are you always a jerk?
quote me where i said i was a great rider
i detailed what i experienced and my thought process, and asked a question because a lot of it was counter or non-existent in msf.
being that we live in the bay area, there really is no excuse for up/down grade riding not being covered other than saying 'what's the biggest problem motorcycles face on a steep grade? gravity' gee thanks.
msf says to accelerate through turns. my question still stands - does the lack of acceleration from the rear wheel and allowing it to be gravity-driven increase your risk of crashing and how do other riders deal with it. how does that affect traction on both wheels? what if gravity in 2nd gear starts to force your turn far too wide in an ever-decreasing turn that you have never ridden before where you cant look through the turn?
all relevent questions.
Again, you seem bitter about the information you learned in a basic motorcycle safety course. I'll urge you to read every response without trying to judge it and without trying to place blame anywhere except upon yourself as the operator of your motorcycle. There are many MSF coaches that actively participate in this forum and each one undoubtedly knows the curriculum more thoroughly than you do - please re-read your workbook, and visit the MSF website for streaming video (
www.msf-usa.org).
If you have a curve whose slope is so steep and whose radius is so tight that you can not at least apply maintenance throttle throughout the turn, then
you entered the corner too fast. Period. If the slope and/or radius severity surpised you, then you were not applying proper technique before you entered the turn. There should never be any surprises on the road ~ever~ that are outside of the rider's ability to recognize before they become a safety issue. If you find yourself being caught off guard by road conditions or traffic conditions, you are either not paying enough attention to your riding, not paying enough attention to traffic, or have not developed the foresight to predict/recognize/respond to road and traffic hazards - this is common for novices (and a common cause of single-vehicle crashes), and means that one needs to ride ~slowly~ and cautiously while they're learning.
You simply need to react to any unknown variable as if it were a hostile variable. Shadow on the road in the middle of a curve? Treat it like a pile of sand. Blind corner? Treat it like the worst thing you could expect is waiting for you in the middle of the curve.
As for gravity vs. throttle - they do not have the same effect on your motorcycle's chassis. One is pushing you forward, the other is pulling you forward. One loads the rear, the other loads the front. You can steer with your throttle, but you can not predictably steer with gravity - rolling off the throttle is typically only going to make your bike feel heavy and give you vague and sloppy feedback.
Slow, look, press, roll. Search, evaluate, execute. Those are 7 words that, when used proficiently, will prevent you from getting in a situation that exceeds your skill and/or comfort level time and time again.
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