Very low speed counterbalancing tips?

I am practicing for the P's test and am having difficulty with the tight low speed cornering segments. I can do the evasive maneuver and emergency brake better than most on the practice day but am having trouble with the U turn and offset cone weave. I could hire the CB for the test and pass it right now but would rather do it on the FZR.

I am close to getting the 5.5m U turn down pat but the cone weave is a killer. The cones are at 3.6m spacing and are offset 30cm off the center line and they make you go the long way round.

I need tips for counterbalancing as I have got the steering locked against the tank but still not making the turn. I get very nervous when trying to practice this because I get no feel from the grips; the bike just feels like it is going to fall over at any moment.

Has anyone mastered the skill of very low speed counterbalancing and wants to offer some pointers?

 

FZR and most other SPORTS bikes are hopless at low speed... especialy in U turns.. they are built for FAST riding not slow..

RENT a CB for the test and training.. when I was doing mine.. every one who took their bike for the test crashed!! I rode mine in and parked it... I did managed to crash their CB250 during practice... lol I was the only one to come back home with a whole bike <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_smile.gif" alt="" title="Smile" /><!-- s -->

 

You will have to shift your body to the high side of the bike on the tight turns as that allows the bike to turn tighter, but it is hard on the FZR.

A bloke I was talking to today suggested winding up the idle speed on the test day and controlling more with the back brake. That might help.

Something like an XR250 would be the go. plenty of lock.

I can do the u-turn but the cones are a bit hard and I have been practicing it in the back yard. I thought it was 3.5M and 0.5m offset - might be different in Tas.

I work with one of the instructors, so I will ask what the specs are here.

My youngest son did his test on his GPX250 and passed the whole course without losing any points and was the only one to pass the day out of 6 people. one was going for the second time.

I am thinking of taking the GPX as its a bit more stable and has more low down torque.

Just keep practicing.
Good Luck
DAVE

 

Yeah I will go for the CB if I can’t get it mastered. At least I wasn’t the worst one out their, one bloke turned up to do it on a Harley! I give him credit for trying tho.

 

I don't know if anyone has tried or even mentiond this. When going into a slow turn, such as a U-turn. Turn your head to look where you are going. I'm talking all the way turned. You have to look at where you are going and where you want to be at the same time.

 

U-turn use plenty of revs and a combination of slipping the slutch and rear brake to control the speed. Head position should naturally be looking to where you want to be not going. You'll need to have the FZR banked over quite a bit and hanging off to make the turn. Once you are ready to straighten drop the clutch and get outta there.

Cone Weave you just gotta ride nice and slow and use plenty of counter steer and body weight. Good revs and a bit of clutch slip helps here as well. Once again rear brake will help you make the turns much tighter.

I would recommend the hiring a CB250 as sprotsbike are the pits for this test. I did mine on a GPZ250 which is a little nicer on the engine side but still a bitch with turning circle.

 

Take the CB Option. I did, and passed.

A bloke tried in my test on a fzr250, didn't make the u-turn, complained it was the bikes fault, hassled the instructor, so the instructor got on the fzr250, u-turned it in half the space, and then returned it to the rider.

It took me a few goes to master it on the fzr back then, but still not confident, but the cb did it no problem.

As mentioned before, turn the head to where you want to go, it feels strange, but works like a charm.

 

i had no trouble at all passing the NSW P's test on my fizzer when i had it.

slip the hell out of the clutch (i think the tacho was always sitting on about 3-4k rpm) lots of rear brake to make it go slow and balance/control.

also look where you want to go. The instructors teach you to leave your ass in the normal seat position and counter-lean your body through the turns to balance the bike, i wasn't comfortable doing this as it didn't feel right so i just moved my ass onto the highest edge of the seat during the turn, similar to what you do when riding trailbikes through tight corners etc.
worked a treat.

honestly though if i had my time again i would simply borrow someones trailbike/touring bike, the fizzer is just not meant to do the things you have to do on it and an easy day can turn into a struggle.

good luck with it.

 

Just practice. It will save your life on the road also. If you will be riding a FZR, then do the test on the FZR.

I can do a tight uturn and scrape my pegs and fairings. Just practice.

1. Look where you are going
2. Ensure you have good clutch/throttle control - Keep it smooth
3. Don't use the brake, use throttle to ensure a smooth turn
4. The faster you U-turn the easier it will be

Practice in a smooth carpark, it wont take long for you to get it right.

Practice these basic skills in a carpark. It wont take that long for you to get good at it. <- Click here

 

Cheers for all the tips, I will have to get out after work and give them a crack.

The funny thing is you get nine points before you fail so you can afford to stuff the u turn and knock over a cone and still pass. <!-- s:???: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_confused.gif" alt=":???:" title="Confused" /><!-- s:???: -->

I don’t know anyone with a dirt bike or scooter type bike so I will turn up on the day with the cash for the cb, or shout a round or two down the pub after to anyone willing to lend one on the day.

My test isn’t till the 10th so I will get back to you all on the practice progress.

 

You could always try pulling a 180 degree stoppie...does that count? <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s -->

 

<!-- s:roll: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_roll.gif" alt=":roll:" title="Rolling LoL" /><!-- s:roll: --> That’s a great idea but I don’t think they would be too impressed, lol.

 

Went to a large car park today and practiced. I found that doing the U turn, I looked back where wanted to go and found it very easy. Just looking back makes me sit upright on the bike even though the bike is leaning over and the balance is so much better.

Doing the zigzag is easier if I go quicker too.

24 days to go.

DAVE

 

CB for me too, i passed my test on one!!

 

Dave. Keep practicing and you'll be sweet.

Even after you do your test. Every few weekends spend an hour doing tight small circles and figure 8's in a car park. Believe me you will be better at cornering than someone who doesn't practice. It will help you develop those skills.

Think about it. How many minutes of ACTUAL cornering do you get to do a week? A corner only takes a few seconds, maybe you do 25 corners a day to and from work. Let's just say 2mins of cornering per day. 10mins per week. 40mins per month.

Do you ever have time to reflect on each corner? So just spend 30mins/1hr every few weeks in a car park, and you will develop such good corning ability you'll blow all your mates away. Trust me. And you'll be SAFER! and more confident.

I practice my cornering still, every 2 weeks for 30mins. I've had the bike for nearly a year now.

 

I had my test today in the pouring rain.

After two weeks of practice I had the uturn down but still couldn’t master the cone weave, so I decided to hire one of the stay upright bikes. The other guy got the cb and I was left with the trail bike. Went through and aced the cone weave and uturn but I locked the front up in the wet on the emergency stop. I managed to keep the bike up but I blew the distance and failed the whole test because of it. <!-- s --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_mad.gif" alt="" title="Mad" /><!-- s -->

Then I was on the way home and got pulled over by an unmarked car that was tailing me for doing 107 in a 100 zone! <!-- s:???: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_confused.gif" alt=":???:" title="Confused" /><!-- s:???: --> Granted the road was wet but it was a straight 2 lane road and he was the only other car around, following me. He gave me a warning and then started counting off all of the motorbike related road deaths in the ACT so far as if I didn’t already know. After that he said as far as he is concerned "you can go and jam motorcycles up your arse!" in those exact words. <!-- s:shock: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_eek.gif" alt=":shock:" title="Shocked" /><!-- s:shock: -->
[/rant]

What can I say, it has been a **** day so far but hopefully things will pick up.

 

Not a good day indeed. I feel for you dude... I really do. You seem like too nice a chap to have crap like that happen all in one day.






























(you should try to spread it out along the whole week...)

Seriously... That sucks man.

 

Bad luck man, we've all been on the end of one of those "what now" days. Buy yourself a beer and forget it. At least you only got a warning and some attitude from the fuzz (i wonder if he says the same thing to his motorbiking buddies in the force??)

By the way you must have completely different tests up there - we certainly don't do any cone-weave or u-turn, but we did have a tricky light set-up which you had to swerve left or right around at the last minute depending on which light went on - damn thing had me jittery by test time.

 

Better luck next time. At least you can't get a decent bike for a little longer and give the Road Toll Stats a break.

 

Bad luck Valentino!!

Damn trail bikes.