Right, it was pretty sunny and i’ve broken up for easter, but since i’ve got to finish off my disertation, i decided to stay up for a few weeks in Loughborough, taking the opportunity to have a hoon down my local roads. Thought it would be a good idea to get people’s opinions how I ride, since i had a discussion with my mates when i was drunk/mashed/stoned over the last few days that my riding has changed since getting the blade; and that my mates who rode pillion all complimented me.
Anyway, I thought I’d like to see what people’s reactions are on my riding
Needless to say, i need to know what my next step is; i want to get more kicks out of my riding since i feel that pushing it on the road will be too much, but i also feel that i’ve got a LOT to learn on the roads despite having about 55k miles under my belt (which considering I’ve just turned 22 is a lot for 2 wheels).
Either way, feel free to browse my youtube channel… for comparison, there’s a few vids of me on my ZX6R from 2 years ago; the riding leaves something to be desired
Road position is awful… yes. I wouldn’t have thought that, but after hearing it from guys on facebook and also on BCF, my positioning for left handers is pretty abysmal since i’m in the gutter most of the time. But I’m glad that’s been pointed out otherwise I’d not have realised it.
I apologise if the camera position is poor… got no other place to mount it other than my RHS crash bung. And sorry for the tasteless pop-punk; i thought it would mask the wind noise… all i kept hearing was a muffled exhaust and extreme wind noise.
I used to get a lot of stick a while ago when i used to do group rideouts and what with the ride-out season starting soon, i wanted to get my act together. I feel obliged that if i’m going on group ride outs (particularly with recently passed guys in the uni bike club) that i should try to lead by example to prevent any noobs making similar mistakes. Its always nice to follow a guy who’se had quite a bit of experience in comparison to when you first started off. I kinda owe my biking spurt to the guys at Uni, so again it’s always nice and gratifying if the guys that follow you take the positive aspects out of riding… rather than hearing from somebody they’ve lamped their bike into a ditch!
I also feel that having a bigger bike now has subdued my riding, i think the feeling that you’ve got THAT much power to bite you in your arse dwells in the back of your mind; whereas on a 600, using the throttle didn’t require a thought process, hence why you could concentrate on your lines more. Saying that, I probably would be quicker on a 6 but the blade is pretty practical and comfortable…
Yea, you`re riding too far to the left all the time which makes your right hander approaches look OK but you should be nearer the centre line as the road straightens. For the left handers you should be approaching just left of the white line to maximise your view round the bend then moving to the left as the road straightens.
It`s all about seeing as far round the bend as you can until the road opens out again.
It doesn’t really help that i kinda feel that i know that first stretch (up to 2 mins) very well. I mean, it’s only a minute from my house and i’m always tempted to go the “long way” home from uni.
Did the stretch again today 2 or 3 times (cos there’s actually quite a short, 4 mile circular route that you can take) whilst fettling about with the suspension settings and found that due to the amount of blind dips, hidden crests, unless you’ve recce’d the route before, being in the middle actually put me into the path of oncoming traffic.
Actually, i think looking back at my other videos on facebook and youtube, my left hand approach certainly DOES need improving… It’s not all about gutter riding… mite actually need to dig out that copy of roadcraft from the uni library again.
