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Looking at first motorcycle update sep 22 bought one!

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You can actually see the counter steering happen. Let's say you want to go left. So you press left. The tire will actually move to the right briefly, then the bike will move to the left
 
ViviTheMage said:
I was just going to get the proper size of each here :

http://www.revzilla.com/product/michelin-pilot-power-2-ct-tires

it does not need to say 'rear' or 'front' to be correct, as long as it is the right size? At least for revzilla, the other sites say rear and front.
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Revzilla does specify. You just need to know what you are looking at.

Bike tyres like car tyres break down into code so -

120/60 Z R17 F

Size/aspect, speed rating, rim size, front tyre

160/60 Z R17 R

Guess what it is.

I'm well jelly of your SV :wub:
 
sze5003 said:
I don't think its lithium. I got it from chromium batteries came filled and sealed already and was ready to use.
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No, probably not. The lithium batteries are like 3-4 times more expensive than the lead acid batteries. Their main advantage is higher cranking power and much lower weight. A typical lead acid motorcycle battery is around 10lbs but these are around 2lbs.
 
Couple of things:

1. Take an MSF course. It will make all the things we're saying jive and you'll get to practice on a little 250cc that isn't yours.

2. Most of the time when riding i'm not even steering, merely shifting my weight a little bit. With my bike (and I would suspect yours also), shifting weight is more than adequate for most situations.

3. I recommend Pirellis. The stock tires that came with my bike (Supercorsas) were amazing and the Angels I have on them now are great for a sport-touring tire.

4. The only time I every use my rear brake is when I'm sitting at a stoplight. I think the average sport bike is setup where 80% of the stopping power is in the fronts and only 20% is from the rear brake.

5. Front brakes were explained to me one day when riding out in San Antonio's hill country. Say you're riding along and you setup for a corner and use your brakes to help position you. You grab more front brake than needed, realize your mistake, and let off the brake. What has happened is that your front tire's contact patch area increased when you hit the front brakes because more weight shifted to the front. When you release the brake, the weight is no longer there and the contact patch area is significantly decreased in a very short period of time. Boom, crash, down you go.

6. If you're not dragging a knee in a corner, you're doing it wrong... :nilk:

7. Have fun. Take it to the track as soon as possible, you will learn loads.
 
I think it's 70% front, 30% rear ...

but otherwise all good advice...i'll try to do an MSF course next sprint/summer.

so in situation 5, how do you counter act that? slowly let out?
 
ViviTheMage said:
I think it's 70% front, 30% rear ...

but otherwise all good advice...i'll try to do an MSF course next sprint/summer.

so in situation 5, how do you counter act that? slowly let out?
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I use my rear brake all the time, but almost never for "real" stopping. When I need to haul the bike down from speed, the front does almost all the work and I'm just sort of lightly resting my foot on the rear brake.

However, the rear brake gets used all the time if I'm in stop and go traffic or in a parking lot. Dragging the rear brake a bit while using the friction zone of the clutch makes the bike want to stand up and helps low-speed maneuverability a lot. Most bikes have wet clutches, so it's OK to slip them at low speed. Also, on gravel you want to use only the rear brake because it's easy to lose the front wheel if you try to brake with the front on gravel. They'll cover this sort of thing in the MSF class though.

Shifting weight is not a good habit to get into. While it works and is what most people instinctively do, it is not even close to being as quick to react as countersteering is. If you're not accustomed to using at least some amount of countersteering, it's not an instinctive response in emergency situations where you need it to be so. Get used to steering with the bars and not just shifting weight because you want using the bars to be an instinctive response in emergency situations.

ZV
 
Zenmervolt said:
I use my rear brake all the time, but almost never for "real" stopping. When I need to haul the bike down from speed, the front does almost all the work and I'm just sort of lightly resting my foot on the rear brake.

However, the rear brake gets used all the time if I'm in stop and go traffic or in a parking lot. Dragging the rear brake a bit while using the friction zone of the clutch makes the bike want to stand up and helps low-speed maneuverability a lot. Most bikes have wet clutches, so it's OK to slip them at low speed. Also, on gravel you want to use only the rear brake because it's easy to lose the front wheel if you try to brake with the front on gravel. They'll cover this sort of thing in the MSF class though.

Shifting weight is not a good habit to get into. While it works and is what most people instinctively do, it is not even close to being as quick to react as countersteering is. If you're not accustomed to using at least some amount of countersteering, it's not an instinctive response in emergency situations where you need it to be so. Get used to steering with the bars and not just shifting weight because you want using the bars to be an instinctive response in emergency situations.

ZV
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I also use the rear brake in most braking scenarios. My bike has ABS though so I'm not really worried about locking either end. Still, you want to be smooth in your inputs always, even emergency braking.
 
JulesMaximus said:
I also use the rear brake in most braking scenarios. My bike has ABS though so I'm not really worried about locking either end. Still, you want to be smooth in your inputs always, even emergency braking.
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Does ABS really work all that well on a bike? I've just keep reading conflicting reports from people saying that it makes them trust their brakes less.

I ride mountain bikes for reference, and the idea of an ABS on my hydros is just laughable, but I'm also only dealing with <35mph and <200lbs combined weight.
 
I always use my rear brake. I "complement" it with the front brake. (Front is still doing most of the work) Also downshifting if I have to slow/stop quickly. Which reminds me, you need to "blip" the throttle just before you downshift, .5 seconds before.
Some new riders are afraid of the front brake. The first time you go sideways thru an intersection that you are trying to stop at, you'll get it.
 
Just be careful with front brakes use them lightly and only when you slow down enough that grabbing them won't drop you.
Don't use rear brake in corner or turns, only use it before so you slow down enough to just add throttle and make it through.

I have a lot of lights to go through when I ride and I mostly take the backroads so a lot of right turns are needed.

I have trouble if the light is green and I'm clear to turn right, I sometimes don't slow down enough until its kind of late and then I end up having to steer with the handle bars on the turn.

I guess I need more practice to figure out how much should I safely slow down to turn from a right angle.
 
Phanuel said:
Does ABS really work all that well on a bike? I've just keep reading conflicting reports from people saying that it makes them trust their brakes less.

I ride mountain bikes for reference, and the idea of an ABS on my hydros is just laughable, but I'm also only dealing with <35mph and <200lbs combined weight.
Click to expand...

It is the difference between locking up a wheel and not locking it during emergency braking.

If someone pulls out in front of you, you aren't going to be able to modulate fast enough to keep the front wheel from locking. You are either going to brake too hard and lock the front wheel (in which case, you will crash and you'll die) or you won't apply them hard enough and you'll likely not stop in time (in which case, you will crash and you'll die).

You should still practice emergency braking and not rely on exclusively on ABS but honestly, having ABS will allow you to find the threshold where it begins to activate without the nasty consequences of lockup.

A lot of motorcyclists seemt to reject ABS and I'm not really sure why quite frankly. There really isn't any situation in which it wouldn't be beneficial short of at a race track in the hands of a very experienced rider.

Honestly, I see no reason why all street bikes shouldn't have ABS.
 
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sze5003 said:
Just be careful with front brakes use them lightly and only when you slow down enough that grabbing them won't drop you.
Don't use rear brake in corner or turns, only use it before so you slow down enough to just add throttle and make it through.

I have a lot of lights to go through when I ride and I mostly take the backroads so a lot of right turns are needed.

I have trouble if the light is green and I'm clear to turn right, I sometimes don't slow down enough until its kind of late and then I end up having to steer with the handle bars on the turn.

I guess I need more practice to figure out how much should I safely slow down to turn from a right angle.
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You want to use the front brake firmly as the front brake does most of the work. Brake smoothly but firmly and it will hual the bike down quickly. Key is to practice stopping as fast and as smoothly as possible. That way, when you do have an emergency you won't panic and grab a fist full of front brake (you might do this anyway but practicing for it is beneficial).
 
JulesMaximus said:
You want to use the front brake firmly as the front brake does most of the work. Brake smoothly but firmly and it will hual the bike down quickly. Key is to practice stopping as fast and as smoothly as possible. That way, when you do have an emergency you won't panic and grab a fist full of front brake (you might do this anyway but practicing for it is beneficial).
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Yeh I've grabbed too much one time not fun at all. It's all muscle memory if you practice enough times until your certain of what happens after each input as opposed to being afraid of what may happen.

Not sure where you live but my state offers the msf course for free and if I have time usually will take it even though I have the license. Each time if you take it at different locations you may have different teachers which could be a good thing.
 
sze5003 said:
Yeh I've grabbed too much one time not fun at all. It's all muscle memory if you practice enough times until your certain of what happens after each input as opposed to being afraid of what may happen.

Not sure where you live but my state offers the msf course for free and if I have time usually will take it even though I have the license. Each time if you take it at different locations you may have different teachers which could be a good thing.
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I'm in Literbike, CA 😛 (San Diego). MSF costs around $250 here. I took it years ago.

The thing with stopping is to trust your brakes and to apply them progressively but firmly. Every input on a motorcycle should be smooth. Look through the turns, lean with the bike and another thing, which I haven't seen mentioned yet, never ride beyond your abilities (or in other words, know your limitations and don't let yourself be goaded into exceeding them).
 
JulesMaximus said:
It is the difference between locking up a wheel and not locking it during emergency braking.

If someone pulls out in front of you, you aren't going to be able to modulate fast enough to keep the front wheel from locking. You are either going to brake too hard and lock the front wheel (in which case, you will crash and you'll die) or you won't apply them hard enough and you'll likely not stop in time (in which case, you will crash and you'll die).

You should still practice emergency braking and not rely on exclusively on ABS but honestly, having ABS will allow you to find the threshold where it begins to activate without the nasty consequences of lockup.

A lot of motorcyclists seemt to reject ABS and I'm not really sure why quite frankly. There really isn't any situation in which it wouldn't be beneficial short of at a race track in the hands of a very experienced rider.

Honestly, I see no reason why all street bikes shouldn't have ABS.
Click to expand...

ABS is the greatest invention since birth control, every street bike should have it.
 
sze5003 said:
Yeh I've grabbed too much one time not fun at all. It's all muscle memory if you practice enough times until your certain of what happens after each input as opposed to being afraid of what may happen.

Not sure where you live but my state offers the msf course for free and if I have time usually will take it even though I have the license. Each time if you take it at different locations you may have different teachers which could be a good thing.
Click to expand...

Where is the best site to show me who teaches it locally?
 
sze5003 said:
Yeh I've grabbed too much one time not fun at all. It's all muscle memory if you practice enough times until your certain of what happens after each input as opposed to being afraid of what may happen.

Not sure where you live but my state offers the msf course for free and if I have time usually will take it even though I have the license. Each time if you take it at different locations you may have different teachers which could be a good thing.
Click to expand...

There are a few places here in CA that offer an advanced course. You use your own bike, and they teach you how to make it do what you want. A friend of mine took the course, said that after twenty years he had finely learned how to ride a bike.
 
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