Draggin pegs at the Dragon

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

Like a shrink? :techy: :lol:

And how would you FEEL about that? :popcorn:

[BusyWeb]

Great photos.
I hope that I have a photo like above which me is in... ha ha ha.
The road looks very twisted...
I might go slow down instead of leaning the bike... :blush:
Thanks for the pictures.

[mrlmd1]

Anyone who bites somebody needs a shrink. :techy: (That's Freud).
Oh. did you mean a doctor for the bite victim? :??:

The thread is getting sidetracked and highjacked. Not proper etiquette. :shocked:

Busy Web - slowing down on those roads with the poor visibility around the corners and turns is a good idea rather than pushing it and seeing how fast you can go. Even in a cage (car),

[mr. softie]

Seriously JWR... Louisville, TN is just off I81, just about directly on my route to Suches Georgia, where TWO (two wheels only) is. I might be riding within a few miles of you later this month. I will be coming down I81/40, and getting off at Knoxville and taking 411 and 68 I think. I also want to swing by Asheville NC on the way back, where I lived for 8 years.

[alanmcorcoran]

I would also like to get one of those cool pictures. Re the shifting weigh thing, to be honest, I kind of agree with the guy that asked the question, "Would you shift your weight XX number of times", not because I don't think it's a good idea, but, because I'm basically lazy, and I probably would not.

On a more positive note, although I understand things pretty quickly I am somewhat of a slow learner for anything other than the obvious. I find that I can really only really think about/work on/improve one thing at a time. As I get some other issues under my belt (right now I am very focused on smooth stops/starts on steep hills with the heavy bike - next up is Patrick's slalom course with the green balls...) I will come back around to integrating the proper body weight shift into my "auto-pilot."

Ever since (softie?) posted about the gyroscopic effect and someone else talked about angular momentum, I have been more conscious of the relationship between having the rear wheel under power and traction/stability. I previously learned it is generally NOT good for stability to be leaned over and not be under power (or braking!) (seems obvious, but, for me, sometimes it takes a little "incident" to get it into the muscle memory) Now I'm noticing that it is much easier to corner under steady power to the rear wheel (as opposed to coasting) because you lose traction and (something else??) when you are not under power.

[mrlmd1]

Now you're getting it. If you remember from the MSF course or those Proficient books for instance, it's slow, look, lean, and roll on going around a curve. You slow down, either easing off the throttle or braking (on the straightaway before the turn), look ahead around the corner, lean the bike to start the turn, then halfway through the turn roll on the throttle for increased traction to complete the turn. You should be under power around the turn, enough to keep you going at the proper speed, not coasting.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by alanmcorcoran

I previously learned it is generally NOT good for stability to be leaned over and not be under power (or braking!) (seems obvious, but, for me, sometimes it takes a little "incident" to get it into the muscle memory) Now I'm noticing that it is much easier to corner under steady power to the rear wheel (as opposed to coasting) because you lose traction and (something else??) when you are not under power.

Whether or not that is really important depends mostly on conditions present; how fast you are going, how tight the turn is, etc. Being under power gives you more options to make corrections that might be needed. It really isn't a matter of better traction; it is more like better stability of the gyroscopic forces.

More later if you want it and nobody else chimes in. Wouldn't want to appear condescending, after all.

[mrlmd1]

Alan, you've seen pictures, but watch this video and try not to get too sick or nauseated watching these guys speed around the curves, You can hear the bikes slowing, backing off the throttle going into the turns and rolling it on through the turn as well as seeing them shift their whole bodies to get the weight on the inside to try and get a few more degrees of uprightness to the bike. Extreme, but exciting and instructional to see.


Don't try this at home. Not for me.

[Moedad]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

And Moedad, the slow speed tight turn is not even close to what we are talking about here.

Sorry, dude. My take on the topic was shifting weight. I guess I didn't follow the highly advanced direction that this thread was actually going.

That sounds kinda cranky. My point is, as I understood the topic, shifting weight helps keep the bike more perpendicular with the road surface. Yeah, it's used in two different ways in low speed turns and higher speed curves, but the theory is the same, isn't it? I'm not addressing throttle and braking issues (they certainly apply, but they aren't my focus here), I'm talking about weight transfer and the angle of the bike. At low speed, tight turns, you want to keep the bike upright so it doesn't tip over as you negotiate the turn. At higher speeds you want to keep the bike as perpendicular as you can maximize traction, no? Yeah, you're going to be applying brakes and throttle differently in each type of turn, but that wasn't what I was getting at. Tight, slow, low speed turns are different from high speed curves, but the theory of weight transfer to keep the bike more upright is what I'm addressing, and what was discussed in our class.

[mrlmd1]

Moedad - if you read your post:

"I attended the same course as Alan (on a different weekend though). Obviously in a parking lot there's only so much they can do with beginners, but they DID cover this subject in regard to tight turns at low speed (the box), i.e. shift your butt cheek to the outside and holding the bike more upright as you lean your body to the inside. I was on a little Kawasaki Eliminator and it had a good turning radius already, but I found the technique to be helpful. The instructors didn't talk about that technique in regard to riding larger, longer curves like you'd find on canyon/mountain roads--they were more focused on lining up the turn and looking ahead at where you want to go"

You never mentioned at all what we were talking about, and that was making higher speed turns and shifting body weight to the inside. You didn't say anything about high speed turns and you even said the instructors didn't talk about it, and it could have been taken by someone reading your post who didn't know better, to keep your butt or your body weight to the outside whenever turning, at low or high speeds. And I can't see how you shift your butt to the outside and your weight to the inside like you said - that makes no sense and is wrong. What holds the bike more upright in that situation is shifting your whole weight to the outside, not just your butt. You can also do that by standing on the outside peg, shifting weight to the outside in a slow turn.
So DUDE, it wasn't "cranky" - it was truthful, I was explaining the difference and trying to educate someone who may have not understood this, like to newbies on here, which you just again tried to explain correctly this time. If you wanted to say that then, instead of criticizing me for saying what I did, then why didn't you do it back then? And read your post before criticizing someone who comments on it.

Now educate me - what's with the "dude" thing? What exactly does that mean? It it meant as a term of affection, something implying disdain or a derogatory
connotation, a generality that means nothing, an age thing for lack of better words? Please tell me what it means. Thanks.

And anyone else's comments are always welcome.