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Re: [ST] U-turn diameter



At 09:05 PM 22/04/02 -0500, Michael Young wrote:
>I dumped it in a gas station Saturday evening turning around to get to
>the other side of the island. It has always felt a bit ungainly at low
>speeds.

Don't you hate that? I remember dumping my BSA at a gas station back in the 
seventies. Did the gas jockey put his coffee down to help me pick the bike 
up? No, he didn't.

And congratulations for owning up to a spill. Most of us would rather we 
kept it to ourselves...

First, though, the ST's minimum turning circle is more than 5 metres, even 
if you do counterweight it like Dan Wallander suggested. 20 ft or 6 metres 
is about as tight as she'll go. With me driving, anyway.

Three things you need to do to manage a successful u-turn.

1. Keep the engine revs up. This stabilizes the bike by increasing the 
gyroscopic effect from all those engine bits thrashing around.

2. Control your speed by slipping the clutch and dragging the rear brake. 
Go as slow as you NEED to go, not as slow as you CAN go.

Using the rear brake this way does two things: it gives you more confidence 
that the bike won't run away from you, and it helps stabilize the bike. But 
you must slip the clutch and keep the revs up.

3. Turn your head to look where you want to go, and don't look at what's 
right in front of you. More than anything else, using your eyes to guide 
where you want the bike to go will help you in all slow speed manoeuvres. 
In a U-turn, you should be looking almost 180 degrees ahead when you start 
to turn.

4. (OK--I know I said there were only three) NEVER apply the front brake on 
its own unless your front wheel is straight. I took a slow speed tumble on 
a Speed Triple last year for ignoring this simple yet critical rule.

That's the theory. But, depending on your whereabouts, there's no 
substitute for taking either a MSF or Canada Safety Council course.

Good luck!

Sheep Dawg & Old Shep
Vancouver, BC
www.smith.bc.ca


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