Looking for an expert to critique my riding & leaning skills | GTAMotorcycle.com

Looking for an expert to critique my riding & leaning skills

hymnz

hymnz

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I was in Kingston over the weekend and had an embarrassing/testing time where I had to park & turn at slow speeds that typically require riding the friction zone.

I'm, admittedly, not great at that skill plus my Yamaha Tmax is a CVT transmission bike. And the bike being 250kgs I get nervous when the lean become a little more than I'm confident about (got pinned once in the initial days of getting acclimated to the bike). During the MSF course as well I went through using acceleration control than the clutch control on a Honda Grom and still had trouble on right side lean. I'm not proud of it, but it is what it is.

And when I take u-turns, I end up in the middle of the next lane when I start at the extreme right.

I'm looking for ways to improve this skill. I'm not sure how well any course here teaches manuevers on scooter. Should I take another MSF course and only focus on friction zone skills? Any other way I can improve on it?

I did see the only video in YouTube that shows leans on a scooter. It was by Motojitsu and just looking at it made me uncomfortable 😅
 
Turn your head, look where you want to go and drag the rear brake while keeping the engine rpms elevated at the same time.

Some people have problems with right turns because their throttle hand is pinned closer to their body when their handlebars are turned. You've got to make a concerted effort to separate your throttle action when your right handlebar is turned towards you.
 
I ride a Burgman 400, have for most of the 15 yrs I've been riding. The heads up and look where you want to go is the 1st skill you have to master but you have to practice. Motojitsu has years of experience but the one thing that he preaches in many of his video is to practice.Do some donuts in a empty parking lot when you go out for a ride. You can get traffic cones for a buck at Dollarama. Find a place to practice and practice. Mall with movie theatres have big open space early sunday morning. At first your donuts will be the size of a postal code. With practice you will get get down to the width of a city street( 22 ft) I found finding the friction zone difficulty to master. It will come with practice. You can do every time you go out on your scoot. When you clear your driveway move to the curb, stop, check for traffic, turn your handlebar fully to the left, find your target and make your turn. You can take the advance courses but if you don't practice it is all for naught. I try to do an advanced course every two or three years to keep the skill set to where I want it to be.
 
When I started riding I was nervous about doing U-turn also. There are plenty of YouTube video about counter balancing, turning your head right behind your shoulders etc. The best beginner advice for U-turns came from Canyon Chasers " just put your left foot down" and take your time.
Save your money and just practice first in the parking lot, then to the mean streets.
Practice #1 U-turn from a stop
Practice #2 U-turn while moving
Warmup by doing some figure eights!
 
Carry/drag the brakes, try to keep the weight off your hands, keep em loose, they're better able to turn then.

Slow speed spills happen, nothing to be ashamed of
 
apextech said:
I find that putting weight on the foot pegs can also help in certain turning situations while doing the above aforementioned.
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Indeed. Everyone should learn to ride trials or at least dirt for good basic skills. Weighting is VERY important.
 
Lightcycle said:
OP has a T-Max which is a scooter.

No pegs...
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Concept is still relevant. Take your weight off your feet in a scooter and try a low speed turn and it would be all sorts of dodgy.

OP, practice in clean parking lots and keep building miles. Most of us lean better one way than the other at the beginning. Your body figures it out. A course like Total Control that CuteKill is associated with (IIRC) could be valuable. Or a day with trail tours. Lose ground and somebody elses bike (that isn't hurt badly by tipovers) teaches you quickly.
 
Where's Rodney when you need him?
 
Lightcycle said:
Some people have problems with right turns because their throttle hand is pinned closer to their body when their handlebars are turned
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Yes, this is definitely a thing for me.
MattVino said:
With practice you will get get down to the width of a city street( 22 ft)
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Hey, I can do that :D

Excellent suggestions here, esp. loading more weight on the feet. I will be buying some cones today and try these over the next few days through the weekend and makes some observation/notes for myself. Hopefully, I can video-record myself to see what I'm doing right/wrong.

Thank you.
 
Google "Motorcycle Masters" and find one of their courses, and then sign up and go do it. You WILL be a better slow speed rider when you come out the other side. Protect your bike against being dropped, as you will push your limits, and people do sometimes drop their bikes.

The key is being prepared and not so timid about this possibilty - you learn by pushing your boundaries - if it happens, it happens - nobody judges, nobody laughs, everybody learns. And you're only riding at a walking pace 90% of the time anyways (except for the swerve and emergency braking bits later in the day), so dropping is a non issue anyways.
 
bigpoppa said:
Carry/drag the brakes, try to keep the weight off your hands, keep em loose, they're better able to turn then.

Slow speed spills happen, nothing to be ashamed of
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It takes time and practice to develop balance skills -- you probably don't need a coach, just a couple of tips and some practice.

People develop a natural sense of balance on their feet, not so on their butts, it's completely new for most. New riders also need to develop confidence in step with skills, which too takes time and practice and has to develop in step with fundamental skills to reach competency.

Go to a parking lot, try doing figure 8s sitting, then try them again standing. You'll probably find standing is easier, so do it standing until your're good at it, then move to sitting. I'll bet after an hour of self-practice you're smiling!
 
PrivatePilot said:
people do sometimes drop their bikes
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I probably have some psychological thing behind this for my current bike. I think it was day 8 of ownership. I was at Ninth Line and Terragar Blvd waiting to turn left. A car came beside me and the dog suddenly barked from inside. This caught me unaware that I lost my balance and fell and my left foot was pinned under the bike for a good 5-6 minutes before anyone could help me out.

It's most likely this affected my confidence, but yeah- I'm going to fix this myself. Hopefully, another fall or 2 would set my brain right :sneaky:
 
Mad Mike said:
It takes time and practice to develop balance skills -- you probably don't need a coach, just a couple of tips and some practice.

People develop a natural sense of balance on their feet, not so on their butts, it's completely new for most. New riders also need to develop confidence in step with skills, which too takes time and practice and has to develop in step with fundamental skills to reach competency.

Go to a parking lot, try doing figure 8s sitting, then try them again standing. You'll probably find standing is easier, so do it standing until your're good at it, then move to sitting. I'll bet after an hour of self-practice you're smiling!
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Standing and turning on a scooter is far from easier. That is all sorts of wobbly without lots of practice.
 
GreyGhost said:
Standing and turning on a scooter is far from easier. That is all sorts of wobbly without lots of practice.
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That's how I taught my kids to ride slow and do tight circles. We had a Vespa-style ebike, and a no-ped.

Standing lets a rider use their well-developed standing balance skills. Transfering weight from your arse to your feet lowers the center of gravity which also makes balancing easier. Together they make it easier to balance.

Next time you find one of those kids razor style scooter with a seat (or just a childs 14" wheel bicycle), try balancing at a standstill while sitting -- you probably fall over like a tree - timber! Then try while standing, it will be a bit wobbly but you'll do it for a lot longer than sitting.

You'll find the same goes for any bicycle, e-scoot, moto scoot or GS.
 
PrivatePilot said:
Google "Motorcycle Masters" and find one of their courses, and then sign up and go do it. You WILL be a better slow speed rider when you come out the other side. Protect your bike against being dropped, as you will push your limits, and people do sometimes drop their bikes.

The key is being prepared and not so timid about this possibilty - you learn by pushing your boundaries - if it happens, it happens - nobody judges, nobody laughs, everybody learns. And you're only riding at a walking pace 90% of the time anyways (except for the swerve and emergency braking bits later in the day), so dropping is a non issue anyways.
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They are my go to guys for my semi annual refresher.
 
hymnz said:
I probably have some psychological thing behind this for my current bike. I think it was day 8 of ownership. I was at Ninth Line and Terragar Blvd waiting to turn left. A car came beside me and the dog suddenly barked from inside. This caught me unaware that I lost my balance and fell and my left foot was pinned under the bike for a good 5-6 minutes before anyone could help me out.

It's most likely this affected my confidence, but yeah- I'm going to fix this myself. Hopefully, another fall or 2 would set my brain right :sneaky:
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ahh the bike is now pre scratched and thus de-magnetized from the ground. practice practice practice and more practice with all the good suggestions and points others made. great thread.
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