| Author | Message | ||
     Ourdee |
Yep, I just turned a trick.  I've been riding for over 35 years and have done fine. Yesterday, between lattes, I was out yard-saling. I did a U-turn. this time though, remembering something I heard, I turned my head all the way to the left and looked behind me during the turn. WOW, I never did that before. Have struggled with U-turns since getting the Uly and now have the secret. I turned tight with road to spare. Later I was trying my new found skill while shifting the top of the bike to the inside of the turn and shifting myself to the outside of the seat. Yea I know it's got to be old hat for most, but it was a point that I missed along the way, and didn't really need till now. | ||
| Itileman |
Get the Ride Like a Pro video. You'd be amazed at what you can do with a bagger. Helps a lot with smaller bike techniques also. | ||
| Ourdee |
Here is a sneak peak. That is the guy I heard saying it a while back. | ||
| Galloper |
These "tricks" I had to learn when I was going for my motorcycle license. If you can't perform these mandatory items on your exam you fail. Sometimes on a sunday I take the Uly to the harbor of Antwerp, the roads are empty on that day and I practice u-turns, emergency braking or just plain dumb roundabout chasing. No chickenstripe on the left side of my reartire  | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
We teach the head turn in the Basic Rider Course put on by the MSF. It makes sense to turn your head like an owl so that you see what might be occupying the space you are u-turning into. I teach students that it is all clutch, throttle and rear brake as needed and the head turn. | ||
| Ourdee |
When I took the test for my license I was on my 81 XL500S. I only used about 1/2 the area given for the u-turn. I aced the written and riding. Same with the Illinois rider course. The XT needs all the area, line to line. I go by the license branch on Mondays to practice on the test field. (they close for Monday) The u-turn for the test is to the right. When I test rode and bought the XT I took the bike out to the rider's edge course behind the dealership and made sure I could do the figure eight box prior to going on the road. | ||
| Chadhargis |
The key to a tight U-Turn is the head turn in addition to shifting your weight to the outside of the turn by either moving your butt off the seat or weighting the outside foot peg (standing up). I have successfully done the BRC U-Turn box on my 2006 Ulysses and have no issues turning around on the street either. Tried it on the 1125CR on Saturday...piece of cake!  That being said, the BRC eval box is 20' so I wasn't turning quite as tight as the guy in the above video. |
