Motorcycle and Scooter appreciation

Check your tyres for wear and pressure.

I had a ‘bad’ tyre on a bike and the bike would not turn - this took a few weeks to diagnose as the tyre looked fine and was up to correct pressures. New tyre fitted and everything was fine.

Another thought - headstock bearings and front suspension in working order?

the bike is brand spanking new Thruxton RS (which isn't a beginner bike, but I consider myself fully qualified to own it and learn on it for a lot of non-idiotic reasons). Whether it needs to be set up better is something I've considered, but skill is 90% of it.

1st gear low speed lean maneuvers which require clutch-brake modulation at near full lock are not hard for me because of extensive manual transmission use in cars and decades of MTB and trials riding.

its second gear pulls out of turns that i'm talking bout. 15 mph-40 mph type of things.

I did go through the suspension according to internet and triumph manual and so it cannot be too far off.

I did check my tire pressure and found it down from the recommended 36 PSI to about 28 and i thought i could feel it a bit when i tanked it back up, but that was probably mental.

I think it mostly boils down to what @Jung @Ramsaye and others said: not looking down the turn enough while letting the rest fall into place...

It depends on the turn for me - if it’s a 90° junction with parked cars then I wouldn’t really accelerate much until pretty much straight. On the other hand, on a sweeping country road where you can see everything, use the that trait to your advantage - tip in late and hard then use the throttle to bring the bike back upright.

For really slow stuff, just remember that you are in control of everything - if it feels too fast, ease off a bit or even drag the rear brake to stabilise.

If you’re getting it really wrong in the moment, a forced counter steer will get you round for another day, although it feels really unnatural.

I'm definitely THAT bad off. I'm mostly just trying to be completely control when things are a little complicated.

but you may be right... i think i'm getting on the beans a bit early for junction turns.

Just think about keeping pressure on the inside bar when you get on the gas and the bike will keep leaning / turning. It's just about finding the balance. Generally bikes with fat back tyres (like sportsbikes) require more steering input to keep on line. Sooner or later you won't even think about it.

Depends on bike really. Sports bikes as you’d expect. on the tiger and the multistrada, I was mostly mortard style.

To be fair though, bright is on a twin, hardly the most civilised of bikes low down on revs and speed. Might just be lumpy with messy fueling.
Do remember on the first SV it was exactly that before I adjusted the TPS.

Maybe try reducing the rebound damping a few clicks? Could be mean end packing down/staying down causing front end head angle to go slacker = wonders off line or feels knife edge.
Had that once when borrowed a mates triumph Street triple, he's heavier then me, so had taken some preload off but forgot rebound and thought it handled fairly horribly at lower end of 2nd gear type corners, few clicks less and felt more confident at the front.

Maybe try reducing the rebound damping a few clicks? Could be mean end packing down/staying down causing front end head angle to go slacker = wonders off line or feels knife edge. Had that once when borrowed a mates triumph Street triple, he's heavier then me, so had taken some preload off but forgot rebound and thought it handled fairly horribly at lower end of 2nd gear type corners, few clicks less and felt more confident at the front.

I have though about this. May try.

To be fair though, bright is on a twin, hardly the most civilised of bikes low down on revs and speed. Might just be lumpy with messy fueling.

It definitely can be a bit of a handful when forced into <2.5K second gear, but that not often. I don't like to do it, but sometimes I let the clutch slip a bit to get the rpms up earlier. not a super common situation and only when in shitty traffic.

in other news, i had a late stop from 40 mph to zero downhill yesterday and the bike felt so planted at the front end. i felt like i could just keep easing into the front brake until the rear wheel wasn't doing much. I was really happy with it. I even had the headspace to check my mirror before coming to a complete stop. Granted it was a dry, clean road, but still... beginner win.

Below

To use an old forum trope, don’t lean. Or rather, don’t lean the bike as much.

Starting at the top
Look where you want to go
Slightly bend the inside arm, this will bring your upper body weight to the inside allowing the bike to stay more upright.
Put your weight on your inside butt cheek, if you’re doing track stuff feel free to bring your arse over so the inside butt cheek is hanging off the saddle but for road just put the weight on the inner cheek and stay centred on the saddle.
Have your inside ball of your foot on the pegs and move the outer foot forward so the arch is on the peg
Keep your knees and toes in

This is different to low speed stuff you learn for mod 1 where you pivot turn by shifting your body weight to the outside butt cheek and lean the bike over more, you only do those turns in 1st gear.

Finally, you could be accelerating too early, at the beginning you should be almost lined up for the straight before giving it the beans. Then over time you can try earlier and earlier pulls out of the bends

This with a little weight on inside foot was really super helpful. Makes so much sense and really helped me move the bike into the corner.

And relax your upper body. Shoulder/bicep tension is a common problem when you're learning or you're overthinking things. It can result in unhelpful steering inputs. Try some chicken impressions, by waggling your elbows, as if trying to fly.

if anyone is feeling in a buying mood, my pal Rory is hoping this will fund his new fly-by-wire track bike. I can attest to the amount of love that went into this build.

https://collectingcars.com/for-sale/2015-bmw-r-nine-t-racer

Letter in the post. 59 in a 50. Fuck.

Static camera or man in a van?

Also speed awareness on offer or full blown kick in the nadgers?

Static, and right in the walnuts. There are actually two cameras one after the other, so it's a further 5 days of hell before I know if I must get a court date and beg the two constitute a single offence.

Summer bliss

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Lucky bugger. I was in the shed.

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Good effort, let us know when you're taking orders.

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Haha - you were the second to send me that!

Not bad for a first crack.

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Lots of questions:

1. What's the weight like?
   
2. Do you have a lot of welding experience and experience of welding stainless?
   
3. What are you doing for the tubes? On of those tube set kits?
   
   

Sorry, it's something I've always wanted to do at some point.

Pretty light - it’s 20ga so only .9mm thick. Generally considered the thinnest you’d use for a two stroke pipe to keep enough strength.

I had no welding experience at all until recently! I picked up a torch secondhand and have been practicing. It is a very satisfying process - getting better all the time.

This is cold rolled steel. You can use stainless and it’s not much different to weld but you need to use a flux for gas or a back purge of argon for electric. It’s also more brittle and prone to cracking for two stroke pipes.

The tubes are all rolled out of flat stock. I print a paper template on the computer and cut them out with snips or a shear. Then roll them slowly around a bar in the vise until you can weld down the seam to make the cone.

The really interesting bit is all the measurement and stuff required to work out the correct angles and lengths for the various cones. Didn’t do any of that yet as this is just a test piece.

Have a go!