cat handling

First topic message reminder :

whats really hitting me at the moment, is I'm losing confidence in my riding ability - its not judgement of speed or anticipating others next movement. Its cornering - it could be down to the tyres, but i think I lack faith in either myself within the maneuver, or the bike / tyres. It just doesnt feel right at the moment.

Its not that I approach bends at silly speed, its the whole leaning business. Its like a mental block that says "you keep this leaning, up, and youl be sliding along for the rest of it, and its gonna hurt!" As I say, im not going into bends at 100 with my knees scraping (i genuinely don't have the balls for that), but what concerns me is the other bikers and cagers. Where bikers are concerned I usually let them past and wave them on to over take me, 'cos I don't want them to over estimate my ability. Cagers, well, they need 4 wheels to balance on in the first place and just have too many distractions going on in their little cage.

I think Im gonna have to see about some advanced motorcycling course or something, will see how tomorrow goes once I got some new rubber on the bike

anyone else had this come up in their motorcycle life experience? it basically feels like the front end is gonna let go, and i don't feel confident with the leaning....

thanks in advance for any help you can offer

Snowcat wrote:Chris Eddie (Eddie990) told me to hold the bars gently as if you're cupping a baby bird.

Don't listen to him!!!! - I was trying to cup a bird once and all I got was a slap in the coupon.

Rosco wrote:

Snowcat wrote:Chris Eddie (Eddie990) told me to hold the bars gently as if you're cupping a baby bird.

Don't listen to him!!!! - I was trying to cup a bird once and all I got was a slap in the coupon.

lol, i also tried something similar once... the misus punched me in the nads... i wonder if the same would of happened if it was her?

Steve - no worries. To be honest my visits there only last about half hour, 45 mins tops. usually 50 bikers tops when im there, and dont want to make myself too known atm - theyd only question my game on cornering plus I couldn't keep up - even if they do the limit, im still getting used to the bike and have no intention of sliding past, by trying to be clever.

Il take some pics of the rear tyre tomorrow n try upload them, see if im doing things right, at the moment.

To be fair, I do feel a lot more secure after reading the posts on here and watching some youtube vids as well. But these cagers keep on screwing my plans up by braking on corners when I dont want them to!

Funny how they give it the Charley big potato's when theyr on a straight motorway, as soon as that bend comes up on slip roads, they panic and the red sea of brake lights illuminates the visor!!. Why? even when Im in my cage I give em a run for their money - this is all related to the incompetence I was on about earlier.

Rosco - I did tell you I got more chat than facebook... nuff said

Cheers

You seem to have your head screwed on Yammycat.

Best to learn, understand and put things into practice at your own pace.
We've all been there, are there, or are going back there

We all have lots to learn and make mistakes....heck youtube is full of them.
Best to leave any big mistakes to someone else though and just pick up and try to put into practice the good stuff while remembering and trying your best not to do the dumb stuff.

I'm sure you manage just fine.

Cheers
Rosco

tyres just done a few hundred mile since fitting... hope linky works

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opinions appreciated, if any. looks to me like I lean more on the left than the right? but tbh, dont quite know

cheers

Definitely more to the left than right but hey, go as far as you are comfortable with. No point n pushing the boundaries unless your a nutter lol. basically what Rosco said.
Picked my bike up today from the garage today and they said my rear tyre was sitting at 10psi, now it feels like a different machine. So much more switched on and grippy on the bends etc.

Thats how my tyre looks aparently its because i exit roundabouts with much more lean than when im going around them

dunno chap - mainly on my commute theres a few right hand sweeping bends, and a left that i dont lean much on due to traffic lights and queing traffic etc so tend not to lean so much there, however there is a lovely left hand sweeping bend that im currently checking myself with, not going that fast but enough to keep up with traffic