Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Ok, sometimes I feel un-easy at intersections, when I'm going very slow, but not sure I'm going to stop. I end up doing the newbie waddle sometimes. How do I avoid this. I work on trying to keep the bike totally straight up until I'm almost stopped, but I'm often ending up putting a foot down and leaning a bit and doing the waddle. The seat is low, its a Virago 500 and I'm 5 foot 9 1/2" at 170 LBS.

thanx in advance for advice to battle the sloppy rolling stops

Try riding in your clutch's friction zone, and try to avoid the front brake. If you lightly ride the back brake and slip the clutch a bit you can typically crawl along at very low speeds without wobbling.

I had the same waddle, but its nothing confidence and practice cant cure. I agree with Zoo, keep the clutch right at its engage point so you can instantly accelerate if the bike starts to lean.

Practice, practice, practice. What I do is attempt to keep both feet on the pegs, even when the bike has fully stopped. Unless you're a trials rider or stunt geek, you probably won't be able to do this (especially while sitting) regularly, but practicing will help you to learn to balance the bike better at slow speed. When I come to a stop at a light, the wheels actually stop just before my feet touch the ground. When I take off, both feet are coming up to the pegs as the bike starts to roll.

I shake my head at the paddlefoots I see everyday on my commute (much worse than your description). Sometimes it's even motorcycle cops doing it. I think that how your legs and feet behave at the very bottom of the speed range has a lot to do with your overall skill and attitude towards motorcycling. If you can ride with precision there, I'll trust that you can do it at speed. Hell, any idiot can go 150 mph in a straight line, 1 mph makes it a lot more interesting.

i love rolling into a stop with a bit of speed and grabbing a handfull of front.


slow slow speed riding like following cars in a line of traffic that are moving very slowly (under 10kmh) is a skill you will only pick-up with practice im afraid.

Slow speed riding is technically more difficult than riding with speed. A skill you will only gain with effort.

Interesting. When you said 'paddlefoot' it reminded me of just how I act in traffic jams! I'll generally spend most of my time stopped with my feet on the ground, and step my way forward. Can you sustain balance for extended periods while stopped completely? I may have to try that!

CNF2002 wrote:Interesting. When you said 'paddlefoot' it reminded me of just how I act in traffic jams! I'll generally spend most of my time stopped with my feet on the ground, and step my way forward. Can you sustain balance for extended periods while stopped completely? I may have to try that!

ya sure can, infact, in my state you are taught this skill in your license assessment.

I never seemed to do the waddle. Onlyat the very beginning of the MSF course did I do that. After the first few times of starting and stopping I was able to pick my feet up and put em down right as the bike started and stopped. I also might have had it a bit easier doing the MSF on a taller bike ( I did it on a dual sport so was straight legged at a stop). Walked a few times when creeping up in line but that was under power not pushing the bike.

CNF2002 wrote:Interesting. Can you sustain balance for extended periods while stopped completely? I may have to try that!

Not for more than a few seconds when sitting (though it seems like a long time). If you're standing on the pegs like a trials rider, with a little practice you can do that until your legs get tired. I've seen the stunters doing this on their 600 class sportbikes a lot. They think they invented it, but trials competitors were doing it back in the 60s.

Having ridden trials all my life I can tell you this is not the easiest skill to learn and would not recomend it on non trials bikes. It is a skill that will get better with practice and you just have to stick at it. The best advise I can give is to try different methods as recommended by the forum guy's and find the one that works best for you. As your braking, clutch and throttle skills get better so will your waddle foot. If you are stll a bit snatchy or jerky with the controls you will feel unbalanced. Try to keep braking and aceleration as smooth as you can.