Warning! This is why you are dropping your bike. Must watch video.

and here listen I got this email the other day and and I wrote down some of the highlights it was kind of a long email oh by the way if you don't know me they call me motorman because a motorman is any police officer assigned to the motorcycle division I've been teaching the police motorist techniques the average rider for more than 20 years and I'm the maker the ride like a pro video I've got over 800 videos on YouTube so if you would subscribe click on the little bell you'll get notified each time I come out with a new video usually two three times a week we're doing a video and you can look through the eight hundred and some-odd videos I've got on YouTube but anyway I got this emails kind of long and I've gotten a lot of similar ones so I wrote down some of the highlights this is from a guy who says I moved up from the 800 Suzu key and I got a new ultra that's what we have back here is an ultra I said I dropped the bike so many times I'm getting better at picking it up I guess it's a good workout to do that so I've made a fool of myself so many times at Bike Night I no longer go and meet my friends you know that's pretty bad and you know when you drop your bike your your bike rally everybody runs over to help you pick it up but it's an embarrassing situation he says I'm thinking I'm just a doofus I guess you got that from one of my videos should I sell my bike and quit riding I don't know what else to do and it repeats this he says I don't know what to do I don't know what to do can you help me obviously [Music] help me obviously this is this right and yes this is a common problem and I'm gonna go over exactly why you don't go into specifics in this email but I'm gonna go over all the reasons I know of why people drop their motorcycle and I'm gonna do it while I ride so come along with me we're gonna talk we're gonna ride and I'll give you a bunch of tips on how not to drop your motorcycle [Music] all right so let's talk why do you drop your motorcycle so much well I'm gonna tell you a little story about a guy I know and this is uh oh I guess about eighteen and nineteen years ago this guy was at that time probably late sixty's been riding all his life so he would consider himself an experienced writer but he had a BMW cruiser if you're not familiar with those bikes is the one they used in that James Bond movie nice-looking bike they didn't make it but maybe two years or so but anyway they were equipped with power-assisted brakes now the time that this this job that he had occurred he had been riding the bike for about three years so you would think you know three years he should be very familiar those brakes were very touchy took a lot of getting used to I protested one and I remember that that you know the slightest movement of that brake lever or the brake pedal and yeah it was very touch he took some getting used to but after you know two or three years or whatever he was riding it he should have been well used to it but he's pulling out of a parking lot and he's gonna make a right-hand turn and he looks to the left he's waiting for traffic to clear he said there was a car in front of him the car in front of him started to take off so he's looking to the left and he goes to take off and then he notices that the car in front stopped so he grabs a handful of front brake and down he goes and he I think he broke his ankle the bike fell on top of him anyway he he approaches me because he knew that I do expert witness work for motorcycle crashes and he says hey I I got her an attorney I'm gonna sue BMW for having these power brakes and he tells me the story what happened I said so you got your handlebars turned to the right you're taking off from a stop and then suddenly you've got to stop again because you weren't looking ahead and noticed the car stopped you hit the front brake with the handlebars turned and down you went so hard and so fast the bike fell right on top of you he says yeah but it wasn't my fault it's BMWs ball for making their brakes too touchy and of course I asked him I said how long you had that bike in it whatever was 2 or 3 years I said you don't know that that Mike's got touchy brakes said I know but you know that still BMWs fault because they stopped making those power brakes on their motorcycles and I said well I'm not gonna take the case because it's completely your fault so that's probably a reason number one why people drop their motorcycles is from hitting that front brake especially if you grab it or snatch it at low speeds with the handlebars turned so don't do that if you can't first straighten up your handlebars well then you need to really be careful about squeezing that brake rather than snatching it or grabbing it and I realize that sometimes that's easier said than done but most of the time when I see this happen it's usually at you know Biketoberfest or Bike Week or even at a bike night the guys got the handlebars turned there's no emergency it's the front brakes and boom Down Goes the motorcycle and that's really and just an experience with the front brake don't hit that front brake when the handlebars are turned down low speeds make sure of the handlebars a first pointed straight ahead the next reason why people tend to drop their motorcycles is not the weight of the motorcycle has nothing to do with the bike being top-heavy it's not the bikes fault it's your lack of knowledge of how to use the clutch and the throttle using the clutch and throttle having the ability to do so and coordinating them properly take some practice without that practice yeah you're a drop waiting to happen knowing how to use the clutch and throttle doesn't mean that just because you could take off from a stop without stalling the motorcycle that's the stuff you should have learned the very first day on that motorcycle it's how to coordinate the clutch and I see this a lot especially with people that is shy about using the clutch and throttle they take off extremely slowly even if they're taking off and going straight it takes them like four seconds to get the bike going now I haven't timed it but I'm guessing you should be able to go from a complete dead stop to releasing the clutch in about a second to a second and a half if you know what you're doing with the clutch and throttle and I'm going to show you because I'm gonna wanna make a right turn up here and I'll show you another mistake people make because of their lack of knowledge of the clutch and throttle [Music] so they make a stop no traffic coming and they let the clutch out all the way before attorney you got to use that friction zone until the turn is completed if you let the clutch out all the way you're gonna go straight in almost cross or you might even cross that double yellow line if you know how to coordinate the clutch and throttle you'll be able to stay in that friction zone that sweet spot until the turn is completed and then you let the clutch out completely it sounds simple but you know I hear so many people and they call themselves experienced riders and like I've said this a thousand times if you think about it you've been riding for twenty or thirty years on your instincts your instincts are wrong when it comes to riding a motorcycle the proper technique is the opposite of your instincts that's why it takes a few hours to get the handle of the proper techniques Hudson throttle a little bit of pressure on the rear brake and it's absolutely amazing what you can do with the nine hundred fifty pound motorcycle I know that I was amazed by this the first time I saw it was on a TV show I was watching police motor officers doing their monthly training and this was of course before I was a motor officer and I couldn't believe what they were doing with their bikes at low speeds whipping those bikes around like a toy through extremely complicated and very tight forces shortly after watching that show I I went to motor school and I quickly figured out that the 20 years of experience I thought I had and then absolutely nothing the only experience I really had was going straight on down the road making nice big three-acre turns every once in a while and coming to a school stop I had no idea how far a motorcycle could lean I had no idea that you could lean your motorcycle to his limits at seven or eight miles an hour as long as you do how to use the clutch and throttle and put a little pressure on the rear brake so that is extremely important it will stop you from dropping the motorcycle you can practice this I tell people is all the time practice first in a straight line doing the slow race try to go as slow as possible first try it with the clutch and throttle in the friction zone with a little bit of pressure on the rear brake then you should get to wear you could do it with no rear brake just using the collection throttle and right at a slow walking pace remember to keep your head knives up always looking far ahead of your path to travel never look down or down at the gauges or your hands your hands are there believe me those stay attached to your arms no matter how slow you're going so there's no sense of looking down at them keep your head and eyes up practices in a straight line and then I hear people say doesn't that cause excessive wear and tear on my clutch clutches a where item every time you use the clutch it's taken somewhere off that clutch but so little then it really doesn't matter and if you're a type of person who dog walks their motorcycle and every time they got to make a u-turn well while you're duck walking you're also using the friction zone to move the motorcycle along the only difference is you got your feet down there and your feet aren't pushing the bike forward when you're duck walking it your feet are just following the clutch and follow so you're in the friction zone and I guarantee you it takes a lot longer to be in the friction zone the duck walk your bike through u-turn then simply having the ability to whip that bike around through that u-turn using the friction zone and a little pressure on the rear brake in addition motorcycles almost all motorcycles now are equipped with a wet clutch that means it's cooled by oil if your father told you you should never ride the clutch while he was teaching you to drive cars are equipped with dry clutches they're not lubricated by oil but you would still have to use the friction zone in a car if you're in bumper-to-bumper traffic or if you're backing into a parking space you'd never let that clutch out all the way once you let the clutch out all the way the slightest movement of the throttle will cause the vehicle to lurch ahead uncontrollably so learn to use that friction zone it shouldn't take maybe thirty minutes of practice to get the hang of it and when you practicing using the friction zone if you're worried about the clutch after every five or ten minutes or so of practice let the bike cool off get out of the fridge and so improves around ten twenty thirty miles an hour get out on the highway whatever let the bike cool down for a few minutes and then go back to practicing am i right like a pro video I show you I believe it's four or five different exercises we'll teach you how to use that friction zone using this low race and other tactics I highly recommend you get that video if this guy who wrote me the email had that video and actually practice what I showed him in the video he wouldn't have to ask this questions he would know exactly why he's driving his motorcycle so what have we got so far how not to drop your motorcycle never hit that front brake at low speeds with the handlebars it turned and even if they're pointed straight ahead don't snatch her grab that brake just a gentle squeeze that's all it takes and I've also heard from people that say when I come to a stop at a light especially if I get somebody on the back the bike feels very unsteady why does that happen well that happens because you're probably using the rear brake for your final stop so the correct way to do this whenever you come into a stop use both brakes just before the wheels stop turning you should release the rear brakes and begin putting both feet down that's why I said old feet you're on a nine hundred fifty pound motorcycle and you weigh 200 pounds and your passenger weighs 150 or more you need both feet down so your feet should hit the floor hit the ground the exact moment the wheel stopped turning so the final stop that final two mile an hour or so should be strictly with the front brake just don't snatch it or squeeze it and keep your head and eyes up if you tend to look down as you're coming to a stop chances are the bikes and they get unsteady and you probably will go down so keep your head and eyes up use both brakes just before the wheels stop turning and begin putting your feet down release the rear brake and do the final stop with the front brake that should take all if you went to a parking lot of practice your stops for 10 or 15 minutes at most you should get the hang of it if you try to stop your bike with the rear brake I'm able to do that I've got the skills to do that what if the wheel stopped turning and your foot is still on that rear brake and the other foot is up on the floorboard the bike has already started to fall you don't even realize it but it's already starting to fall over now you have to quickly put your feet down and what's going to happen it's gonna feel unsteady just like so many people tell me happens to them don't let that happen to you check out this little scooter I don't know if I'd be out on a road like this with a probably a 50cc scooter but I guess it's legal over here and show you what it means to actually be able to control your collection throttle all right I'm going to stop here and I'm gonna take off from a dead stop and I'm gonna count we'll see how exactly how long it takes to go from the dead stop to the clutch fully engaged all right here we go 1,001 1,002 just under for about two seconds if when you take off from a stop and it looks like this and you duck walking and duck walking and then finally let the clutch out oh man [Music] if you got cars behind me behind you at that time you're waiting to pull out onto a busy road they're gonna be blowing the horn they're gonna be pretty mad learn to use that clutch and throttle do not fear it your clutch and throttle are your best friends I see some people treat their throttle like it's a ID from Iran and it's gonna explode if you get too rough with it that's not the case now I'm going to show you a adult walking you turned that's what so many people do that's why I say when you do this you look like a doofus but by the way this road I've measured it it's actually a total of 26 feet so I'm in the friction zone because I got to let the motor do the work I can't push the bike forward with my feet so I'm duck walking this motorcycle in the friction zone yes it's causing some wear and tear and it's taken quite a while quite a while in that friction zone to duck walk this bike around now I'm almost into this drainage thing on the side of the road come on don't do that learn how to use that clutch in throttle I'm going to show you now what it should look like [Music] by the way [Music] I'm gonna show you now what it should look like when you know what you're doing I'm gonna dip a little bit to their right I'm gonna turn my head and eyes all the way and look at that you don't need 28 feet this motorcycle turns in less than 18 feet so 26 foot wide Road as you see I got all kinds of room you might ride like a pro video I show you a step by step approach you don't want to start with the u-turn there's a couple of things you're gonna do before you make that u-turn here that scraping sound it's just a warning says you've reached the lean limits don't go any further but you've got to stay in that sweet spot of the friction zone got to learn to coordinate that clutch and throttle it's a lifesaver it makes riding so much more enjoyable combine that with the proper use of your head and eyes for instance I want to make a u-turn right here I'm going to use my head nice and look over my left shoulder as far as possible because that's where I want to go [Music] nothing to it there was no chance of this motorcycle falling over it doesn't matter if I had a passenger on the back I've done this with people wait up to 300 pounds on the back of my motorcycle in fact I've got a video up there where I'm on a guy's bike guy waist I think he said 280 pounds and it's got a Pangos I could barely reach and I ride it through an entire course making several u-turns in a row and I'd never ridden his bike before and each bike is a little bit different but I know the techniques I know that they work on every single motorcycle and I know how to use those techniques to their fullest if you use the techniques a little bit you're gonna be a little bit better rider use them all the way from maximum effect and you'll be a superior rider you'll be riding like a pro [Music] until next time you

Channel: Ride Like a Pro Jerry Palladino

Views: 789,483

Keywords: why you drop your bike, afraid of dropping your bike, how to make uturns on a motorcycle, avoiding a crash, slow speed stops, motor officer training, first day of motor training, crashes, bikeweek, sturgis, babes on bikes, motor cops, harley, goldwings, honda, sportbikes, slow speed techniques, doing uturns on a motorcycle, dropping your motorcycle, freedom windshields, tab performance, dp brakes and clutches, softbrake, advanblack, tour packs

Id: Xc3Q38HdE78

Length: 19min 51sec (1191 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 29 2019