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How To Do Perfect U Turns Every Time


Scott9999

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Scott9999

Pretty good tips.  When I grew up riding (relatively) lightweight dirt bikes out in the California desert, the concept of "training" oneself to do the simplest things like tight, slow speed turns, would have made us laugh.  Well, riding on pavement with a motorcycle 3x heavier (and, well a body multiple times heavier, as well 🙄😖), these skills are worth practicing.   THINKING about how to do it correctly, and then repeating that, no matter your background or experience, is almost as important as the actual training.   This video doesn't break new ground, but it's a nice review.  

 

How To Do Perfect U Turns Every Time

 

(Note:  When I dropped my RT last month while practicing with Alan (9Mary7), after a mental review, I expected that my clutch hand had fatigued, causing me to pop the clutch (before or during the drop, either way, it was probably the root cause).  After we had the bike righted, and I continued practice, I noticed my clutch work was weak, and my hand tired.  So, anyhow, this gentleman's comments on clutch work ring true.  Alan cautioned to resist front braking during these turns, i.e. use only the rear, which also seems with experience, to help quite a bit.  So, next time I get out, I'll start doing some of these drills, particularly working the clutch at slow speed (straight line), getting a better feel for the clutch "break points". )

 

Hope this helps some.  Enjoy!

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
Joe Frickin' Friday

I'll confess I've never been very good at feathering the clutch with any precision.  For tight turns, I try to maximize the other aspects:

 

  • Turn the bars really damn far.   If you're making a tight turn in a car, you crank that steering wheel as far as you can, so you gotta do the same on your bike.
  • Turn your head really damn far.   "You go where you're looking" really plays to full effect here. 
  • Counterlean really damn far.  Shift your butt and upper body way out to the outside of the turn, making the bike lean farther in to the turn.  Those few extra degrees lean for the chassis will buy you an even tighter turn radius than you could get by staying planted in the saddle.

I posted this police rodeo clip a few years ago.  It's unusual because you're seeing things from the perspective of a camera on the rear rack.  When you're on the sidelines it's hard to see how far off to the side the rider is moving his body, but from that camera, wow, he's really leaning to the outside to make that bike lay down and corner in tight spaces.  Watch what he does with his body, and watch how far he turns his head.  You can do this too. 

 

 

 

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8 hours ago, 9Mary7 said:

FWIW...... seeing Quinn ride in person was the highlight of my police rodeo participation........

You've seen me in action.  You KNOW that I could make it on that course.

Of course, my times might be a little bit off Quinn's, particularly if they clock in the time spent laying on the ground ....  :5185: :whistle:

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