Those effing offset cones

[Lozza2442]

Chicks dig corners....

... Wha...? Did someone say something? I was distracted.


By those shoes.
I'd like to see her ride in those shoes.

[Gremlin]

Just to add, the bike itself does play a big part. Not so much for the BHS, but familiarity with the bike, how the bike feels under you etc.

On my Hornet CB900, I can do lock to lock turns one after another at variable speeds. However, I ride it every day in and around the city, it's very smooth and I know it well. On my bigger GSA, the steering lock is very sharp, so full lock turns are more tricky, more weight is higher and the drive train has more slack in it...

[Lozza2442]

LOL I just watched that video with sound...

"Don't look left" *shows example by looking right*

She's a winner.

[Asher]

i guess it depends slightly one what your having trouble with but when i did my bht the instructor said to always look at the next cone and not the one your riding around as it helps to keep your head up and improve your balance.
Also when i did it i hardly used the brakes or throttle and instead just idled through them and just used the clutch to adjust my speed.

[george formby]

i guess it depends slightly one what your having trouble with but when i did my bht the instructor said to always look at the next cone and not the one your riding around as it helps to keep your head up and improve your balance.
Also when i did it i hardly used the brakes or throttle and instead just idled through them and just used the clutch to adjust my speed.

If yer gonna do some practice & can get a volunteer to help, set your slalom up quite narrow (easy) & as your confidence builds get the volunteer to start moving the odd ball out a bit wider when your not looking. This really helps in making you look ahead & is often the cause of swearing.

[sinfull]

Hello all

So, learning to ride a motorcycle is a little trickier than I had thought (it must be my advanced age, heh).

Primarily, I'm having problems with the offset cones bit of the Basic Handling Skills. You know, where one has a range of cones which are quite close together, and one has to weave through them at low speeds?

What strategies have you found worked for getting around them successfully? How did you learn to do them?

I'm hoping the answers will be useful not only for me, but for other n00bs too, so please go into detail where you can :P

I take it you are practicing prior to doing your BHS ?

If so,

These cones will be set up in a large area (such as a school netball court etc) offset and you have to go through them against the grain so to speak, in other words near impossible even for an experienced rider to just weave through, staying close to the cones yeah ?

So Use the whole netball court to do an arc before going through the next cone, ie a 20 ft arc !

Your welcome !

[sinfull]

This seems flippant but without details on your issue I feel the reply should be counter steering.

Bro you're telling someone who has not even begun to learn basic skills to think counter steering ? I know riders that have been on the road 40 years, who didn't even know they were counter steering the whole time and it blew them away when they were shown that they were in fact pushing the bars the wrong way (subjectively) to corner !

Science like that will just confuse a learner in my book !

[george formby]

I take it you are practicing prior to doing your BHS ?

If so,

These cones will be set up in a large area (such as a school netball court etc) offset and you have to go through them against the grain so to speak, in other words near impossible even for an experienced rider to just weave through, staying close to the cones yeah ?

So Use the whole netball court to do an arc before going through the next cone, ie a 20 ft arc !

Your welcome !

Doh! start at the beginning. +1, yup, use all your space.

[oneofsix]

Bro you're telling someone who has not even begun to learn basic skills to think counter steering ? I know riders that have been on the road 40 years, who didn't even know they were counter steering the whole time and it blew them away when they were shown that they were in fact pushing the bars the wrong way (subjectively) to corner !

Science like that will just confuse a learner in my book !

If you do the BHS training and the trainer is any good the first thing they tell you is to counter steer. Also she appeared to understand the concept just not that it still worked at low speeds.

[tbs]

The trick that my instructor taught me was to look at a point 20 meters ahead of the centre line of the cones and rely on my peripheral vision. It's quite counter-intuitive at first, but it really helps. You really have to turn the bars quite a long way to get around the cones and it feels weird, and unbalances your upper body. Focusing down the road and keeping your head up will help stabilize your body which in turn will stabilize the bike. It is then easier to work on your throttle control.

If you don't have a bike yet, then either use a push bike or just walk it with your arms out pretending to steer, (bbrrmm bbrrmm noises optional) concentrating on exagerated steering movements and keeping your head up learning to trust your peripheral vision. Do this for the turning exercises too. Enter the corner, turn your head 90 degrees and allow the bike to turn. A year or so ago I saw a teenage girl wobbling around on a push bike at the end of my street with her friend walking beside her ready to catch her. Turned out she was in the school cycling team, which mean't clip in pedals, but she couldn't do a tight turn on the pushbike so she was too afraid to clip in. She was staring at the ground right in front of her. I gave her the same advice. Keep your head up and turn to look where you want to go. In your case, with the slalom you actually want to go to the other end, so look there.

It may feel a bit lame doing it without a bike, but going over something in your mind first helps a lot.

[sinfull]

it still worked at low speeds.

Id be prepared to put money on that !

Be fun watching you ride around a car park at 15 k with just your left hand flat on the bar fingers outstretched, no leaning (cheating in other words) and make that bike of yours turn left !

[anebv8]

I done mine on a GN 125 and just turned the idling up a touch, a mate used my bike to do it on and turned the choke up a bit. that way ya just have to hold on and not worry about the throttle. Then kept my eyes on the end cone

[george formby]

I done mine on a GN 125 and just turned the idling up a touch, a mate used my bike to do it on and turned the choke up a bit. that way ya just have to hold on and not worry about the throttle. Then kept my eyes on the end cone

I did that on the G/F's bike initially, no substitute for throttle control, though. It's an aid not a fix but helpful in getting rolling. Good tip.

[rustic101]

No two rider techniques or bikes are the same. Each have their own idiosyncrasies.

My advice, is:

Practice Practice Practice Practice Practice Practice Practice Practice Practice Practice Practice Practice.

and when your done; Practice some more....

You want to get to a stage when your on the other side and say 'didn't even have to think about how to do that'.

[george formby]

No two rider techniques or bikes are the same. Each have their own idiosyncrasies.

My advice, is:

Practice Practice Practice Practice Practice Practice Practice Practice Practice Practice Practice Practice.

and when your done; Practice some more....

You want to get to a stage when your on the other side and say 'didn't even have to think about how to do that'.

+1 cha cha cha.