My better half is struggling a bit with the U turn manoeuvre you have to do during your test, 5 times perfect, five times wibbly wobbly foot down.
Has anyone got any hints and tips that may help her, we are working on clutch control and using the rear brake any guidance will help.
No smart arse comments like, stabilizers may help a bit, I’ve already used these and suffered for using them so be warned one day you may meet her and she will remember who you are.
Was at Brands for a little while today, that B is bloody quick, he makes it look far too easy.
passed recently, my instructor got me to focus on where i wanted to end up rather than front wheel/kerb, this made the road dimensions less intimidating and allowed me to concentrate on clutch controli wasnt very good at em but was able to pass, tell your missus i even dropped the bike on a tight u-turn right before the test, doh! damn that was embarassing
The only thing I can add,that you have probably already been told is to try to look where you want to go,not where you’re going.It does work with practice and that is all it comes down to.You’ve already got using rear instead of front brake.Best of luck to her:D
Practice, practice, practice - I used to do two in the road outside the entrance to my employer’s underground car park on arriving at work, and two in the road outside before I got home. Don’t get home until I had done the four right each day - soon got them right and continued practising like that every day until my test.
As others have said, look where you want to go - over the shoulder at the start, and the bike will follow you round. Also - it is a test of slow riding control - and it is easier if you go slow but steady - too many people try and rush it.
yeh as above, focus on where you want to be not where you are, gently pat the rear break so the tail light blinks aswell, examiners like it as the think you have more skill and using the rear break to assist you, even if your not lool. keep practising. and if you cant get it down right up your idle a lil and forget the gas and practice with the clutch.
I had not heard of using the brake on a manual. I know the examiners look for it on an auto as you have to balance the throttle with the rear brake for low speed manoeuvring as you have no clutch. They expect the brake light to be on for the whole manoeuvre for that reason. I was told that stabbing on the brake when U turning suggested you had been going too fast and panicked and therefore were therefore not in control. I would consult a qualified trainer on this.
I recently passed mine on the 9th January, and was taught exactly as marc has said. As for the actual turn, look over your right shoulder at a point about three parking spaces further on from where you want to stop. This helps you to be fixated on your goal destination instead of becoming fixated with the curb, which you will definitely head for if you are looking at it. Practice on the widest road you can find to start with, then gradually make smaller turns. As your turns get smaller, challenge yourself with roads of less width.:)I’m no guru on this, I struggled with them myself on my course. But this advice helped me a great deal, and I hope your missus finds it as helpful.Best of luck,;)RR:D
I couldn’t agree with Marc more on this, exactly what my instructor taught me about 5 or so years ago when I passed and it works a treat.
Pick the revs up, slip the clutch and gently drag the rear brake oh and as has already been said look were you want to be up the road not at the kerb, I used to do that and its difficult to not head for it!
You could get here to try slow manoeuvre’s in a car park to practice the controls more, walking pace while only using the rear brake is a good one, straight line first then maybe cones or zig zag type of thing, anything that gets here comfortable at really slow speeds without putting her feet down.
Here are some things I got into the habit of doing or helped when doing uwies.
Slip the clutch consistently through the turn
Slight pressure on the back brake
Head and eyes looking at the goal, whilst being mindful of where I currently am
Point your inside elbow towards the floor and imagine it is the point of a compass (the type you use for drawing circles) and the bike the pencil
Practice somewhere there are no curbs or anything else to focus on, somewhere like a car park. Slowly work on uwies towards full lock, figure of eights. Once you’ve got them tight here, the roads become less intimidating.
The only thing I can add is don’t try and turn straight away as you will become immediately unbalanced (not mentally):
Look over right shoulder
Move forward using slow control until you are completely stable.
Look 2 car lengths ahead of where you want to be (and continue to do so throughout the turn)
Use back brake control, clutch slipping and plenty of revs
I know plenty of people that mastered the U-turn for their test and, because they’ve never used it since, struggle now so she shouldn’t feel too bad. It is difficult.
As everyone is saying, look where you want to go. My instructor made us practice on a slope so that we were forced to use revs/brake/clutch for control, passed with no issues as all. Can now u-turn just about any bike comfortably.
Seriously, revs quite high, slip clutch and look where you want to go. Straight forward.
OK -go with what others have said about constant use of the rear brake. Oh - and practice!
One way of practising is to find an empty car park. Try turning across the width of three car bays - then two and a half, then two etc - This is easier than on a road as there is no curb to hit if it goes wrong. Using this method you should be able to get so you can turn in less than two spaces - I got down to one and a half. Once you can regularly get round in less than two spaces (about 15 feet) getting round in the regulation space - they can’t use roads less than 22 feet IIRC) should be easy.
BTW - here is the guide to examiners conducting the test - well worth reading -
Something my instructor did which helped me loads:
Position yourself further out from the curb when doing your look over the shoulder check, then turn towards the left curb - it gives you move of a swing action and made U-Turns easy for me. In all honesty, its more important to just go with the turn looking where your going and having confidence that the bike isnt actually going to fall over!
I failed first time coz of the flippin u-turn (yes alright you can stop sniggering now!!). Hired a little 125 to pratice on for a week and started on big feck off roads and gradually got the turns tighter and tighter. As my confidence grew, the turns got tighter and smoother and my confidence grew!
Also had a mate who rode out in front of me, follwed his back tire (i.e focused on where i wanted to go!!) for a couple of tunrs and it really helped…
I’m no guru on this, I struggled with them myself on my course. But this advice helped me a great deal, and I hope your missus finds it as helpful.Best of luck,;)RR:D
