Found Some Good Motorcycle Riding Vidoes

[candyseth]

http://www.monkeysee.com/play/10154-motorcycle-riding

Just wanted to share.

Candy

[Wyomom]

Good basic video. That was the basic stuff you probably will be doing in your class. Good reminders too for the parking lot practice I will be doing. Thanks for sharing!

[CieBme]

I wish I had that before I took my class. I was only online for business and had no clue there were so many tips and helps out there for us. Main thing if you make a mistake ... shake it off and keep going!

You go, girl.

[5thwheel]

There are some videos of the actual classes as well on you tube. They will give you an idea of what to expect when you get there.
This one was pretty good too http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-ride-a-motorcycle .

[amethaelf]

They really do have lots of useful information there. Wish I had come across something like that before I began lessons, would have helped a lot I know.

[vtm]

Ok, I'm checking these out to add to the main VTM site!

[shegoes]

Just remember that a lot of folks cannot get their feet up onthe pegs that quickly- it takes time to develop BALANCE on the bike. If you give the bike enough speed the tires/wheels become gyroscopes and help keep the bike upright. If you work at an idle speed you will actually master balance rather than relaying on speed to keep the bike upright. Always know that Speed get more riders into trouble than out of it. It is always OK when riding to slow down or stop.

[BajanLisa]

In that "monkeysee" video, is the power walk what you also call the "duck walk"? Why would u do that? What is the use or purpose of it?

[cars]

In that "monkeysee" video, is the power walk what you also call the "duck walk"? Why would u do that? What is the use or purpose of it?

It helps you develop/master a good feel of the clutch friction zone. Also you will find times that the power/duck walk is the best way to move in stop and go traffic. IE when a wreck or construction has traffic stopped, move 5 feet and stop again, move 5 feet again and stop again....

[CieBme]

I refuse to duck walk in stop & go traffic unless my knees/hips are done, cars. I have been stuck on I-95 for 30 min, down hill to up hill center lane right in the middle of Richmond ... 85 degrees, no wind ... (and two parades under my belt now ... and much city driving) and I find that using a very, very (thank you, ThickBrit) controlled slow roll and standing stop, zig zagging in my lane to use up space, and holding up until I could make a good jump forward was much better on me and the bike. (I don't have liquid cooled or separate clutch oil.)

I will even get into a conversation just to keep my position (makes me look more like a human than an object to others - people are so nosey!) and keep others from crowding me.

I may let the boots soar beside the floorboards like little pink ribboned eagles - but they won't touch the ground until it's time to land. (If I can help it.)

Purpose, Lisa, is strictly to learn balance and help in "unrideable" conditions. If you haven't learned this at all (which I am quite surprised), you may want to try this. Start by setting a course from point a to point b, with a couple cones or markers as "gates" to go around.

< --------------------- >
< >
< --------------------- >

Start at one end with your bike between the left two (left margin here) set of cones, keep feet on the ground, in the slowest pull out speed possible, ease out the clutch until you barely feel the bike pull you. Throttle up and down, and clutch in and out, till you only have the bike rolling just above stall rpms, and it is going at walking speed. Let the bike pull you across the track to the right two (right of diagram) cones, but keeping your feet "duck walking" (waddle walking) along. (This is how you will roll through a pedestrian filled parking lot (or me: weave through a yard full of critters!). Having your feet on the pegs or floorboards will take too long to get them down when you have to jam the brake when someone jumps out in front of you. Can't use the rear brake if you need to balance on two feet.) When you come to the second set of cones, you will stop completely, peg your handlebar hard to the right and power walk w/ friction zone control around that cone gate. When you are lined up in the bottom lane to head back, again power walk. You will see how truly slow you can roll w/o stalling - it is an art!

There is so much more control in being slow ... sloooow ... sloooooowwww than all the speed stuff together... lots of contests for it at rallies, etc. I love it when I pull up behind (or in front of) a bunch of guy riders and they are "walking their babies" up to a light, (Hubby used to say I was sneaking up on the light) and I can completely pull up and stop - putting my feet down as almost an afterthought. Had a guy tell me once that he "had to duckwalk his Sportster b/c that's the kind of bike it was" - I was so embarrassed to ride w/ him. I told him he just needed to quit being a baby and just ride. (He was duckwalking up to every red light and on take off!!) He traded it in after that (man blames bike for lack of skill), but couldn't get rid of his big baby attitude. I won't ride with him anymore unless I have to.

100% what shegoes said.

[BajanLisa]

Thanks CieBme, I will try it. I suppose because I had a natural balance from the very beginning, that it didn't seem necessary to teach. Also because most of our riders are self taught, they never knew about it.

[CieBme]

... you know, when I typed that and looked at it, I had three sets of cones on the left margin, and three on the right... I guess the spaces didn't translate here, so the < > in the left is not a little tiny circle you have to make around two cones , the right cone should be directly next to the ones (making 1/2 of the gate) on the right margin. sorry.

Lisa, when you were learning balance - or found out you had natural balance - where you zipping along or going at just above stall speed? Reason I ask is (besides not remembering what you had said and being too lazy to look ), natural balance will be realized in the slowest moves, when you can make a head up completely friction zone controlled slow pass or turn, under speedometer measuring speed (where a pedestrian taking baby steps can pass you), with smooth movement, and not so much just sitting upright going above 10 mph. Balance at 10 (5 mph?) or above is all physics/gyroscope stuff and we're just hanging on for the ride. (I'm sure someone out there knows the magic number and it may change with each bike or skill.??)

Hope you have fun with that. I've worked my way up to some pretty cool feet up stops - but haven't been able to hold it very long (and not every time either). Maybe I'm just too impatient.. I usually end up having to make a big dip (turn the handlebar sharply) to increase the momentum but not forward movement ... may look cool but it is really "out of control specs".

Can't remember if you got the Ride Like a Pro videos, but those really have some cool drills to practice. Some I am still afraid of: figure 8s w/ their diagram... I could do it if I had a football field of space! ... and doing ANYTHING w/ Hubby riding along in the same space. Sometimes just having him get in my peripheral vision just messes me up!! (You'd think I couldn't ride in traffic!)

[BajanLisa]

Hi CieBme,

I will be going to ride shortly, so I will report. Yes u r right about the slow speeds, I get all nervy and the bike feels as though it's gonna wobble and fall, so I stick my foot out, I don't like doing that. Last week, I was riding between obstacles about 6' apart. Lots of concentration needed there. Today, I'm going up and down some steep but nice and grassy hills, and I want to do obstacles on the hill. (I don't like hills).

[Carolan]

Thanks for the link, Candy. I feel a little less nervous about my upcoming class, now that I know that "power walking" is an option.

[candyseth]

Carolan,

When is your class? Just take all the advice from this wonderful group of ladies. Made a world of difference for me.
Glad you liked the videos.

Candy

[Carolan]

(I don't like hills).

Hills make me a little shaky as well, even as a passenger. A few weeks ago my husband and I got into a situation where we had to stop on a steep, uphill slope at a T intersection. The intersection was also angled, and there was a blind curve to the left. Anyone flying around that curve wouldn't have seen us easing into the intersection until it was too late. He had me get off the bike and wait off to the side until he'd safely made the turn, which took him a few tries b/c the bike is heavy and it was a challenge to keep it from rolling backward and/or falling over as he let the clutch out.

In a stick shift car, I know how to handle a situation like this and know how to manipulate the clutch and accelerator with my feet. With a bike? Hm. This is a big reason why I'll probably end up with a trike. I'm not sure I'd have the strength to wrestle a 2-wheeler out of that situation.

Carolan (who's delighted to be back online after login problems - THANK YOU, webmaster!!)