[eon]

I did have an Audi A4 3.0 Quattro before moving to Seattle. Had that car for 5 years. Loved it, wish I still had it. But the car before that (cannot call it a cage, sorry) was this…

Ahhh…good days

[eon]

Ouch…that looks like a bad one. Looks like the drivers zone was not impacted though.

[eon]

Your 10 year old daughter understood that explanation? Man, I must have killed off too many brain cells over the years as that was clear as mud to me.

I hate to get into a discussion of counter steering as it seems one of the most misunderstood and hotly debated topics out there BUT….. isn’t gyroscopic forces what keeps your bike upright? It’s got nothing to do with the steering part?

[eon]

The linked worked for me. Not sure what was going on there.

[eon]

albaeon here. I am not very good but I do enjoy playing online games. just hate hearing a squeaky voice of a 10 year old kid beating me into the ground

[eon]

I saw that once but they were going in the opposite direction from me. This was on a busy state highway and there were plenty of cars behind them. I have to be honest, if I had a bluetooth enabled helmet I would have called the cops on their ass. I would be surprised if none of the cars did. There are plenty of empty country roads around if you want to be doing that kind of thing. If you are doing it on state highways in the middle of the day it is to get attention. I only hope the attention they get comes with blue lights.

This happened near Puyallup WA which is where briderdt is from. I did have a 2nd look to make sure there was no yellow SV650 there

[eon]

Good luck tomorrow. Remember you are there to have fun! On my BRC I had a little trouble finding the friction zone and the 2nd helper watched me and realized the clutch lever had to be almost completely out before it started to bite. He made a quick adjustment (don’t think he was supposed to) and after that I was fine. Point is each bike is different and it may be your bikes setup is not the best. Or it could be you just need a little more time to get the hang of it. Either way don’t matter, just go there and give it your best. You can always come back again.
Good luck

[eon]

I don’t quite understand what you are saying. If you are holding your wrist slightly upwards then surely it is easier to give it more throttle? Your wrist is nearer to the end of its forward motion, which means less throttle? I would also recommend learning the correct technique rather than something you find ‘helps’ you learn. Bad practices learned now will be really hard to get rid of.

As far the smooth roll off when braking, I found it just took a conscious decision to do so. I got told off at the BRC for just grabbing the brake without rolling off the throttle. So I would slowly and deliberately roll off the throttle before squeezing the brake. I concentrated on doing it right before worrying about the stopping distance. Once you are doing it right you can try to do it quicker.

[eon]

Maybe they should add that to the BRC…someone throwing a bicycle at you. Get you to take that swerve a bit more seriously

I liked the comment “Police don’t know why he was in the area”. He was riding his bike! In a beautiful part of the country close to where he was born. Does not take Hercule Poirot to figure that one out.

[eon]

Hi Rob,

Sounds like you have been patient and taken the time to learn how to ride. I’m sure you are aware though that a large percentage of the people attracted to that kind of bike will not be as careful. They want the image of the fastest bike and that image usually goes hand in hand with sneakers, t-shirt and Shoei lid.

We are all aware you can start out on such a bike and survive, but even with the right attitude it is not the best strategy. You seem to say as much yourself in that it took you longer to learn to ride it.

Glad to have you on board here as it always helps to have the perspective of someone who took a different path.

[eon]

LOL…after watching that it got me wondering how far I lean over. It feels like I lean over that far but I never scrape the center stand (the first thing that hits the ground) so I know I am not going as far as I can. I have a horrible feeling I would look like a wuss next to that guy.

[eon]

It counter steers like a regular 2 wheel bike. The steering is maybe a bit heavier than a regular bike so it needs a firm (counter) push when turning. At slow speeds (5mph) it is very easy to balance. So it is great for in town and as you can see, a lot of fun in the twisties. The guy in the video says he leaves his sport bike buddies for dead when it is wet. Having an extra wheel gives you 33% more grip so you can push harder in slippy conditions

[eon]

Hi raynestorm, welcome to the forum.
You might get a better response to your question in the General forum. I don’t think too many people look in this section.
Afraid I cannot be of any help to you as I am not familiar with the hornet, but I do understand the appeal of Ducati’s

[eon]

From reading between the lines in your posts my advice is real simple, relax
It sounds like you are your own worst enemy here. By stressing over what you are doing you are making life much too hard for yourself.

During my class I started beating myself up because I kept making stupid mistakes and found it hard to master everything at once (coordinating all four limbs at the same time is hard). But I took a deep breath and reminded myself I was there to have fun. If I failed, I failed, it was not going to be the end of the world. So I relaxed, listened to what they had to say and did my best. It suddenly became a lot easier when I took that self imposed pressure off.

If you have a bike to practice on, keep it simple at first. Pick a few things you want to improve on and go out there and work on it. Honestly it gets easier real quick once you master the basics. Then you get to spend the next 20 years practicing everything else

[eon]

Here in WA you do not need a permit to take the MSF class, and if you pass, you take your completion card to the DMV and you are issued your license. No written tests, but you do need to hand over $20 or so.

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