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St0nkingByte · 01-10-2005, 12:55 PM

I'm into my third month of daily riding and I've finally got the confidence to really lean the bike in turns. Its amazing how much easier it makes life! I took the MSF and I've read all the books but I never felt comfortable really leaning the bike much, I just always felt like I was going to fall over. Finally I started rolling on throttle as I go through the turn (just like they taught me at the MSF) and the whole bike is feeling much more solid and I'm leaning much more. It seems silly because logically I've known all along that this is what I should be doing but once I get on the road I get very conservative and I would feel that if I rolled on throttle I'd go wide in my turn.

There are two 90 degree turns in my neighborhood on 35mph speed limit streets I've been practicing on. I can now take them at around 30mph, most cars slow to 20 or so on those turns. It's a pretty major step for me

Now instead of taking turns way too wide I'm starting to cut inside too much! This morning I even noticed that I'm wearing part of the tires I hadn't touched before

All in all this is just another reminder that I'm still a noob and I need to continue to be careful.

01-10-2005, 12:55 PM	#1 (permalink)
St0nkingByte Sprocket Pilot Joined: Nov 2004 Bike: 2005 BMW R1200RT Location: Bellevue, WA Posts: 893	I learned how to really lean the bike I'm into my third month of daily riding and I've finally got the confidence to really lean the bike in turns. Its amazing how much easier it makes life! I took the MSF and I've read all the books but I never felt comfortable really leaning the bike much, I just always felt like I was going to fall over. Finally I started rolling on throttle as I go through the turn (just like they taught me at the MSF) and the whole bike is feeling much more solid and I'm leaning much more. It seems silly because logically I've known all along that this is what I should be doing but once I get on the road I get very conservative and I would feel that if I rolled on throttle I'd go wide in my turn. There are two 90 degree turns in my neighborhood on 35mph speed limit streets I've been practicing on. I can now take them at around 30mph, most cars slow to 20 or so on those turns. It's a pretty major step for me Now instead of taking turns way too wide I'm starting to cut inside too much! This morning I even noticed that I'm wearing part of the tires I hadn't touched before All in all this is just another reminder that I'm still a noob and I need to continue to be careful.