So - yesterday failed my MOD1 by doing the worse U-turn in the history of u-turns and ending up putting my foot down…
What’s really anonying in the first three days of training all of my u-turns were fine, and it was only in the last two days it all went downhill I knew if could make it past that, i’d be fine as the faster stuff i was happy with.
So after 5 days of the same advice given to me over and over, get momentum at the start, keep the head up, look at where you want the bike to go etc. I still couldn’t put it together. I need to arrange some further practise time before another MOD1 attempt - but any advice?
Do you think practising on my 125 would help or hinder compared to the 600?
Practicing on a 125 didn’t help me when practicing uturns.
Clutch is basically on or off on a 125, on a big bike you feather it and use it more in semi open state.
YMMV of course.
@Wise - not sure the examiner would accept that techique. @Kevsta - on the 125 i’d keep the revs up - but on 600cc we were taught to not use it at all - the torque pulls the bike straight - if you do it correctly. I’m in Addlestone, doing the tests in Farnborough.
The revs, helps to keep the bike balanced. I’m not saying that it should be 7K, but 3/4K should be enough. I do that on both the KTM and the Kawasaki and they both have far more torque than your 600.
There’s not much you can do on a 125 to prepare for U-turning a 600. The big bike’s easier to u-turn, but there’s a fairly different technique involved. Presumably you’ve no friends who’ll let you (quite illegally) practice on their bike in a car park?
Did this exact thing on my Mod1 as well and it sucked so bad. Instructor basically gave me a sour look and didn’t say anything all the way back to the school.
I ended up with an extra 2h session on the school bikes and did nigh on 50 u-turns in the carpark. Turned out on the day it was all to do with nerves and I managed to control it second time round, deep breaths before every exercise, don’t even remember thinking about it now, it just kinda happened.
Kevsta is right, head up, revs up, clutch balanced and a little rear brake to stabilise if required. look where you want to go and the bike will go there, you just have to let it.
cheers all - just trying to arrange with the trainers a couple of hours training where I can just do the u-turns. I think I need to methodically work through each element, from start to end - then i’ll feel better about it and have less nerves on the day.
BUT the best part of passing u-turn is that you will NEVER have to do it properly again hahahaha l passed and since then l do whatever l feel is safe - if thats to put my food down so be it! goo luck
also - this dude is cool. lve watched him over and over
Counter weight, leaning right when turning left and visa versa allows for a tighter turning circle although I’m not sure what the examiner would make of it if you progressed that technique into a full on body shift. Then again what do I know?
National Treasure, I teach people to counter lean when doing U-Turns on CBTs, I expect them to do it on bigger bikes as well. I don’t see a problem as long as you keen the bike controlled and don’t put your foot down.
From what I remember getting barked at me by my Dutch riding instructor.
Legs inside body outside. When we were doing U turns we kept our body upright.
Look where you go to. (Dutch to English interpretation of look where you want to go, if you look down you go down).
As I recall I was slipping the clutch and had the rear brake on too. Other than that we just did the drills over and over until we got them right. There was a figure of 8 test too which was like back to back U turns. It was harder but looked pretty stylish. They are definitely important exercises to learn and practice bike control. When you pass you don’t do them very often though so just get through it.
I really feel for you. I must have done about 20 successful U turns before my Mod 1, but on the actual test I felt pretty nervous, luckily I passed but it could have gone horribly wrong, same with figure of 8’s.
I stayed away from my 125 during my training, to become more familiar with the big bike. The thing that helped me with slow maneuvers was to apply more power just as it felt I was losing balance.
I knew if could make it past that, i’d be fine as the faster stuff i was happy with.