Most challenging part of riding???

[topspin_flyer]

Hardest thing to learn as a beginner: doing everything at once.
Hardest thing about riding: maintaining skills and knowing your limits.

Learning your personal limits is one of the hardest things to do because you have no reference except the people around you who may not know theirs either.

As far as lines and reference points go, slow down, take your time. Build up speed *after* you've learned the line.

Good comments about learning your personal limits.  I find it is hard to measure progress on the street, lots of sampling and trial & error which seems less than concrete.  Some days you just feel it and it seems like it is all working, and some days not so much.  They say it is spiritual, a religious experience.  I think it is challenging to really consolidate the gains so that the next time you ride you are building on your experience vs getting comfortable with what you have aready done before (i.e. maintaining skills). 

[corndog67]

Someone mentioned U-turns, well I noticed that my S4 has less steering lock than any other street bike I've ever had.  Maybe that's it. 

Most challenging?   When riding with friends, friends with lots of experience, the hard part is keeping the speeds down.  We tend to get the "NOT ME" thing going on when we are out blasting, as in when someone is pushing you and trying to pass, and you're thinking "NOT ME, BUDDY", it's all good fun, but the tickets are outrageous.   As for what I consider the most challenging, it's maintaining focus.    I don't ever just putt along, looking at the little birdies.   I attack the road, I ride hard, everytime I'm out, I ride pretty fast, nothing outrageous, but a pretty quick pace, and that helps me maintain focus.   Whenever I'm out riding, I consider it practice.   Not necessarily race practice, just good riding practice.   I like to split lanes.  I like to do a lot of things that other people don't like to do when riding.  But it all comes down to maintaining focus, if I feel that my mind is wandering, I'm kind of daydreaming along, I park it, that's when people get hurt or killed.  If I'm out and someone catches me off guard by pulling out in front of me or changing lanes on me, I consider it my fault for not catching it before it happens.  I've been riding street bikes since 1976 and dirt bikes since 1971.   I've kind of developed sort of a sixth sense about cars and what they are going to do.   And a lot of goobers on bikes do the same stupid stuff, not paying attention and weaving around and stuff. 

As far as learning to ride better, I feel that nothing beats seat time.   Ride in the rain.  Ride in the cold.  Ride when it's hot.  Ride down dirt roads.  Figure out what that bike is going to do in any situation that you might get yourself into.   And I also have myself convinced that riding/racing dirt bikes will make any one a better street rider.  There is probably going to be some argument about that one. 

Be safe. Robert

[DLSGAP]

i had a bad wreck at road atlanta back in '95. steel pin in my elbow, cracked ribs, beaten and bruised like hell...  not to mention i totaled the bike...

still to this day i'm a bit nervous in right hand corners. I don't think it shows too bad in my riding, atleast none of the guys at the track have ever mentioned it.. but some rught hand turns... make me start second guessing myself so much that i may blow an entire lap just thinking about one silly turn that i blew when i was 15

[Raux]

i get skitish if the front end starts to wobble. i had a bad tank slapper one time.

[DLSGAP]

front or rear.. as long as its sliding in a left hand turn i'm ok lol  [moto]

[nicrosato]

I have found low-speed handling of all sorts- U-turns, for instance- to be the most problem, probably because I leaned ever-so-slightly into te turn. I'm old enough that I didn't grow up riding dirt bikes and never learned some of those skills. What I have learned that has helped a lot is to 1) keep my weight on the outside peg when making a low-speed turn; 2) not use the front brake; 3) try not to slip the clutch too much; but 4) control the speed of the bike with the rear bike and throttle. And, I practice. Empty shopping mall lots are great places to work on a bunch of stuff- panic stops, low-speed handling. I'm not too old to improve my riding, but I prefer not to make my mistakes in traffic.

[corndog67]

Nicro, I have to disagree with part of your reply.   Weighting the outside of the peg is a good thing.  But I slip the clutch and control things that way.   I keep the throttle steady, and let the clutch in and out depending on the attitude of the bike, and how my turn is progressing.  But that's just me, maybe someone else has a better tip. 

And I always use the front brake, although lightly when whipping it into a Uturn. 

[Goduc]

lol on the U-turns.  I have been riding on the street for about 3 years and in the dirt for around 15 and I hate U-turns.  It is always kinda hit or miss though.  Sometimes the turn isn't all that bad.  The thing I have a hard time with on the track is establishing good braking points.

[yotogi]

Nicro, I have to disagree with part of your reply.   Weighting the outside of the peg is a good thing.  But I slip the clutch and control things that way.   I keep the throttle steady, and let the clutch in and out depending on the attitude of the bike, and how my turn is progressing.  But that's just me, maybe someone else has a better tip. 

+1

This is also the way that the MSF teaches low speed maneuvers. At low RPM it is my opinion that you have so much more control with the clutch than the throttle. This is especially true on my S2R1K which hates to be below 3K with any kind of load on the engine.

[seevtsaab]

I'd have to say keeping within earshot of posted speed (+10mph) is a challenge.
I say this because age has taught me to respect by limitations before they are exceeded.
And, much of my riding (commuting) is on 35, 45 mph country roads (I take some liberty in my 10mile 45mph twistie country road).

Having said that, low speed manuevers are certianly the most awkward.
Riding in wet presents an entire host of challenges, once again patience and respect of limitations are key.

The handling of a Monster forgives many sins, in my world.

[somegirl]

It's been a while, figured the thread could use a bump.

I have a hard time with uphill, off-camber, tighter-than-90-degree left turns starting from a stop, going onto a road without stop signs and poor visibility in at least one direction.  This pattern occurs in a few intersections in the area, I can do it but it's slow, I'd like to be quicker because of the cross traffic.

Practice, practice, practice.

[ducpainter]

Picking myself up off the pavement after I crash.

[OT]

 

Seriously, the area I find the most frustrating and rewarding - depending on the day - is being able to match what I'm seeing with what I'm doing or, perhaps said differently, putting the bike in the places that I want it to be/me to go based on visual feedback/body feel.  For example, the feeling that the turn I'm watching come up seems to not get to me when I think it should, or gets to me too fast...meshing the picture in my head with what's going on around me (the opposite of things happening in slow motion, as the good riders say).

Someone earlier mentioned reference points on the track.....how about rps on the street, where the types/distribution/consistency of physical 'things' that might qualify as rps can be overwhelming or useless, depending on the situation.

Yet, this never seems to be a problem (or even in my consciousness) when driving a car on the same roads?



 

[CDawg]

omeone earlier mentioned reference points on the track.....how about rps on the street, where the types/distribution/consistency of physical 'things' that might qualify as rps can be overwhelming or useless, depending on the situation.

Keith Code recommends a 3 step process that I have found to be very helpful for developing reference points on the street:

You should always pick out your turn point (some piece of tarmac) so you know when to end braking and start leaning the bike (assuming no trail braking).  Just before releasing brakes and adding steering input, I shift my visual focus from the turn point to searching and locking on to the apex of the turn.  If it is a long turn, then I focused on the leading edge until I see the apex (or what I think is the apex).  As soon as I get close to the apex, I start focused on my exit position and gas and unlean.

It took some practice and I continue to have to remind myself to do it, but when I am able to pick out the three reference point, I am always surprised how fast one can get through a corner.

Car is easier because you cannot pick your lane position; you are always driving the middle of the road.

Good luck and have fun!

[OT]

Sounds like a good approach - I suspect I'll need a lot of mental discipline to sort through all the stuff in my field-of-vision and select useful, optimal RPs on the street.