Riding Skills - Please read

I do notice quite a few riders tryng to hang off on the road, normally they are holding me up in my diesel tin box!

I think quite a few riders watch moto-gp on telly and think that is how to ride, quite sad really as although they think they look cool, I think they probably do not have a clue how to control a motorcyle and normally they are on something pretty damn fast.

I would also agree that hanging off on the road is pretty pointless for much (if not all) of the time, adjusting body position is fine, but proper hanging off I am sure adds nothing except possibly a bit of fun.

With you on that one.... I used to move around on sports bikes but like you said most of the folk trying it or the magazine shoots with "knee down" pose seem to have forgotten to lean the bike!!

In one of those Performance Bikle Frenzy questionairres from the early 90's was a Q "Have you ever got your knee down?" and this CX riding courier had answered "No, but I have passed plenty of riders who have..."

I hardly ever go to bike shops any more so I don't know whether there is still an obsession with knee sliders and angle grinders:D

After working in and around bike shops for many years I was worn out with the amount of bike shop ego bullshit I heard and many of the "heros" who might have done a bit of what they said came a cropper sooner or later...

Photo's for proof of knee down with a lack of lean.... Least the cost of hero blobs won't be much:D
 

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Well I'm rather afraid that I'm a rather old fashioned fart :eek:

I don't lean in, I don't get my knee down, I don't push or pull, I don't even weight my pegs, I don't press down on my pegs. I don't drop my shoulder, I don't transfer weight anywhere ... I just sit there and ride the feckin' thing :)




Nothing wrong with that at all!!!! Of the bods that I ride with, there is one who I suspect is you to a T!! 32 years in the job, ex instructor, current IAM examiner (has been for about 20 years) and sits completely still on his bike. One of the nicest riders out of all of us, and rides like he's fallen asleep. Good old quite efficiency is the hall mark of the expert ... !

I've tried fannying around in my seat on the road, and I'm genuinely slower for doing it. I am guilty of dropping my shoulder when I'm on a charge!, but other than that and consciously moving my upper body in this chess piece one forward, one diaganol movement, I sit pretty still. :thumb
 
using the back brake

over the past 4k recreational riding I have had a couple of occasions where I have gone in too hot to a bend and grabbed a little front brake. yesterdays was a bit of a classic going up the famous hartside 'race track' near penrith i was looking well ahead in good IAM style at an approaching vehicle a couple of bends ahead and misjudged my turn in point for the bend i was entering ! This was on my 848 and the bike sat up a bit but no real drama due to sensible speed.

Apart from looking where you're going as well as ahead :blast and then if possible applying more countersteering I wonder if I should have used the back brake, which is not something I've done before other than controling speed on a steep downhill bend or hairpin. Prompted the thought wonder what Giles has got to say about braking in corners ? I know it's to be avoided if possible but as a necessary evil what's the best technique ?

to widen the discussion still further when otherwise do you use the back brake and how does the linked system of the gs effect all of this ?

on my gs i use back brake for

coming to a halt before left foot down

when in slow moving traffic in town

when wanting to stop sharply using both brakes

trailing down steep bends

low speed u turns etc

hope i haven't missed a discussion of this somewhere else but this seems to be the right thin black line thread

look forward to the usual useful airing of views :thumb
 
perhaps someone can help me, what is the twisty thing on the right handlebar for?

Making noise I believe :D


I used the back brake a lot around town on sportsbikes to reduce fork dive and keep the ride smooth, also when two-up as it pulls the back end down a bot and helps reduce dive. On the GS with the funny front end it seems fairly pointless to bother with the rear brake on tarmac.

As to what to do when you f*** up a corner, well IMHO there is no "right" way to fix all errors, if there was then the worlds top racers would never crash.

However it has to be said there are plenty of wrong things you can do, such as braking hard, target fixation, sitting the bike up :blagblah

Once in too hot some techniques help such as looking where you want to go help all of the time, and others maybe sometimes....

On occasions opening the throttle a bit may help, but if your way to hot it may be you need to trail brake to scrub some more speed before hitting full lean, yet on other occasions this may send you down the road.

At the end of the day surely the best bet is to figure out why your getting in too hot and working on not getting into that position in the first place as opposed to how to get out of the shit once your already in it.
 
On occasions opening the throttle a bit may help, but if your way to hot it may be you need to trail brake to scrub some more speed before hitting full lean, yet on other occasions this may send you down the road


so using back brake in a turn is a decision based on experience - but I don't want to find I'm in the down the road category and wish I'd left it alone ! I'm doing a couple of tutored track days this summer so maybe will get a chance to play about with this then.




At the end of the day surely the best bet is to figure out why your getting in too hot and working on not getting into that position in the first place as opposed to how to get out of the shit once your already in it.


agree but when you are in one of these situations its no good wishing you weren't there - you' ve got to think about doing do something ( which might be nothing )!

thanks for the reply :thumb2
 
california superbike school

did level 1 course at silverstone national circuit this week. lots of good stuff on countersteering, throttle control, turn in points, quick steering. expensive but good as many others have found. what blast flying round brooklands, woodcote, copse etc. saving up for level 2 next year. first ever photo of me on a track !

silverstone23aug11front.jpg
 
Hey Hey! good stuff. Yep, it is pretty expensive but at least you've probably left with the confidence that if you go on your own to a track you probably won't bin it!

Nice bike (i'm jealous..!) :thumb
 
Hello gang, why cant I see the links on this thread? I use this thread as a reference from time to time..... :blast
 
Hey Giles, an interesting idea - will you be creating a sticky thread for each single topic? Otherwise, wading through pages of comments from other members will soon become tiresome JMHO
I've been riding many decades but am always open to learn new techniques (passed IAM a few years ago). But have encountered many riders who turn their nose up to extra training. Coincidentally, I was chatting to a group of lady bikers the other evening, many of whom aren't shy to brag of their riding abilities, yet mention doing the IAM or RoSPA courses & they can't see what there is to gain from it.
My attitude is: if additional training teaches you just 1 thing that saves your life, it's money very well spent.

Looking forward to watching some of your videos and reading training guides :)
 
Hey Giles, an interesting idea - will you be creating a sticky thread for each single topic? Otherwise, wading through pages of comments from other members will soon become tiresome JMHO
I've been riding many decades but am always open to learn new techniques (passed IAM a few years ago). But have encountered many riders who turn their nose up to extra training. Coincidentally, I was chatting to a group of lady bikers the other evening, many of whom aren't shy to brag of their riding abilities, yet mention doing the IAM or RoSPA courses & they can't see what there is to gain from it.
My attitude is: if additional training teaches you just 1 thing that saves your life, it's money very well spent.

Looking forward to watching some of your videos and reading training guides :)


Oooo Blimey ..... :D

We should do more on here! And there's so much we could do. I don't have a fancy GoPro, but maybe I should invest in one. The scope for little snippets on commentary, brakes and gears, acceleration sense ... you name it. So yes, should do more!
I can't see why people sneer at training either. Some spend hundreds and hundreds of pounds on fancy carbon this and Ackra that (yes I have a fancy end-can :D) but it won't make yer quicker / safer / smoother / better ... Training will though. Good training will stick with you for life too!

I'll make it my new years resolution ..... :thumb2
 
Oooo Blimey ..... :D

We should do more on here! And there's so much we could do. I don't have a fancy GoPro, but maybe I should invest in one. The scope for little snippets on commentary, brakes and gears, acceleration sense ... you name it. So yes, should do more!
I can't see why people sneer at training either. Some spend hundreds and hundreds of pounds on fancy carbon this and Ackra that (yes I have a fancy end-can :D) but it won't make yer quicker / safer / smoother / better ... Training will though. Good training will stick with you for life too!

I'll make it my new years resolution ..... :thumb2

Go for it and perhaps consider being able to Moderate it...although we'll have to stop talking about you in the cocktail lounge:beerjug:
 
Yeah yeah yeah .... :rolleyes:
 
My apologies for being so unobservant :blast that this was an old thread - resurrected by Sneaky early today! Whilst bored at work, I simply read the posts without looking at dates.

I agree that it's amazing that people care more about the brand of riding clothes or having a loud exhaust and give little consideration to improving their riding skills. However, more could be done to portray a positive attitude towards "advanced" training & in my (personal) opinion, the IAM / RoSPA could do much more to promote bike-aware driver training.
 
My apologies for being so unobservant :blast that this was an old thread - resurrected by Sneaky early today! Whilst bored at work, I simply read the posts without looking at dates.

I agree that it's amazing that people care more about the brand of riding clothes or having a loud exhaust and give little consideration to improving their riding skills. However, more could be done to portray a positive attitude towards "advanced" training & in my (personal) opinion, the IAM / RoSPA could do much more to promote bike-aware driver training.




Ummmmmmm, Maybe ...... :D

But People have got to want to go in the first place. And what puts the huge majority of riders off joining their local IAM group is that 'club' image and mindset.

I'm afraid to say that the mental image of day-glo Derek on an RT doing life savers every 200 yards (whether that's founded or not - it's the perception that many have..) is what puts off so many riders ... :thumb2

IMHO, if the clubs want to attract more new members, it's that problem that they need to address ....
 
This is an interesting old thread I've come across for the first time. I am a very critical person but more importantly, I am highly critical of myself whether driving or riding. I've been driving/riding for some fifty years and am always happy to learn. When driving/riding I always analyse what I am doing, the reason for this as it helps reduce mistakes I make. And no matter how well we hope to drive/ride, mistakes, little errors or poor judgement will always happen. I was a Class 2 driver with Giles's lot and retired twelve years ago when I was one of two Instant Response Drivers on our section. After twelve or so years in the Job, I did a basic Police Motorcycle Course with not only the most unpopular riding instructor in the Driving School but given what turned out to be an ill-maintained and unroadworthy BMW R80RT. This resulted in a 100mph crash on the M20 when 'wobble & weave' set in and was unrecoverable. Being flung down the motorway at speed resulted in gravel rash over my entire back, elbows and knees. After two years I was subsequently compensated for it. It didn't put me off riding one iota however had I been at fault, I would have had to given my future on two wheels a lot of thought.

It's natural, I suppose, to compare one's ability on four and two wheels and whilst I believe I am a very good driver, I wish I could say the same about my riding. I guess that because I now ride for pleasure rather than getting to and from work, I just don't get the miles in. I'm not crap, far from it, but I don't have the same ability on two wheels, hence the importance of self analysis.

Sorry, I've gone on a bit there but I am certain that observation of my own driving/riding and that of others is a great step forward to improving what I do.
 
But People have got to want to go in the first place. And what puts the huge majority of riders off joining their local IAM group is that 'club' image and mindset.
I agree. The most popular comments I've heard are:
- I don't want to wear a hi-viz vest
- They ride too slow
- I've been riding xx years and never had an accident
- they think too much of themselves
Actually, reading that back, I agree with 3/4 comments ;)
 
I agree. The most popular comments I've heard are:
- I don't want to wear a hi-viz vest
- They ride too slow
- I've been riding xx years and never had an accident
- they think too much of themselves
Actually, reading that back, I agree with 3/4 comments ;)
There ye go Elle get yourself back in there n teach them to behave like proper bikers :thumb2
 
There ye go Elle get yourself back in there n teach them to behave like proper bikers :thumb2
:blast Sorry Ee thought i was posting in your thread about the bitchy lady riders

(PS. note to self must get a grip:blast ( that would be a first:D )
 
I'm a great believer in "you never stop learning" and have done further training since my test back in '75 (yes, I know - I'm an old tosser!).
I enjoyed Bikesafe and thought it was well run, in addition to which it was subsidised by our local council for residents (now there's forward thinking!), but my local IAM group seem to be a little "exclusive" in that I have now contacted them three times over the last two years for course details, but no one ever gets back to me.

Question:
1. Is it something even my best friends wont tell me? :pullface
2. Should I change my deodourant?
3. Am I expecting too much or do they consider themselves so superior that they don't want to play?

Answers on a postcard please.
 


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