Tight U-Turns

[yorkie_chris]

The SV does have a fairly wide turning circle, IMO you shouldn't be worried about the throttle, just keep the revs up and use the clutch friction zone to get you round it. (don't touch the front brake)
Practice makes perfect and carparks out of hours are excellent, U turns and figure 8s are good practice I found before doing my test. It's all a confidence thing, just chuck it around untill its second nature.

The SV has a terrible steering lock. Ultimately the only way to get a tight U-turn is to hit the steering lock as soon as possible when you start turning. Don't confuse this with turning it to full lock and falling over - it's easy to do! Build up slowly and make sure you keep the revs up.

It helps to counter lean when you do a tight turn - try to stay on top of the bike, if you lean the other way far enough (as in looking like you're trying to get your knee down on the side of the bike that isn't leaning) you can do really tight turns. I've seen pics of a goldwing being u-turned that way and it needs lots of practise/confidence that you're not going to drop it.

That has helped me too. I am struggling with the turning it around, ALways seem to put my feet down. Something in me is saying YOUR GONNA FALL. I did a great couple of turns on the test and lessons on a ER5n . The sv though does seem to have afairly wide turning circle compared to the ER.
Revs help, get the clutch slipping, if you keep the revs steady I find it is one less thing to worry about. Back brake trailing too is a good tip. But I must also say Practice. That is one thing I will be doing more of!

When I did my CBT I was encourgaed to use the back brake for a u-turn, but I did my DAS elsewhere and was promptly told to ditch the back brake as learning to do it without would encourage better technique and balance. I was dubious at first but it worked really well. Each to their own obviously. As M.C pointed out the most important thing is looking where you want to go.

I find a combination of dragging the back brake, counter-leaning and looking down the road in the direction I want to go (rather than where I want to end up) all help. Also several sessions in an empty carpark practicing helps, but make sure you don't allow your engine/clutch to overheat. HTH.

look where you want to go

...as you fall off...

I just lean it over as if I'm taking a tight hairpin, keep the power on, don't put too much lock on, and bobs me sons uncle! Be brave cos if you go scared at any point you'll probly end up on yer R's.

Like this and I fully recommend it as the turning circle is much smaller!
Watch at 30 - 40 seconds into the video at the tiny turning circle he achieves.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=_1BJ-RgcU1I

Pity you can't learn to do this on a bouncey castle!

[Mark_h]

Being a bit of a U turn officianado (failed first test on it so practiced lots) Posts 4 & 9 are spot on. Extra thing that helps is to weight your outside peg. Basically push down on the foot on the outdside of the turn. And NEVER go as far as the steering lock. Is OK to knock it at some point but never leave it hard agaisnt the stop as you'll be unable to correct it in that direction.

Once you get the hang of it you can actually turn the bike tighter than full lock with a bit of lean, but basically do like Fizzwheel says and practice it when ever you can.

Always looks a lot cooler pulling off a nice U-turn rather than paddling it around or going for a three pointer.

Enjoy....

[Sid Squid]

As said above:

Hold constant throttle, don't moderate it - it's too difficult to roll it in and out smoothly at low speed, you'll load up the front suspension which changes the steering geometry and makes it harder to control, only slip the clutch if you need to go very slowly, and if you do need to don't try to moderate that either - hold both constant and control the speed with degrees of pressure on the back brake.

Practice controlling like this in a straight line first, speed up slow down just by regulating rear brake pressure - you might be surprised at how slowly you can go with confidence using these techniques. When you're happy with this, then try turning - you'll be doing feet up walking pace full lock u-turns before you know it.

One of the advantages of keeping the revs up and slipping the clutch is that you get a gyroscopic effect from the rotating mass in the engine. When your road speed is up, you get a similar effect from the rotating wheels, which is why bikes are stable when rolling along and unstable when moving slowly. Car drivers who come to bikes late (like me) often take a while to feel comfortable using the revs and slipping the clutch, but it is the right way to do it.

I'm with scWirral on this one ... as a car driver of 20 years before I did my CBT and DAS, I ended up having to have an extra lesson purely to master slow-speed riding. Now this was mainly due to me falling on me R's (as someone put it) during a DAS lesson :/ It's fine practising in empty car-parks but if you lack confidence then the first thing you tend to do (well I did!) when confronted with 4" kerbs was to grab a fist full of front brake ... hence the bike became unstable and I dropped it

I think all the tips here are great though, and most of them echo what I learnt on that extra lesson:

1. Keep the revs constant.
2. Let the clutch out slowly until you start moving.
3. When you actually START moving, go straight ahead for a few metres first!
4. Then turn the handle-bars.
5. As you do 4. turn your head and look back down the road.
6. Try and keep the revs constant!
7. As you let the clutch out, if you find yourself going faster than you need or are comfortable with, apply a little rear brake (but not too much!) - don't ease off the throttle!
8. Sit up straight and complete the turn

I was lucky that after my test I had to do a U-turn every time I got home after going out on the bike and can concur that practise helps an awful lot! Have confidence in yourself, and the bike too, and you won't go far wrong

Pete