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Bombus
30th September 2006, 17:05
Yes I dropped my bike twice the same circumstances both times, doing a right hand u turn to a halt. At the point of stopping bike drops to the right instantly. Fall takes me by surprise but am able to protect it from damage. What exactly is happening here? Wisecracks ok but serious answer would be appreciated.. Cheers.. Bombus

MSTRS
30th September 2006, 17:25
Have you tried putting your right foot down - this is sure to help with your problem:whistle:

gamgee
30th September 2006, 17:25
are you turning in to hard? is the bike to heavy for your ability? maybe you yourself need to think about exactly what you are doing when it is falling over

bugjuice
30th September 2006, 17:40
don't lean it, steer it slower, and put both feet down. Just don't lean.

MD
30th September 2006, 17:51
Spread the load of your testicles.. one each side of the tank. Works for me.

On the serious side. Where are your eyes looking? When slow manoeuvring it is much easier to balance the bike when you focus your eyes way ahead on the horizon, rather than looking 18 inches in front of the tire or where you might place your foot.

Zed
30th September 2006, 18:01
Yes I dropped my bike twice the same circumstances both times, doing a right hand u turn to a halt. At the point of stopping bike drops to the right instantly. Fall takes me by surprise but am able to protect it from damage. What exactly is happening here?You should get into the practise of never stopping completely while you are turning, ensure the bike is moving straight and then stop, which will allow you to balance the bike and prepare to comfortably come to a standstill. If stopping while turning is unavoidable just concentrate on keeping the bike upright and balanced and try and stop with the front wheel straight so you don't suddenly find yourself off balance when you come to a halt...i think. :bye:

Skyryder
30th September 2006, 18:37
Yes I dropped my bike twice the same circumstances both times, doing a right hand u turn to a halt. At the point of stopping bike drops to the right instantly. Fall takes me by surprise but am able to protect it from damage. What exactly is happening here? Wisecracks ok but serious answer would be appreciated.. Cheers.. Bombus

Well exactly, it's gravity 'overtaking' inertia. The only way you are going to get on top of this is practice. Supermarket carparks are ideal. You can start from the stationary position and practice the turn as tight as you can with out dropping. Just learn the 'feel' of the turn. I't comes with practice.

In my day as a youngster before the sportsbike brigade were 'abroad' the 'mark' of a good rider was how good he could do a u turn. I'ts a skill that is rarely seen today but when you see a biker do a uuee and leans it and powers out it is a joy to behold. Such a rare sight and one I have never mastered.

Skyryder

Ixion
30th September 2006, 18:39
Hm. If you stall a big single on a full lock turn, things get very hairy very quickly. As I (re) discovered yesterday.

Stopping on full lock is tricky at the best of times. Best to try to ease off the lock before the final stop.

Motu
30th September 2006, 19:22
In my day as a youngster before the sportsbike brigade were 'abroad' the 'mark' of a good rider was how good he could do a u turn. I'ts a skill that is rarely seen today but when you see a biker do a uuee and leans it and powers out it is a joy to behold. Such a rare sight and one I have never mastered.

Skyryder

I'm not young - but the best U turn I've ever seen was an old guy who was a ''Milk Bar Cowboy'' in the '50's,he had actualy been a friend of my father's I found out years later.He would go from gutter to gutter - lay it into the left side curb and go around under power flat on the pegs,then put it into the other curb and power out.Beautifull...I've never been able to do that.

2much
30th September 2006, 21:52
look up .

Black Bandit
30th September 2006, 22:23
Funny that, one of the tests on the BHS test for L-licence was a stop on a bend. Piece of piss on a Ginny, but I'll bet it's a whole different kettle of fish on one of those - tall, heavy, gravity sucking you down. Principle then was getting the bike upright before trying to stop. Maybe using the rear brake more? As said previously if you wait longer until you're more upright. Then you can use both rear + front brake together and get the left foot down. Bike stabilty lives in the front wheel at low speeds. If you load up the front you lose your stability but if the back loads up the rear tyre just skids along in a straight line.

Zapf
5th October 2006, 21:22
SV's are top heavy... so make sure you strighten the bike up before stopping... I know what you mean. Also try pressing lightly on the rear brake, it'll help with the turn.

Toast
5th October 2006, 21:55
keep the power on...

gas off or clutch in and it will fall over straight away if you have much lean on...if it starts to fall power on and it will stand a bit.

Ixion
5th October 2006, 21:57
Which is the point you do NOT want the brute to stall !

Twig
6th December 2006, 16:08
When doing u turns at slow speed on full lock or close to it, I tend to only use the back break as it stops the front end from compressing. I find it much more stable. That's my 2cents anyway.

slowpoke
6th December 2006, 22:42
The slower you go the less gyroscopic effect generated by the wheels and the less stable the bike is. Come to a complete halt with any lean on at all and the bike will just flop over.

Big Dog
6th December 2006, 23:01
If you must come to a complete halt (or near to it) go in slow enough you can accelerate right through the move. The bike will turn quickr and be more upright at the end.
Over a crest such as a banked road if I have to do it on an uphill or a load / pillion on I take my outside foot of the peg and hang it down.

Dunno why but it lets me get more lean at lower speed without the drop away.
I tend not to question things that work.

notme
7th December 2006, 07:18
This is going to be hard to explain but 5 seconds to demonstrate - but could the prob be that when you stop mid turn, your front wheel is turned to the right (assume right hand turn), and you're leaned over to the right, and your right foot is down or coming down, so the weight is to the right front of the bike - so the front wheel most likely wants to roll backwards....causing the bike to drop more to the right, causing the front wheel to roll backwards more, and so on.

Try holding the front brake when stopped?

All of what has been said above is fine advice, but will all be mucho easier if someone shows you rather than trying to figure it out from what you are reading.

Happy to show you what I mean if you're out my way sometime :scooter:

carver
7th December 2006, 07:23
Yes I dropped my bike twice the same circumstances both times, doing a right hand u turn to a halt. At the point of stopping bike drops to the right instantly. Fall takes me by surprise but am able to protect it from damage. What exactly is happening here? Wisecracks ok but serious answer would be appreciated.. Cheers.. Bombus

you got to plan ahead and balance man....feet out if needed, dont quite go to full lock too

Indiana_Jones
7th December 2006, 11:16
Pretty much kinda like buggie said.

If you're going slow, don't lean (like lean hard) because the force of gravity is going to overcome the force of momentum and pull you down.

-Indy

ManDownUnder
7th December 2006, 11:43
Don't stop while you're still in the turn (i.e. the bike is still on a lean).

Very last thing - straighten right up. Even if just for a meter.

I do this every morning on the RF (a bitch to lift if you drop it). a 270 degree turn to the left, last second straighten up, stand down and lean the bike onto it.

THEN my feet hit the ground.

If I'm unsure the feet go down earlier of course but I'll do it 3 out of 4.

The last second straight section is vital. It rebalances the bike and you're away. Practice is in a straight line to start with... ride, stop, ride stop... all with your feet on the pegs the whole time.

Another good one is a slow bike race. Get 3 or 4 together and have a race across 25m course. the LAST one to get there wins. No feet down, no doubling back... clutch, throttle, brake and balance is all you have.

Good luck - you'll be sweet

Indiana_Jones
7th December 2006, 11:46
Yea, I practice riding real slow and keeping it straight as I can. It's handy practice for when splitting etc.

-Indy

ManDownUnder
7th December 2006, 11:54
Yea, I practice riding real slow and keeping it straight as I can. It's handy practice for when splitting etc.

-Indy

Yup... good for "posture" if you know what I mean. You learn how to naturally balance yourself on the machine - and once you have that you can master controlling the bike with your body weight/hips as well as/instead of your arms.

Lots of fun too. You can time yourself and watch your improvement.

mops
7th December 2006, 15:23
being a noobie, I found doing u turns hard aswell... generally speaking low speed manuvers are trisky, because the slower the bike is rolling the heavier and harder to control it is... and if the speed drops below certain 'stall' level it just drops to the ground..

i dont mean to steal the thread, but "balance yourself on the machine"....

how does that supposed to be ? as In... i'm a beggining rider and i noticed that iin a corner i can either lean over the front and rest some part of my weight on the handlebars. On the other side I can lean over backwards in the corner and rest no weight on the handlebars... now thats all good, but i dont know which is the right position....

i noticed that alot of weight on the front on bumpy corner = front wheel bumping across the road and feels like sleeping....

in which case i prefer just to put more weight to the rear....

aswell while in turn.. low speed hard turns, i tent to do 'motoX style', as in bike leaner over, but i'm sitting on it pretty straight, sometimes even with my inside foot extended....

but at high speeds... should i lean over with the bike ? counter steer ? hang off the side of the bike and drag my knee over the asphalt ? i suppose combination of all of those + depending what corner and what speed...

:scooter:

macca
7th December 2006, 15:43
DON't use the front brake, DO look up at horizon (only way to maintain your balance, period).

Putting on the front brake causes the front suspension to compress , your weight moves further to the right and down you go.

And Practice, with practice, even a right turn you can stop with the back brake, before using the front brake to hold and putting your right foot down.
You'll also find the good 'slow' riders will actually lean out a bit when turning like this, though this is probably an unintentional movement.

sAsLEX
7th December 2006, 16:09
Another point.... when going at decent pace backwards do not turn the handle bars as it whips around very fast and catches you unaware.


Did it on the bike and pulled a muscle holding it up.

Did it in the truck and nearly rolled it.

Old car was fine as it was low and handled like a go cart.

sinned
7th December 2006, 20:47
SVs are a bit of a handful at low speed. I am riding a loan SV650 while my SV1000 gets fixed at 1000ks?? The 1000 is a beast compared with the 650 but with either you sure don't want it it stall at low speed - use the clutch and more than idle revs to maintain momentum, don't let the clutch right out, hover on the rear brake and keep your hand away from the front brake. I have spent a few hours practicing low speed turns, stops and starts in a car park after dropping the SV1000 doing a right hand U turn takeoff downhill - don't try that, it is expensive. Sound advice in another post to not stop until straight; which means planning every stop.

Fuck what do I know! I dropped it.