[Kat-A-Tonic]

Learning how to corner and take turns at speed. I'd say I corner like a girl but I'm not even that good.

[shefkat2000]

I need to work on my confidence in turns which I know will come with practice. PLUS i got some new Metzeler Z6s. Those add confidence +10. Love those Z6s. Glad I made the decision. Tires are everything IMO.

[DreKat]

Left and right turns at speed. where I live there are not enought turns or hill so when I do come to a tight turn I do very poorly I don't lean or move my body enough to adjust to the turn. That is why I had an accident 2 years ago. My tires all wear down the centre.

[iwannadie]

wow alot of people have problems with right turns. i read somewhere that the whole right turn thing comes from a natural fear. when you fall the first thing you want to do is put out your right hand(right handers). so when your turning right your pulling your right hand toward you breaking your instincts.

i really cant wait to get a good set of tires on, mine have been bad for a long time and i think thats what slowed me down on turns. fear of the tire loosing traction(which it did often).

[slayergsxf1]

I need to stop running over drywall screws....

[Anonymous]

I need to keep the speed down....150mph is WAY too fast for a parking lot...

[Mojoe]

for the way i ride....and that way is the way i prefer and enjoy, i cant really think of any weakness.
i know that the way it sounds it might look like i am conceited or cocky or something...but that is not the case. if you count back to my moto-x days, i have had my but in the saddle 25 years. more than enough time to fine tune the weaknesses.

so here is how it sits.....if i ride legally....and within my zone where i feel that i can confidently avoid hazards, my riding skills are pretty well balanced out and I feel no weak spots.

however if you are talking about knee dragging....which I am not in a practice of doing, that would be my weakness. not really sure you can call it a weakness though. I have dragged my pegs a few times. no big deal until i feel the scrape...then the nerves kick in. i have 2 really bad knees...as in no kneecaps....so i like to keep my ass on the seat mainly cuz of pain. i am starting to feel discomfort within 20 minutes. in an hour my knees are throbbing and i just bare it. sliding around on the seat just aggrivates it more.

so aside from sucking at kneedragging cuz of lack of practice, I am comfortable all around.

[The CyberPoet]

Stamina. With the thyroid issues (and everything that go with it), I simply can't do 16 hour days in the saddle back-to-back any more, esp. in the summer heat. The best practice for riding long distances is... riding long distances (gee, imagine that!), but I haven't gotten nearly enough mutli-day long road trips in these last couple years.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[katanapr3]

for me is some thing stupid, for some reason I can't do an U turn. I seen people specialy cops pull this tight U turns. I start an U turn into 3 line hwy and end up in the middle or far right line. what am I doing wrong?

[The CyberPoet]

for me is some thing stupid, for some reason I can't do an U turn. I seen people specialy cops pull this tight U turns. I start an U turn into 3 line hwy and end up in the middle or far right line. what am I doing wrong?

Not slowing down enough before you start, putting yourself too far left before starting, or not counter-balancing to lean the bike into the turn far enough at such low speeds would be my basic guesses as a former instructor.
The tightest possible u-turn requires a very, very slow speed (think slow strolling speeds) on a Kat or other heavy bike. IMHO, you should be leaning right while leaning the bike left (through a left-handed U-turn) at such slow speeds to help keep the whole thing stable.

Most riders aren't comfy with super-slow tight maneuvering like this because it simply isn't something they get to practice/use in their day-to-day riding, thus it's not reinforced very well. The MSF basic/beginners course helps because it focuses a lot on such low-speed maneuvering, as do virtually all police riding instruction schools.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

[katanapr3]

in the MSF course I got it perfect on the writen and the practical part but I was riding a 250 Hawk that's like riding a BMX bike.now when it come to the kat is a different story I'm only 150 lbs and that is soak in water and with full gear.

[skasner]

for me is some thing stupid, for some reason I can't do an U turn. I seen people specialy cops pull this tight U turns. I start an U turn into 3 line hwy and end up in the middle or far right line. what am I doing wrong?

Not slowing down enough before you start, putting yourself too far left before starting, or not counter-balancing to lean the bike into the turn far enough at such low speeds would be my basic guesses as a former instructor.
The tightest possible u-turn requires a very, very slow speed (think slow strolling speeds) on a Kat or other heavy bike. IMHO, you should be leaning right while leaning the bike left (through a left-handed U-turn) at such slow speeds to help keep the whole thing stable.

Most riders aren't comfy with super-slow tight maneuvering like this because it simply isn't something they get to practice/use in their day-to-day riding, thus it's not reinforced very well. The MSF basic/beginners course helps because it focuses a lot on such low-speed maneuvering, as do virtually all police riding instruction schools.

Cheers,
=-= The CyberPoet

I had U-turns down to an artform at the end of last season and need to practice them some more. The way I learned was by going to a parking lot and then turning the bars until they couldn't go any further (clipons almost hit tank) and then i started going in circles and feathering the clutch to keep from falling over. I did this in both directions religiously for a couple of weeks and eventually I had no issues with them, or any tight turn for that matter.

[Kanati]

Getting confidence in my bike/tires so I can ride a bit more agressively.

[DooD]

I ned to work on being smoother making transitions from left to right really quickly, and I also need to improve my entries. I have a big tendency to throw the bike from left to right (or vice versa) upon exit/entry, and it makes for a very hack-ish look and feel. As for the first entry into any corner, I find that I'm always underestimating the power of the brakes, which makes for a sluggish entry and screws up my lines....

Hopefully my race school on May 5th will help get rid of that......

[fasteddie]

Figure 8 moves at slow speeds.