control, and not pull the bike over
but you look fine for your time back!
Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 9:49 am
by blues2cruise
Thank you everyone. As soon as it dries up again, I'll get out and practice keeping in mind all the pointers I have been given.
Reminds me.....I must call the shop to find out about the missing parts.....
Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 4:48 pm
by bok
i'll just say that pushing your butt over to the outside of the turn gives you a bit more stability. sure you could do the tight stuff with yourself just bolt upright in the saddle, but by putting yourself off to the side a bit you counteract the forces a bit better...of course the exact opposite is true when you are travelling at higher speed and you would lean in.
keep practicing. the two lines are a great way to get focused, just try and do say three or four turns one way then three or four the other. I see students who get so determined to nail their turns that they just keep going in circles and make themselves dizzy...and dizzy on a bike is not a good thing usually
Posted: Thu Apr 03, 2008 9:08 am
by Bubba
No comment. I don't want my head snapped off again.
