Help Building Skills On My New Bike.

[Stroker]

Hi Guys,

 

I am the proud owner of a bike at last.Spent the first few miles getting accustomed to the sporty position and setting up the bike as best i could.The tool kit is yet to arrive and i will set it up fully then.

 

1. The right clip on is longer than the left.I was out practicing U turns and such today and could take left turns on full lock but not right turns cause my hand would hit the tank.For some reason i am more comfortable taking left turns than right.Any suggestions to nip this in the bud?

 

2. The bike is rather small for my frame.Going into a full tuck, i have to crunch up my arms at an extreme angle even though i am as far back up the seat as possible.Any suggestions to tuck without straining myself?

 

3. At 60 kph but at 100 kph [ 60 mph ] the bike is hard to steer.I am contemplating dropping the front.Though i suppose i am not steering properly.In either case, i suppose i should look at both options?

 

4. My neck is being strained a bit.Is it the wind buffeting it or am i to blame? Thoughts?

 

5. how do i look such that my neck is not strained at full tuck? I tried it at speed and it felt horrible....i was looking at the speedo half the time and felt awkward.

 

6. Any drills to get me started on exploring countersteering and leaning in a progressive manner? I will do a lot of gymkhana style control work to start with but this does not involve much countersteering.Jst turns at full lock.I will add lean slowly but too much is detrimental in this activity.

 

Thanks

 

 

 

[FieryRobot]

2. The bike is rather small for my frame.Going into a full tuck, i have to crunch up my arms at an extreme angle even though i am as far back up the seat as possible.Any suggestions to tuck without straining myself?

What do you mean by extreme angle? Where is your head when in full tuck?

 

3. At 60 kph but at 100 kph [ 60 mph ] the bike is hard to steer.I am contemplating dropping the front.Though i suppose i am not steering properly.In either case, i suppose i should look at both options?

I would not touch the front end yet. The bike in fact should be harder to turn at those speeds. Are you on or off the gas when you are turning. When are you braking? I think step 1 should be to make sure you are turning the bike correctly and then later on worry about changing geometry.

 

4. My neck is being strained a bit.Is it the wind buffeting it or am i to blame? Thoughts?

 

5. how do i look such that my neck is not strained at full tuck? I tried it at speed and it felt horrible....i was looking at the speedo half the time and felt awkward.

I think depending on the riding position, some strain might be unavoidable, especially when in full tuck or aggressive hang off. But it's hard to say without seeing you on the bike. It's also possible you're holding your neck too stiffly. What kind of strain are we talking about? Being in a sport position will definitely require your body to adjust. If it's muscle strain, it will usually disappear quickly. If it's more of a pain in upper vertebrae, then your body really doesn't like the position you are riding in and that would be bad for you.

 

6. Any drills to get me started on exploring countersteering and leaning in a progressive manner? I will do a lot of gymkhana style control work to start with but this does not involve much countersteering.Jst turns at full lock.I will add lean slowly but too much is detrimental in this activity.

Interestingly, Gymkhana uses a lot of counter-steering as the speeds they are turning are actually pretty fast. Yes, if you go super slow this isn't going to work (just doing super-slow figure 8s etc.). But I think doing these sorts of control exercises are a good thing to do. I used to go up to a local college every week and work on slow-moving exercises because turning faster is easier, turning slow and getting good control is not. For the slow stuff, just do figure 8s and circles, going as slow as you can possibly go. Using the rear brake and some gas is a good way to help stand the bike up a bit to gain more control. That's what I had read at the time and it seems to work.

[Hotfoot]

Congrats on your new bike.

 

You mentioned one clip-on is longer then the other - is it really longer, or is there just more clearance for the bars to turn farther to the right than left? You might want to measure the clip-ons, see if there are the same, and check to see they are mounted evenly. Getting the bars working equally and evenly would seem like the first logical step in working on steering.

 

After that, I agree that working on your steering technique should come before playing with the geometry. How exactly do you steer the bike? What do you do to steer it?

[Stroker]

Sorry for the late reply.I will be out tomorrow trying out various things and post my findings here along with pictures if i can manage.

 

HF - I steer the bike by pushing on the inside bar to initiate the turn.

[Stroker]

Firery Bot - I will get back to you with some pics.Sorry for the late reply.

[ScrmnDuc]

As for late replies, congrats on the new bike

[Stroker]

Hey guys, had the bike serviced.Got the handlebars corrected.Now that i know my right hand wont hit the tank, i am more comfortable getting to full lock, though i cant do it in one smooth motion on both sides.

 

How do i learn to get to full lock in one smooth motion? I know we aim for one steering input per turn.So how do i over come the need to make a number of " Safe " inputs rather than one " Risky " full lock steering change?

 

I am also tensing up when i make large steering changes....kinda like i commit myself to a full lock turn, but a while into it i decide it's too much and my inside arm tenses up and i stop turning the bars.How do i sort this out?

 

I think this also affects my countersteering - If i need say 100% input, but the midway decide some 40-50% is enough.And then i realize it is not enough and make another change to compensate for that.

 

How do i make that full steering change without interference?

 

Thanks