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!)