- throttle sensitivity:
- jerking the throttle causes sudden changes in momentum
- eye point:
- looking ahead, planning ahead, looking where you want to go
- clutch sensitivity:
- use finger tips to control,
- control the rear wheel's willingness to upright due to gyroscopic forces,
- controls low speed,
- must be able to link to rear wheel's response and rolling momemtum
- front brake/rear brake:
- brake's biting point,
- ability to squeeze hard like squeezing a lemon and not snatching the brake,
- 4 stages of braking
- and also not locking up the wheels
- butt sensitivity:
- to sense wheel traction,
- to sense momentum of rear wheel at low speed
- and changes in suspension position due to acceleration/deceleration changes
- to be further continued...
10 July 2012
motorcycle control - control sensitivity
by the end of class 2b lessons, the below finer details of bike control should be familiar then:
wobble? - part 1
intro
what never fails to intrigue me was the instructors always deduct points for 8.01, 5.02, 4.02 for WOBBLE. i had spent most of the time during my free time wondering if "wobble" is just a ill conceived notion to make us repeat modules and take more lessons =D
most of us will not be able to detect wobble in the beginning stages of learning, at least until we see one for ourselves. i had learnt to recognize one when i first spotted someone wobbling on his cruiser.
(it was pretty obvious 'cos the bajaj avenger had a really long wheel base and u can really see wobble in slowwww-mo)
to simplify, a wobble to my own understanding is given that your bike is on 2 wheels rolling along, the bike wobbles when it either tilts to the side and back and so on!
(you can visualise it as a roly poly toy tilting side to side only that your bike is still rolling forward!) see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roly-poly_toy
i.e. to say, the balance of the bike was UPSET when the wobble occurs while the bike was rolling forward.
you will note that the bike does not really wobble when the bike is turning or cornering.
(more on that later, when i discuss moving off from stopping with a sharp turn in a later post)
so when does your bike wobble?
the first key important thing is eye-point.
this applies to all 3 situations.
it seems that as long the head and the eye points towards a certain area, the bike will go there!
you may consider your eye, nose and the level of your chin as a motorcycle path aiming device!
i.e. to say to avoid wobble, heads up level, focus on something far, so as to get used to the head position required!
- look up and don't look down when you're moving off!
- look up and don't look down when you are braking to stop!
- look up at something in the horizon.
if a biker is in front of you "see" through his/her helmet!
this is repetitive, but it make sense! you have to try to know it.
situation 1: moving off
besides eye-point, wobble occurs commonly when you rush to bring your left foot up onto the pegs!
this would probably more obvious when you're practicing low speed control.
guide line:
i'll post more on situations 2 and 3 in a later post.
what never fails to intrigue me was the instructors always deduct points for 8.01, 5.02, 4.02 for WOBBLE. i had spent most of the time during my free time wondering if "wobble" is just a ill conceived notion to make us repeat modules and take more lessons =D
most of us will not be able to detect wobble in the beginning stages of learning, at least until we see one for ourselves. i had learnt to recognize one when i first spotted someone wobbling on his cruiser.
(it was pretty obvious 'cos the bajaj avenger had a really long wheel base and u can really see wobble in slowwww-mo)
to simplify, a wobble to my own understanding is given that your bike is on 2 wheels rolling along, the bike wobbles when it either tilts to the side and back and so on!
(you can visualise it as a roly poly toy tilting side to side only that your bike is still rolling forward!) see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roly-poly_toy
i.e. to say, the balance of the bike was UPSET when the wobble occurs while the bike was rolling forward.
you will note that the bike does not really wobble when the bike is turning or cornering.
(more on that later, when i discuss moving off from stopping with a sharp turn in a later post)
so when does your bike wobble?
- when you're moving off
- when you're stopping
- when you are checking your blind spot,especially when you're doing your lane change!
the first key important thing is eye-point.
this applies to all 3 situations.
it seems that as long the head and the eye points towards a certain area, the bike will go there!
you may consider your eye, nose and the level of your chin as a motorcycle path aiming device!
i.e. to say to avoid wobble, heads up level, focus on something far, so as to get used to the head position required!
- look up and don't look down when you're moving off!
- look up and don't look down when you are braking to stop!
- look up at something in the horizon.
if a biker is in front of you "see" through his/her helmet!
this is repetitive, but it make sense! you have to try to know it.
situation 1: moving off
besides eye-point, wobble occurs commonly when you rush to bring your left foot up onto the pegs!
this would probably more obvious when you're practicing low speed control.
guide line:
- if you're moving off and stopping within a bike distance, you do not have to bring up your left foot immediately! (hang your foot)
- if you're moving off and stopping beyond a bike's distance, bring up your left foot only when the bike has traveled straight with enough momemtum. foot should not be rushed to the peg or else it will upset the balance of the bike!
- for the more curious folks, a bike is around 2m in length. a car is typically 4m long.
- before the bike moves off, you're balancing the bike with your left foot, right foot holding the rear wheel stationary.
- when the bike moves off, 2 phases occur:
- 1: bike attempts to roll forward and is unstable. bringing up your foot will caused the bike to wobble!
- 2: bike gains enough forward momentum, feeding the throttle the rear wheel causes the rear wheel to upright due to gyroscopic effect!
- its only during the 2nd phase onwards u can start controlling your body position so that wobble does not occur with sudden adjustment of the body!
i'll post more on situations 2 and 3 in a later post.
02 July 2012
low speed control
important on motorcycle directional control:
****look UP, where you want to go!
your eyes and head should be horizontally up, pick a target point to look at e.g. a building in the horizon, or look through the helmet of the guy in front of you! =D
there is a saying that if you look at the ground or the kerb, you will hit the ground or kerb =)
moving off:
- open throttle slightly
- ease clutch out to the biting point
(if you find it difficult to maintain the clutch lever position at biting point, try using only your FINGERTIPS to release the clutch lever. it makes a BIG difference. holding the lever closer to the end makes it easier as well.)
- left foot should not go immediately up
- do not rush to bring your left foot to the foot peg; this will affect balance and cause WOBBLE
- left foot should go onto the foot peg only if the bike has gained momentum enough to maintain a straight line.
if distance too short, don't have to bring up left leg!
why? motorcycles are most stable when power is fed to the rear wheel and the bike is moving ina straight line. (read up on gyroscopic effect!)
that's when additional movement during this stage will cause less wobble. if the bike is still not stable yet with insufficient speed and still picking up momentum.
yes. bikes are more stable at higher speeds! at lower speeds feed more power to the rear wheel using the throttle for stability.. but power application should be smooth! (read: throttle sensitivity)
stopping (if / while in gear 1):
- identify your target stopping point early.
- at half the distance before the stopping point, close the throttle.
- once throttle closed, apply both brakes, but use more rear brake!
- do not snatch or use too much front brake!
(one instructor said, 99,9% rear brake, 0.1% front brake )
- whole point is, application of both brakes must be smooth!
WHY: if you apply brake suddenly, the suspension with respect to the brake you are applying DIPS down, i.e. it will jerk!
e.g. if you snatched the front brake, the front fork / wheel will sink down immediately!
do it hard enough it will jerk you forward and unbalance you off the bike!
give it a try to understand how it feels.
fyi: when i used to ride a bicycle i tend to use the front brake lever quite harshly. this actually gave me a hard time when i was trying to master and perfect motorcycle braking since i tended to snatch the front brake lever in the past.
one instructor taught me to use only my finger tips to apply the brake. i realised i have been using my knuckles to brake and the force using knuckles was too strong, that it always caused front jerks on my bike and i always lost balance in the beginning when trying to stop!
in fact i locked up my front wheel once because i braked too hard during emergency braking! (road rash for a month on my forearm was a harsh lesson on braking!)
****look UP, where you want to go!
your eyes and head should be horizontally up, pick a target point to look at e.g. a building in the horizon, or look through the helmet of the guy in front of you! =D
there is a saying that if you look at the ground or the kerb, you will hit the ground or kerb =)
moving off:
- open throttle slightly
- ease clutch out to the biting point
(if you find it difficult to maintain the clutch lever position at biting point, try using only your FINGERTIPS to release the clutch lever. it makes a BIG difference. holding the lever closer to the end makes it easier as well.)
- left foot should not go immediately up
- do not rush to bring your left foot to the foot peg; this will affect balance and cause WOBBLE
- left foot should go onto the foot peg only if the bike has gained momentum enough to maintain a straight line.
if distance too short, don't have to bring up left leg!
why? motorcycles are most stable when power is fed to the rear wheel and the bike is moving ina straight line. (read up on gyroscopic effect!)
that's when additional movement during this stage will cause less wobble. if the bike is still not stable yet with insufficient speed and still picking up momentum.
yes. bikes are more stable at higher speeds! at lower speeds feed more power to the rear wheel using the throttle for stability.. but power application should be smooth! (read: throttle sensitivity)
stopping (if / while in gear 1):
- identify your target stopping point early.
- at half the distance before the stopping point, close the throttle.
- once throttle closed, apply both brakes, but use more rear brake!
- do not snatch or use too much front brake!
(one instructor said, 99,9% rear brake, 0.1% front brake )
- whole point is, application of both brakes must be smooth!
WHY: if you apply brake suddenly, the suspension with respect to the brake you are applying DIPS down, i.e. it will jerk!
e.g. if you snatched the front brake, the front fork / wheel will sink down immediately!
do it hard enough it will jerk you forward and unbalance you off the bike!
give it a try to understand how it feels.
fyi: when i used to ride a bicycle i tend to use the front brake lever quite harshly. this actually gave me a hard time when i was trying to master and perfect motorcycle braking since i tended to snatch the front brake lever in the past.
one instructor taught me to use only my finger tips to apply the brake. i realised i have been using my knuckles to brake and the force using knuckles was too strong, that it always caused front jerks on my bike and i always lost balance in the beginning when trying to stop!
in fact i locked up my front wheel once because i braked too hard during emergency braking! (road rash for a month on my forearm was a harsh lesson on braking!)
prologue
the whole point of this blog is to document the knowledge gained during my lessons @ bbdc while taking my class 2b lessons. i've passed my class 2b assessment just recently.
learning to ride a motorcycle wasn't easy, especially when i toke my lessons at a later age where psychomotor skills ain't working so well for me.
to further add on, i was on the road riding a bicycle long before i took my class 3 and class 2b, so some cycling habits really do die hard during the beginning while i'm trying to master the basics.
i'll attempt to blog in an order where other future class 2b trainees would find it easier to reference their learning to their current stage (especially if you're from bbdc and yes SINGAPORE!)
also, the focus of my inputs here would be more on WHY certain things are done as opposed to just how they're done. i find it most useful and easier to learn when i understand why certain things are done that way especially to how a motorcycle behaves.
hope you've fun learning! the whole point is to get a class 2b license, not a CRASS 2b license!
learning to ride a motorcycle wasn't easy, especially when i toke my lessons at a later age where psychomotor skills ain't working so well for me.
to further add on, i was on the road riding a bicycle long before i took my class 3 and class 2b, so some cycling habits really do die hard during the beginning while i'm trying to master the basics.
i'll attempt to blog in an order where other future class 2b trainees would find it easier to reference their learning to their current stage (especially if you're from bbdc and yes SINGAPORE!)
also, the focus of my inputs here would be more on WHY certain things are done as opposed to just how they're done. i find it most useful and easier to learn when i understand why certain things are done that way especially to how a motorcycle behaves.
hope you've fun learning! the whole point is to get a class 2b license, not a CRASS 2b license!
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