Sensitivity and control sound like relationship issues, but rest assured that I am talking here about strictly solo pursuits and you had better be very nice to your boyfriend/girlfriend to persuade them to let you take the time to do this.
I read on an advanced motorcycling forum about this instructor who, when he was waiting for a student outside his house, would practise very slow figure-8s to improve bike control and sensitivity.
I decided to try this myself. I took the scooter out because it has a much smaller turning circle than the FZ and also because I didn’t want to risk dropping the latter. I went to a very quiet dead end of a wide road.
I practised in two ways. Firstly, I tried to get maximum steering lock in the corners; this meant that the bike was fairly upright. Then I tried to get maximum lean angle by firmly and smoothly applying countersteering going into the corners (I also shifted my body weight but at a lesser angle than that of the bike; you get better traction in slow-speed turns this way). The Dio has pretty good ground clearance and this time I didn’t manage to scrape the sidestand. Little by little is my philosophy - although I was wearing protective clothing I didn’t want to scratch it up, so I’ll push the lean angle a bit more next time.
Of course there was a sequence to acceleration and deceleration; 1 On the gas a little; 2 tip the bike over; 3 rolling on the gas a little more as you straighten up, 4 decelerate.
I found myself getting smoother and loosening up. It seemed to be important to relax the shoulders and keep the grip on the handlebars light; a motorcycle can self-correct a lot of problems in corners if you let it by not holding on too tightly.
The next day, taking my FZ up in the mountains, I found my riding ability, confidence and enjoyment increased.
I should say that in my view, practising stuff like this alone is not in and of itself an instant route to greater safety unless you combine it with other stuff. In my opinion, riding safety is 40% protective gear, 40% mental work and preparation and only 20% actual physical riding skills.
. I’m very interested in Michael’s run over from the Beiheng to Neiwan. I was up at Smagusa (sp?) on Saturday and passed the turnoff that takes you over to Balin. Sounds and looks really good.
this process is best handled by a customs broker who know the lay of the land and have the guan xi to smooth the import process… play your cards right and you will have yourself a brand new shiny bike, and a fist full of documents to say that you’ve paid your dues to A-Bian and his cronies, and let no man claim otherwise… these will be important later…
