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Impressive riding on a VT1100

5.6K views 27 replies 11 participants last post by  KiwiRider  
#1 ·
I have been trying to improve my low speed riding (started watching and practicing things from ridelikeapro.com and other sites) and came across this guy on a course (in Russia?) on a VT1100.


Wish I could ride this well at low speed, and hopefully with practice I will get better.
Make me want to take an actual instructor taught course.
 
#2 ·
Yep, that's pretty good handling!

One thing to note (dunno about you but I've known a lot of riders miss this with slow riding!) - see how his feet are on the footpegs? Your legs can be quite heavy pendulums if you let them swing about in the breeze :)

Try to note how these riders are using throttle and brakes to help with balance/correct overbalance as well as judicious use of the steering.

Slow riding is worth the practice if just for the challenge of getting good at it!

Thanks for the link to the vid! Enjoyed watching it.
 
#3 ·
I found a few others videos of this guy on his Shadow also.


I had also found a few bike competition videos, and there was one with a cop on his Harley and it was very impressive.


Some things I have found really helpful is the use of the rear brake at slow speed and slipping the clutch. Making sure you keep your legs tight to the bike helps also, as is looking where you want to be, not where you are.
One thing I like about the Shadow (at least my '94) is amazing clearance. I have yet to scrape anything besides my heel in sharp turns.
 
#4 ·
ANYBODY could do that-- (Yeah right)

The second video from Russia makes me cringe with the cone weave right next to a curb. I need more practice now !
 
#9 ·
Having completed a rider training class last summer, I can honestly say I can do what the guy in the first video did easily.....


On a 250cc street bike!

Part of our class was low speed maneuvering. You had to make circles inside this rectangle, and do the weave in and out of tightly spaced cones (there were 6 in a row). By the end of the class I could easily do this exercise on the small 250...

My Shadow and I are not quite that nimble. The extra weight makes a lot of difference in slow speed riding. I practiced in a Church parking lot with some cones I borrowed from my company and could never get the tightness I could achieve on the smaller bike. It still improved my ability to get around in parking lots though!
 
#12 ·
Tried the slow ride practice several years ago for about 15 minutes in the back parking lot at the hospital. Their security told me it was against their policy and I had to leave.
I obeyed, but it sure did make sense to me for a good place to practice. They agreed, but said they were only doing their job. Must have been some kind of liability thing, and
I had no reason to argue with them like a fool. Proceeded to the fire company just around the corner and asked permission but again was denied. That was the extent of my trying
to improve my skill at that time so I simply deferred to a lot of saddle time. My .02 cents.
 
#15 ·
That is the truth above!
In the 1960's my brother in law told me of a guy that went off the side of a mountain road as he was looking at the scenery over there. I thought= How could a guy be so stupid as to go off the road just looking off to the side !!!

Then it happened to me too, when on a left hand curve and I looked over to the scene on the right and ran off into the gravel and wiped out, but not seriously.

HOW CAN A GUY BE SO STUPID AS TO GO OFF THE ROAD JUST LOOKING OVER THERE ???
You go where you look .
 
#19 ·
Most single vehicle motorcycle accidents we have here in Minnesota are people failing to make a curve. They come up to fast then panic and instead of looking out of the turn they look at the ditch or shoulder their trying to avoid. Happened to my son, he thankfully survived but bike ended up costing a couple K to repair.
 
#20 ·
Yeah, "target fixation" - it's nearly killed me once. Thank God the bike only suffered minor damage and I only got bruising. I went over a bank into a tidal estuary, at low tide - high tide and I would've drowned long before I got myself free. Since then it's saved my life a couple of times - fixating on the path through the wreckage (a motorway crash with broken bits of broken cars flying everywhere) while I brought the bike to a stop. Also thank God for practising emergency braking, previous years I would've grabbed a fistful of brakes and a mouthful of pavement!
 
#21 ·
Target fixation= A tight pair of white short-shorts on a tan body in the summer time walking down the sidewalk, and you run into parked car. That would be hard to explain!
 
#28 ·