How to U-turn a motorcycle and make it look easy

[Music] riders don't die because they can't do u-turns but they can't endanger themselves when they sit in traffic doing 25-point u-turns as they walk their bike and wrestle it around or even more so the embarrassment caused when you drop your motorcycle because you just don't have that much control over it i will set some ground rules for this demonstration this lane is 12 feet between the yellow line to yellow line i'm another 12 feet from the yellow to the edge of the road subtracting another foot for debris off that side and the fact that i can't run all the way up onto the yellow line i'm going to lose roughly a foot on the other side so about 22 feet to work with if you look at the testing standard for most states it's 24 feet if you still need to take your endorsement test you're gonna have to perfect this on secondary roads where i like to ride those roads are around nine feet wide that's the minimum standard for secondary roads both in washington and on a federal standard that gives me 18 feet again subtract debris and a line on either side i'm down to about 16 feet that means i need to be able to complete these u-turns from that yellow line to about the middle of this lane almost every riding technique starts with vision and u-turns are no different when i turn and look where i want to go on a u-turn that's directly behind me which means i should be looking completely over my shoulder and over the tail light my upper shoulders need to rotate all the way back over the top when i lock those handlebars full lock that's going to help rotate my shoulders so i can look over the back my inside arm is going to be locked out my upside my upper arm or my outside arm is going to be about 90 degrees that's going to let me see better if i'm locking like this and my inside gets crowded if that elbow's coming inside that means i'm blocking my vision not only does that create other issues but vision is number one counterbalancing is often misunderstood when riders hear counterbalancing they often think they need to be hanging their butt off and and way to the outside of the bike the problem is most of the time they hang their butt out and then their body to the inside turns out your limit how far you can move is just the length of your arm if i move my body the outside but both of my arms are straight i can't move that far so i end up moving my butt out but i counter balance my counterbalance think about rolling the bike freely underneath you you just need to let the bike do the u-turn when i full lock those handlebars and i let that bike roll underneath me i let my inside arm straighten out and my outside arm picks up some bend this is the the maximum length the farther back on the bike i am the more it pulls me to the inside the farther forward i am the farther i am to the outside this is where the most effective mass is so the upper body when it shifts to the outside that's where it's going to make the biggest difference you just let the bike roll underneath you this is also very helpful if you're doing transitional u-turns practicing figure eights or making a very quick secondary u-turn when that bike rolls underneath me if i look straight down at the ground and i can look straight down and see where the contact patch is where the tires touch in the ground and i'm directly over the top of it that's the right place to be if i'm inside the bike and all i see is controls and bike i'm too far to the inside and if i'm hanging way way way beyond that chances are i'm not holding onto the handlebar [Music] [Music] this is one of my all-time favorite demonstrations just showing the importance of allowing that bike to lean during a u-turn i'm going to do is take this 1200 i'm going to leave it totally upright lock the handlebars full lock to the right let the bike turn once it completes the turn so when the front wheel goes the other side i'm going to mark it with my helmet with the bike starting on the yellow line again in full lock let the bike do a relatively modest lean that's the difference between allowing that motorcycle to roll underneath you and keeping the bike upright both times full walk on the handlebars the only difference was allowing it to lean of all the controls the clutch is going to be your most critical you can use the rear brake and drag the rear brake you can use the front brake to cause the bike to dip into a turn but it's that power delivery that picks up the bike that controls it at the low speed that's all about the clutch the clutch allows you to modulate how much power you want at any given time if you do a coasting u-turn where you pull the clutch and you let the bike fall into the turn when the bike gets heavy it's that clutch release that stands that motorcycle back up if you're trying to do a very slow u-turn or consistent just doing circles then being able to modulate that power so you control the lean and speed of the bike becomes very important just powering the rear brake or the front brake against that power it can work and on different motorcycles a lot of bikes with forward controls the brake can be useful those of you on sport bikes or even the the dual sports or venture bikes may find it less useful but the clutch has to be mastered and we're not talking about movement of inches or half inches or even centimeters we're talking about just the lightest change in pressure at that lever [Music] one technique that works for a lot of riders is what i call the dip and go instead of having your motorcycle come straight in and then immediately make your turn into the u-turn you start by putting motion into the motorcycle go to the inside of the lane and then begin turning away from the direction you want a u-turn and as that motorcycle comes up it's already in motion and then it transitions into the u-turn so dip and go in review turn your head turn the handlebars and let that bike roll underneath you that's counterbalancing if you can see the contact patch you're in the right spot your inside arm should always be straight your outside arm should always have some bend set your controls up your clutch should have as little free play as possible so when you pinch it and you start to come off of your inside fingers that you get power immediately and if possible if you have a cable throttle reduce the amount of free play on the throttle and a big call up for tour usa dot us motorcycle rentals for supporting this channel and providing this 1200 gs for shooting the video here today also i can never thank my patreon supporters enough it's your contributions it's your commitment to help me to continue forging forward and producing videos like this and those others that are already on the channel if you've never been here before if you're new to the channel welcome to the channel don't forget to hit subscribe check out some of the other videos and absolutely check out bretax.com that's my website you'll find my podcast series i release that every second and third thursday of the month and it's a complete writer series the the guests on the channel drive the topics please check it out thanks for watching until next time always smile while you ride because attitude matters here's a pro tip if you want to get really good at this make sure your motorcycle is set up so you have the best precision of your controls if you have a cable adjustment on the throttle remove as much slack out of that throttle as possible once you remove all the slack out start your bike up turn your handlebars full lock left lock right make sure that you're not getting any revving if you are put enough slack in that you lose that rev on the clutch get away from using four fingers that's a beginner's technique use three or two fingers you want to set it up so when that lever closes when it comes all the way in that you end up pinching two of the fingers between the outer fingers the control fingers and the stationary or the hook fingers and that way just as you come off those inside fingers that you end up with engagement when it's all the way in touching the fingers you want it fully disengaged and as soon as it comes off maybe 10 millimeters so you have a little bit of slack for the heat you want engagement to happen this is where the most strength is and this is where you can have the most precision if you're always out on your fingertips it's pretty difficult to become a master at this

Channel: Bret Tkacs

Views: 1,000,294

Rating: 4.9451375 out of 5

Keywords: Brett, adventure, adv motorcycle, mototrek, instruction, teaching, ktm, BMW, honda, yamaha, suzuki, husky, R1200gs, r1250gs, f800gs, f850gs, 1090, 1190, 1290, 790, klr5 650, dr650, xt650, t700, tenere 700, vstrom, dl1000, rawhyde, tkacs, takas, tacks, pssor, puget sound safety, learn to ride, advcamp, tips for riding, How do a u turn on a Harley, U turns, Uturn, U-turn, How to, Secrets to doing U turns on a motorcycle, PSS-MEP, Puget sound safety, The best way to do a u turn

Id: cM4YrRjKVUc

Length: 10min 17sec (617 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 16 2020