| Author | Message | ||
     Jlnance |
I took the girl out adventure touring on the back roads of NC and ran into a snag. We would frequently want to turn around and go look at something we had passed. NC backroads are narrow and have no shoulder. I can't turn the bike around in the road w/o having to stop and back up. Now, I never got really good at the counter balanced turn thing and I assume this is what I need to go practice. I've heard that goldwings can turn around on a road like this, so I assue the Uly can too. But the real question is what do I tell the passenger to do. I imagine it's fairly critical for her to be leaning "correctly." But what is that? | ||
| Anonymous |
In my opinion you should tell the passenger to be dead still. It's crucial that you have total control of what is happening. If you want to get good at it, practice first without her and then with her. Now if you and she ride together a lot and practice a lot, she probably could learn to help, but until that time, it'd be better if you weren't getting surprise inputs! The big thing is that you have to lean the bike over to turn around. Good riders can do this on really big bikes, but it takes practice. The magazine guys who say you can't turn a Ulysses around on a narrow road just plain can't ride. Now that's OK for everyone to start with this inability, but it is irritating to hear this from people who claim to be experts. | ||
| M2nc |
Jim, I have to agree with Anon here. Have Tricia stay still when you are doing U-turns. I have to practice more slow speed turns but I can U-turn the Uly on the NC back roads. I usually start just in the grass on one side and sometimes can get it turned around just before getting to the grass on the other side. I really need to take the Uly to a parking lot and practice like I did with the Nighthawk when I first started riding street bikes. I could turn lock to lock on that bike and not put a foot down. The trip to MB3 helped a bunch with my confidence with the Uly because I was able to push the Uly's capabilities. That was the first time since I have owned the bike that I felt comfortable with its light control response. I think parking lot practice will do the same, helping both of us with slow speed Uly-Turns. Now once on the way, Carlee is an ace rider. With the Uly's quick response to inputs like lean, I usually let her do it. That bike will react nicely to her input and I usually just go along for the ride. Kristi is another story. Where Carlee loves the curves, Kristi as we found out at Suches, does not. I guess we will have to practice before C3 jr. ride. See ya then. | ||
| Jlnance |
Thanks Anon & Carlos. Have Tricia stay still when you are doing U-turns. It was Rebecca on the back, who likes curves even less then Kristi.  I think I'll take the Blast out and practice this and then do the Uly. I've taken the MSF class twice, but I never realized this was what we were supposed to be doing in the "box" excercise. It's quite easy to turn a Blast in the box w/o doing any concious counter balancing. | ||
| Johnnylunchbox |
Another thing to consider is the proper feathering of the clutch coupled with throttle modulation, and the judicious use of the rear brake. Also, look where you want to go. | ||
| Reepicheep |
Lean lean lean. Start out in an empty parking lot with cones, and keep building to tighter and tighter turns. It's a little counter intuitive... since you have to lean to make the turn, you don't want to be going too slow. But you don't want to be going so fast that it becomes an adventure. Lean the bike far enough that you are about scraping pegs (thats on a Lightning, on a Uly you probably should be scraping pegs). You can keep your body straight up to get more lean from the bike with less drama, or just lean with the bike and dial in more speed. If you want to really see this at work in a low stress environment, get one of those misato sportbike toy models (K-Mart or whatever). They have simple suspensions and rubber tires with the right profile, and close to correct steering head geometries. Just make sure it is a sportbike one and not a cruiser one. Sit there at your desk and see how tight a turn they can make upright, then try it again with the pegs dragging. You will be amazed at how tight the turn gets. I do that during booring work conference calls  | ||
| Ka5ysy |
QUOTE: "I think I'll take the Blast out and practice this and then do the Uly. I've taken the MSF class twice, but I never realized this was what we were supposed to be doing in the "box" exercise. It's quite easy to turn a Blast in the box w/o doing any conscious counter balancing." If you want some fun on the Blast, try doing 1/2 the box. The trick to counterbalancing is get you butt off the opposite side of the bike from the turn,weight the outside peg AND LOOK WHERE YOU WANT TO GO OVER YOUR SHOULDER..NOT AT THE GROUND (Or you will go to the ground, quickly!). Other hints: Constant throttle, keep you fingers off the brake lever, and dont pull the clutch; trust the bike. Physics works! You will quickly find that you can very easily scrape your boots doing it the easy way, and amaze your friends who dont believe in physics! The Uly will also do this, no problem with "limited steering lock". More physics and short wheelbase at work. Other false rumor: The Uly does not shake your teeth out either! Guess I gotta buy one of these things for myself, soon. Only real scientific problem is whether black or orange is faster ! (Although, theoretically, blackbody radiation should make the black a bit faster if thrust vectored in the right direction!) Any thoughts Anon?? (unless that is company proprietary data too)  | ||
| Dragon_slayer |
It does not take any scientific knowledge. Just common knowledge! The ORANGE is just faster, PERIOD! | ||
| Jlnance |
The trick to counterbalancing is get you butt off the opposite side of the bike from the turn,weight the outside peg Standing on the pegs or just slid off the seat? | ||
| Ka5ysy |
Usually, I rotate my head and shoulders to look where to go and my butt automatically slides to the outside of the turn, and I push with my outside foot on the peg for balance. It is a lot of fun to practice and you will surprise yourself how tight you can turn without a problem. ! Sorry for the delay in answering the question, but I have been out of town a lot in the past two weeks! | ||
| Bobbuell1961 |
THAT DOES IT ,I ALREADY HAVE A BLACK LOW SEAT ON ORDER, AND I'LL ORDER A BLACK SET OF BODY WORK TO SEE IF I SLOW DOWN(MAYBE IT WILL DECREASE MY TURNING RADIUS TOO)BOB |
