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Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 5:27 pm
by ofblong
willw wrote:Not sure if it helps much, but:
On the TV show, American Chopper, didn't Mikie fail his test the first time? And, he did it on national TV. And with the pressure of coming from a family who builds big-money custom motorcycles...
I still have to take my class, but I keep thinking of Mikie and don't feel so scared of not making it the first time (at least I'm not famous).
Good luck next time.
course you gotta look at the brain mentality of mikie.
Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 7:31 pm
by qwerty
I had trouble with the u-turns at first (first gear too jerky, 2nd gear too fast), then drug up an old dirtbiker trick from a previous life.
First gear and a little bit of throttle to keep the slack out of the driveline (driveline slack is where the jerkies come from) and hard on the rear brake. Never let off the throttle, and control speed with the rear brake. You can practice using the brake for slow speed control when you do those pause things added to the various exercise: Ride up to the pause cones in 1st and on the brake, then do the throttle and clutch just like you are starting off, but keep your foot on the rear brake. Ride the whole length of the pause lines with the engine pulling against the brake.
When you are ready to practice the u-turns, ride almost to the far end of the box before making your first turn. Then you won't get panicky when you notice that you don't have any room for error on the second turn because you will have plenty of room. Remember that you are not doing 180s, more like a 235s. Saying 180 and doing 235 doesn't jive in your subconscious, and the feeling of creeping doubt sets in. Then you screw up. Think 235, do 235, the inner you will be calm.
One of my classmates (who failed before) did it a little different: straight almost to the end of the box, a 180, short straight to get it together, S-turn like the lane change exercise, a short straight to get it together, then a 180. Worked for her.