Running Low Speed Cone Course

[tonybluegoat]

Starting week 2 with the Valkyrie.  I finally got to Walmart and bought a bag of tennis balls.  I cut them in half to make "cones" and went to a local church parking lot to lay out a course to run.

Pretty straightforward course. It starts with a 17' cone weave that leads into a 30' U-turn box and then to a 15' radius circle (2 trips around the inside) then I run it backwards making all the turns in the opposite direction.  When I came back into the circle the 2nd time I went in the wrong direction, so I exited it and re-entered going the correct direction.  I hit one "cone."

No go-pro, just my iphone on the handlebars.

https://youtu.be/hYDVh4Kf9OU

Thoughts? Thanks

[msb]

My thoughts are good on you for taking the time and making the effort to get yourself used to your new ride in this manner. Beats just figuring it out in traffic if your not initially 100% comfortable

[The emperor has no clothes]

Thoughts ? It was hard for me to judge your form and technique from the video. How did it feel doing it ?

[Valker]

Search in your area for a class called "Ultimate Bike Bonding". Take it...more than once.

[cookiedough]

be this guy next

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9MVY8swO5M


NOT this guy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om9GfeD-Dgw

[tonybluegoat]

Thoughts ? It was hard for me to judge your form and technique from the video. How did it feel doing it ?

Getting there.  I'm pretty confident on the friction zone.  I run the RPM's a little high at times, but I prefer that to the other option. I would like to go to full lock on the steering but I'm just not there yet.  I need to get up more on the bike. Still working on turning my body and just trusting the bike will do its thing.

The beauty part is I can practice all I want. I'm not paying by the minute to own the bike. That was based on a couple 30 minute practice sessions.  One without cones and this one with.

Later on I'll be doing some brake and swerve drills. I want to set up a course where I come in at about 45 mph, have to do an emergency brake then swerve around a car shaped cone setup but stay inside a 24" wide track on either side. I think that will be a very useful exercise.  It could simulate going around something that stops faster than I can within the narrow empty space on either side.

To answer your question... I'm getting there. Notice I didn't do any offset cone drills yet.  I need to get more "light" on the bike, meaning I'm too stiff in the hips.

[..]

Some split a length of garden hose and fit it to the contact point on the crash bars. If you do a slow drop it helps to protect the chrome.

[..]

Braking practice is good.

As for the cones and circles etc., the slower you can go the better.

[cookiedough]

I can do a U turn and figure eights in the road no problems, good enough for me?  

cannot say I have ever locked the handlebars one way or the other, but am sure was pretty darn close several 100s of times.   My balance at very, very low speeds is still pretty darn good still for a middle age fat man...  

[Jess from VA]

As for the cones and circles etc., the slower you can go the better.

I concur with the Britman on this.  The reason the entire MSF course is inside a fairly small box is because that's the hardest riding there is.

Practice tighter and slower, not wider and faster.  What parking lots don't have is high crowns like most two lane roads.  That makes sharp 180's much more interesting.

It's been about 30 years, but when I used to practice, I just went to big empty parking lots and used the preexisting parking lines to turn inside of.  No balls to buy or cut up.  I also used to run my bike up and over double dead men (the staked concrete barriers in parking lots), but that was a motocrosser, not a Valkyrie.   

[Oldfishguy]

I do a course every spring; this is one from a few years ago now.  Typically 7-8 hours in length with about 5-6 hours on the bike.  They are challenging, and moves from one maneuver to another with speed increasing in difficulty as the day progresses.  The best instructors gauge the group and start moving the cones in on the maneuvers as they see fit. 

Having done these classes for a number of years now I'm not as nervous anymore.  Makes for an enjoyable day on the machine after a long winters nap.

Find a structured course, it will push you beyond what you will on your own.

Iron Cross
https://youtu.be/3u_cY0ja1s4

Key Hole
https://youtu.be/-YBHu-1uEi8

[hubcapsc]

I can do a U turn and figure eights in the road no problems, good enough for me?

Yes, I think so. I still look to do a Uturn at a driveway so that if I have to
cheat a little I don't go into the grass. Confidence and using the clutch
competently are key. These are the skills you need to summon up in the
dark at the end of a long ride when you finally get to the motel parking lot
with cold hands and feet 

-Mike

[Gryphon Rider]

Later on I'll be doing some brake and swerve drills. I want to set up a course where I come in at about 45 mph, have to do an emergency brake then swerve around a car shaped cone setup but stay inside a 24" wide track on either side. I think that will be a very useful exercise.  It could simulate going around something that stops faster than I can within the narrow empty space on either side.

Please have someone with you when you do this.  People sometimes dump their bikes doing parking-lot practice.  I had a friend dump his VTX 1800 onto his leg when he locked the front wheel while practising hard braking.  I drove him to the hospital, where he stayed for a week or so.  He couldn't ride again that season.

The best thing, obviously, is to take an experienced rider course, where an instructor can quickly point out bad habits and suggest ways to improve.