[megaspaz]

Ah… i figured something like coming to a stop while still moving… i have heard that some people like to coast it in neutral while the bike’s still moving. I’ve done it once on a really steep hill road. I didn’t like that little goat trail…

in reply to: Passed the BRC! #13380

[megaspaz]

YAY!

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If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[megaspaz]

what’s the benefit of finding neutral while running?

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If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[megaspaz]

used to. don’t any more. haven’t found a comfortable pair of noise cancelling/isolation headphones…

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If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[megaspaz]

after hitting 12 K miles, i preceded to bin honky from a low side on little dragon highway 49. left side plastics, brake lever (i know, wierd), and shift pedal need replacing. The bike is rideable though. For injuries, looks like bruised hand and 2nd knuckle of the left ring finger. Icing it now, will see the doc tomorrow. Small bit of rash from the elbow protector for some reason. Helmet will need replacing as well.

For the details, I’ve never ridding highway 49 and i lost it on a double apex decreasing radius left turn. The first apex was a decreasing radius turn which hid the second apex which was a blind decreasing radius uphill turn, pretty much a hair pin which it looks like from google maps. looking back, it looked like a single turn when i was taking it, but when we moved the bike down to the side of the road with more space where the first turn was, you can distinctly see 2 turns. I lost it in the gravel on the second turn. I wasn’t able to spot the exit on the second turn and just tried to throttle and lean more, unfortunately i was already headed toward the gravel past the fogline and lost either the front or the rear in the gravel. Person behind me said it looked like the front slid from the gravel, i thought i felt the rear go. I got lucky because I lost it close to a cliff, so it could have been a fatally worse. I don’t look at my speedo when riding, so I don’t know how fast I entered that stretch in, but the guy behind me said we were doing 40 mph. No suggested entry speed suggestions on the turn. Anyway, gear has been road tested and passed with flying colors. No broken seems or rips in the leathers, it’s just dirty. Anyhoo, off to sleep.

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If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[megaspaz]

I don’t know why a car would be different, but the general consensus on coasting on a motorcycle is if you’re aren’t braking or aren’t on the throttle, you’re not controlling the bike. But even then there’s exceptions to that. Like just friction zoning in line to a stop sign. You’re not on the throttle, nor are you braking until you have to stop, but you’re pretty much in control of the bike.

When I stop in my car, I put the car in neutral and apply the brakes, so in my opinion, i’m perfectly in control of my vehicle. Not really feasible to find neutral while moving, but what ever gear you’re coasting in as long as you’re braking, you’re fine (as per the OP’s original question).

For me, if I’m in a high gear like 4th or higher and I know I’m going to have to stop (stop sign), I might downshift a couple of gears and blip while applying the rear brake first to stabilize the rear and then the front to even out the bike and then shift to first and coast to the stop while still braking. Actually, normally, I’ll do the same thing at stop lights. If the light changes to green and the cars in front of me are starting move before I’ve come to a stop, I’ll either just stay in first and open the throttle if I’m going slow enough, or just upshift to the right gear at the speed I’m at.

Now a different scenario is if I’m coming to a stop light and it’s yellow, but I’m hot an far enough away to not make the yellow before it goes red, I’ll apply the front brakes, then rear brakes, downshift a gear and let out the clutch immediately to get engine braking, repeat the downshifting to get engine braking part if needed, and then downshift repeatedly to first as long as I’ve gotten to a manageable speed.

Anyhoo, to sum it up, situations when stopping might change the way you come to a stop and there’s no one sequence fits all situations. But general rule of thumb is, you’re not controlling your bike if you aren’t on the throttle or applying the brakes.

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If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[megaspaz]

Very nice. Keep on riding and keep the bike upright.

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If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[megaspaz]

Nothing really keeps the visor clear, but using rain-x (something like that) will make it easier for the raindrops to bead up and slide off the visor, so it’s possible you won’t have to go that fast to get the wind to push the droplets off. Move head slightly to each side for a second each.

As for hydroplaning, the only suggestion i can think of is to take everything as slow as possible over slick surfaces and puddles. If you do hydroplane, i would think controlling the bike would be not much different than in a car. Don’t quote me on that yet.

Got to ride a whole lot in the rain today going to cyclegear’s gilroy grand opening and back on the lovely highway ( <-- sarcasm). I didn't have your butt clenching experience though. I've ridden in the wet a few times though and for me, it was no big deal except for cleaning my bike and my visor when I got home. I just did it so I haven't really thought about what bad things could've happened. I do know I consciously try to keep the bike as stable and as upright as possible. So as little inputs as possible and a lot of hanging off. —
If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[megaspaz]

I get a you are not authorized message trying to access my inbox…

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If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[megaspaz]

Bingo! winnar winnar chicken dinnar!

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If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[megaspaz]

a. yep, as long as you don’t goose the throttle at the same time you drop the clutch.

b. false. bull puckey patooy if you mean — clutch in -> click -> click -> click -> click -> click -> stop.

—
If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[megaspaz]

to be perfectly honest, that automatic bike looks like poo. it just looks so out of proportion with that big baskin shark head… just my opinion. For automatic capable bikes, the aprilia mana looks so much better.

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If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[megaspaz]

On suzuki’s website, the 2009 specs for that bike show 805CC. Since 2009’s the last year in suzuki’s change cycle, you can probably assume the 2008 will have around 800CCs.

—
If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[megaspaz]

Video it! I wanna see twisties! m/ >.< m/ —
If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[megaspaz]

Yup. Most lights are triggered by induction loops. You can see grooves in the lane to where they are. The thing you need to do is to break the current in the loops. Cars have a lot of metal in them, so they have no problems breaking the electrical field. Bikes have less metal so it’s harder. There’s 4 kind of loops I’ve seen – the 2 below and a variation of each of the 2 below.

1. the stop sign shape.

2. the stop sign shape with line breaks. The same as #1 except with 2 lines crossing from the top right to the bottom left.

3. the figure 8 shape

4. the figure 8 shape with line breaks. The same as #3 with 2 lines crossing from the top right to the bottom left of each half of the figure 8.

The order of hardest to easiest to trigger: #1, #3, #2, #4.

Triggering #1 is almost impossible to do. Ideally, you put the front of the frame of the bike over any of the induction lines.
Triggering #2 Just stop the bike inside the shape.
Triggering #3 Try to get the front of the frame of the bike over the top of the figure right where the 2 halves meet.
Triggering #4 Just stop the bike anywhere in the figure 8 shape.

#2, #3, #4 should just trigger. #3 is harder only that you have to get the bike perfectly stopped in the right spot. If the light isn’t triggering, a few things you can try with reported mixed results:

1. Put the bike in neutral and lower the kickstand.
2. Flip the bike’s electrical switch off and restart the bike.
3. Roll the bike back and forth over the induction line.
4. put a rare earth magnet on the frame/subframe. This has been the best solution for triggering #1. It’s still hit and miss, like the duc on the gate with the magnet still doesn’t open my apartment complex’s gate. The SV does though. Both magnets were double sided adhesived to the front of the bottom of the lower fairings. The magnet placement should be as close to the ground as possible. I have found though that most lights that didn’t trigger, now trigger with the magnets.

Some lights have no indication of induction loops. These could still be triggered by induction, or light (headlights), or motion detection. There’s a left turn to the street of my apartment that doesn’t have any indication of induction anywhere in the lane. But there’s a sweet spot nonetheless that triggers the light. I just stop the bike where the front wheel just breaks the bottom of the crosswalk line. If the light’s motion detection triggered, try waving your arms about. If it’s light triggered, flash the high beams. If the light doesn’t trigger in a couple of cycles, make sure it’s safe and run it. Call your city as well and tell them to adjust the sensitivity of the triggers.

http://auto.howstuffworks.com/question234.htm

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If there’s anything more important than my ego
around, I want it caught and shot now…

[Author]

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