Top 5 most difficult motorcycles to handle at low speeds...

hey motorman here and today we're going to talk about the motorcycles the heavyweight motorcycles that are the most difficult to handle at low speeds the top five [Music] the number one most difficult heavyweight motorcycle to control at low speeds has got to be the honda go wing with the dct transmission on a bike like this without a clutch you have to find that sweet spot between just enough throttle and just enough rear brake pressure and that's not easy the fact that also the motorcycle weighs 900 pounds doesn't help things this rider has practiced quite a bit been to the class three or four times and still has a problem with it not to say that it can't be done it's just going to take a lot longer to really get the hang of it so don't buy a goldwing dct if you think it's going to be easier if maybe you've got a gold wing now or another type of motorcycle with a clutch and throttle and you think you're not very good at handling the bike or using that friction zone that you're going to get one of these and it's going to be a piece of cake that's just the opposite it's going to take a lot longer the very first time i got on one of these motorcycles was at one of my classes and i quickly found out that finding that sweet spot takes some time i didn't practice or warm up with the motorcycle and i i'm sure i could get the bike down to 18 foot turns but it's gonna take a lot more practice on this bike with the dct transmission no question about it another thing about these new gold wings unlike the older wings there's very little tip over protection you drop one of these and yeah you're going to have scratched bags and possibly a scratched fairing it's going to cost you some money to get it fixed if you're not handy and can't do it yourself i don't know why they did that the previous generation wing was very good in that respect had good protection but these newer ones not so much the good news is there are several after-market companies that offer crash bars that work very well and i know this because a writer came to my class with one of them new crash bars for this bike dropped it several times and had no damage to the motorcycle so get yourself some aftermarket crash bars now we're gonna count the gold wing the standard gold wing with the clutch has probably the second most difficult to handle that's just because it's a lot of weight it's a long motorcycle and transitioning quickly from left to right and right to left takes a lot more effort than well most heavyweight motorcycles can be done that rider practiced quite a bit and here's number three most difficult motorcycles to handle at low speeds and that's the bmw 1600s with a six cylinder motorcycle and the reason it's so difficult to handle at low speeds is actually two things but throttle is extremely sensitive it's got a very light flywheel just like the gold wings and the brake the rear brake is very sensitive finding that sweet spot between just enough brake pressure and just enough throttle while in the friction zone it takes some time this rider practiced prior to coming to class and i'm glad he did did very well considering it's a difficult motorcycle to ride and another thing about these bikes is like the goal wing there's almost no protection if the bike tips over this rider even equipped his bike with after-market crash bars and he dropped the bike and you guessed it crash bars didn't help much he had some damage on the bags and on the bmw you have to get parts for it yeah they uh you're going to pay for it not to say you shouldn't go out and practice but if you're going to get one of these bikes and things you're you're going to whip a u-turn in 18 feet the bike is capable but it's going to take the rider a lot longer to get the hang of it on this type of motorcycle in fact every motorcycle we're going to show you now on the top five can be handled with the ease of a child's toy but you got to know the proper techniques and you've got to put in the practice hours how much practice really depends on the person and your fear level if you're really good at the clutch and throttle on the motorcycle you have now and you get one of these it's probably going to take you at least four to five hours of practice to get as good on that bike as you are on say a harley davidson or a midsize bike next is the indian touring motorcycles the biggest problem i find with the indians well actually two things the handlebars are very wide so your arms are really stretched out when you're turning the bars and they don't offer as much lock to lock as for instance a harley davidson the third thing is the throttle is the opposite of the gold wing in the bmw i call it a lazy throttle you're given a throttle and you feel the bike should respond but it it's just very very slow response at low speeds at higher speeds you're not even going to notice when shifting gears second or third gear you won't even notice it but at low speeds the throttle it just takes a lot more turn of the throttle to get the proper amount of rpms and i think that has something to do with the emission controls on the bike and probably there's something with the effort market that can help that but a stock motorcycle on these indian touring bikes yeah it's got a very lazy throttle the handlebars don't turn very far from lock to lock so it's not the motorcycle to buy if you ever think about going into any kind of competition because those competitions are generally set up for the harley-davidson wheelbase and motorcycles and you're not going to keep up with the harley with a good rider on a harley and a good rider on an indian yeah the indians just not going to keep up and i found this to be the case even on the new challenger i was expecting maybe something a little bit better i don't remember the i road tested i don't remember about the throttle it didn't have the response that i get on my harley-davidson but i don't think it was as bad as their other models but again when you turn the handlebars it just doesn't turn quite far enough from lock to lock under normal riding conditions out on the road if all you do is cruise down the street uh 50 or 60 miles an hour make great big wide turns once in a while it's not going to affect you when it does affect you is when you're making low speed maneuvers or you have to quickly transition from left to right to avoid a car that pulls out in front of you it could affect you there i also noticed they don't have as great a lean angle as the harley davis's here i am on the challenger first time i took it through the course and i noticed in this 26 foot turn to the right i was at full lock granted i could have used a little bit more of the space available for me and i might not have had to quite touch full lock but in the 24 foot to the left here i was at full lock the entire time generally when you turn the handlebars to full lock that scares people and as soon as they hit that lock they turn the bars the opposite way the bike straightens up and you run out of the exercise if you're making a u-turn on the street and you hit full lock yeah you're gonna straighten up those bars and possibly depending on where you're looking if you look at the curve you don't want to hit you're going to hit it fine motorcycle plenty of power smooth but just not what i'd call nimble at low speeds it's going to take you more time to get really good on the indian motorcycles any of the touring models than it would on the average heavyweight motorcycle when i say the average heavyweight motorcycle the gold standard for me is harley-davidson's they were designed to do these kind of maneuvers that's why the police use them and not to say they can't be done on the indian it's just going to take a lot more practice this is the full touring motorcycle weighs quite a bit somewhere around 900 pounds very similar to the harley davidson and weight just doesn't have as much lean angle and you run out of lock a little a little too quick you can get very good on it i've ridden every one of their models in fact i'm the guy that made the ride like a pro on your indian video to show you that these techniques work like a charm on this motorcycle and as you can see even with this tiny woman on this 900 pound motorcycle you can ride it through with the ease of a child's toy it's just going to take you more practice if you're not good on the motorcycle you have now and you get one of these it's not going to help it's going to make it worse all right that's it until next time

Channel: Ride Like a Pro Jerry Palladino

Views: 438,050

Keywords: bmw, goldwing, harley, honda, how to make a uturn, learn how to ride, ride like a pro, uturns

Id: fPyl1gL92VM

Length: 9min 1sec (541 seconds)

Published: Fri May 21 2021