Hi guy i just got my first last fri its a 2002 yamaha r6 i have put a little over 200 miles on it the only problem i'm having is taking turns 90o at like 20-25 MPH and 180o turns are hard for me i dont know if just am not confident anofe in the bike are what i look though the turn and lean with the bike but i dont know how far i can lean on it i feel like the back end is going to come out on me oh ya and going from a stop on a hill is a bitch but i think that one is just going to take time on the bike any help any pointers will help me out alot thanks

-Thomas

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tdemsko &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hi guy i just got my first last fri its a 2002 yamaha r6 i have put a little over 200 miles on it the only problem i'm having is taking turns 90o at like 20-25 MPH and 180o turns are hard for me i dont know if just am not confident anofe in the bike are what i look though the turn and lean with the bike but i dont know how far i can lean on it i feel like the back end is going to come out on me oh ya and going from a stop on a hill is a bitch but i think that one is just going to take time on the bike any help any pointers will help me out alot thanks

-Thomas</TD></TR></TABLE>

Grats on your new bike! It takes time in learning the bike, if your not comfortable turning, don't push it. It's pretty hard to make it slide out, unless its wet and slippery. Also make sure your tires are warmed up before practicing

When you stop on a hill, try putting your left foot down and holding the rear brake with your right foot. Balance the clutch and throttle to where you can slowly release pressure on the rear brake. Once you feel the bike can hold on the hill just slowly add more thottle and slowly release the clutch.

I'm bad at trying to word things, but if you get the picture thats how I learned

Gl ride safe

 

i think what hurt my confidents in the bike was i went around a turn going slow and went over some pine needles and the backend slid alot the pine needles were a little wet too

How do you warm up the tire just ride for like 5 or 10 mins?

i did not think i could use the rear break when on a hill because thats the wheel that you want to turn so i have been useing the front useing the rear seems like it would be alot easyer i dont know what i was thinking

as long as you are giving it a little gas shoud a be able to lean a good amout on its side and it not want to slide on me sorry about all the new be Q? i just have never had a 400LBS bike under me i really thought this would not be this hard for me

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tdemsko &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">i think what hurt my confidents in the bike was i went around a turn going slow and went over some pine needles and the backend slid alot the pine needles were a little wet too

How do you warm up the tire just ride for like 5 or 10 mins?

i did not think i could use the rear break when on a hill because thats the wheel that you want to turn so i have been useing the front useing the rear seems like it would be alot easyer i dont know what i was thinking

as long as you are giving it a little gas shoud a be able to lean a good amout on its side and it not want to slide on me sorry about all the new be Q? i just have never had a 400LBS bike under me i really thought this would not be this hard for me</TD></TR></TABLE>

On a hill, I leave the bike in first and cover the rear brake. I let the clutch up enough so the bike would roll forward if the brake were not on, then I ease off the brake and give it gas once it's rolling.

 

like i said i know with time i will get the hill part its like whenyou first start driving a 5 speed car the hill is your biggest concern but the turning thing is jsut killing me i know i will get it with time its just i have no confidents to even try so i go like 10 MPH around the turn and going 30 around a turn and going 10 are why diffarnt so i dont see how i can get it in less i try it

 

Sometimes you'll have better success in turns when you're riding more quickly. At lower speeds, the bike is less stable. You have to get a lot more creative with your feet and body weight in those tight turns.

This is what MSF teaches you (so I'm told)...

 

Yes, what ross said. The slower you ride, the harder it is to lean the bike. When you do lean it, go with the flow, lean with the bike. Try to stay in the same position as you would riding in a straight line, just leaning.(sound right?)

Try not to press the brakes when in a turn

As for warming up the tires, diff. tires take longer to get em nice and soft.

Stop being afraid of the bike, or you will have a harder time learning.

 

For the slower turns, it helps to weight the outer footpeg and keep your body on top of the bike. This goes against the usual convention of leaning with the bike, but it helps for the slow turns.

As always, look where you want to go. A basic tenet taught in MSF, and it holds true.

To warm up the tires, do not swerve side-to-side as you may see some people do. It does not heat up the tires enough. The most effective way to heat up your rubbers is to accelerate and brake hard - not hard enough to do wheelies/stoppies.

 

Take a Motorcycle Safety class. This will help a lot with fundamentals and will help to get you more safe and confident.

 

can you take one of them even when its cold i been in the 50-30s here in saint louis

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 05 600RR &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Take a Motorcycle Safety class. This will help a lot with fundamentals and will help to get you more safe and confident.</TD></TR></TABLE>

MSF = Yes...and read Nick Ienatsch's and/or Lee Park's books on sport riding.

 

When it’s really cold out, tire will be slippery, no matter how you ride. You probably won’t notice with the way you’re riding unless you accidentally grab a handful of throttle and lowside. Put the bike up until the summer. Find a friend with a small standard and attempt to learn how to ride on that. Go back to your bike when you have –at least- 6 months of experience. It’s not a beginner’s bike and you’re going to have a lot harder time trying to learn how to ride rather than if you would have gotten something a little more tame.

You’re acting like how you should act. If you’re on something wobbly and leaning yourself further into a turn (danger), your instincts are going to tell you that it’s wrong. As long as you have a clean surface area and a nice even throttle hand, you can scrape pegs at 30mph in a big circle in the middle of a parking lot, all day long.

Also, when you start to go over about 15-20mph, you have to counter steer. Try this, get on a long stretch of straight road with a speed limit of about 40mph and ride in the center of the lane. Now to go the left side of the lane, press on the left handle bar to turn the wheel to the right and the bike will move left. This will work all the time when you’re at speed. Turning this way is going to make life so much more easier on you than trying to turn the bike with your weight. Essentially, you are counter steering at that point, but doing so unconsciously and that is causing slow reaction times. Just remember to start with a little, slow, smooth, even push at first, because on that bike, a quick jab of of like ¼” will probably put you into a really sharp turn if you’re not prepared for it.

Edit: The Bike will be able to lean further than you'll ever want to at this point. You'll know that the bike is leaning too far when your pegs start scraping. Since they have springs on them and feelers on the bottom, you won't loose it when you feel that, but that means you don't have much further to go. At that point you'll be able to reach out and touch the ground because you'll be that low. If you are scraping pegs how ever, you're riding wrong...your body(knee/leg) should touch down before the pegs ever do. It's proper riding position. But, you won't have to worry about that, and I don't reccomend doing so until you have a lot of experience and are on a track.

 

For what its worth....

Just take it slow. In a sport where you are one mistake away from inherent harm or death it helps to underestimate your abilities; as a sportbike tends to do the opposite.

Always take turns slow at first and learn how your bike reacts as each time you add a little more throttle and lean. Always look as far into the turn as possible. Look where you want to go; NOT 10-15' in ahead of your front tire and not where you don't want to go (ie that pothole, that gravel patch, etc). This not only helps you eye your line but gives you more time to react to anything unforeseen in your path. Learn how much throttle it takes to to counteract the forces of your weight and countersteer as your lean takes you closer to horizontal.

A good basic rule to remember is that tactfully applying throttle in a turn will help increase your turn angle while applying brakes will do the opposite. To get a better idea of this try going through a without applying throttle. Most likely you have done this already when going through a turn with the throttle closed and the compression of your engine casuing 'braking'. To experience a more extreme case try it in neutral. (This is to be done with extreme caution.) You probably notice how much the throttle helps you and how much you are already using it to pull you through the turn.

There is a relationship of how much throttle you can apply per percentage of lean angle. They are the inverse of one another. Learn them well so you can get back on the throttle sooner. By leaning off you can give yourself the advantage by uprighting the bike sooner and therefore allowing application of throttle sooner.

Experiment with your body positioning and learn how leaning off affects the characteristics of your bike. Wear leathers.

Always position your foot on the peg so that you are on the ***** of your foot. I like to put enough pressure on the soles of my boots so that I can distinctly feel the peg just slightly in front of the ball of my foot almost in between the ball and my toes. Some people feel the need to sand or scrape away a portion of the sole material so they get a better feel.

Buy the best tires you can afford for your application (street/ track). Many beginners make the mistake of buying an expensive new bike (which usually comes equipped with shitty rubber) and thinks that they'll buy better rubber when the tires clearly need replacing. Don't make that mistake. A crash while you are in the initial stages of learning can be detrimental to your confidence and comfort level on the bike as you progress.

At your point, always always always start your turns slow and work on your line and body position as you increase throttle throughout the turn and as you pass your apex. You can still have fun with your exit speeds which are a lot more forgiving as you have hopefully already looked through the turn and nailed your line. Faster entry speeds will follow as you begin to know the road, your line, and your bike.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MSF &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How many times can you take a turn too fast? Once
How many times can you take a turn too slow? As many as you want.</TD></TR></TABLE>

The technique and speed will follow so long as you are injury free and able to practice. So take it one step at a time.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tdemsko &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">the only problem i'm having is taking turns 90o at like 20-25 MPH and 180o turns are hard for me i
-Thomas</TD></TR></TABLE>

When you're making very low speed turns like 180o U-turns, you will probably have to do the opposite of what you do for turns at speed. You leave your body upright while leaning the bike over. You push the bars to force the front wheel to turn in the same direction you are turning. In a high speed turn you push the bars to force the front wheel away from the turn direction so the bike flops over into a lean.

Ok, this post made it sound stupidly complex, but basically what I'm sayin' is, you need to take low speed turns differently than a normal at-speed type turn.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tdemsko &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">can you take one of them even when its cold i been in the 50-30s here in saint louis</TD></TR></TABLE>

You shouldn't be on the public roads at your current skill level,you really need more seat time in a closed environment until you are a little more skillful and comfortable. throw throttle control into the mix of your current inability to turn in a perfect environment (simple right hand turn) and you are very dangerous not only to yourself but potentially to others

 

go to an empty parking lot and paractice I always see people in the parking lot of the high school up the street on the weekend riding around good way since its empty you dont have to worry bout hitting anybody, and if you happen to loose it there wont be a crowd to laugh at you. but yeah take an MSF

 

GO FAST ON STRAIGHTS DISMOUNT AND PUSH THRU TURNS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

the only way you will find out where the limit is at indefinitely, is to push yourself past it. but at your current riding level and the weather conditions where you are at, you need to focus on geting comfortable with the bike, practicing proper form and technique, building confidence and constantly practicing correct riding so that it becomes second nature.

once you are a proficient rider, you wont worry about the rear end coming out on you anyways. you may actually like it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Tdemsko &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">can you take one of them even when its cold i been in the 50-30s here in saint louis</TD></TR></TABLE>

That would be the best time to take it cuz then you learnt to ide in bad weather. Definately gives ya a lil more than someone who took theirs in the summer.