me and twisties

[GregR1]

Originally Posted by themeatmanlandry

By God *I AM* a one-hour orgasm.


< what's an orgasm??>

it's what you get as you stand behind sunny, lookin' over that luscious rump on your virgin camera phone.

[Clint]

Chances are, that was the result of them being flat in the middle. The switch to a nice, round tire is night and day.

[busa-boy33]

Well over all I think I am going to just continue for now taking it slow and easy in those tight curves. I can handle them but knee dragging isn't my style but I am not scared of twisties.. just likem slow and easy..
Now once i am on a nice long straight-away I love the full throttle of the busa.. hitting nearly 200 on that thing is more fun then I can describe but again.. seeing the approaching twisty?? yeah.. time to take'r down a notch..

[LCA_koolaid37]

Someone tell me that I can handle twisties so I can finally scrap pegs going 60, instead of the few low speed turns that I've done such!

[Kodatech]

Keep practicing in the twisties. Once you nail them, they are much more fun (and safer IMO) than the high speed straights.

I ride a fast bike (faster than ALOT out there) but I also ride with guys that have bikes much faster than mine. They all ride at different skill levels and different paces. Sure when we hit the highway they blow me away. (of course the 600's blow me away too, because I rarely exceed 100mph)

The best part of the ride though, is after the 10 minute ride on the highway and we finally get to the canyon roads. Two lanes uphill and I pass them all and have to wait at the top of the mountain.

I am no Freddy Spencer or Eddie Lawson, but I love the comments at the end like "Damn you kicked my butt up that hill" and things like that. When in fact it has nothing to do with butt kicking or racing, its just confidence and lots of practice....I didnt kick anyone's butt...I was just riding my bike.

In a nutshell, dont give up on the twisties, they may actually save you during a high speed run one day.

[busa-boy33]

Yeah, good point Kodatech.. I agree.. I will try and hit a few more and get better at them, and I am really not that bad with them.. just don't prefer them.. but I need to get more confidence through them. Everyone made good points on this thread.. much appreciated.. woot!!

[650Doug]

Practice makes better.

[Fishpart]

All very good advice! But remember a MONKEY can go all out on the straights! Skills are how you handle the bike in the turns and low speed maneuvering! Ride Safe! Ride Often!

[Kodatech]

All good points, but by ALL means, don't ride over your head, wether its the twisties or the straights.

SHINY SIDE UP!!!!

[womper]

Originally Posted by busa-boy33

I also think that not having some good exp riders to ride with is hurting me some. I have no one to learn from and the tracks here are not open enough to the general public to even worry with going to. It would help if I had some other riders to ride with but I don't so I am stuck with basically teaching myself.
I really have no trouble going into the twisties and navigating them but I go slow, much slower then most on sport bikes plus I don't knee drag at all. I just dont feel comfortable getting that low on the bike in curves. I find just slowing down to be more helpful..

I know i don't have any experience compared to all the folks on here, but i would say riding with others and trying to learn from them is a very very bad thing.
you pick up all their bad habits, you get lax and next thing you know you're brushing debris off you (if you are lucky)

i know other have said it, but RIDE YOUR OWN RIDE. go your own pace.

i was pretty afraid of twistys... and i know i still do them much slower than most people, but i just kept going over the same twisties over and over... after a while, you get to know your capabilities and your bikes capabilities.

while you are riding you think it's better that you slow down, then by all means SLOW DOWN!

i know i do stupid things on the road (with car and bike) but the hardest part of riding is the slow stuff... once you have that, all you need is practice and you'll be able to do twisties quicker.

the faster you go, the lower the lean (i wonder if that's why i keep scraping my engine guard )

[womper]

Originally Posted by battypup

I am a beginner rider myself and I think you are being too hard on yourself. Take your time and get used to your bike. I don't know how long you have been riding but it takes years to become really proficient I am sure. I also don't feel safe sometimes leaning my bike in the corners. But if my 750 lb cruiser can lean far enough over to scrap floorboards than I am sure your bike is more than capable of the speed and lean. Find a road you know and practice it till you know the corners without thinking about them and gradually work on your speed and lean.

[womper]

Originally Posted by busa-boy33

Yeah, good point Kodatech.. I agree.. I will try and hit a few more and get better at them, and I am really not that bad with them.. just don't prefer them.. but I need to get more confidence through them. Everyone made good points on this thread.. much appreciated.. woot!!

bikes were invented for twisties

[Wistrick]

As a new rider it helped me a lot to practice countersteering and turning in a wide open parking lot where theres no fear of running off the road in a curve. Countersteering in con junction with leaning has made the twisties much more fun.

[jgreth]

Bah all this talk about countersteering and such... I stand up on the bike, drag my foot down and turn on a dime!

[bigm3657]

new rider here too.......900miles. I feel ok going through them at the speed limit and maybe 10mph faster....i want to hit them alot faster so bad, but i feel i want to learn how the bike reacts more first. like i dont know if its safe to hit the center of the lane even if you dont see any oil or all the "what ifs" that are going through my mind. i just dont know how perfect that pavement has to be to get decent leans. not trying to get a knee lean, but i want some good leans

can someone just help me out with this. what are you looking at during a turn? where u want to go? or checking the pavement for any hazards like sand and oil? i cant see taking a country road turn at 80mph and not looking on the ground for oil spills, man hole covers etc.

[jgreth]

I am always watching at least 100 yards ahead of me ( when visibility around a turn permits ). I turn my head ahead of my body through the turn and lean hard. A few times this weekend on the ride with Landry I think I was within a centimeter of scraping pegs. When taking your first ride on a road, I don't recommend going too fast. As you get used to a route then you can at least get a feel for what each part will be like. Take them a little faster and a little faster each time. Don't just go super fast on your second run as you need to learn the average condition of the road, not just one visit.

Nothing feels as good to me as a full lean into a turn ( especially switchbacks ).

Don't ever ride beyond your comfort zone. If you're not comfortable with leaning, then I recommend going to a big open parking lot and doing some fairly low-speed turns with good leans. You can do what I did, when turning in traffic at an intersection, lean extra hard into it and almost when it feels like it's going to drop on you, give it a bit of throttle. The physics will take over and counter-balance the force. It takes a bit of getting used to but I'm now to the point where I can scrape pegs and feel pretty comfortable with it.

I wouldn't recommend trying to scrape pegs in an intersection that looks shady (condition-wise). Know the roads before trying to lean that hard as it is easy for the tires to lose traction if the conditions aren't right.

[intimid8er]

Originally Posted by jgreth

I wouldn't recommend trying to scrape pegs in an intersection that looks shady (condition-wise).

I ain't no expert, but I'd be willin' to say this intersection looks like it's in shady condition...

[busa-boy33]

shady but at least theres some good times to be had.... some gooooood times..oh yeah..

[kay]

The first time I scraped my Kawi pegs was at a mini track. So now I've changed the pegs to back steps.

Never been able to drag my knees yet but I am not even going to try on open road. Too scary! But because I am much shorter than most of you (no...all of you?), by the time I have my knees dragging, me thinks the bike will be on the lying on the ground!!

[jgreth]

Originally Posted by kay

The first time I scraped my Kawi pegs was at a mini track. So now I've changed the pegs to back steps.

Never been able to drag my knees yet but I am not even going to try on open road. Too scary! But because I am much shorter than most of you (no...all of you?), by the time I have my knees dragging, me thinks the bike will be on the lying on the ground!!

lol Kay.

I'm a pretty tall guy so I merely have to stick my knee out on a normal turn and I can scrape my knee Ask Landry, I felt like a giant next to him.