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5 Common Wear and Tear Items on Motorcycles
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samgoodyParticipant
I think Jorge Lorenzo will come back even stronger next year. If he can just stop crashing at key moments, then I think he will be able to go the distance and win a MotoGP title.
As for Ben Spies and Colin Edwards being on the same team, Edwards joked on the grid at Estoril that they’re going to call it “Team Redneck”. On a more serious note, though, the Tech 3 team looks like the strongest satellite team out there, and might give the factory teams a run for their money. Spies will be riding in the final round at Valencia in a couple of weeks, so it’ll be interesting to see how he does on a MotoGP bike.
Poor Nori Haga, I really wanted him to win the WSBK title this year. Well done to Spies, though, on winning the title on his first try. Nori’s not going to have an easy time next year dealing with the likes of Toseland, Fabrizio, and Biaggi. However, there doesn’t seem to be anyone there of the caliber of Spies, so I’m hoping he can pull it off. To be this close to the number one spot for so many years is quite an achievement.
samgoodyParticipantI live in Saudi Arabia and don’t have the benefit of MSF or similar courses. The local Harley dealership offered some lessons, so I went there. The bike they used was a beat up 883 Sportster Custom with forward foot controls. I’m about 5’11″/6’0″-ish, about 160lb, and in reasonably good shape. The first thing I noticed was how heavy the steering felt at low speeds. At one point I made a left u-turn, turned my head and eyes to go straight, but the bike kept wanting to turn left because I hadn’t applied enough muscle to straighten the handlebars. You’ll really have to muscle the bike around at low speeds because it is a heavy bike.
Also because of the weight, you’ll have to give it slightly more throttle to keep it from tipping over while you do u-turns than a lighter bike. I eventually managed to string together some u-turns, but not before I dropped the bike several times because I was going just a tad too slow.
If you decide to get a cruiser with this kind of weight, I’d strongly advise fitting some highway bars to it. The bike will drop onto those bars, so they may give you more leverage to pick the bike back up, save a lot of chrome from being scratched, and perhaps prevent a leg from getting pinned underneath it. If the bike beings to drop, don’t try to fight it back up; just let go, and make sure your inside leg is clear of the bike.
The other thing I noticed was that I felt like I was hanging on to the bike by the handlebars, which will make it difficult to steer and control the throttle accurately. With the combination of my height, the low height of the tank, the position of the air cleaner, and the forward controls, I didn’t feel like I was able to grip the tank with my knees, which in turn made me tighten my grip on the bars. If I’m not mistaken, the Low has mid-mounted foot controls instead of the forward-mounted ones on the Custom, so depending on your height this may not be as much of an issue for you.
I couldn’t help but feel that if I’d been offered the same lessons on a smaller, lighter bike that I would have learned them much faster. Before this, I was also debating whether to get a Sportster as my first bike, but I knew then that that bike wasn’t meant for me. Keep in mind that I’d never ridden a motorcycle before trying to learn on that bike. You may have more luck than me, but the odds are that it will take you longer to learn on it than it would with a lighter and less grunty bike.
If I’m not mistaken, I think Munch started out on a Vulcan 500, so his insight on that bike may be helpful to you. There may be other forum members who started on this bike as well, so I hope they chime in with their insights.
samgoodyParticipantThe “mysticism” is more a result of press coverage than anything else IMHO. There are other such races around – such as the Ulster GP in Northern Ireland, and Oliver’s Mount in England – that are raced on public roads, but don’t seem to get much press. The Isle of Man TT isn’t even the most dangerous road racing circuit; I believe the Macau GP is even more dangerous. It’s crazy enough to go that fast on country lanes, but it’s a whole different level of crazy when the track is made up of city streets, and you have concrete walls and barriers to greet you in a get off!
samgoodyParticipantLike Amoryl, I haven’t got a motorcycle yet. However, since I’ve started doing research on motorcycles and reading forums like BBM, I’ve managed to tone down my car driving a bit. I wasn’t lead footed or super aggressive in the cage, but I no longer fight the other cagers for position like I used to. Nowadays I’m just happy to let all the idiots slide by, then pull up right next to them at the traffic light despite all their speeding and reckless driving. All I’d done is changed my mind about how I choose to drive.
One thing that has aided me, though, is that I had already developed a good awareness of what surrounds me when I go down the road. Most of the time I can anticipate whether someone is going to cut me off or do some other stupid thing well in advance. Before, this was essential to fighting for position; now it’s a defensive driving mechanism.
What a motorcycle may have done is it changed your mindset about how you choose to drive. In other words, anybody can become a better car driver whether or not they ride a motorcycle by choosing to be informed about safe driving practices, and then putting that knowledge to use on the road.
I’ve also noticed that there are some things that are probably universal to both cars and motorcycles as far as safety goes, and should help you become more aware of what’s around you. Here’s a short list:
1. Adjust your mirrors correctly – Take the time to do this as your mirrors are your primary tool for knowing what’s behind you.
2. Shoulder check – You should do this even in your cage. Even if you set your mirrors up correctly, you still have blind spots. My car has a blind spot big enough to fit an SUV in it, and I nearly lane changed into one once because I didn’t do the shoulder check.
3. Head and eyes – You go where you look, so look through the turns as much as you can. I rode with a couple of motorcyclists in their cages, and it’s surprising that some of them use their head and eyes perfectly on the bike, but then forget all about it when in the cage.
4. Brake lights ahead of you – Don’t just pay attention to the brake lights of the car directly ahead of you, pay attention to brake lights of other cars up ahead as well. If you see a lot of brake lights lighting up, it probably means you will have to come to a stop even if the car directly in front doesn’t light up its brake lights. I nearly learned this the hard way when I almost slammed into the back of a car that had come to a stop but whose brake lights weren’t working.Sorry if my post is a bit long-winded, but these thoughts just came pouring out, so here they are.
Cheers,
SamgoodysamgoodyParticipantOk, here goes, my fantasy world choices:
Standard
Not sure what type of bike I would pick in this category, so I’ll go with a Harley XR1200.Sport
Ducati Desmosedici RR. Or an Aprilia RSV4.Streetfighter/Naked Sport
Ducati Monster 1100S. Or BMW K1300R. Or KTM 990 Superduke.Touring
I think I would be more interested in sports touring, so perhaps Honda’s upcoming V4-engined (VFR 1200?) sports tourer, or a BMW K1300S. I could probably also lump KTM’s 990 SMT (Supermoto Touring) in this category.Cruisers
Not really interested in this genre, but if I had to make a pick in this category it would definitely have to be a Harley Davidson Sportster. The Sportster really is more of a classic “standard” bike to me, so I don’t know if it even fits in this category.Adventure
The BMW R1200GS would surely figure in here, but I’d also give the Moto Morini Gran Passo a look.Supermotard
KTM 990 Supermoto.samgoodyParticipantI’m not familiar with their shirt and pants, but I do have a full length back protector that was created by them. Actually, mine was sold under the Halvarssons brand, which my boss brought for me from Sweden, and it is CE level 2 certified. It is comfortable and somewhat breathable. It is also a soft protector vs. the ones that are made from hard plastic, so it conforms to the shape of my back and fits quite comfortably under my jacket. Once I put it on, it all but disappears. Seems like their items are high quality, and they’ve received some good press. I paid nearly US $147 for it, so the price seems fair. Hope my information helps you.
samgoodyParticipantIt’s been a long time since I rode on a bicycle, but last I remember I was quite comfortable with it. It’s all coming back now, though. Once the motorcycle was in motion, I was instantly able to put my feet on the pegs. I was actually getting comfortable with leaning the bike when I was doing all those u-turns.
samgoodyParticipantsamgoodyParticipantSorry again.
samgoodyParticipantAnother double post. Sorry.
samgoodyParticipantSorry about this double post, my Internet connection was a bit slow to respond. Cand the mods please delete this post?
samgoodyParticipantI had my third session at the Harley dealer on the same bike. This time it was good, but not so good.
Speedy: You’re right, it is a bit too heavy to learn on from scratch. I learned a few more things today and it’s starting to come together, but I still struggled with the weight. I think I’ve pretty much eliminated the 883 Sportster from my list of choices as a first bike.
Elwood: Thanks for the advice on the head turns, that really helped me out today. You’re also right about the bike needing momentum to turn. I dropped the bike four or five times trying to make the u-turn, but eventually managed to put a series of them together and it was all flowing smoothly. But the weight was still a factor. In my original post, I noted that it seemed like the bars took some muscle to move at low speeds, and I have confirmed that today. In fact, I made one u-turn and couldn’t get the bars straightened up again. That had me heading for a kerb, and target fixation set in. I managed to pull in the clutch, but I couldn’t reach the front brakes in time, so the bike ended going over the kerb. That’s how my session ended. No major damage to me, except I think I sparined my left knee. That bike was pretty scratched up, though, from all the drops. The Sportster is a beautiful bike, but I don’t think it’s the right bike for me.
Owlie: Aside from the various drops, falling off several times, and getting the bike onto the kerb at the end, it was a good time. This time I felt even less afraid of the bike. However, the training venue – the street behind the dealership – isn’t an ideal place. Sure, there’s about 26 feet between the kerbs, but it’s never going to be like an open parking space. And there was a little bit of traffic today, which was really distracting, not to mention potentially very dangerous. It’s the best training I could find here, which isn’t saying much. Even though I am managing to pick things up and I’m sure I could do it, I’m starting to wonder about the wisdom of attempting to ride given the limitations that I have here. I just wish I had a resource like the MSF training available to me so that the training could be done in a safer environment.
samgoodyParticipantThe Monster 695 is a fuel injected bike, and from what I understand there should be no “choke” like bikes with carburetors. I do know that some Monsters have a “fast idle” lever that raises the idle speed. Probably useful for getting the engine warmed up faster on cold mornings. If your bike came with an owner’s manual, then it should all be explained in there.
samgoodyParticipantI’d like to thank you all for these suggestions, I’ll definitely be trying them out.
Clay + Munch: You’re absolutely right, there should be more space. That was one of the things that was always in the back of my head during that session, and is something that definitely hindered me.
Elwood: Seems I’m not able to order the Ride Like A Pro DVD’s here since nobody ships here (I tried both ridelikeapro.com and amazon.com). Same goes for books like Proficient Motorcycling, etc. I would be very grateful if you would happen to know some other places I could possibly order them from, or know of any other resources that are more readily available. I’m with you on looking for some other instructor to learn from.
Jay T: Thanks for the advice about the throttle hand position. Actually, the instructor had me put my hand in a weird position. Instead of wrapping four fingers around the twist grip, he had me put my index finger on the front brake, half of my palm on the grip, and the other half on the bar end. He also wanted me not to use the clutch at all to modulate the delivery of power to the rear wheel. The over revving only happened when I tried to put my feet on the pegs (quite a bit of over revving), and when I would turn the handle bar left (not a lot, the throttle just felt snatchy), but I didn’t over rev when braking. As for keeping my head and eyes up, I managed to do that with no problems, but I still couldn’t find the balance needed to keep the bike from wanting to topple over.
Oddly enough, there was one other guy in my session who managed just fine right from the get go, and managed to ride circles in that tiny space with no problems.
samgoodyParticipantThank you for the information, will try your suggestions. Any idea who makes the boots for BMW?
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