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Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester posted:Countersteering and brake All of these are important to consider while riding a bicycle. They turn the same, and you can lock up the rear and highside the same. ATGATT is a little tricky, however.
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Aug 2, 2012 02:21
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Fixed Gear Guy posted:It's "frou frou." i know that because frou frou is my favorite electronic collaboration Now I know what I'm going to listen to today at work! Thanks!
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Aug 2, 2012 12:46
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Rev. Dr. Moses P. Lester posted:I'm aware that the mechanical principles are the same on a bicycle, but I don't remember ever pedaling a bike and being able to notice the effect of countersteering that you feel in motorcycles. Not to mention the big effect that throttle and brake have on the steering of the bike. You should ride pedal bikes more. Heck, I should ride pedal bikes more.
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Aug 2, 2012 14:10
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An observer posted:I think I'm going to have a bit of trouble getting all the hand and foot operations in order properly. I mean, clutch, shift, throttle, brake, all in well timed sequence sounds difficult to me. Did anyone else have this problem? It's all muscle memory once you've been riding more than about 30 minutes. The MSF instructors and exercises, in my experience, are really good at introducing new things in very small steps, so you're only really conscious of adding one or two new actions at a time.
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Aug 20, 2012 19:48
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TheNothingNew posted:Not at 1 mph, anyway. World's slowest high-side. Less than confidence-building. I don't think any serious motorcyclist hasn't had a 0-5 mph "Oh god that was embarrassing" parking lot off.
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Nov 1, 2012 19:45
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Wulframn posted:One time I forgot to pop my kick stand. I saw an ex-girlfriend on the sidewalk turned around, and pulled into a parking spot. Fumbled the kickstand, and down went the bike. It wasn't meant to be.
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Nov 1, 2012 20:38
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yergacheffe posted:I broke the gear shift lever on my MSF bike with my Tell us more. What were you doing?
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Nov 3, 2012 14:30
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ThatCguy posted:I'm all of 5'6, and a Ninja 250 fits me like a glove. I can't imagine anyone over 5'9 riding one for more than 20 minutes and being comfortable. 6'2 is circus bear territory on a bike like that. It's already way underpowered, and your big frame is just going to act like an air brake on that bike. 25 hp is fine to toodle around in a parking lot and learn how to not drop the bike, but once you get out in traffic it gets old real quick. Unless you're a 5'1, 115 lb chick or 18 and paying for your own insurance, I'd skip it. The GS500 is similar, it's not a large framed machine, but you'd probably be okay on it, play around on one. Again, not exactly a screamer at ~40-45 hp or so, if you can find one real cheap it might make a good starter bike, Nope. Nope nope nope nope nope. I'm 6'1", and I started on a 14hp Yamaha built in the 80s. It was a bit slow for the interstate, but it was great around town and on country roads, and it could beat most cars off the line if they didn't know you were racing. I've owned a Ninja 250 and, while it's small, it's light, cheap, and has plenty of power. A six hour ride is a bit unfeasible, but it's a great learner. If you live somewhere where the climate makes sense, buy it now, ride it a bunch, and sell it in April if you're sick of it. You'll break even if not come out slightly ahead. The GS500 is bigger, and I could easily see riding that for a while. It's not going to be a world beater, but it's plenty powerful for a first bike. ThatCguy posted:otherwise, I'd say look at the SV or other 600-800cc machines. There's tons of good middleweight stuff out there, ranging from japanese to german, to italian. What's your budget? This man is literally trying to kill you. (Okay, not really, but bear in mind that there is a huge difference between 600cc supersports, 600cc cruisers, 600cc dualsports, and so forth. A 600cc dualsport (e.g. Kawasaki KLR650) is a really good learner that you could keep a couple of years. A 600cc supersport (e.g. Yamaha R6) is a twitchy race bike that will be terrible to learn on.)
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Nov 12, 2012 12:03
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Sagebrush posted:Is there another level up from the basic MSF that isn't the superbike school? I wouldn't mind taking another training course to brush up on things and learn some more advanced techniques, but I don't plan to own a supersport or race on a track any time soon. At least where I live, the MSF offers an Advanced Rider's Course. The website is ancient and janky and I can't find the ARC description, but if I recall correctly it's like the BRC but on your own bike and faster.
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Nov 24, 2012 05:59
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M42 posted:I think my main worry is that there will be a part on the test where I have to stop in 1st using only the brake and not the clutch. Wait, what? This is literally impossible the way you've described it. By definition, to stop a vehicle with a manual transmission, you have to disengage the clutch (i.e. press the pedal or pull the lever).
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Nov 25, 2012 18:43
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nsaP posted:Maybe try to take a later apex on right handers? There's lots of bonuses to doing this on the street anyway and it won't make the corner seem so tight. This. I definitely found my riding improving when I started turning in later and seeking a later apex through right turns.
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Dec 5, 2012 14:08
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M42 posted:Oh maaaan, I did that constantly in the MSF. Does that stop with experience? I had to keep my clutch in a little so I wouldn't rocket off every time I turned right. Yeah, it's a muscle memory thing. Practice practice practice.
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Dec 5, 2012 19:46
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One of us! One of us!
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Feb 16, 2013 22:26
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Skreemer posted:I jumped forward about 8 inches and died.  Ghost postin'
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May 4, 2013 00:34
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-Inu- posted:I took my class in the middle of Georgia summer in full leather gear. My philosophy is that it's no different than idling in traffic during summer, which is going to happen eventually unless you plan to only ride in fall/spring/winter. The Honda place up in Alpharetta? I brought my jacket and overpants to my class (Georgia in early August), and the instructor specifically told me I'd be dying out there, and to just wear pants and a long sleeve shirt.
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Jun 13, 2013 12:35
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Covert Ops Wizard posted:I had a guy who blew the box so hard the box would have had to been three times as wide to accomodate his u-turn. Maybe even wider, I'm not exaggerating; he just kinda made not even a 90* turn and just wandered off to nowhere. Somehow he passed. I was actually kinda pissed, how the hell is he gonna turn his huge Harley he was always talking about if he couldn't do it on a little 125? Guarantee it'll live in his garage after he takes it out once, so he'll probably just offer his neighbors a beer if they come by and help him turn it around.
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Jun 25, 2013 18:35
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Stitecin posted:Another 6'4" MSF course on a tiny bike guy checking in. Thankfully they have one TW200 with bald tires to save me from an Eliminator. You should try modulating the force with which you're activating the front and rear brakes, rather than shifting backwards. Counterintuitively, the more quickly you're trying to slow down, the less rear brake you should use. If you're just braking to control your speed a little bit for slow speed maneuvers, you can feel free to use 100% rear. On the other hand, while panic stopping? Barely using the rear at all.
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Jul 28, 2013 18:12
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Oxford Comma posted:So what's the deal with using the front brakes? As you brake, the weight of you and of the bike transfers forward. That gives the front tire more traction, and the rear tire less. Therefore, your front brake provides the vast majority of your braking power. Your motorcycle is a lot heavier than your mountain bike, and is a lot less apt to flip forward. When you took the MSF, you learned to squeeze the front brake, applying it gradually rather than grabbing a whole handful at once (which is, I suspect, what happened on your mountain bike). A combination of weight and mindful application allows you to use your front brake to bring your motorcycle to a rapid yet controlled stop, rather than converting it into a pinwheeling death machine. Anecdotally, when I started bicycling again after motorcycling, I swapped my brakes around such that my right hand controlled the front brake. I used the front as my primary brake, and it felt a lot more natural and a lot more controllable than the rear. Countersteering is the push-left-go-left you learned. You steer a little bit away from the intended direction of travel to make your bike fall in the direction you want to go, then you get back up again by turning.
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Jul 29, 2013 01:28
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Oxford Comma posted:So in countersteering, when you lean-left, go-left, does the bike first swerve to the right a bit before going left? You're not actually pushing to the right at all, are you? Yeah, actually. You can use this to your advantage. If I'm heading toward a pothole or a manhole cover that I don't want to go over, I can initiate a rightward lean just before I reach the pothole, and my bike's wheels will actually pass to the left of it.
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Jul 29, 2013 03:28
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Oxford Comma posted:Possibly because all ten people have explained it in ways that contradict one another, leaving me more confused than before I started asking. You passed your MSF, so you obviously know how to make bike change direction. Countersteering is something you learn by fiddling with the bike. I was riding for a few months before my MSF, so I misunderstood it as they taught it. When they said "push left go left", I thought they wanted me to push down on the handlebar, rather than very gently forward. Countersteering clicked one night when, going down an empty road, I wondered what would happen if I gently wiggled the handlebars while riding. Lo and behold, the bike started leaning!
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Jul 30, 2013 01:48
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KARMA! posted:I really don't understand people's obsession with counter-steering. It's such a non-issue. It's like explaining breathing to an energy being about to get into a human body for the first time. "I have to breathe in and out? Which do I do first?" "How will I know when to stop breathing in? Should I set a timer?" "Wait, I need to breathe more quickly when I perform a strenuous activity? Is there a rule of thumb, or should I consult a chart?"
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Jul 30, 2013 02:06
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Snowdens Secret posted:No it isn't, energy beings possessing human corpum have a loving terrible time grasping basic things like breathing and pulse without prior explanation. We just write it off as 'electrocution' Well yeah, but once you get the meat shell initialized, it mostly takes care of itself as long as you heed the low-food, low-water, and high-waste indicators.
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Jul 31, 2013 00:55
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Sagebrush posted:
This is SOP for KTMs.
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Oct 20, 2013 05:35
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HiggsBoson81 posted:Thanks for the advice guys, also passed my BRC today. Only 3 points off for taking the curve at the end a little too slow. Everyone in my class passed with me, didn't really get the feeling they fail many people. In my experience, there's a little bit of a weed out. If you're too nervous/incompetent to learn these basic skills, the instructors are good at quietly taking you aside and convincing you to maybe take the class again later. That happened to one person when I took the class -- she was so slow and timid with everything that, at the end of the first day, I noticed the instructor having a conversation with her in private, and she didn't come back the next day. Another person (on the next range over) crashed his or her bike on the second day and, as far as I know, got back on and finished the class. Safety Dance fucked around with this message at 23:02 on Oct 20, 2013 |
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Oct 20, 2013 23:00
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Russian Bear posted:You guys were right, they had loaners and bonus is I know my head shape is a good fit in Nolan helmets. I passed! I ended up being really good at slow maneuvers and got the box first try. We rode Honda nighthawks and boy do those drum brakes blow rear end. Caliper disks are way better right? Yaaaay! Congratulations! Everyone should have to ride with drum brakes once, so they know how good disk brakes feel. Basically, they're capable of stopping harder, and you get a much more linear feeling out of them.
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Oct 28, 2013 01:42
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KodiakRS posted:I know that if I ever had to make an emergency stop with drum brakes I'd be blowing all sorts of things out my rear end. The last time I had to emergency stop using motorcycle drums, I wound up on my rear end.
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Oct 28, 2013 06:34
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Pompous Rhombus posted:A little OT, but as someone who's very comfortable riding bikes but wants to learn to drive a manual car, any tips? Figure out where the friction point is, figure you're going to slip the clutch for 1-2 seconds when starting out in first, then 0-1 second for every other gear shift. After that, take your foot off of the clutch pedal and keep on truckin'.
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Nov 18, 2013 01:46
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OSU_Matthew posted:That seems rather counterintuitive--wouldn't you want riders out practicing? Especially with all the training you receive, I would imagine that you'd be alright out on your own, even if it was a probationary license to start on. If new riders (basically) don't get to ride for the next 11 months, I doubt most would even remember what the clutch is by the time they get on a bike again. It's the French Canadian way!
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Nov 18, 2013 14:34
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for sale posted:So I ended up getting a KLR 650 for really cheap after plenty of nailbiting between high and low CCs. After reading the comments I probably should have gone lower CC since i'm not planning on freeways any time soon, but overall i'm still satisfied with my choice. The one I got is pretty beat up, but it's mechanically sound and good to know that i'll be investing money in something that will last for a long time. That DMV MSF form can't come soon enough, I am jumping out of my goddamn skin to romp on that thing. You've made the best of all possible decisions.  KLR 650 by camerazn, on Flickr Tweetybird/Tractor HOOOOOOOOOOO!
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Dec 4, 2013 04:49
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| # ¿ May 14, 2024 01:26 |
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Low displacement dual sports are easy mode for the MSF. Not to downplay your having passed, but they're really forgiving.
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Apr 14, 2014 15:48
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