Tight Turns

[kitkatman]

I just bought a katana about a month ago now. I am a pretty inexperienced rider, especially sport bikes. I was taking it for short rides near where i live to get a little more experience before going to take a motorcycle safety course which is in about 2 weeks. While going on one of these short rides about 2 weeks ago I stopped at a stop sign, then went to make a left turn and i swung too wide and almost hit a sign before braking and falling. Subsequently seperating my shoulder in the process, although there was minimal damage to the bike(no fairings). I was only going a couple miles an hour and wasnt being crazy about it or anything.

Basically my question is do sport bikes not make tight turns? Are the handle bars usually pretty stiff when making slow turns? Or am I just in
need of more practice with making correct/tighter turns?

Any suggestions?

[superbike]

SportBikes are no different than any other bike out there...its' the person behind the bars that makes the difference. The bad news is you've had a bad experience, the good news is you're taking a MSF course in a couple of weeks. After you've finished and passed the course, your perspective will improve again. If you truly want to ride , get back on the bike, if you have doubts, don't. In the meantime pickup a copy of the MSF guide to motorcycling excellence and study for your upcoming school. Let us know how you do!

[Slofuze]

SportBikes are no different than any other bike out there...its' the person behind the bars that makes the difference. The bad news is you've had a bad experience, the good news is you're taking a MSF course in a couple of weeks. After you've finished and passed the course, your perspective will improve again. If you truly want to ride , get back on the bike, if you have doubts, don't. In the meantime pickup a copy of the MSF guide to motorcycling excellence and study for your upcoming school. Let us know how you do!

+1

[KAT TOY]

slow speed turns like you described can be regulated by using the rear brake. key word here is slow turns. that way the forks don't compress and throw you off. msf course will help a lot.

[Suzukirider09]

SportBikes are no different than any other bike out there...its' the person behind the bars that makes the difference. The bad news is you've had a bad experience, the good news is you're taking a MSF course in a couple of weeks. After you've finished and passed the course, your perspective will improve again. If you truly want to ride , get back on the bike, if you have doubts, don't. In the meantime pickup a copy of the MSF guide to motorcycling excellence and study for your upcoming school. Let us know how you do!

+2 . The MSF will teach you how to maneuver at low speeds, which will help alot. Another thing to keep in mind is the kat is not a true sportbike (unlike a gixxer) so you want to watch it in the turns at a higher speed.

[superbike]

F.Y.I., check out the "stickys" at the top of this "Riding Tips" catagory, there is a ton of really good info to read, you'll enjoy it.

[beachflyer]

katanas are not really great at low speed tight turns. It does take alot of practice to maneuver slowly on a sport bike. The MSF course will help a lot with that. I brought my 01 kat 600 to the MSF course and no one, not even the instructors could keep the kat in the box on the figure 8 maneuver but it was easy with thier 250 honda rebels.

[loudnlow7484]

I disagree that sport bikes are no different than any bike....... the turning radius of a Kat is a lot bigger than say, a Honda CG125 (10.5 ft vs 7.5 ft, by the numbers). A Kat is still capable of pulling a u-turn on an average two-lane road, but it's no dirtbike. Chances are this isn't the issue here though. If you were just trying to turn left from a stop, then it certainly isn't a limitation of the bike that caused you to run wide.

Take everything you can from the MSF, and do a lot of low-speed practice on your own. It will all start to come together.

[**Laura**]

I think the instructors screamed a thousand times, "Look where you want to go!" and sometimes there was swearing at the end of that and sometimes not.... not always at ME either but I got a sense that they scream it every weekend a thousand times because it's a newbie issue.

So basic and so incredibly accurate. Doing my low speed figure eight after figure eight, I tried looking and not looking (and staring at those tiny traffic cones I kept mowing down instead)and you know, they're right! God love 'em.

[Apathy]

It is very easy to get caught up in looking at where the edge of the road is versus where you want to be.

Guess what, if you keep staring at the edge of the road, you'll be there soon enough.

[kitkatman]

The bike also has a bent right handlebar too. Idk if that had anything to do with it since i was turning left. I just bought a new one so ill be replacing it and taking my msf course before im ready to get back on it. Also found out that its impossible to lift a bike up with your shoulder poping in and out of place, even with the adrenaline going. Luckly there was a fellow rider that lived near by, noticed and helped me out. Thanks for the comments and advice!

[Suzukii600]

turning at a slow pace is all about how comfortable you are with the bike... when i am sitting in a parking lot waiting on someone ill go to the back away from all the cars and "signs" and practice riding in circles i start out a little fast and slow it down a little by little, trying to make my circle tighter and tighter... i never took a safety course, i just taught myself and read up as much as i could on good and bad habits, on what to do and what not to do in different situations.... i'm sure you will learn about all of this in your class.... i made a few squid moves along the way... but i bet everyone on here would agree that they made some mistakes at some point that they wish they didn't... the best thing i could tell you is to be patient and never try to ride beyond your ability...

[akeithan]

I would definatly drained brains of those instructors... use their knowledge and dont be shy to ask questions. I took the course in 2006 and I still remember everything my instructor taught me.

[bob393]

Being comfortable with your bike is probably the most important thing and the only way there is through practice, practice, and more practice. Be safe and enjoy the course.

[bluelinewall]

I read an article about tight turns. It said you stand up on the pegs and lean the bike over but keeping yourself straight up. The refernce they gave was when we were all younger on bicycles we often did the same move. I haven't tried it yet, I keep forgetting too, the day I do I will post a report.