Man I need to practice the slow stuff

[vdaily89]

Been across the street in a parking lot practicing the slow, tight, figure 8 type turns from the MSF. That's tough on this big dog. I can tell while I'm out that the slow turns are still giving me some problems. Any good practice tips?

[wantakat]

That figure 8 is tough. The handle bars have to almost be 'hard over' to accomplish it. A little speed helps, having your rear slid to the other side helps, but having your head turned is absolutely crucial. The bike will go where you are looking. If you have taken the MSF, I'm sure all of this is old news.

[WildKat]

Once you get used to, and that just takes nothing but practice, you can manuever the Kat around pretty good. Its really not that hard but depending on what your used to riding before, if anything at all, it can be a bit cumbersome when your first beginning to really concentrate and practice the fundamentals of riding.

Dont worry, it just takes time.

Start out w/ big figure 8's and do these multiple times to get used to feeling of what your doing, then gradually decrease them in radius little by little...to help even more take some side walk chalk and draw them on the pavement.. its a bit of a pain and as long as its a public area where no one minds, it can help alot in keeping ur lines.

[vdaily89]

Just going to keep practicing across the street. I may take some cones over and make a box like the MSF course. I really feel like I'm becoming a much better rider (still a lot of room for improvement), the slow stuff is killer. Especially on this big ol' hoss.....

[Char]

You are doing one of the great things...PRACTICE!!! I took my MSF course and got licensed in June. And everytime after my evening ride...I'll go into the parking lot or in front of my house and just practice. The more you practice, the more you will see improvements. Just from my evening rides, I've noticed a drastic improvement on my turning and stopping skills.

Practice is the key! They always say practice makes perfect! But as someone wise once told me, "NO one is a perfect rider, Not even pros."

[Katastrophe]

Counterbalancing is key with these bikes... I also trail the rear brake just a tiny bit, and it tends to help. Also, practicing in a vacant parking lot (my fiancee and I practice at the local high school on Sundays) helps a bunch. If the lot has regular "H" shaped parking spots, using two adjacent spots is very helpful!

[Lagmo]

Kats kinda suck at slow speed manouvers (well compared to say a CB500 , GS500 or Z650 anyways)

i've found keeping my 600 at fairly high revs (~2.5-3K) and working the back brake tends to smooth it out a bit, but it's still a chore keeping it in line when you go <5mph
Turning circle isn't that great either, i could hardly manage a U-turn on the driving scool test lot on the Kat, made it by a wide margin on the CB500 & GS500 (those two-cylinder bikes are just sooo forgiving )

[tdrcomm]

Don't get too bent. EVERYBODY I know has had some trouble with the slow stuff. +1 what everyone else said and also use the pegs to slide off and counterbalance the bike. Kinda the opposite of leaning off the bike in a turn at speed. Keep the head up and look where you want to go.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.... I still do.

[tzortn]

I just finished the MSF today and did very well. That honda nighthawk 250 was a very forgiving beast. Cocky and overconfident when I got home, I grabbed the kat and did some of the same maneuvers in my apartments parking lot. The kat does not forgive. It went down and fast. Gravity must be different in my parking lot. My foot wedged between the part of the engine that sticks out of the fairing so I didn't scuff anything on the bike. A humbling experience to say the least. More parking lot work for me. Oh and its heavy to pick up.

That is all true. That is why I personally think that the Kat is not a great beginners bike.

[md86]

Funny , my first 2 bikes were cruisers , so when I got the Katana , I couldn't BELIEVE how light it was .

[sweet_kat]

i took my MSF course 2 weeks ago - the day after, I took my Kat back to the course and did the driving test on the Kat - Totally different! I've been doing it constantly - almost every night and i finally am comfortable doing the slow turns - - I'm not good but i'm comfortable with what i need to do - i can't manipulate the Kat with my legs like i could the CBR125 that i drove in class -

Drove by the MSF class this morning and stopped in - the instructors were happy to see me and they offered me some free tips for slow manuevers on my Kat - one of them took my Kat and did the slow turn portion of test - seeing it done once helped me too.

I practice my emergency braking about every 5-6 blocks in town while driving too!

so, anyway - my moto is the same as other's - practice. and, I'm starting with "practice what I know" - which is the MSF driving test - I should be able to do it all on my Kat!!

[Yellow]

I had to do 8's on the exam to get my license (three in a row without touching the ground)... which I took on a Kaw ER-5 (similar to the GS500). I was practicing on parking lots with my Kat, when I then passed the exam with the ER-5 it felt like a bicycle - I almost didn't need to lean it over at all.

The easiest way for me was to run at idle with the clutch totally let out, the bike shouldn't stall out once you have some speed (and that way you won't get tired working the clutch all the time)... You will also find that it gets harder the slower you go. And as they said, look where you are going!

I was setting up my pratice area according to this plan:

http://www.goca.be/fr/permis/cat_a/a_man_050905_f.pdf

I used coke cans - and managed to crush one while practicing (made a nice splash on the parking lot!).

[Range]

its all in the clutch

[baddkat]

once you can do the small fig 8s, try challenging yourself a little more by doing it without any clutch. Try staying aroung 900-1000 RPM and use your frt brake only

[cameron]

here in bfe my motorcycle test for my licence consisted of going up the street using blinkers to make a block and go back.with my wife talking to the instructer about shoes. aced it with a 96 got the deduction for going to slow?