My First Actual Twisties Ride Today :)

My buddy took me out today on some twisties today. Other then commuting since i started riding this was the first time really riding this bike. What a rush it was, even though i was going really slow compared to him.

I installed a few days ago my new tech spec snake skin pads and dual density grips. I dont think i will ever ride a bike without these tank pads or something like them. The grip is gives me when stopping is a HUGE improvement. As far as twisties, i have only ridden them with them on lol, so i think they work awesome!!



I checked my bike, tire pressure, hoses and then off i went. Met up at 10am rode until noon on harbison canyon and jamul roads. Not sure exactly where i was, i was just following.

We stopped at noon at some country restaurant to eat. Bunch of harley riders were here. Lots of sport bikes on the roads going ridiculously fast but none needed to eat hahaha.



Then we rode somewhere in jamul to i think it was called simpsons nursery where there was a huge lot of classic cars. We ended the ride at about 2:30pm after doing lots of side streets to get home.










What i learned today:

I might need to wear a scarf or something. I got hit by some bugs and bees. One splatted right in the middle of my visor and smudged my view but luckily wiped right off with the glove. I was afraid of getting a bee to the neck again like i did the first day i went riding but luckily no incident this time.

I took a few turns way too fast, and instead of trying to brake in the turn i did what everyone told me and just leaned the bike over a lot and held confidence. This was early in the trip so later turns i definitely slowed it down. It was very hard to tell how fast i felt comfortable going but i guess that just takes practice. I really felt like i could zoom around corners but blind corners and uncertainty of road condition prevented me from exploring turns too fast.

When we stopped to eat my hands tingled for a good 15-20 minutes. My friend said i just need to get used to riding but it was really uncomfortable during the twisties. My throttle hand was hurting, and i pretty much stayed in third gear from 30-65 mph the whole trip. Im not sure if it was the fz6r bars or not. These bars work wonders on my commute, much more comfortable but now im debating trying out the fz1 bars OR maybe those heavy hvmp bar ends. Thoughts??

After eating i adjusted my riding style a little and gripped the bike with the heels of my boots and legs a lot to take the pressure off my hands. Definitely stopped my hands from hurting but i started to get slight lower back pains. Maybe im not riding properly. Maybe im just old hahhaha, OR im not used to this long of a ride.

Spencers custom seat mod worked wonders, no issues with sore butt the whole trip. All though my jeans did bunch in the crotch area under my mesh overpants and was uncomfortable once in awhile. Just sitting up and shaking solved it .

Oh yea also learned i need to get some sort of communicator. My friend was using a scala rider q2. I just need to figure out which one to get for myself since only a q2 can talk with him. But it looked so much better then the giant chatterbox.




Overall an amazing trip and cant wait to do it again!!!! Hopefully have better riding pants and solution to the tingly hands

Windscreen is looking good in California!

Is that your friend's 950?

Riding on a capable bike is not the most comfortable thing in the word...don't expect to avoid all aches and pains...there will be plenty. But as your confidence goes up you'll have more and more fun taking your focus off the unpleasant parts of riding. :thumbup:

Congratulations on your first day out at the playgrounds! :BLAA:

I agrees with Nate and you are probably also tensing up a little and that will tire muscle groups and feel uncomfortable. As you get more familiar those muscle groups will relax and your discomfort will be greatly reduced.

Love the pics.

Love the Chevs even more :drool: I think it's a 70, if I'm not mistaken (BTW, I'm probably mistaken LOL)

My pops bought the Scala headsets. Works great for bluetooth to phone and communicating (also comes with a FM radio option but its tricky to use), but the MP3 playback through in-helmet speakers provided is a bit lacking. Its decent, but at highway speeds you can barely hear the music. For some reason talking is so much louder and clearer but music comes out like crap. I tried looking for a set that really had good music playback, as I dont want to rely on earbuds shoved in helmet for the rest of my life lol, but I couldnt find a brand that was notable in that regard.

On another note, IMHO the heavy bar ends are magical in their ability to cut vibes. Noticed an immediate difference for distance riding. You still get vibes between 7k - 10k, but they are 25% of what they used to be.

Stay safe on those twisties and thanks for the pics! :thumbup:

callmegandhi said:

Windscreen is looking good in California!

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Hahahah thanks again kind sir!!! Much better then the yellow one i had.

DefyInertia said:

Is that your friend's 950?

Riding on a capable bike is not the most comfortable thing in the word...don't expect to avoid all aches and pains...there will be plenty. But as your confidence goes up you'll have more and more fun taking your focus off the unpleasant parts of riding. :thumbup:

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Yea he has a KTM 950??? I think. Its a mean sounding machine with tiny duals out the back. He does tricks and what not, much better rider then i am lol.

Kazza said:

Love the pics.

Love the Chevs even more :drool: I think it's a 70, if I'm not mistaken (BTW, I'm probably mistaken LOL)

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A few more for you :rockon: Sorry about the shaky cell phone quality

Sounds like good ride! It also sounds like riding above your means makes you tense. When all is right, you'll find you're pretty relaxed as confidence builds. A death grip on the bars will follow you all the way up your arms and back. Loosen up, relax your grip and try to float your hands around the grips.

Have fun and stay alert!

Sounds like a blast but as far as your wrist hurting, being that you were in 3rd between 30 and 50 your engine was struggling to accelerate and inturn morethen likly you were turning the throttle a whole lot more then normal to compromise being down low. Plus a death grip as mentioned will wear it out too. I would suggest downshifting to 2nd next time, you wont have to work the throttle as much, also riding on the balls of my feet tends to help me a lot in overall comfort

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ChevyFazer said:

Sounds like a blast but as far as your wrist hurting, being that you were in 3rd between 30 and 50 your engine was struggling to accelerate and inturn morethen likly you were turning the throttle a whole lot more then normal to compromise being down low. Plus a death grip as mentioned will wear it out too. I would suggest downshifting to 2nd next time, you wont have to work the throttle as much, also riding on the balls of my feet tends to help me a lot in overall comfort

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I do ride on the balls of my feet which is more comfortable for me as well. As far as shifting im still practicing the throttle blip to downshift but for sure next time i will just keep upshifting to third on straights and downshift before corners. I really need to practice the down shift i always do it lightly and sometimes it takes for ever to downshift or it doesnt shift. Im going to try pushing it down with authority and see if that makes thigns easier.

chomorro said:

I do ride on the balls of my feet which is more comfortable for me as well. As far as shifting im still practicing the throttle blip to downshift but for sure next time i will just keep upshifting to third on straights and downshift before corners. I really need to practice the down shift i always do it lightly and sometimes it takes for ever to downshift or it doesnt shift. Im going to try pushing it down with authority and see if that makes thigns easier.

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Over the weekend I took a little ride myself along what is know as Georgia's dragon and I pretty much left it in 2nd the whole time there were some straights where it bounced of the rev limited from me not paying attention but for the most part the turns were back to back so for my riding style 2nd gear was perfect for that road I was on. If I wasnt trying to go hard 3rd wouldhave done just fine for cruising but when I wan to really have fun I dont let the rps dip below 7k. I was just thinking that with it in 3rd you might have been twisting the grip a whole lot more trying to come out of turns or what not and that constant back and forth can fatigue your wrist as well

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Sounds like a fun ride. Sounds like you did the right thing and didn't rush into it.

As you ride more you'll get more comfortable on the bike and relax. In straights I shake my hands out and stretch a little, more my legs etc.

I also find the my hands hurt most during the first session of the day whereas later ones I'm warmed up and my hands no longer hurt.

Good to hear you are hooked

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Where do you get the snake skin pads? Are they an American thing?

I love group riding as long as I pick the group and they are not too far above my own riding skills.

If you dont mind a bit of advice try and stay near the lead rider as long as you feel happy keeping up as if you get stuck in traffic farther back in the pack you will start to panic and rush the overtakes and corners trying to play catch up and thats when it all ends in tears. Let the others play tail end- they probably know the route you are on and where they are going next and the way the bends pan out. For us we do at least each of our favourite runs once per year sometimes more and in reverse which is completelty different!

dolau said:

Where do you get the snake skin pads? Are they an American thing?

I love group riding as long as I pick the group and they are not too far above my own riding skills.

If you dont mind a bit of advice try and stay near the lead rider as long as you feel happy keeping up as if you get stuck in traffic farther back in the pack you will start to panic and rush the overtakes and corners trying to play catch up and thats when it all ends in tears. Let the others play tail end- they probably know the route you are on and where they are going next and the way the bends pan out. For us we do at least each of our favourite runs once per year sometimes more and in reverse which is completelty different!

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Excellent advice, I actually just let him go way ahead of me and he just waited for me at the next intersection. I was keeping up with him just to follow his lines but he took turns much faster then i wanted to since i had no idea what was coming up next.

The good thing about this ride, is it was during football so the roads were pretty much all ours

Oh and the snake skin pads are from techspec-usa.com im sure they have an international site as well. Kindof pricey but they were worth it for me

I agree, I have the Tech Spec grip pads and they are awesome. Every bike I own will always have something like this from now on. I don't understand how bikes aren't sold this way to begin with, it seems like a safety issue for me.

It's normal for your hands to tingle after a longer ride. For me it happened more when I first started riding but it still happens to me ... it's like your nerves are overstimulated after hours of buzzing all the time. I have heard that the bar end weights (larger than stock, that is) do help a lot. Also depending on the type of bars you have, you may be able to use this product called a Bar Snake - it's this long weight that slides into the handlebar to help dampen the vibrations. I'd bet with that and aftermarket bar ends, you'd be looking pretty good.

I have a Suburban Machinery aftermarket bar so I can't use the Bar Snake, but reading this encourages me to possibly get some bar ends.

For the bee in the neck thing, you may consider a taller windscreen. I put on a Puig double bubble (I think it's the touring one?), and now it offers a lot more wind protection; at highway speeds and even slower, the air blast hits me mid-visor.

Good luck!

Congratulations on the great ride. You might want to change the stock handle bars to the FZ1 bars of some similar. My wrists and hands had problems with the stock bars. Now with the FZ1 bars no problem and can ride all day. Thanks for the pictures. :thumbup:

I ordered the HVMP extra heavy bar ends. I will report back if they work but acording the reviews here they do

If not then fz1 bars here I come. It sucks splitting from the girl friend but I have a lot more play money without a hefty mortgage!!!!

You're making me homesick! I grew up in Lakeside. My parents still live there and my brother lives in Harbison Canyon. One of these days I'll truck my bike out there and go riding with the San Diego guys. So many mountain roads and such to ride on in the county.

Glad to see you're having fun! Wish I coulda been there with ya.

My parents go to car shows it seems every weekend. My dad said their 65 Mustang won a trophy over the weekend. There's nothing like that here in Austin, TX.

Go on more rides and take more pictures. :iconbeer:

Dave.TX said:

You're making me homesick! I grew up in Lakeside. My parents still live there and my brother lives in Harbison Canyon. One of these days I'll truck my bike out there and go riding with the San Diego guys. So many mountain roads and such to ride on in the county.

Glad to see you're having fun! Wish I coulda been there with ya.

My parents go to car shows it seems every weekend. My dad said their 65 Mustang won a trophy over the weekend. There's nothing like that here in Austin, TX.

Go on more rides and take more pictures. :iconbeer:

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Well you better hook up with us if you get a chance to get out here.

chomorro said:

I ordered the HVMP extra heavy bar ends. I will report back if they work but acording the reviews here they do

If not then fz1 bars here I come. It sucks splitting from the girl friend but I have a lot more play money without a hefty mortgage!!!!

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I had the right hand buzz problem....I went with a pair of grip puppies.
But I hope those work out for ya



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