ducati on stabilisers?

I went out for a ride last summer and was going down a back road when I was flagged down by one of my mates who's an instructor. His student who had just taken his test 20 minutes earlier had just binned his test bike into the hedge on way back from the test centre (he had passed by the way)!!!
Fortunately the student was unhurt, however his mobile kept ringing with friends calling to see if he had passed or not- of course he had to say that yes he had but he had just binned it into the hedge!
At least it was only his pride that was hurt!

Originally Posted by The Polarbear

His student who had just taken his test 20 minutes earlier had just binned his test bike into the hedge on way back from the test centre (he had passed by the way)!!!
Fortunately the student was unhurt, however his mobile kept ringing with friends calling to see if he had passed or not- of course he had to say that yes he had but he had just binned it into the hedge!
At least it was only his pride that was hurt!

First and last (so far, touch wood) time I dropped a bike when I've been off it was putting it back on the centrestand at the riding school, after coming back from the test centre, elated at having passed. Doh!

[TSM]

I am just getting used to the braking on the SV.

When i started i was locking up the rear all the time, its getting better all the time as my confidence rises with using the front brake much more than i use at the moment.

This problem came to light on sunday as i was not putting enough front brake and to much rear on and just slid through the junction just as the lights turned red (lucky), as the rear locked up.

I think its scary that people could do a 2 or 3 day DAS from never riding a bike before, pass the test and be eligible to ride a 'busa.

The only limit is ultimately insurance premiums here but if you got the money....

Im so glad I worked up the cc's.... getting used to gradually heavier and more powerful bikes.... Id have binned the cbr if it had been my first bike...

just one look on the cbr forum on what was your first bike thread... most who posted the cbr6 was their first bike then added the length of time theyd had it before theyd had an accident.... my 15 yr old cbr6 nearly caught me out on the motorway the first time I hit the power band and Ive been riding 4 yrs...

as for the braking... my tendancy has been to use more front than rear... trying to get past that mental block... just remember using too much front in a bend aint good...

I was about to post back saying that I could have coped with a busa fine.
And in principal I would have been correct, I had the skills to ride a busa. The problem comes with self control. I don't have enough of it once I'm actually on the bike.
I went to a gpz when I first passed and I was, err, not exactly restrained with it.

If I'd been on something more powerful, it's entirely possible I would be have become a statistic.

I'm glad to say that I'm now alot calmer than I was just 12 short months ago.
Had enough scares to make me think twice about most stuff.


Uhh, what was this thread about? I forgot, oh well, I like to ramble.

its because most new riders havent learnt self control or had enough scares that getting what is effectively a 200mph bike is just nuts....

we have the skills (and in your case the height) to ride such a bike but in reality we dont have ALL the skill we need - we lack the skill of knowing how to handle such a powerful bike and impose self control - the original thread being about braking too much on the rear when new to biking on the sv...

one of the biggest accident groups is the born again bikers... go out get a 1200cc bike cos thats what they used to ride but so they get on a high bhp bike thinking its the same and get caught out... because the bhp on a 1200 when they rode is probably equivalent to a todays 750...

another thread derailed...

Originally Posted by Carsick

I was about to post back saying that I could have coped with a busa fine.
And in principal I would have been correct, I had the skills to ride a busa. The problem comes with self control. I don't have enough of it once I'm actually on the bike.
I went to a gpz when I first passed and I was, err, not exactly restrained with it.

I seriously looked at getting a busa (as a first bike) and selling my car to pay for the insurance. I am sooooo glad I didn't- a couple of biking mates talked me out of it. I'm quite capable of lunacy on an SV, a busa would be asking for trouble

Mind you, I read someone's post (forget their name, they were south african) that they learnt on a busa and have had it since and not once dropped or binned it!

Originally Posted by Ceri JC

I'm quite capable of lunacy on an SV, a busa would be asking for trouble

its possible to be a complete lunatic on any 600-650cc bike... on any bike in fact now I think how I rode my cg

I suppose then, our point isn't that a very powerful bike is difficult to ride as such (though there are exceptions) it's simply that if you either mess it up really badly or just have a loony moment you can land yourself in very deep doo doo without the necessary skills to get you out.
The difference on a smaller, less powerful bike is that those loony moments just don't land you in such an extremely bad situation (and it can be scary enough when it goes wrong on any bike)

As an example of that, one of my first bikes was an aprilia rs 125.
My father rode lots of bikes in the early 60,s.......Triumph, BSA 650s etc.
He had not ridden for a while but decided to have a spin on the RS. He came back absolutely amazed and said that a modern 125 would have 'creamed' the bikes he used to ride in his younger days. Pretty worrying for all those born agains going straight back to R1s etc. let alone an SV.