full lock slow speed turns

So summarising the advice.
Use high reves and low revs
Ride the clutch and don't ride the clutch
Use the back brake but you don't really need to use the breaks.

Keep your balance and relax :Motomartin

Given that its fairly certain Giles does this manoeuvre more often than he talks about doing it, the best advice is probably to pay him for a few hours of his time and he'll have you doing it hands free :D
 
I've put cones and other shit in my farmyard so I can practise figure of eights and feet up full lock turns and I've always liked doing them especially when I had my K1100LTSE. If the weathers bad I go for a ride in my grain store when it's empty and usually use Mrs P's G650GS!

I'm getting better much, much better and it's so easy.............Maybe I should start using my GS instead of my quadbike these days!:blast

FP.:D
 
GrinningGSer said:
:rob I came second in an IAM slow riding competition I'll have you know! :p
Click to expand...

I'm sure you did. Doesn't mean you can put your knowledge/skill into words without talking codswallop tho. ;)


Good job nobody ever falls over on moving bikes eh? :D

I know where are coming from (inertia and centrifugal forces keep the bike stable when it's moving) but what you actually said (as opposed to meant) was boolarks.
Plenty of people make their (moving) bikes fall over all the time, but that's the thing, it's invariably something they've done, the bike was quite happily going around the corner until they did it...
 
RobertG said:
So summarising the advice.
Use high reves and low revs
Ride the clutch and don't ride the clutch
Use the back brake but you don't really need to use the breaks.
Click to expand...

Yes I'd realised thats what the advice amounted to. :blast

Had a practice on the tesco car park tonight but trying to control both revs, clutch and throttle at just the right bight points was difficult. But TBH the biggest problem is fear of dropping it.

Try again tomorrow.

This http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kGi1tbtN0k is bl00dy impressive
 
birdseye said:
But TBH the biggest problem is fear of dropping it.

Try again tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Ah well, that is the very paradox of slow speed turning. That fear will give you a tension and tightness in, well, in the whole of you! So your arms aren't free and easy at the elbow, your head is desperate to just stare in-front, your torso is stiff and won't loosen up .... it all just becomes hard work, stiff and your ability to flick the bike about (like the bloke in your you tube clip) suffers.

There's a faith that you have to find, it's a point of no return - it's a point where the bike will fall if you suddenly have a change of heart. And so of course it's hard to learn that experience; that feeling on a big heavy bike, 'cos quite understandably you don't want to drop it. (And that's why I often bang the 'start small' drum).

So yes, you know all about the obvious clutch, brake, drive, look where you want to go stuff, but what you've got to experience, and to muscle memory, is that feeling of 'hang in the air' as your bike is perfectly balanced between falling over and driving upright.

And that just takes practise. But to get that feeling, you have to be relaxed and be able to freely move about on your bike.

So .... Don't just practise U turns. Practise being relaxed. In your carpark ride around standing up, stand on one leg, go round and round (figures of 8's .. whatever ..) with just one hand, giant slaloms with one hand, ride with no hands, etc etc. Being relaxed on a bike is key to virtually every handling skill you can think of, from knee down on the track, to a u turn in a side road.

I can't stress that enough, and that takes us full circle - you don't want to drop it, so you (quite naturally) are a bit tense, and that tension manifests itself in your arms and elbows etc, so the bike won't turn and flick, so you get tense ..... It's a vicious circle. :D

Practise being loose on a bike. :thumb
 
Something I've told all my students is that anyone can ride a bike fairly quickly but if you want to master bike control lets learn to ride slowly first :)
 
And if you do drop your bike during a tight turn don't forget to point it in the direction you want to go before picking it up again :thumb
 
...with the right amount of front brake and a little spin on the rear wheel I find I can tighten the turning circle.

I have many such images of how I would do things if I had the skill:D

In the real world...where I have moments of being in control Ive found success comes from first knowing the technicalities and then applying them with confidence.
 
Fit engine bars so if you drop it theres no damage to your bike :D I dropped my GS fully loaded and it was resting nicely on the engine bars so everything else was clear of the deck :D

My advice is just go and have a play in a big deserted car park. If you like get some chalk and mark out yourself a little course with "cones" to ride round etc a bit like that motogymkana lark ;)

Then have a bit of fun and don`t put too much pressure on yourself :comfort

I do my slow speed stuff with a constant throttle, variable clutch to feed power in and control speed with my back brake, not break ;) You can always come off the brake and clutch to ride away safely rather than all the power going and it fall over. If you have power you can get out of a wobble easily :clap

Do it little and often, I sometimes have a 20 min play on the way home from work in a car park :thumb2
 
JohnnyBoxer said:
Just paddle your feet, it makes it so much easier
Click to expand...

Spout said:
And if you do drop your bike during a tight turn don't forget to point it in the direction you want to go before picking it up again :thumb
Click to expand...

Wreford Miles said:
...with the right amount of front brake and a little spin on the rear wheel I find I can tighten the turning circle.
.
Click to expand...

att said:
Practice it on deep gravel or sand, then when you are on the road, it will be a peice of piss:thumb2
Click to expand...

You really need a 'like' button on the site. Some goods posts there. :friday
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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