The other thing to practice is emergency stopping. Start you practice at 20-25mph. concentrate on using the front brake first then rear brake.

 

Fortunately I live near the end of a cul-de-sac.
I have five bright orange spots painted permanently on the pavement in the pattern of what a 5 would be on a set of dice. The pattern is 20' wide. I use the pattern for riding circles, u-turns and figure 8's.

I used to need the entire 20 foot space for all three exercises. U-turns can now be done easily inside 18' without scraping. Circles are easily within 17' or better. For the figure 8's I still use the entire 20' width. I can do full lock in both directions, I just don't like scraping if I don't have to. That angle and scraping sound is definitely good to know.

I have spent literally hours in that cul-de-sac practicing. Usually before I take off for a ride I will warm up for a few minutes doing a few of each exercise. Eye placement was the hardest for me to master, then friction zone with a little dragging of rear brake.

Not bragging but my 17' u-turn is done now without any braking while turning and without any issues. Sometimes I can get my U-turn down around 14' if I come to nearly a dead stop before starting the turn. Crowded parking lots, filling stations or other slow moving places was once difficult. Now it's a breeze moving and putting that Road King anywhere desired.

 

 

I plan on taking the Ride like a Pro course this spring. I am terrible at slow manuvering and U Turns. I'm too afraid I'll lay the bike over and scratch it up. What do use to protect your bars?

 

We protected the crash bars with split lengthwise automotive heater hose held on with zip ties.

and if your bike has ABS, slam on the levers to learn how the ABS engages

 

Nope....just ride cautiously in the spring.

 

https://www.americansupercamp.com


I can't recommend these guys high enough...It will change the way you ride.....period. It will hurt your feelings too......
Track days, on anything, will significantly improve your skills. Do it............

 

That's a great idea. Thanks!!!!

 

Ride like a pro-NC, in greensboro... and MotoMark1 anr to very good local (to me) classes, as well as the Bike-Safe-NC program, which is more a "skills assessment" than a training class.... but it's good to have motor officers follow you, and tell you what they see.
Another good deal, is the MSF experienced rider's class (sometimes called the advanced)... same instructors as the basic class, same drills... but on your own bike.... and there's no chance of you failing, so if you are tentative in the "box" no one gigs you

or
Find an empty parking lot, and get some cones or cut tennis *****
and view the RLaP videos
Or on youtube download from
/motorman857another good source of videos
https://www.youtube.com/user/CaptCrashIdaho

 

Low speed practice is very important, and there are numerous good tips here. The tennis ball or cheap cones work well because the bike you feedback if you run over them - you definitely don't want to look down at the cones.

But, emergency stopping and swerving are equally important, ABS is more common now, but how many riders actually get in a safe location and practice locking the ABS so we experience the feedback? (Yes, I know we don't want to lock the non-ABS brakes, but it's better to experience it in a safe location rather than the road). ABS pulsing will startle you the first few times, similar to scraping pegs or whatever. We need to learn not to react stupidly when these feedbacks happen. If you ride is low traffic area, practice quick stops, and swerving around pothole or patches in the road at highway speeds. Almost everyone I've coached stopped quicker on their second and third practice run. Real life riding does not gives us the second chance.

Finally, safe riding on the road is much more a skill of the eyes and mind rather than the hands and feet. We need to focus and practice our mental survival skills constantly as we ride.