Being one with the bike

[ital916]

Yuss! I have started leaning the bike and riding through corners a bit better I've started getting ym confidence up a little and i've foudn if you keep revs above 6k it sticks nicely.Gotta love two strokes aye...hmm maybe i'll just upgrade to a 250 2 stroke later lol once im better at riding that is . Anyway anyone keen to ride on saturday?

[PirateJafa]

Heck, anyone keen to ride today? :P

[Macstar]

Heck, anyone keen to ride today? :P

ATNR tonight if your skills are up to it.

[PirateJafa]

Nah, have other plans. Went for a spin out Clevedon/Kawakawa/Miranda ways for my daily dose of two-wheeled freedom.

[ital916]

Hey everyone. Got home and thought heck it's beautiful weather might as well go for a pootle. Now you all know that i've had unfortunate luck so i thought you know what, time to pull my head in and learn properly. So i remembered all the advice given to me and went for a ride that combined a little bit of twisties, traffic and in between riding. First off, since mt eden are still awaiting the arrival of my indicators i was very cautious in traffic...a habit that i have picked up is even if i know the road is clear i still have a double check just in case someone has zoomed up. Got caught in a little traffic but no worries it's good for clutch control practice. Found out i have a habit of using my two index fingers to brake when nearing a junction on keeping my pinky palm and thumb on the throttle in case some dick decides not to stop behind me but i dunno if this is a good habit? Came accross something magical though *well to me lol*, was going thorugh a few slow twisties, pushing my limits just a teenie to learn about the bike and found and that no it will not fall over lol but thats not the magical thing. During one corner i shifted my weight on the seat and bam the bike corners really well. I've seen kim do this lots but never given it a god aye. Anyway it was a wicked ride and i think i'll post a review of my bike soon since i have done a few hundred k's on her. Kim/Macstar/Squiggle/anybody just wondering if you could give me tips on weight shifting through corners. I've been practising the routine of position, gear speed *roll off throttle*, look through corner while holding throttle steady, hit apex see exit roll on throttle. Yet to get it down but getting there aye. So newbie ride this sat. SH16 maybe, nice corners but not too tough. All noobs welcome, no one shooting off in front of the group and leaving people behind! , so anyone keen?? Oh how was the council thing btw? *but please no angry council rants lol*

[EJK]

Haha good report! I could show you some good roads IF I had my bike
sounds like you are on the money lol

after 3 bins that is
Just kidding mate! lol

[breakaway]

I'm keen for a ride saturday

[PirateJafa]

I'm planning on doing a Coro loop on Sunday, probably depending on if my mate gets over his cold by then.

[ital916]

Yeah a easy cruise this sat would be cool. I forgot to add that defensive riding saved my ass on my ride. Was coming up to a corner and saw a construction sign. It looked clear but i thought the worst slowed down and went through easy, when i came around the corner it sharpened in and there was a huge massive truck pulling out. Lol my nana defensive riding does come in handy. I can also see now why kim is like buy a supersports *"buy my 929" lol*.

[motorbyclist]

Found out i have a habit of using my two index fingers to brake when nearing a junction on keeping my pinky palm and thumb on the throttle in case some dick decides not to stop behind me but i dunno if this is a good habit?

very good habit to have two fingers ready to hit the brakes at all times, and the other fingers/thumb gripping the handle. it's harder to do on tourer bikes where you sit upright and have to hold on against wind and acceleration and near impossible on dirtbikes where you have to hold on or fall off, but for sportbikes it's both easy and a very, very good habit - pays to have the clutch ready too; i typically ride with two fingers on the brake (index and middle, the rest grips throttle) and three fingers on the clutch (middle, ring and pinky, with index and thumb gripping the handle - my index fits in the bend in the handle or i'll flick the index over to get more strength on the lever when sitting at lights or when i don't need to be holding on)

Came accross something magical though *well to me lol*, was going thorugh a few slow twisties, pushing my limits just a teenie to learn about the bike and found and that no it will not fall over lol but thats not the magical thing. During one corner i shifted my weight on the seat and bam the bike corners really well. I've seen kim do this lots but never given it a god aye.

well i've posed this alot before but i'll say it again, cause it's important:

when going for a ride through twisties, shift/slide your ass across the seat for the corners and move/lean your torso in preference to putting the bike on her side; so you're hanging off the side of your bike but the bike isn't leaning too much. this is important why? because if the corner gets tighter or you need to change your line you can very easily pull the bike over onto it's side and make the corner, whereas if you're sitting upright on a leant over bike you will then have to shift your weight which can be more difficult and dangerous, if not fast enough. this will also help prevent you lowsiding and will ultimately lead to faster cornering

Uturns (and small roundabouts) on sportbikes are best done keeping the bike upright and hanging off the side

in the wet or on gravel, the best way to corner is to move your own weight but keep the bike as upright as possible

so in general, shift your ass before you shift the bike - and you might get a knee down too

if you watch motoGP on the tv they often have a camera on the tail of the bike looking forward, and you can see just how much the pro riders are moving from side to side

i'm sure i mentioned these on our ride a while ago, but don't worry: most newbies and even alot of more experienced riders who should know better don't do it either - i myself didn't do it till i got the vfr 10 moths ago even though my dad kept saying too, and different bikes often call for different riding (good luck hanging of the side of a harley, and should bloody hold on to a dirtbike with all you've got)

i hope to be riding the viffer again soon! i want to run another ride up the kaipara south head - open road, no cops, good variety of corners (only one of which is deceptive), a few straights and most importantly, no traffic

would be a good experience

[Steam]

very good habit to have two fingers ready to hit the brakes at all times, and the other fingers/thumb gripping the handle.

I've been on two riding skills courses where they say that's a bad technique. Can't remember what reasons they gave but I remember both riding courses saying that.

[motorbyclist]

I've been on two riding skills courses where they say that's a bad technique. Can't remember what reasons they gave but I remember both riding courses saying that.

if it takes 0.5 of a second to get your fingers onto the lever, at 100kph that's just under 14 metres stopping distance added. at 50kph that's 7 metres

frankly, that is pretty bloody far in an emergeny - anyone who's stopped only a few metres short of something would agree, and anyone whos hit something at lowish speed would like to have had that extra 7 or 14 metres too i bet. i know i would have made a few insurance claims by now if i didn't do it.

as i said, it isn't too great for bike where you are being pulled backwards by wind/inertia, but on sportbikes the leaning-forward stance sorts that out


i've never heard it being a bad idea, only praise - but i do want to hear their reasons against it as it is a safety issue which should be top of a biker's priority list (yes, even more important than looking cool and getting the knee down)

EDIT: might add that watching motoGP most if not all the riders do it too

[Steam]

but i do want to hear their reasons against it as it is a safety issue which should be top of a biker's priority list

Yeah, I thought the same thing as you, but both these courses said not to.
One was the Auckland RRRS course, and the other was Ridesafe in Wellington.
I don't really know enough to have an opinion either way, as I've only been riding a year and a half, still a noob with less than 20,000kms on my odo.
I did a quick search and most hits recommended covering the lever like you do, but this one didn't:

First, you need to have good CONTROL over the throttle at all times. This is really important when you're riding a modern sportsbike, which will have an incredibly sensitive throttle and be prone to wheelie-ing at a slight provocation. So you need to ride with loose arms, (you should be able to flap your elbows like you're doing the chicken dance at ANY point) which is hard to do when you're using your thumb only to hold the incredibly sensitive throttle grip and have your fingers wrapped around the brake. Plus, the brake lever gets in the way of you chopping the throttle, which is usually a much better response in an emergency situation. Which leads us to...

Second, if you have your hand on it, you're likely to use it. When you're on a motorcycle leaned over in a corner and going 60mph, it's 60-to-oh-shit in the time it takes you to use too much brake, either front or back. In an emergency situation, you only want to brake when the bike is standing upright or with enough traction that you're not going to slide. If you brake firmly while the bike is leaned over, the next thing you know, you're wrapped around a tree. So practice going from leaned into a turn to upright and then brake. What you'll find is that your first action is to chop the throttle and reverse the countersteering you were using. THEN and only then do you apply any braking.

Really, it's a good habit to get into to make sure you separate the functions. Just practice moving from one to the next quickly.

[ital916]

hey thanks for the advice on weight shifting, in all truthfulness i was having so much fun leaning today i didn't shift my weight around but next ride and from now on i will lol I don't ride with fingers covering brakes cos it's a far reach and i find operating the throttle is twitchy and jumpy with my thumb. I cover it when im slowing for things.

[motorbyclist]

ah, i see that quote and Drider talk about using all your fingers on the brake lever and only a thumb on the throttle, which is obviously a bad idea.

two fingers are all hydraulic brakes should need, and if you can't reach then adjust the lever so you can - and if the lever is to "squishy" that it comes all the way back to the hand grip you really need to bleed the brakes or get better brake lines. both my viffer and fixxer can effectively stop with just one finger, being the index which has the least leverage (i like my brakes to feel hard and responsive and it seems to give me better response and control, but that's just my preference)

and braking in a corner is a poor argument imo - that's rider intinct, habit, skill and experience; not how your fingers are spread