Ah, " u-turn", ... yes, u-turn on a Ducati monster ...
Apparently, quite a bit of people find this task as , somewhat , "challenging".
It's OK, you don't have to admit that you suck at low speed turn in front of your riding buddy .
You can read this "how to", understand the reason why your u-turn fail first, then you can practice while staying anonymous. Isn't internet wonderful?
Well, practice is important, but you need to know the basic principal of the "u-turn" , especially on Ducati. (Because it's not the "easiest to do u-turn on" motorcycle in the universe. )
1. Typical scenario of u-turn failExample A) Running wideTypically, total newbie's u-turn fail goes something like this.
How does this happen ? Let's take a look at the picture.
(1) the rider keeps the bike standing upright , well, more like "can't lean over the bike" because of fear ( of falling down).
(2), And the steering is not turned all the way to full lock. Shoulders, elbows, pretty much all of his upper body tens up, keep pushing inside bar .(causing the bike turning wide)
(3) already used up a little more than a half of available space (road width), the rider starts thinking " I'm not going to make it ", then look at the curb, thinking " I don't want to go there, I don't want to go ... " (target fixation), then, by instinct, grabbing the front brake and falls.
Example B) Engine stall (or, pulling the clutch lever in)
How does this one happen, then? This rider starts better than the previous example. Look at the lean angle of the bike and the helmet.
(1)At the begging of the turn, he's already looking at the end of the turn. Both shoulders are down, arms are relaxed. So far, so good.
(2)Unfortunately, while turning,
a. Engine stalls
b. Sensing the sign of engine stall, so the rider pulls the clutch lever in (thus, cutting off the traction)
OK, now you know what cause u-turn fail. You can work on these things one by one, then, at the end, you'll be able to to the u-turn, right?
But, there's one more thing you should take a look before hitting an empty parking lot.
2. The basic understanding about u-turnCamber thrust
Ever heard of "camber thrust" ?
A coin rolling on the table , as the coin's speed slows down a little bit, it starts leaning to one side. And the coin starts to turn into that direction because there's a force generated to turn (changing the direction of the coin). This is camber thrust. Imagine taking off the rear or front wheel of your bike and roll it on the ground. The same thing is happening to your motorcycle's tires .This is why turning radius becomes smaller when the bike is leaned more, even though the amount of the front end steer is the same.
As the coin's speed becomes slower, it leans more, and the turning radius becomes smaller.
In the end, the coin's speed becomes zero and it lays down on its side.
Unlike coins, motorcycles come with the throttle, which can be used not only to move the motorcycle forward, but also to stabilize it, to prevent it from falling down.
If the coin had the throttle, it could keep turning around and around, maintaining the same turing radius, so long as it is getting enough
" traction" 
Yup, you already guessed it. Pulling the clutch lever in means you are cutting off the traction. Something you wouldn't want to do during the turn.
3. PracticeA) Clutch controlUnfortunately,Ducati's big twin engines don't run smoothly at really low rpm. At the speed you'd do u-turn (pretty much the walking speed), the engine would bog, stutter, very difficult to control without touching the clutch at all. Some people pull the clutch lever in constantly, because of fear of engine stall.
And that's the bad example of clutch control.
Take a look at the picture.
This is an example of using clutch as on / off switch. BAD example.
Then, what is the right way ?
Clutch modulation You have heard some people talking about "clutch modulation", right? That's what you need to learn ...
(end of long introduction, to be continued to next part ...)
