Problems with U-turns... Help please

[yungatart]

I have never been able to master the art of a U turn...been practicing lately, in anticipation of doing my full. Every one has resulted in a drop! hXc is most distressed with me!
I look in the direction I am going, get part way through the turn, then over she goes.
I cannot pass my full until I can successfully complete a U turn with both feet up.
It is starting to really piss me off! (I feel so bloody incompetent!)
Any advice would be appreciated, particularly if it will help!

[Krusti]

I have never been able to master the art of a U turn...been practicing lately, in anticipation of doing my full. Every one has resulted in a drop! hXc is most distressed with me!
I look in the direction I am going, get part way through the turn, then over she goes.
I cannot pass my full until I can successfully complete a U turn with both feet up.
It is starting to really piss me off! (I feel so bloody incompetent!)
Any advice would be appreciated, particularly if it will help!

Don't forget that it's only a tighter round a bout, practice wider turns and gradually tighten them up.

Try using only your rear brake for control.

Find a carpark and practice a figure eight, gradually decreasing the radius of turn.

Don't forget, it's not that you can't do it, it's more like your brain won't let you.

YOU CAN DO IT.....

[justsomeguy]

You tried doing really large U turns, or even riding in a circle? Then slightly smaller ones?

"I think" that "you think" you can't do U turns and now when you try them your brain goes ......... - A U TURN!!!

On a small bike I preferred doing them in second. As for looking where you need to - I try and look towards my tail light - but at a point that is at eye level or higher.

That's what I do, not sure if it's any use to you.

Good Luck young lady

[justsomeguy]

Don't forget that it's only a tighter round a bout, practice wider turns and gradually tighten them up.

Try using only your rear brake for control.

Find a carpark and practice a figure eight, gradually decreasing the radius of turn.

Don't forget, it's not that you can't do it, it's more like your brain won't let you.

YOU CAN DO IT.....

Whoaaa...... Hey Krusti ..... two people thinking the same thing and posting at the same time...... weird.....

[Krusti]

Whoaaa...... Hey Krusti ..... two people thinking the same thing and posting at the same time...... weird.....

Yeah, we should get together one day and make more little know it alls.............not

[Mr Merde]

It sounds like you are going too slow on the exit of the turn.

Try giving it a little acceleration as you straighten up. This should bring the bike upright.

My test ( all those years ago) finished with the transport cop having me do figure 8's and circles on the gravel parking out the back of their base. Figure 8;s got tighter and tighter till he was sure I was confident. Go and practice some of these (but not on gravel). They will get your skills working. Start real loose and slowly tighten them up. I find empty car parks are good for this.

Hope I've helped

Chris

[jade]

look at the horizon and not at the road and you will be sweet, trust me

[Mr Merde]

Whoaaa...... Hey Krusti ..... two people thinking the same thing and posting at the same time...... weird.....

Eve spookier. Three people with the same answer.

Merde

[Krusti]

I think your real problem is not the tightness of the turn but more the curb on either side. So practicing in an open space will negate this effect.

[twinkle]

Try doing it on a bicycle first? Less expensive and painful to drop

[merv]

OK they are meant to be feet up turns and what no-one else has mentioned is if you are going to take it nice and easy, practice like crazy (as in do it a lot of times in a carpark or somewhere) slipping the clutch.

Come up to the point you are going to turn, whip the clutch in and then turn slowly keeping the bke as upright as possible and just feather the clutch out lightly just enough to keep it moving and just keep on doin that through the turn. All the time keep the bike as upright as possible. If it feels like its getting away on you whip the clutch in again, if it feels like its going to sharpen up and lean over, just let the clutch out a little bit more and all the time just keep your throttle nicely under control. Avoid getting your bike anywhere near its steering head stop because the second it hits that you are going to tip inwards unless you have the bike dead upright. Hopefully they aren't going to make you do a U-y that is that tight.

Yeah I know, easy for me to say, not so easy to master.

You see the alternative is dirt bike type U-turns where you zoom around hard with your foot down, but these guys want foot up so that's no good.

[yungatart]

Thanks for your replies so far.
I will try starting off with bigger turns and gradually get smaller. Funny thing is I don't much like roundabouts either...
I do look at the horizon, not the road.
As for going too slow on the exit of the turn, can't be mate...I don't get to the exit!! I fall over before that.
Poor Mstrs is despairing of me ever getting there, as am I.
I probably now have the mental block firmly in place, will take superhuman skills to remove it I fear.

[Aitch]

Practice, parctice and practice.

When I did a defensive riding course in 1980 something we spent a lot of time just weaving in and out of cones at very low speed. Riding fast is easy, riding slow isn't!

[Macktheknife]

One of the most common things, believe it or not, is going too slow in a U-turn.
Balance on a bike depends on motion, (unless you are a guru) and if you do not have enough forward motion you tend to fall over.
Another common problem is people freak out and think they need to use the brake, and go for the front, if you are going slow and have the bars turned, as soon as you use the front brake you will almost always tip in and drop it.
The only way to fix these problems has already been suggested above, practice in a large area like a carpark, start with big circles and figure 8's, then gradually get smaller,
use the rear brake only if you have to,
keep your mind on the job at hand, not on your fears.
Keep some momentum going, it gives you balance.
Have fun with it.

[Finn]

Try this:

1) With your right foot on the ground, lean the bike over about 30 degress.
2) Turn the steering full lock to the right.
3) Rev the snot out of the engine.
4) Check the mirrors to make sure all is clear.
5) Drop the clutch.
6) Hang on.

Most importantly, remember to indicate.