Feet down - Which method do you use?

[Motofool]

How do you balance 400 lbs at low speeds?
Take advantage of momentum and centrifugal force; try doing it effortless and elegantly smooth.

Another interesting article from Keith Code:

http://www.motorcyclistonline.com/ho...ur_motorcycle/

[bdavison]

I dont drag my feet, that annoys me when people do that. It just says "I'm a noob, and shouldnt be on a bike".

Its really not that hard.
I apply both brakes, slowing down and rev-match downshifting at the same time. Right before the bike gets to the stopping point, I get a little more aggressive on the front brake (but not to the nose diving point) just light enough to transfer the weight a little more forward, and then put left foot down, and then the right if I'm gonna be there a while. Neither foot takes a step forward.

But what really annoys me more than this, is when some guy starts off again after the light turns green and drags his outrigger feet for 1/4 mile before he lifts them up on the pegs. Why don't you just go buy a trike, leroy jenkins.

Again, its not really that hard.
From first, give it a good twist, and the instant it starts moving, put both feet on the pegs. The trick is getting some torque to the rear wheel, so the bike squats on the rear tire....once it does, it's gonna sit up right long enough to get your feet up.

I've gotten to the point now, where I can just about come to a complete stop, and then put my feet down, or put my feet up and balance for a sec, before gassing it from a stop.

Its all about practice.

[menikmati]

Blip downshift until I get to 2nd while applying both brakes, shift into first and put my left foot down with my right foot on the rear brake. If I'm gently slowing down I'll use mostly my rear brake for the very last bit of braking until I come to a complete stop.

I always feel like a badass when I can come to a complete stop and balance myself without putting my feet down. Rare, but awesome.

[allanoue]

Originally Posted by bdavison

I've gotten to the point now, where I can just about come to a complete stop, and then put my feet down, or put my feet up and balance for a sec, before gassing it from a stop.

Its all about practice.

I can stop at a stop sign with a cop behind me without taking my feet off the pegs. Keep practicing.

[JeffM]

On the pegs till I come to a complete stop and up off the ground immediately as I start moving. This goes along with slow riding and trying to not dab a foot - tons of fun.

Jeff

[Racer x]

the thing is to keep the wheel turning when going slow. IF the wheel stops you will fall over. Bicycle riding will really help low speed handling. Also Lee Parks Total control book or seminar will help.
Keeping your feet down is very dangerous. The 500 lb bike will not slow down because your foot gets hooked on something.

[NevadaWolf]

Originally Posted by allanoue

I can stop at a stop sign with a cop behind me without taking my feet off the pegs. Keep practicing.

I think I read on here someone got a ticket for doing that. Cop viewed it as a "rolling stop" if your feet didn't come down. Guess it depends on the person and the day they are having.

It's an awesome feeling balancing at the stop sign without putting your feet down before taking off again.

[Motofool]

Link to original page on YouTube.

[Joshorilla]

Originally Posted by Motofool

Link to original page on YouTube.

That is what I was taught during the CBT, and what I do.

Downshift using engine breakng, get to first, pull clutch rear brake, come to stop while putting left foot down, my rule of thumb is the bike is stopped when i put my foot down, but I don't wait after it's stopped and shoot my foot out to regain balance, it's a smooth motion.

[EsrTek]

I make a game of it (sort of) when at lights. I try to keep my feet up as long as possible, using steering to keep bike balanced at a dead stop.

If not doing that, it's usually the left foot down and right on brake. So I can sit straight up and stretch.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by EsrTek

I make a game of it (sort of) when at lights. I try to keep my feet up as long as possible, using steering to keep bike balanced at a dead stop.....

Copied from
http://amgrass.com/forum/general-dis...msg925/#msg925

"Balance Exercises

Being acutely aware of the location of the combined center of gravity (CCofG) at all times is the mark of the top rider and being able to balance the bike whilst it is not moving, or moving very slowly is one of those crucial, but fundamental skills that will make a world of difference to your riding.

The following exercises can be done pretty well anywhere and should be practiced often for the best results.

Off-Bike Exercise

With your bike off the stand put one hand on the bars and one on the grab handle and gently find the point where you think that the bike is perfectly balanced. Remove your hand from the bars and you should feel no additional pressure on the remaining hand or any tendency for the bike to want to fall over. Chances are that the first time you try this you will not have found the exact balance point and the bike will want to fall. Keep on trying until you can remove the hand from the bars with no change in pressure on the other hand.

The next stage can be a bit traumatic so it might help to get a friend to help you grab the bike should it start to fall.

Try the exercise again only this time use just your thumb and forefinger on the bars and release the grab handle with the other hand. With only this very small point of contact between you and the bike, any out of balance tendency will immediately make itself felt, hence the need for a friend to help you catch it if it falls away from you. Now place the thumb and forefinger of the other hand somewhere on the saddle and release your other hand from the bars all the time maintaining the balance. Start to walk carefully around the bike going from hand to hand until you have walked all the way round without feeling any undue pressure on either of your hands.

Repeat the exercise only this time using just one finger, once again walking round the bike going from hand to hand.

To make things even more interesting, you can repeat the exercise with the bars at full lock so that you can feel any differences in the tendency for the bike to fall."

Also trial riders work hard on zero-speed balance:

Link to original page on YouTube.

[Bones85]

98% of the time: left foot down with right foot on the peg or rear brake and the bike remains in gear with the clutch in
1% of the time: both feet down with the bike in neutral (once I know I'm about to move I shift back into first and get my right foot up)
0% of the time: right foot down by itself

I like having access to the rear brake and having just my left foot down feels the best to me.

At really low speeds I try to just use the clutch and rear brake. I almost dumped the bike in the MSF class during the U-turn exercise when I used the front brake when the handlebars were turned.

[Miles_Prower]

I am also trying to exclusively use only one foot down. I don't really need to, but I'm getting use to half cheeking it so when I get a 600 I'll be able to hold it up. So far so good, no problems!

[ally99]

Like others have stated, practice balancing it as long as possible at a stoplight before putting your feet down.
I only use my left foot because my right foot is always on my rear brake. It just feels smoother (and looks cooler! LOL) to just use the left foot. :-D

[himynameisjoe]

I tend to have to stop on hills a lot. So I just got into the habit of left down, right up AND on rear brake.

Once in a blue moon I'll do both down in neutral. But that's only if I know the stoplight and it's one that takes a while. But I try to avoid roads with stoplights anyway. I feel much safer at stop sign intersections since it's not legal to lane split here. Stop for as tiny amount as possible and get moving again!

[adouglas]

To get my feet down I progressively straighten my knee and hip joints until the sole of my foot contacts the ground.

Hey, you asked.

[Motofool]

[80MPHdownhill]

Originally Posted by Bones85

98% of the time: left foot down with right foot on the peg or rear brake and the bike remains in gear with the clutch in
1% of the time: both feet down with the bike in neutral (once I know I'm about to move I shift back into first and get my right foot up)
0% of the time: right foot down by itself

I like having access to the rear brake and having just my left foot down feels the best to me.

I'm pretty much the exact opposite.

At stoplights, once I have a car stopped behind me, or I've filtered up and split 2 cars (i.e. no danger of getting rear ended)

98% of the time: Right foot down, bike in neutral, front brake on, left foot on peg ready to shift to first.

0% of the time: Both feet down. I never do that.

2% of the time: Left foot down by itself.

I don't like leaving the bike in gear with the clutch pulled in at long stoplights. It unnecessarily puts wear on the throwout bearing and other clutch system components.

[alex.s]

lately i've been playing the superman game too. i can keep it going for at least 6 or 7 seconds usually. what i do is hold it still balancing back and forth with the bars until it gets too out of hand, then feed just a tiny bit of gas with lots of rear brake just to use a little counter steer to correct the lean... its a little easier on a hill cause you can kinda go back and forth a little, correcting each time. i did it at a red light in front of a moto cop one time and he gave me a thumbs up. i think he liked it. probably a bad idea to do it at a stop sign though

[Bones85]

Originally Posted by 80MPHdownhill

I'm pretty much the exact opposite.

At stoplights, once I have a car stopped behind me, or I've filtered up and split 2 cars (i.e. no danger of getting rear ended)

98% of the time: Right foot down, bike in neutral, front brake on, left foot on peg ready to shift to first.

0% of the time: Both feet down. I never do that.

2% of the time: Left foot down by itself.

I don't like leaving the bike in gear with the clutch pulled in at long stoplights. It unnecessarily puts wear on the throwout bearing and other clutch system components.

I've seen some riders do right foot down only. The problem is you cannot use the rear brake then. What if you're making a sharp turn in a parking garage or parking lot and you need to stop suddenly when your handlebars are turned? You'll have no choice but to use the front brake and the chance of dumping the bike is high. Also, when you're coming to a complete stop and you put your right foot down first, you can only use the front brake to finish your stop. And what if you're stopped on an incline? If you have your right foot down then you can't hold the rear brake.

If a car is stopped behind me I'll put the bike in neutral and put both feet down (if on a flat surface), but before I take off I always make sure my right foot is on the peg first.

[Motofool]

Weekend for balanced riders

[snot]

I can hardly touch the ground, I have had to learn how to balance the bike and use both feet at a stop. If the road slopes more on one side I touch on the opposite, I can't touch with both at the same time unless I really stretch..

[Whiskey]

A tip that I got was to watch what the local bike cops do & mimic them, especially if you're getting pulled over for something, it clicks into their mind 'is this guy one of us, he knows what he's doing'

Here it's front & rear brake right down to a couple of mph, then rear only, (flick it to neutral if you're stopping for a while) and left foot down, right stays on the brake.

[Motofool]

Originally Posted by snot

I can hardly touch the ground, I have had to learn how to balance the bike and use both feet at a stop. If the road slopes more on one side I touch on the opposite, I can't touch with both at the same time unless I really stretch..

So, when coming to a full stop, can you make the bike lean to the side you choose?
How do you do it?

[snot]

Originally Posted by Motofool

So, when coming to a full stop, can you make the bike lean to the side you choose?
How do you do it?

Yes I can, strength and practice.

I had no choice but to learn to do this. I am 5' on a good day and at stock height I can barely touch. I started at a lowered height, I could touch on the balls of my feet. Then I raised it up to almost stock, I could tippy toe both sides. Now, at full stock I can tippy toe (very tipps) both if I stretch.. I really have to try. Or I can tippy toe one side (full toe). So, on unleven pavement I chose the side that makes since.

[Whiskey]

Originally Posted by Motofool

So, when coming to a full stop, can you make the bike lean to the side you choose?
How do you do it?

To answer this one

@snot coming to a stop tip the bars to the side that you want the bike to fall opposite. So tip the bars right as you come to a stop if you want to put your left foot down.

[snot]

Originally Posted by Whiskey

To answer this one

@snot coming to a stop tip the bars to the side that you want the bike to fall opposite. So tip the bars right as you come to a stop if you want to put your left foot down.

Thanks for the tip!

[Roark]

@snot, have you ever ridden a cruiser bike instead of the Ninja? Probably would feel like heaven in comparison..

[snot]

Originally Posted by Roark

@snot, have you ever ridden a cruiser bike instead of the Ninja? Probably would feel like heaven in comparison..

Yes, My First bike was an 98 intruder. I hated riding it, it was to heavy and I didn't like the riding position.

[Ninjinsky]

I see too many absolute beginners use this method

Link to original page on YouTube.

[hereiam]

Blip.. downshift till 1st, put left foot down when bike has come to a standstill, right foot on brake, clutch in - both feet on pegs as soon as bike takes off!

[cadd]

Cool article.

[snapshot]

To stop? Rear brake, then front brake, then off the front once I'm almost stopped. Left foot down (mostly toes )when the bike stops.

Here's what I coach during our u-turn practice -

Constant throttle - Keep it above idle for power.
Clutch friction zone - Stay in it because it becomes the throttle.
Lightly drag the rear brake - It stabilizes the bike.
Look where you need to be to get where you want to go.
Counter-balance to get the bike to turn more tightly.
Don't stop and you won't fall over!

Ride on,

J~