Steering way: Degrees of steering lock

[ChuckofTahoe]

Does any one know the west to east or lock to lock degrees you can turn the handlebars on the old Sprints?

My Bonneville is still in the shop and this was the bike I was going to bring to motorcycle safety school. Since the Bonnie may not be out in time, I took the RS down to the DMV range and tried to do some figure eights within the 18 foot wide box.

Its then that I realize this beast is a bit hard to turn: Mainly because the steering hits lock up pretty quick. Like in 55 degrees from lock to lock I'm guessing compared to probably over 65 degrees on the Bonnie. I don't have a big protractor so I don't know exactly. I lean it over a bit and this helps things but not much. Its seems to handle like a bus with the tank full of fuel and a bit heavy and scary when leaned over at slow speeds.

Well it does handle pretty well in parking lot situations but the 18' box is just too tight for me on the RS.

Anyone on this forum can do tight figure eights on an RS? Let me know your secrets please.

[deller4210]

That's the problem with the DMV. People don't ride and scribe figure 8s within an 18 foot box as part of any normal or evasive maneuver. I suppose as part of California’s sobriety test one must perform a hand stand by balancing on one hand while singing the national anthem of Latvia.

[Zipdot]

Yep, the steering does lock up pretty quickly. In Texas, the MSF classes provide bikes to students, so the figure 8 manoeuvre is not a problem. Here, the only test at the DMV is a written one if you have the MSF certificate. I'm surprised that they make you bring your own bike there. How are ya able to do that without a motorcycle license?

[oldndumb]

This site has some common sense advice re MC andling/riding.
http://www.ridemyown.com/articles/ri...lowspeed.shtml

[PaloAlto]

Chuck,

It's not only the lock-to-lock that affects turn-ability. Rake and trail are more important in low speed controlabilty. Here's are a couple of sites that explains a little about it:
http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/rakeandtrail.html
http://www.performanceoiltechnology...._and_trail.htm

Bern

[jefftarlton]

18' is pretty tight for the RS. That's about as tight as I can turn mine around.
Turn your head all the way over your shoulder in the direction of turn before starting the turn.
Look 30-50' away on the parking lot. You want to pick up on the horizon. DO NOT look down.
Shift your butt to the outside of the turn before beginning the turn. One cheek should be hanging off.
Use the clutch and rear brake to control speed.

The MSF uses 20' for the BRC where everyone's usually riding 125-250cc bikes. The standard for the ERC is larger than that since everyone rides their own bike.

[GoinPostal]

A few secrets to making the tight U Turns

When I come into the box I am in second gear, I shift my weight (counterweight) then turn my head, looking where I want to go. The important part of the headturn is to do it BEFORE you begin the turn, otherwise, you will drift left before you turn left. Headturn first, look for the entry cones, (the two cones where you entered the box), this will cause you to turn you head all the way around (Exorcist). Now as you are turning keep you head turned and scan all the way back, get to the other side as early as possible to set up for the right turn, counterbalance, look all the way back to where you started the previous (left) turn and keep you head turned, looking further back to your right. This will help in keeping the turns tight. Also, when I do it with my RS, I pull the clutch in right before the U-turn and coast through, using the friction zone to keep me moving. Without using the clutch, the torque will push you out of the box. That is my technique, it works for me and I'm sure others have different ways of doing it. And of course, we all know not to use the front brake, just the rear if necessary, using the friction zone will slow you down too.

[oldndumb]

Originally Posted by GoinPostal

A few secrets to making the tight U Turns

When I come into the box I am in second gear, I shift my weight (counterweight) then turn my head, looking where I want to go................................................ ...................................... just the rear if necessary, using the friction zone will slow you down too.

Absoperzactly correct!

[smegin]

Chuck

I recently spent 3 years in Maryland so had to get a Maryland bike licence, decided to do the 2 day course not knowing what to expect being an innocent Australian.

To the amusment of the instructors I parked my Sprint ST in the parking lot and jumped on one of their Honda 250's. I could still legaly ride my bike on my Aussie licence for the first 3 months of being in Maryland.

towards the end of the course the instructors went out on the range on their own bikes to demonstrate the figure eight manouvre. All big bikes HD's and a Honda Gold Wing, all did it without a problem.

After getting my Maryland motorcycle licence and passing the drug and alchol appreciation test got with one of the instructors to try the figure eight on the Sprint. That was hard, but after some good coaching and a lot of practice mastered the manouvre flawlessly. The instructors approach was to start with a wide figure eight then slowly start tightening up until you can do it in the 18 foot box.

Good luck, one word of warning stay away from the front brake if you don't want to lay your bike down. Another point, there is no way I could do it now, would be to practice again to get it back.

[ChuckofTahoe]

Thanks for the tips. I am going to just have to practice at it. The lock to lock angle is a relatively small one for the RS I think. Seems like it might actually be easier to do this maneauver on a Road King than an RS.