U-Turn - any advice ?

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

Saying that once you've passed your test, who really gives a sh*te whether you put your foot down or not.

Fizzwheel, that is a good statement, but it's nice to be able to still pull off the basic maneouves.

Oh well, I'll keep practicing

Originally Posted by Graciepants

if it helps i cant, i know i have a sports bike and their turning circles are meant to be shockingly awful, but i simply cant do it, ive even dropped mine doing one. now if i have to do one i sit on it and drive it using the clutch and just gently paddle it round

You dropped it again?!

I "can" do it on mine but how wide a turn is the question! I find it much more difficult on faired bikes because it affects your throttle hand when on full lock, usually. That's unless you specifically adjust your hand prior to doing the turn.

One thing I find helps - can't remember if I learnt this for my DAS or not - is to exaggerate the leaning the other way; i.e. I ensure that I deliberately move my upper body the other way, and move myself on the seat if needed, to keep my head directly above the bike. It's too natural to lean as I turn so I need to do this to ensure I don't fall over!

At the beginning of my DAS the instructor told me to go up and down the road a few times to assess my riding to get a good idea of wot i needed to learn.

then he asked me to do a u-turn and for the life of me i couldnt do one!!!

he pulled me up and calmly said to me that when he asked me to go up the road and back a few times i did six (yes 6....3 either end of the road) perfect u-turns. when he told me this i instantly realised that everyone had warned me about the u-turn being a failure if i put my foot down etc that i had built it up to be summit scary and near-on impossible in my head.

try to counter balance the bike a bit with your body-weight helps but more importantly, be positive and use the rear break with clutch control to 'feather' it round......and look where you wanna end up not at the tarmac coz ya'll end up there instead!

even my instructor sed in the real world u may never need to do a u-turn, its jus a control skill for slow speed manouvers more than anyfink

soz for long post

Amp

Originally Posted by muffles

You dropped it again?!

i've dropped it twice, once on the first time i ever used it - tried to do a u-turn uphill on a wet icy road (yes im an idiot) and once trying to get it up the curb (generatory cover paint story)

still cant do u turns unless i paddle it round using the clutch. not gonna even try lol

Its achievable, even on mine (which makes a supertanker look like its going round on a sixpence at low speed), but you may as well get off and push or paddle if you feel more confident doing it that way.

You only need to do one for your test, but it is a handy skill to be able to pull out of the bag when you need it.

I even managed to do my on a hill when I did my test,...now trying it between car park bays it all goes "Pete Tong".

Oh well, like fizzwheel said "who gives a ****e once your passed" - so will adopt that principal for now.

But will still keep practicing until I pull off a smooth arc without foot going down

Originally Posted by Graciepants

i've dropped it twice, once on the first time i ever used it - tried to do a u-turn uphill on a wet icy road (yes im an idiot) and once trying to get it up the curb (generatory cover paint story)

Lol talk about throwing yourself in at the deep end!

Did you sort out the generator paint now?

Look where you want the bike to end up and shift your weight to the outside of the turn a little. Oh and don't go too slowly, use the bikes momentum to keep it upright. It's a bit like ice skating.

[dizzyblonde]

Originally Posted by fizzwheel

. Saying that once you've passed your test, who really gives a sh*te whether you put your foot down or not.

+1. From the woman who has perfected the non-turn on an SV




Although I can do it when nobody is looking

[Dave20046]

Put my foot down on one today actually because I took it a bit sharp and almost toppled.
The SV is one of the only bikes I've ever ridden that I can u-turn (bearing in mind the others were 125s!), since my test I've never really done one as such but you still use the slow speed control to turn. Don't know if I can still do it never really given it much thought.