Am I not cut out for biking?

[StevRS]

And try to relax your arms so you're not resisting steering with the arm you naturally push into the corner with - apparently it's quite common...

[mitzy]

lawrence567 said:

mitzy said:

lawrence567 said:

mitzy said:

Why do you think I go for a bike with big loud exhaust

A girl has to dream.


Thats my garage space gone !

Nice to see you back Chilli

LOL your in trouble later!

How do you get those little icons?

when you go to "reply to topic" above where you type in your reply there are three sections above

formatting help
Smiles
Rules of posting

Click on smiles and another box will pop up with all the smilees click on one and it will be added to your post.

Enjoy!

[lawrence567]

[trumpet600]

lawrence567 said:

[Distant]

black-k1 said:

Distant said:

I found a couple of quiet, wide roundabouts close together and just went round and round and round for about an hour one night. Remember the speed you went in at the first time and force yourself to increase it by just a couple of miles an hour. Also, practice braking in the corner (gently and with both brakes) so you know how the bike will react. I regularly ride out to Milton Keynes just so I can get some good practice on roundabouts!

While I agree that it’s good to practice you should never push yourself faster than you are comfortable with even if you were going faster last time you did a particular bend. As for braking in a corner I would not recommend you practice that until you are completely confident with corners (not Rossi level but relaxed, smooth and progressive.) Braking in a corner is an absolute last resort and only used when riding around the problem is not an option. Get the confidence to ride around first then think about braking.

Obviously it's what ever works for you as an individual, I'd rather have a little practice at very gentle braking in the relative safety of a quiet roundabout with plenty of run off so that I'll have a little idea of how the bike will react if(when) I have to do it for real. Hopefully that'll give me a better chance of staying on if the response of the bike isn't a complete suprise... Obviously I hope I'll never have to do it for real, but I'll be a bit more prepared if I do. It helped me understand the bikes handling more, though I understand it might not be for everyone. Maybe that's running before you can walk in this instance though.

As far as forcing yourself to corner faster than you're comfortable with, I would never EVER do this on every day riding, but I think its a good way of improving confidence on a "practice session" lapping a wide, quiet roundabout, as long as you increase speed in tiny amounts and you've got plenty of room to sort yourself out when you bottle it. Again, its each to his own, but it helped me a lot.

Oh - and hold the handlebars like you're holding an egg, not too tight to squash it but not so loose as you'll drop it. Thanks to my DAS instructor for that one too!

[toxgobbler]

Pretty much as said above, you just need miles under your belt, although maybe don't buy the most expensive bike as your first, just in case

[Foster2008]

I passed my CBT 2 years ago, loved every minute of it and i was only on a 50! not much of a step up but now have a yammy rxs100, and the brakes are something to be desired. so i will not be brakeing around any corners anytime soon!!

[Momentofmadness]

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it, but do you know about counter steering? You don't need to worry about how it works just find a quiet car park and practice.

Push the left bar to go left , push the right bar to go right - once you can do this conscioulsy then your confidenece will grow

[King Herald]

aph202 said:

Hi all,

......To top this off, chatting to a colleague of mine, he told me he'd spoken to a (very old and wise!) biking friend about my challenges who had apparently said that if I'd not got the hang of cornering immediately (and we're not talking knee sliding here!) then biking was definitely not for me and it would be dangerous for me to pursue it (that is over and above the inherent dangers of biking)......

Hey, you got some nice colleagues there dude.

I had a morbid fear of cornering in the wet, after unloading it a few times from riding too fast on old tyres. I found I'd freeze, and from being a fast and smooth dry rider I'd be like a big gurl when it rained, and I'd have people passing me on the outside I was going so slow.

It took a long while to loosen up, but to this day I still have a fear of rain, and tend to see it as a thick coat of Mobil 20/50 on the road rather than just a little near-harmless precipitation.

You need to practise more, and not by trying to go fast, just get used to taking your time, on quiet roads.

[aph202]

Momentofmadness said:

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it, but do you know about counter steering? You don't need to worry about how it works just find a quiet car park and practice.

Push the left bar to go left , push the right bar to go right - once you can do this conscioulsy then your confidenece will grow

Counter steering was mentioned at one point by one of my instructors, but another thought that might be running before walking. It's certainly something I hope to master at some point though.

Thanks again to all who have offered encouragement and indeed a small amount of sex advice. This has produced far more response than I ever hoped for and I value it all!

I shall keep you posted re progress!

Cheers again,
Adrian.

[Mr Scruff]

Practice practice practice... I'm still rubbish but only been riding about 1000 miles so far. People keep on telling me that it'll come eventually and not to worry about it, so I don't!

I'm never going to be the fastest rider out there but I don't really care that much, know my limitations and stick to them, at least til I get to play on a track.

[Chilli]

aph202 said:

Momentofmadness said:

Not sure if anyone has mentioned it, but do you know about counter steering? You don't need to worry about how it works just find a quiet car park and practice.

Push the left bar to go left , push the right bar to go right - once you can do this conscioulsy then your confidenece will grow

Counter steering was mentioned at one point by one of my instructors, but another thought that might be running before walking. It's certainly something I hope to master at some point though.

Thanks again to all who have offered encouragement and indeed a small amount of sex advice. This has produced far more response than I ever hoped for and I value it all!

I shall keep you posted re progress!

Cheers again,
Adrian.

Mate,
IIRC above 25mh or so, counter steering is the only way to steer...you're doing it already, just don't realise it.

[Ian Geary]

I'm in this boat too, having passed a couple of months ago in Summer.

In the wet I stay upright, and find myself slowing down for corners which in the car I wouldn't blink at. On twisties I hold up 1.1 corsas, and have been overtaken by "L" plate 125s.

I am however getting better, as my experience is beginning to over-rule the doubts in my head telling me the bike will slide away if I take it more than 2 degrees off vertical!

Approaching a fairly fast corner (50mph +) I try and tell myself to:

- look (either at the road going away, or the vanishing point, which is basically the point where the road becomes invisible round the bend) and

- lean (both with my ar$e shifting the bike down, and by pushing away with the hand nearest the bend aka counter steering)

- keep it smooth: no shutting the throttle off suddendly and absolutely stay away from the front brake

it helps to get to know your route, as some bends look blind, but open up loads.


But as people say, the bike will lean more than you think to the point of scratching pegs etc (but maybe not in the wet!)


Every time I get back in my car it amazes me how damn easy it is - it almost feels like cheating

Ian

[wiliferus]

Ian Geary said:

I'm in this boat too, having passed a couple of months ago in Summer.

In the wet I stay upright, and find myself slowing down for corners which in the car I wouldn't blink at. On twisties I hold up 1.1 corsas, and have been overtaken by "L" plate 125s.

I am however getting better, as my experience is beginning to over-rule the doubts in my head telling me the bike will slide away if I take it more than 2 degrees off vertical!

Approaching a fairly fast corner (50mph +) I try and tell myself to:

- look (either at the road going away, or the vanishing point, which is basically the point where the road becomes invisible round the bend) and

- lean (both with my ar$e shifting the bike down, and by pushing away with the hand nearest the bend aka counter steering)

- keep it smooth: no shutting the throttle off suddendly and absolutely stay away from the front brake

it helps to get to know your route, as some bends look blind, but open up loads.


But as people say, the bike will lean more than you think to the point of scratching pegs etc (but maybe not in the wet!)


Every time I get back in my car it amazes me how damn easy it is - it almost feels like cheating

Ian

+1

Exactly my approach... I do the same 30 mile round trip every day so am getting to know the route, and then once a week a go for a ride on an unfamilier road. After about 1500 miles i feel i'm getting there in the dry, popping off the occasional overtake and leaning in.
In the wet i still feel like bambi, but am really trying to learn to trust the bike. A new back tyre next week might help with psycological (sp?) confidence in the wet... I know the bike isn't going to fall over, especially at the speed that i'm doing, but its a steep learning curve to trust it!

Edited by wiliferus on Saturday 25th October 21:24

[Hooli]

Ian Geary said:

But as people say, the bike will lean more than you think to the point of scratching pegs etc (but maybe not in the wet!)

thats my biggest problem right there. i know in good conditions the bike will scrape the pegs without falling over, but ive got no real idea how far they go in the wet.

[Darkslider]

Mr Scruff said:

Practice practice practice... I'm still rubbish but only been riding about 1000 miles so far. People keep on telling me that it'll come eventually and not to worry about it, so I don't!

Hate to break it to you but I'd never ridden a motorbike before doing my CBT and passing my test. Within 1000 miles I've already scraped pegs, had my knee down, learnt clutch wheelies in 1st and now practicing stand-ups

My point is everyone learns at a different rate, and while someone else may be a natural at biking and pick it up straight away, don't expect it to be that easy for everyone. Just keep at it, keep practicing and getting the miles under your belt and it will all come with time. If you're really worrying then maybe consider extra training, possibly of the track riding variety or maybe an off road day or two. These will give you an awful lot more confidence in cornering and general bike control, leaving you in a better place to concentrate on the road.

Hope it picks up for you mate!

[Hooli]

Darkslider said:

Mr Scruff said:

Practice practice practice... I'm still rubbish but only been riding about 1000 miles so far. People keep on telling me that it'll come eventually and not to worry about it, so I don't!

Hate to break it to you but I'd never ridden a motorbike before doing my CBT and passing my test. Within 1000 miles I've already scraped pegs, had my knee down, learnt clutch wheelies in 1st and now practicing stand-ups

you can really go off some people you know

[StevRS]

Darkslider said:

Hate to break it to you but I'd never ridden a motorbike before doing my CBT and passing my test. Within 1000 miles I've already scraped pegs, had my knee down, learnt clutch wheelies in 1st and now practicing stand-ups

Pride before a fall?

[Mr Scruff]

Darkslider said:

Mr Scruff said:

Practice practice practice... I'm still rubbish but only been riding about 1000 miles so far. People keep on telling me that it'll come eventually and not to worry about it, so I don't!

Hate to break it to you but I'd never ridden a motorbike before doing my CBT and passing my test. Within 1000 miles I've already scraped pegs, had my knee down, learnt clutch wheelies in 1st and now practicing stand-ups

My point is everyone learns at a different rate, and while someone else may be a natural at biking and pick it up straight away, don't expect it to be that easy for everyone. Just keep at it, keep practicing and getting the miles under your belt and it will all come with time. If you're really worrying then maybe consider extra training, possibly of the track riding variety or maybe an off road day or two. These will give you an awful lot more confidence in cornering and general bike control, leaving you in a better place to concentrate on the road.

Hope it picks up for you mate!

Lol, but the difference is I look GOOD doing it!

[RizzoTheRat]

Mr Scruff said:

know my limitations and stick to them..

That, to my mind, is the most important skill to learn, and one quite a few new riders struggle with. Far too many new riders get themselves in to trouble because they try and keep up with a faster mate. If you're relaxed and smooth you'll often end up travelling faster than if you're trying too hard and making mistakes, and you'll enjoy it a lot more. And always remember no matter how good you think you are there is always someone better out there. I garentee there will some people on here with more horsepower than me that'll be slower, and there will be some with less who are faster. The trick is not let it bother you.