Regaining confidence after a fall

[shflbm]

As mentioned, don't be too hard on yourself shflbm. It can take a while to get used to the new steed, finding it's limitations etc.
If you get a chance to go to an empty parking lot and do some slow speed stuff it can help, or if there are any handling courses in your area helps to build confidence.
Nice bikes, the ER. Hope that Bandit behaves for you.

Thank you

[Drew]

Note I said a TIGHT bend. I have been riding for 37 years and have NEVER fallen off on a bend and should in theory be dead by your theory eh sport!!!!!

That doesn't make you a competent rider. The comment I made about us killing ourselves in droves, is with regards to the fact that those who know no better, are passing on the wrong konwledge.

First thing I learned when I went racing, was that if I wasn't on the brake or the throttle at ANY given time, I wasn't in control.

Now we're not racing on the road of course, but humor me anyway.

Turn one at Pukekoe is the best example I can give, then followed by the hairpin at Manfield. At Puke, you come into it fast. Real fucken fast! "Oh Go oh God, we're gonna die" fast. To get round the bumpy mogrel fast turn, you need a lot of luck, or a smidge of positive throttle. Or you run wide, and trust me when I say it's not a place you want to run "a little bit wide"...I've done it when I found a neutral I wasn't expecting. The reason for this is that the bike's weight bias becomes more middleish, and your input is greatly more effective to the way the bike reacts.

To the hairpin. Same but different. You've gotten rid of the majority of stupid speed in a straight line already, but the brakes are still on a little bit as you tip in, and get released as the lean increases. As soon as you're off the brake however, the bike wants to literally ride off the inside of the corner. Like it or not, it's leant over. HEAPS! To pick it up, you accelerate (ya know, with the throttle), and the bike makes it's way to the outside of the turn and ya motor off into the distance swearing at yourself for being such a fag and braking too early.

The second scenario best describes a roundabout situation. Now, with the clutch in and coasting on round, how much good is the throttle to stand the slow moving bike up, and let you sail off swearing about the cunt in the SUV you shouldn't have had to slow for in the first place?

Learn to ride, if you think you have it sussed already, accept my suggestion to never tell anyone else how to fucking do it...Sport!

[Drew]

Thanks cassina. Yeah good point about the clutch thing - my husband does this and has been trying to convince me it is fine. I've never felt comfortable coasting corners but it is something we were going to ask about on the course on Sunday.

Trust yourself! Pulling the clutch in feels wrong to you, perhaps because you have a better natural feel than your husband.

Who's course are you taking?

[shflbm]

Took me a long time to get happy being tail happy with TDM on gravel. The mental thing about weight. The bike gives not a damn but, smaller is less worrying forshore.

What happened to the OP, I'm interested to find out what happened?

Hi, sorry I didn't get any emails telling me I had replies so here I was thinking no one cared and here you all are Lots of suggestions on here... still not exactly sure what happened though. I'm going to talk to the instructor(s) and other people about it on Sunday on the course we're going on.

[Drew]

You're right to regret your post - every other person on here has been completely sympathetic and helpful but you aren't. I was being honest - as you'll see above I genuinely don't know what happened but am trying to figure it out.

There is nothing wrong with not knowing what went wrong, but the "cold tyres" thing draws a knee jerk reaction...because it's bulshit.

Those people you think are being helpful. If they were to lead you astray in a nice and friendly fashion, are they still helpful?

[shflbm]

Trust yourself! Pulling the clutch in feels wrong to you, perhaps because you have a better natural feel than your husband.

Who's course are you taking?

ProRider's intermediate day course in East Auckland. Karel and Kevin are the instructors for the day.

[oneofsix]

You're right to regret your post - every other person on here has been completely sympathetic and helpful but you aren't. I was being honest - as you'll see above I genuinely don't know what happened but am trying to figure it out.

True you have had some good advice and questions from some.
Sympathetic, yep and they will cry for you at your funeral too, is that really the help you want? The fact that you have enrolled in the riding course says no. You were being honest, may be, but you are also being spun BS. Drop the BS, go back to square one. What did you really do? Too slow I can believe, tyres letting go I can't.
Strange bike? Are they really that different? Its not like you went from a scooter to racer, or even a cruiser to a racer, they similar styles rather than worlds apart.
Yeah, I am glad you came out of it unhurt, the bike can be fixed and you say your insurance is taking care of that, hope they do a good job and you are back out on it soon.

[george formby]

A few different scenarios have been suggested, as I've thought about it quite a bit since it happened! But I don't know exactly which one it is.

1. Speed too slow to maintain lean around corner or
2. Hand twitched on throttle in second gear pushing the back wheel out into even more lean or
3. Leaning too far or
4. Tyres too cold or
5. probably a combination of all of the above.

The thing was, I'd have been totally comfortable doing this on the ER6 and in fact had. So option 2 above probably makes the most sense as the Bandit has so much more power and I wasn't used to it.

So #1 could have led to #2 & #3 - 4 were exacerbated? Must be a nasty twitch that. Sorry. But a handful would certainly do it.
Not being used to the throttle travel & consequent power delivery at whatever revs may have caught you out, a bit of an over reaction.

If this happened to the G/F, she prefers to lose the front, though, I would immediately whisk her off to a big empty car park somewhere & get her to do figure 8's of varying sizes in different gears until she got hungry or put the hard word on me.

I bang on relentlessly about this kind of practice but you learn a huge amount about your bike, it's handling & how best to control it in a safe environment with very little chance of coming off unless you go nuts.
On the road it translates into confidence in your bike & your own ability to react properly.
When you go for your training course talk to the instructors about it. It's fun & a great way to shake of the hudus.

[bogan]

Fwiw I'm with drew on this one, if the clutch is pulled in you can't steer with the throttle.

If you feel you need to pull the clutch in, it's more than likely symptomatic of a larger issue that you should address the root cause of.

The good thing is you're still learning and know you're still learning, so any bad habits you may have picked up should be easy to correct!

[george formby]

Coasting? That's when the bike takes you for a ride innit?

[Drew]

I should say before some fucken pedant does it, that if you're in too high a gear and the bike isn't happy about it, you can "slip" the clutch to let the revs be a bit higher. Just don't completely disconnect the throttle from the rear wheel, or you're chances drop a lot.

[Drew]

Coasting? That's when the bike takes you for a ride innit?

Even worse when it's the sidecar riding you for a bit.

[george formby]

Even worse when it's the sidecar riding you for a bit.

I'm trying to visualise that... Is it like trying to make an old Ford Capri go round corners on the brakes in the rain? The farm gate school of cornering

[Drew]

I'm trying to visualise that... Is it like trying to make an old Ford Capri go round corners on the brakes in the rain? The farm gate school of cornering

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJdeYx7py2g

Yeah, slidey slidey....WHOOOAAAAAA.

[george formby]

Need a fatter swinger.