Ride smoother and safer (and get paid to do it!)

[DangerMice]

I find being smooth is really important on my scoot, it's all about conservation of momentum. Being CVT, if I have to suddenly get off the gas when I'm going a decent speed (for a scoot ), the scoot stays in high "gear", but the engine revs drop right down, then when I reapply throttle, the scoot really bogs down as the engine tries to re-accelerate but finds it difficult as I'm in a high 'gear'. Obviously I can't just drop it down a gear, so left I'm doing 30-40 kph and accelerating *really* slowly, not ideal in traffic.

So, looking & planning ahead, being smooth on the throttle avoids a lot of that.

[GOONR]

This must be the best thread I have seen for ages. Nice one.

My cornering sucks ass big time, I'm a new (6 months) rider and I've had the backend skip out twice on corners, both times at about 80kph (or slightly less) on a 80kph stretch of road. Needless to say it's knocked my confidence a fair bit and it's taking me ages to get my head back in to the swing of it. What you have said about using more of your body to control the cornering makes sense, I now realise that I had become ridged and was sat on top of the bike rather than working with it (if that makes sense to anyone.. bah, I know what I'm on about).

Cheers!

[quickbuck]

Makes perfect sense....
You were operating the controls, rather than riding the bike.

The back end skipping... Were you closing the throttle mid corner or something? Or too much rear brake??

You should have finished all your braking, and have the smallest amount of gas on while cornering....
Yes, and move your body around the bike.

ALSO, turn your HEAD and keep your eyes LEVEL!!!!

[sugilite:Me]

I now realise that I had become ridged and was sat on top of the bike rather than working with it (if that makes sense to anyone.. bah, I know what I'm on about).

Cheers!

Yes, that does make sense, just the fact you understand that now and are working to change, shows your on to it! Well done
And as Quickbuck mentions, conciously turn your head to look around/through the corner, it really helps on a lot of levels.

[R-Soul]

This must be the best thread I have seen for ages. Nice one.

My cornering sucks ass big time, I'm a new (6 months) rider and I've had the backend skip out twice on corners, both times at about 80kph (or slightly less) on a 80kph stretch of road. Needless to say it's knocked my confidence a fair bit and it's taking me ages to get my head back in to the swing of it. What you have said about using more of your body to control the cornering makes sense, I now realise that I had become ridged and was sat on top of the bike rather than working with it (if that makes sense to anyone.. bah, I know what I'm on about).

Cheers!

If your back end is skipping out, it sounds like you were either going too fast, the bike's suyspension is badly set up, or the bike's suspension was at a bad angle (i.e. too much lean) and could not keep the wheel on the road. It might help to get your body over to the side (lots) more, and keep the bike more upright (at the angle its suspension was designed for and is best at).


That is 90%t of the fun- moving your body from side to side, and predicting the line, lean angle and body positioning for each corner at a given speed - for a nicely balanced entry and exit.

[GOONR]

Makes perfect sense....
You were operating the controls, rather than riding the bike.

The back end skipping... Were you closing the throttle mid corner or something? Or too much rear brake??

You should have finished all your braking, and have the smallest amount of gas on while cornering....
Yes, and move your body around the bike.

ALSO, turn your HEAD and keep your eyes LEVEL!!!!

To be honest I'm not sure what I did wrong when it skipped out, I would guess that my grip was too tight on the throttle and I've ended up backing off slightly.

Yup, I'm a cautious rider by nature so I tend to get all my braking out of the way well before the corner. what I wasn't doing was shifting my weight around on the bike. The few rides I have done since reading this I have been transferring my weight around and the bike feels much more planted.

[GOONR]

If your back end is skipping out, it sounds like you were either going too fast, the bike's suyspension is badly set up, or the bike's suspension was at a bad angle (i.e. too much lean) and could not keep the wheel on the road. It might help to get your body over to the side (lots) more, and keep the bike more upright (at the angle its suspension was designed for and is best at).


That is 90%t of the fun- moving your body from side to side, and predicting the line, lean angle and body positioning for each corner at a given speed - for a nicely balanced entry and exit.

haha, you could definitely rule out the first one, I'm the slowest thing on two wheels.

[MSTRS:Me]

Where you are looking makes a huge difference too. Always look where you want to go (because you tend tol go where you are looking). Your peripheral vision should be employed to keep watch for issues that may arise along the way, which you can then focus on briefly, before deciding, or how, to react to them. One of the biggest problems, and reason for 'jerky' riding, is not looking far enough in front.

[GOONR]

Where you are looking makes a huge difference too. Always look where you want to go (because you tend tol go where you are looking). Your peripheral vision should be employed to keep watch for issues that may arise along the way, which you can then focus on briefly, before deciding, or how, to react to them. One of the biggest problems, and reason for 'jerky' riding, is not looking far enough in front.

Yeah, I do look where I want to go. Even if I'm turning right at a small roundabout.. though that still feels weird though.

[Stirts]

This must be the best thread I have seen for ages. Nice one. Cheers!

Oh hell yes!!!

Riding the 'new to me" Speed Triple, I have been struggling of late. Getting more and more frustrated and less and less confident in my ability to ride. In fact I was starting to question whether I made the right decision moving up to the massive awesomeness of the Speed Triple.

But a very kind individual pointed me to this thread. Sugilite your posts have now got me focused again, my riding and confidence levels are improved. I thank you for taking the time to post these.

OK that is my soppy post of the year. As you were.

[Maha]

Oh hell yes!!!

Riding the 'new to me" Speed Triple, I have been struggling of late. Getting more and more frustrated and less and less confident in my ability to ride. In fact I was starting to question whether I made the right decision moving up to the massive awesomeness of the Speed Triple.

But a very kind individual pointed me to this thread. Sugilite your posts have now got me focused again, my riding and confidence levels are improved. I thank you for taking the time to post these.

Soon you'll be able to pillion lanky man.

[Stirts]

Soon you'll be able to pillion lanky man.

He is bad enough as a passenger in the car. He would be trying to ride the damn thing from behind. Ooooer

[Maha]

He is bad enough as a passenger in the car. He would be trying to ride the damn thing from behind. Ooooer

That is his Forte' yes?....

[R-Soul]

Yeah, I do look where I want to go. Even if I'm turning right at a small roundabout.. though that still feels weird though.

But its more than just looking where you want to go - in a corner, you should look at the "vanishing point" - where the center of the road appears to meet the left edge of the road. That means looking as far into the corner as you can.

The reason for this is because, if you look a little bit ahead, you cannot judge your full line around the corner well. Instead you judge it for a short distance and then end up changing it several times in that corner. So you go around the corner making a path (when you look from above) looking more like an octagon than a circle.

The small changes in direction on the corner edges of the "octagon" create additional outward forces on the bike, and hence traction problems. A smaller radius turning circle creates increased inertia in a corner for the same speed. By keeping your turning radius as large as possible throughout the corner without adjusting it too often, you have a smoother corner and less traction problems.

Combine thsi with rolling smoothly on and off the power, and hanging your body weight off teh side too keep your bike as upright as possible, and your taction problems should be reduced. If not, then perhaps you should think about changting your suspension setup? maybe your shocks are shot?

[sugilite:Me]

This must be the best thread I have seen for ages. Nice one.

But a very kind individual pointed me to this thread. Sugilite your posts have now got me focused again, my riding and confidence levels are improved. I thank you for taking the time to post these.

Thanks for that, glad to be of service. I guess one of the hardest parts for me, was to actually put into words what I've been doing automatically for many years, and to do it with a minimum of techno babble As I've experimented and learned these methods, I've then adapted the approved methods and simply practiced them until I no longer had to "think" about them.

I had 3 styles for bikes (not counting dirt bike styles), race, road and pillion. The smooooth style is pretty much my pillion style, I always ride for my pillion. Now I've retired my old road style, and replaced it with pillion, erm only without the pillion now hehe.

Anyways, my next blurb will be gear changes me thinks.