Slow, tight U-turns...

[Bo67]

All good points. The keys for me are finding the friction zone and looking at your target. Where your eyes look your hands will follow.
Not bragging but I can lock the bars left or right and do this.
BTW, I was accepted Friday as a full-time Idaho STAR (Skills Training Advantage for Riders) instructor yesterday. It's basically a mirror of the MSF course that is offered here through Boise State University. The first class I will teach solo in the classroom will be on Mar 15-16, 2008; pretty stoked (and nervous) about it. On the FZ6 I use 2nd gear for a tight U-turn; the throttle is a little less twitchy in my opinion. On the bikes I demo on in the class (250-400 cc's) I use 1st gear.
I view motorcycling as a sport no matter what or how you ride. The key to it all is practice, practice, practice.

 

[Nelly]

All good points. The keys for me are finding the friction zone and looking at your target. Where your eyes look your hands will follow.
Not bragging but I can lock the bars left or right and do this.
BTW, I was accepted Friday as a full-time Idaho STAR (Skills Training Advantage for Riders) instructor yesterday. It's basically a mirror of the MSF course that is offered here through Boise State University. The first class I will teach solo in the classroom will be on Mar 15-16, 2008; pretty stoked (and nervous) about it. On the FZ6 I use 2nd gear for a tight U-turn; the throttle is a little less twitchy in my opinion. On the bikes I demo on in the class (250-400 cc's) I use 1st gear.
I view motorcycling as a sport no matter what or how you ride. The key to it all is practice, practice, practice.

Congratulations on your instructor ship, well done. I can do an almost complete full lock turn to the right but not quite to the left. Practice as you say is key. Having said that though I was doing some practice in a large shoping mall carpark a coule of weeks ago. The police arrived and asked me to move on. WTF, the reson they gave was that the carpark was being used by some scooter boys who were causing problems for the shoppers.

 

[Bo67]

I hear you Perryn. The police probably don't have anything better to do there since I moved from England in 1993. They used to chase down me in my '79 Ford Cortina for a loud muffler and an expired MOT inspection. What chase police vehicles are they using there now? They used to be in Ford Grenadas and some Vauxhall Carltons when I was there ('86-'93).
BTW; I miss that old Cortina 1.6L. It's the only car I've owned that didn't break down on me.

 

[Mattberkshire]

Watch Hot Fuzz. They use Astra Desiel's. Not quite the same cachet as some rear wheel drive 3 litre monster....:Flash:

 

[grommit]

Mitsubishi Evo VIII

And a Honda Fireblade

 

[Nelly]

I hear you Perryn. The police probably don't have anything better to do there since I moved from England in 1993. They used to chase down me in my '79 Ford Cortina for a loud muffler and an expired MOT inspection. What chase police vehicles are they using there now? They used to be in Ford Grenadas and some Vauxhall Carltons when I was there ('86-'93).
BTW; I miss that old Cortina 1.6L. It's the only car I've owned that didn't break down on me.

The police in my town use 1.6 astras (town cars) Traffic use 2.0 vauxhall vectras and a few un-marked BMW 320i's. Hampshire used to use the volvo T aka terminator T.

 

[reiobard]

The police around here are migrating towards the new charger.

 

[HavBlue]

The police around here are migrating towards the new charger.

Man, is that car as butt ugly as it looks? I thought Tennessee State Troopers had the ugly ducklings..

 

[steveindenmark]

There is only one way to do these. It is actually the biggest failure point in the UK test. You get one chance, if you put your foot down you fail the test.

The MAIN trick is as soon as you start to move look over the shoulder in the direction you intend to turn. Look as far down the road as you can and the bike will follow you.

We all know the bike goes where you look.

Remember...AS SOON as you move look over your shoulder.

You also have to learn to control the clutch to help you. Do it in first gear.

 

[adam6177]

As a recent test passer I'd just like to add my tuppence.....

I put my fut down on the turn but he still passed me.....he said

"In my opinion you had finished the manouver as the bike was straight, also you had cut the turn much tighter than you needed to"

I guess he was just feeling genergous as I thought I'd failed from that moment on (bearing in mind this was 5 mins into the test) and I can only assume he passed me as the rest of my ride was good.

During my CBT I had no probs with the turn at all......as soon as I got on the 500 I struggled. On my first day I only managed to do 1 turn in the road right all day. On the 2nd day of training I only got 1 wrong.......then on the test day I ****ed it up but still passed!

My tips.........

1. shift your weight to the left to lean the bike
2. keep revs high to keep the power on
3. feather that damn clutch
4. use rear brake to control speed
5. get your head up and look right down the road, dont look at your turn

for me though the number 1 thing is KEEP REVS HIGH.....it made the world of difference for me!

Adam

 

[PlasticPig]

I took my test in the UK, a friend who took his the same day got himself so worked up about the U Turn that he put his foot down and failed, personally I didn't fnd a problem with it but then I refused to get stressed about doing it.

I pretty well do what most on here say, 1st gear, play the clutch on the biting point, keep revs high and look where you are going (thats the main thing), although I tend to use my rear brake a lot to control the speed and it als helps with the balance.

Couldn't really see why they put such a high value on it in the test at the time but in retrospect it teaches you great slow speed control.

Also now useful that I live in the US and U Turns are the accepted norm.

 

[fast blue one]

A lot of good advice here I would especially echo the ideas of look where you want to go - the bike just follows and rear brake control, it stops front end compression and the control becomes better. Just stay away from that front brake.

 

[mech75]

also, usually slide yer butt to the side of the seat opposite where you're turning. for example, most u turns to the left, lean the bike, keep yourself upright, slide yer right cheek over the side of the seat, and your left cheek on the rt side of the seat. seems kinda strange, but works really well, especially at slow speeds

 

[Crystal]

A point that I haven't heard mentioned. You HAVE to turn your head into the turn! You have to look where you want to go. If you are looking anywhere other than where you want to be, you will probably eat pavement. It may seem odd, but it will make one heck of a difference in tight or big turns.

As a new rider....this is the best advice I got from a guy at work. He told me to look and point my chin where I want to go. Its like it help your body lean properly. Really helps on the canyons

 

[Roadstergal]

Eyes eyes eyes eyes eyes.

IMO, the #1 issue noobs (and even many experienced riders) struggle with is eyes. They look straight ahead or straight down.

The U-turn box starting Day 2 at the MSF is critical not because a U-turn will save your life one day, but because the components that make you do it successfully will save your life one day.
-Using vision to pick out your path.
-Smooth operation of controls.
-Balance and relaxation.

 

[xgrafcorex]

In the MSF Beginner's Course I just completed, we were to do U-turns as tight as possible, in second gear with a bit of throttle added (to keep the motor from stalling), and then control the speed of the bike itself with the rear brake only. Didn't see anything like that in my Proficient Motorcycling book, and I never did it very well during the course.

Is that how most of you more experienced guys do a U-turn? Do any of you leave it in 1st gear? I want to put in the practice, but being it's MY bike that I'll tip over if I do it wrong now, I'd like to start out at least in the correct gear with the right technique.

Thanks in advance!

I actually was doing it in 1st for a bit then found I had an easier time with it in second gear because the bike wasn't as quick to rev up. Also, we had never received any specification to only use the rear brake while doing this exercise. The main thing my instructors were telling people was to turn their heads more to "look where they wanted to go."

 

[xgrafcorex]

As a new rider....this is the best advice I got from a guy at work. He told me to look and point my chin where I want to go. Its like it help your body lean properly. Really helps on the canyons

Not sure it has to do with your chin but more just where you are looking. The tricky part for new riders is to trust their arms and body to follow through with turning to where they are looking. I just went through the MSF course myself about 2 months ago and found that at first I was able to look fairly well (did improve on turning my head more) but that I still wanted to see where I was steering the bike. It takes a little practice to build up the coordination to turn how you want without looking.

As a noob (I've only been riding about a month now) it is stressful to look away from the bike completely and "get there." It does work though! I've improved a lot since then, though I still need to devote some time each week or at least a couple of times a month to practicing in an empty parking lot.

 

[DaveOTZ]

+1 R_Gal

Turning your head into a turn activates a primitive reflex, that guides your body to do the right thing... I had trouble with this during my BSC and the instructor grabbed my helmet and said if he didnt see my eyes he would kick me off the blacktop... My next figure 8 was perfect and I don't work well under pressure...

About the gearing, Ive tried 1st and 2nd doing a tight figure 8 on the FZ6 and the amount of even power available in first gear+the throttle control thats come with practice makes 1st gear a lot easier for me, I find it easier to balance clutch and throttle than allowing the lack of power govern my speed in 2nd... That being said, I still feel 2nd gear in the GS250 I took my test on was a better idea, Maybe cause its a lighter bike, shorter power band who knows...

I think in reference to the gearing its a matter of Bike+Experience...

 

[McLovin]

Your neck and by that I mean where you look is more important than anything I think. Slow speed u turns will become 2nd nature once you do them enough times. If you dont wanna learn on the street, practice in a parking lot. Thats all there is to this, practice.