Yay!

SO just passed the first part of her bike test (emergency stop, swerve
test, parking etc). Second part next Friday.

 

/me didn't even know the test was in two parts.

Congrats to L btw.

 

Me neither until recently. It's actually five parts in total - CBT,
theory, hazzard awareness, bit above in a carpark, then bit on road.

 

Yet somehow despite all that they still don't teach people to corner.

 

Good show. Did you go see that SV that was posted about here?

 

Going Sunday hopefully.

 

I still can't. I've been trying 'a while'.

 

Looking out for feral "Z"s?

Or Bo & Luke in the General Lee?

 

Heh. I did wonder as I typed it but couldn't be arsed to check. My
spelling does seem to be going downhill as I get older, but my concern
about getting it right is too.

 

The GS500 engine bars are painted and ready to fit.
Should be ready by the time you notice that the SV is older and high miles.

 

Make sure she wears her 'Daisy Dukes' ...

Paul.

 

Doiesn't matter a ****, I'd rather have a 50K mile old SV than a new GS

 

Way cool.

 

A lot of that comes from the attitude of the ATB towards the test. Those who
teach people to ride do teach vanishing point, cross views, countersteer,
vision etc. Those who teach people to pass the tests, don't.
This really does show on the module one test, where the ones taught
countersteering wonder what all the fuss is about, and the ones who hurl the
bike round and hope, look out of control and often clip cones.

Nip to your local test centre and watch the mod1 entertainment. Talk to the
instructors about steering. Some maintain that teaching countersteering is a
mugs game, some insist on bringing it in at CBT level then using a variant
of slow, look, lean and roll as a foundation to build cornering skills. I am
firmly lodged in the latter camp.

 

Nor do they understand it or appreciate it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Damn right. All you can do is vaguely guide it. Knowing how a bike steers
and being able to steer it properly and accurately at any speed brings about
many benefits.


Ask most novice riders how a bike gets round a corner, and they respond with
an answer not dissimilar to body steering. Because they tend to tense, as
they lean the body, the countersteer action takes place, thus confirming
that you lean the body to make the bike corner. A good example of a
cognitive determinant of a questionable belief. It also means they can't, or
certainly struggle to make rapid steering movements and find themselves
unable to tighten a line. Once they relax at the bars and make a conscious
decision regarding bar input, their control skills improve no end.
Module one of the new test requires a rapid change of direction, then a
restoration. This is easily achieved with fairly light 'bar pressure and
requires no body movement at all.

 

It seems fairly common for new riders to arrive at a situation where
they've gone into a corner too hot and simply to give up and run wide or
go straight on because they've no conception of how to lean the bike more.

 

Not really the case. I recall, and I know I've mentioned this before,
the first time I rode my first bike, an SL125. I'd been riding
pushbikes for years, and my dad's C50 for a few months, but at 16
clearly hadn't, any experience of bigger bikes.

So first time out I hit Queensway in Derby, I accelerate up to
unheard-of speeds, like maybe 55mph, and start to negotiate the
gradual left-hand turn, at which point the bike decides it's not
turning, due to my contradicting inputs of both trying to turn the
bars and to lean the bike. I ended up on the RHS grass verge,
wondering WTF had happened, and gradually working out for myself what
countersteering was, although I'd never heard of it.

So, the point is that up to a certain speed, or perhaps momentum, it's
instinctive and you don't need to know about it, but do go beyond that
point you need to be taught it, either by experience or by an
instructor.

 

*waves*

--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
116 Giulietta 3.0l Sprint 1.7 GTV TS GT 3.2 V6
Triumph Sprint ST 1050: It's blue, see.
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

I well remember the first powered overtake I got wrong. Up behind a
truck on a right-hand, long curve on the bypass I popped out to the
right and applied a chunk of throttle. Once over the white line the
camber took me further right than I wanted to be and I guess I 'turned
left' to go where I wanted to be. I got quite (very) close to the
apex, which was just where I didn't want to be, especially with a
roundabout approaching.

The truck driver was likely pissing hisself by that point, so just to
moisten his bonfire, I leant over to the left and stuck my left knee
out, see. Progress back across the road was initiated immediately,
probably because I'd pushed the left bar away from me as I leant across
the bike.

I could almost hear the gales of truckie laughter, however, as the left
kerb approached at a fine speed, at 45 degrees to the bike - so I
pulled the left leg in, stuck the right leg out and let my ringpiece do
the hokey-fucking-cokey for a bit.

Equilibrium was restored for several nanoseconds, as by then I was back
on the correct side of the road, travelling in the correct direction,
in front of the truck by more than five feet ... and there was a
roundabout, directly across the bows and approaching at considerable
speed.

I wondered which leg to hang out. Neither, I decided, I'll clamp the
tank with both bollocks as retardation has been initiated, but in a
somewhat uncontrolled manner. Through the tears of pain I could see
the speedo - from very close range, as it happened, being spreadeagled
across the tank as the front end dived like a homesick anchor for a
supertanker.

Funnily enough, the name for myself I was gritting out between my teeth
rhymed with both 'anchor' and 'supertanker'.

Fortunately the roundabout was devoid of traffic, so by flailing left,
right, left legs about in the breeze in that order I was able to
negotiate it safely. Still can't stand the smell of Yorkies, mind.

 

Knees are not ailerons.