If you had one piece of advice to offer a new rider regarding low speed maneuvers and riding, what would that advice be? I've been riding since April, and I've ridden quite a number of miles, however, at low speeds, sometimes I still find myself not as comfortable as I'd like. I've read all the books, and I know what to do in my head, but I find myself getting tense at low speeds. I was just wondering what helped you master and get comfortable with low-speed/parking lot riding. Thanks! Allyson

Go to a nice lot with your husband and race him. Start at one point and race to the next... first one to cross the second point loses, or first to put a foot down, stalll the bike, etc. After you're gettin good at it change things up by going around turns. :thumbup: (you could practice alone)

rock has some great advice there. That is the same way I gained my confidence. I first practiced going in a straight line as slowly as possible and keeping the bike balamced. For this I use the rear brake and the friction zone on the clutch, Then practice low speed figure 8's. Start them wide and then bring them in tighter and tighter as your confidence builds.
Remember...practice,practic and more practice.

You asked for one piece of advice and I noticed rock and I gave you too. Well I guess you get your money's worth at this forum. :D

Ha! Give me hundreds! I need them all. :) I feel comfortable on the bike at speed, even on mt twisties, and I'm getting better at parking lot speeds, but I'm not NEARLY where I want to be. I am having trouble just flicking the bike and getting it to go where ever I want to go at any point in time when I'm just putt-putting along...why? B/c I get a mental block and I know deep down (even though I'm trying to relax), I'm nervous at such slow speeds. It's frustrating knowing the bike can do it, but I'm the one who can't get past the tension that low speeds seem to bring. Anyway, I'm going to practice for at least 30 mins every week for the rest of winter. That's my new year's resolution. :) Hope I can stick to it!
I appreciate your advice. I'm heading out to do some low-speed practice this weekend, hopefully tomorrow, so keep it coming! :) Allyson

To try and get past the mental block try going through the manouvers in your mind just before performing them. After you perform the manouver examine what you did wrong and what you did right and repeat the process.
Most of all have fun.

The one piece of advice:

Look where you want to go. Lift your vision. You will go where you look. If you look down, you'll go down.

When they teach low-speed, tight turns in the MSF course, what you discover is an overwhelming desire to look right in front of the bike, at the line you're not supposed to cross. That's a big mistake. If you look up at where you want the bike to go, it becomes much easier.

The second piece of advice: Learn about counterweighting. You can do amazingly tight turns if you learn how to counterlean (i.e. position your body to the OUTSIDE).

I've got a copy of Lee Parks' Total Control, and in it there's a photo of a guy riding a full-dress touring bike at very low speed. He's turning so tight he's just about dragging a peg. I tried finding this image online, but haven't found it. See if you can find a copy of the book... it's available in many stores.

They teach this in the MSF course.

If you haven't taken it, do so. Even if you've got your license. Even if you've got experience. You will learn something, I promise.

Ally... just curious. Has your bike been lowered?

Practice with your bicycle staying up in one place. It really helps. Slow races are the best.

On the Ninja.
Steer more with your feet and hips. notice when you push on the peg with your right foot which way the bike leans or goes. then the left. good luck.

Keep your feet on the pegs, stand up and keep your balance using your body

Buy a dirt bike and go in the woods on tight trails with your feet up and standing up using your body to balance the bike.

Buy crash bars.

use the back brake to slow down not the front (unless its an emergency of course), you don't have to completely engage in 1st, although I wouldn't slip the clutch excessively either. Don't lock the handle bars, almost dropped it a few times by locking the bars. Also at really low speeds, you should turn the handlebars instead of trying to countersteer.

The second piece of advice: Learn about counterweighting. You can do amazingly tight turns if you learn how to counterlean (i.e. position your body to the OUTSIDE).
I've got a copy of Lee Parks' Total Control, and in it there's a photo of a guy riding a full-dress touring bike at very low speed. He's turning so tight he's just about dragging a peg. I tried finding this image online, but haven't found it. See if you can find a copy of the book... it's available in many stores.
They teach this in the MSF course.
If you haven't taken it, do so. Even if you've got your license. Even if you've got experience. You will learn something, I promise.

Thank you! I did take the MSF course last June. Learned a LOT. And I've read Total Control (just looked at that pic again...inspiring!), Prof. Motorcycling and the 2nd edition, and Twist of the Wrist. I reread sections of those books very frequently, and it helps, but I guess all that can really solve my "mental block" problem is trusting the bike...and LOTS of practice, and not fearing if I drop it. I'll experiment with counterweighthing this weekend. That was on my agenda as well. :) Thank you SOOOOOOOOOO much for the advice. :) Ally

Ally... just curious. Has your bike been lowered?

No, it hasn't. The 250 is just the right height for me. My 650, however, is way too high. :-( We're going to sell that one, and for now, I'm just sticking with my "Lil' Ninj". :) Ally

When I was teaching my daughter to drive ( on a manual tranny) I would take her around the housing area where we lived exclusively until she mastered shifting and maintaining a steady speed. I did the same after I got my bike. I had already taken the MSF course and practiced in a low traffic environment until I was comfortable enough to take it out on the roads, then stuck to the low traffic ones until I got comfortable on those. Used the army method of teaching, craw, walk, run. Hope this helps.

nb

Agree with Snake. Learn to use the clutch friction zone and use only the rear brake at low speed. Using the front brake at low speeds will cause the front wheel to flop over leading to a fall. I think this is a major cause of those low speed "drops" that new riders have all too often. At normal speed I use only the front brake, but at very low speed, only the rear.

Ally, All the responders gave you really good advice. Zartan`s suggestion of trying to balance a bike--called a "Track Stand" is good. All I can offer is this: Don`t try so hard, Relax, Remember, this is supposed to be fun.

Andrew gave you one of the single best tips I ever got - LOOK where you want to go. To start even exaggerate it by pushing your chin at the point - anything that makes you look where you want to go. It works on anything especially two wheeled vehicles. Once that become second nature then you can get into counter weighting, trail braking with the rear brake, etc, etc.

Don's right about looking where you want to go. It works in skiing. I'm a cross country skier on some pretty steep hills here in Labrador. If you keep you eyes on where you want to go the human body has this wonderful natural ability to go in that direction. It works on my Salomons and on the Ninja too. Neat ah?

She can take it, more than we generally think.

And I've read Total Control (just looked at that pic again...inspiring!),

Look at that pic again... see where the rider's eyes are? Looking through the turn.....

Thank you all! Great advice! The past 2 weekends have been rainy, so I haven't been able to even ride, much less get out and practice. Fingers crossed for some sunny days next weekend. :-)

This guy makes a lot of nice riding videos. This one is about the MSF figure 8 box test. He demonstrates the head turning and counterweight quite nicely. I still can't do it cleanly though :p. I prefer high speed turns :D


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGCgbEID83U

My One piece of advise is built up to it step by step. I've tried it all, had to build up to it, for me it worked out like this...

* Just trying to be very smooth on the throttle, no good, no matter how smooth you try and be the bike will occasionally stutter. I don't know if its just how the fueling on the fuel injected bikes are set-up, but for low speed maneuvers your going to need something else to help control the power. But its worth figuring out just how smooth you can be with the throttle. You need to master your low speed control before you start to think about turning at the same time anyway. I love that idea of a race where the slowest from A to B wins. Might race my buddy in a straight line then add some turns as we both prepare for our full tests.

* Balance partial clutch with the throttle, I usually have 1 finger on the clutch for normal gear changes, but at low speeds its usually 2 or 3 fingers, the clutch on the 250 is excellent and you can crawl along at tiny speeds by balancing your left and right hand inputs. Below 5mph/8kmh using only the rear brake to slow down to free up the right hand for good throttle control. You get used to doing this is relatively straight lines in start and stop traffic jams. When you keep going from 0 mph to 1 mph to 0 mph you get quite good at combining all 3 controls, once you've nailed this you can think about turning at slow speeds.

* Counter leaning, works very well with low speed turns, basically your always upright and above the bike so even though the bike is leaned and turning, you don't feel like your going to fall off which is half the battle at low speeds, so in turn you feel confident to lean the bike further, works great for u-turns and the like. Also makes it easier to turn your head around and look where you want to go as you don't also have to lift your head up so much.

* Rear brake while turning, probably the ultimate control for low speed turning. With some rear brake but not enough to slow it down significantly, just enough to keep it at the same speed. Its an odd feeling but you can feel the whole bike below you, instead of feeling like it wants to fall over, it feels like it wants to stand up. But the thing to remember is it can be quite hard to feel the rear brake through proper riding boots, so your trying to sense the balance between gravity and rear brake stability with every other sense you have. Easy enough when counterleaning and turning left, harder when counterleaning and turning right, so practice both.

edit:
I found myself lane splitting on Friday and counterleaning with no rear brake was good enough from me to go from the middle of 2 lanes, across between the nose and tail of a car, and back out on the very left of the left lane facing straight down the road again. Steering lock is not bad on these ninjas at all.