Took another moto class

dragoontwo · Jul 27, 2014

This time it was Puget Sound Safety Advanced Street Skills.

I found out that the bike will do a stoppie with the ABS on level 1 on the stock tires. This was doing quick stop drills in a parking lot.

A few on road riding pics.

Stupid mirror decided to come loose on the gravel road section.

All of the pictures they took are available here.

It was a great class and I learned quite a bit overall. The biggest was better road reading.

skyjo · Aug 6, 2014

Coming from a superbike background, I'd have to say that you made a really wise decision investing in classes to level up your riding skills. No expensive mod/upgrade will ever compare to increasing your speed (and safety) than good training.

NewRider · Aug 6, 2014

Very good idea. I might do the same next year.

dragoontwo · Aug 7, 2014

I like doing moto classes for the most part. At least ones that are not MSF like. I've also taken levels 1-4 of the California Superbike School on the BMW S1000RR. I did those at Barber and VIR.

HyperstradaHopeful · Sep 11, 2014

Cool! So the bike will do a stoppie with ABS on level 1, but it won't throw you over the handlebars or rise too high as to cause a problem right? I'd like to try it, but want to know what to expect. If I grab full front brake on level 1, I can just expect a slight rear rise, but don't have to worry about letting off the brake lever at all so that it doesn't nosedive/flip, right? So just grab full front brake and hold on and I'll be good, right?

dragoontwo · Sep 14, 2014

I can tell you that I was doing about 35 mph and I grabbed as much brake as I could as fast as I could. I held it to the bar until I came to a complete stop.

I would only do this in an empty lot with no danger to others. It was a bit scary, but I made it through ok.

Flausch · Sep 14, 2014

it's always a good idea to try and improve your riding.

just start with emergency brake-tests at ABS level 3 at 30 km/h, then raise your velocity in 5 km/h steps 'til you've reached 50 km/h. when you're comfortable, set your ABS level to 2 and repeat the whole process. after that .. level 1, needless to say.

do NOT look at the street in front of your front tire (like in the pictures posted), look at the horizon/street, as you normally would. it's just like with driving corners .. where you look, you go. and you don't want to kiss the road in front of you. also: steady arms, feet on the pegs.

the learning-curve is astonishing.

in one of the driving classes i took, i managed to kill the engine during the stoppie, thus completely losing the computer that should handle the ABS. it was a shock - but i didn't crash the bike and managed to instinctively open the brake to avoid tipping over (you'd be surprised about the angle that's possible to achieve). i wouldn't recommend to try it at home, but i'm feeling pretty safe now, by accident - had to sit down for a few minutes after that, though.

dragoontwo · Sep 14, 2014

Flausch said:
it's always a good idea to try and improve your riding.

just start with emergency brake-tests at ABS level 3 at 30 km/h, then raise your velocity in 5 km/h steps 'til you've reached 50 km/h. when you're comfortable, set your ABS level to 2 and repeat the whole process. after that .. level 1, needless to say.

do NOT look at the street in front of your front tire (like in the pictures posted), look at the horizon/street, as you normally would. it's just like with driving corners .. where you look, you go. and you don't want to kiss the road in front of you. also: steady arms, feet on the pegs.

the learning-curve is astonishing.

in one of the driving classes i took, i managed to kill the engine during the stoppie, thus completely losing the computer that should handle the ABS. it was a shock - but i didn't crash the bike and managed to instinctively open the brake to avoid tipping over (you'd be surprised about the angle that's possible to achieve). i wouldn't recommend to try it at home, but i'm feeling pretty safe now, by accident - had to sit down for a few minutes after that, though.

I wasn't trying to look down, but the stoppie caught me by surprise. I always learn something new from a class. It usually improves my riding by quite a bit. I even ride a good bit faster now than I did on the 1100 with less lean angle to boot.

Flausch · Sep 15, 2014

dragoontwo said:
I wasn't trying to look down, but the stoppie caught me by surprise. I always learn something new from a class. It usually improves my riding by quite a bit. I even ride a good bit faster now than I did on the 1100 with less lean angle to boot.

Just to clarify - I didn't mean to insult you or come off cocky. I smashed my hyper into a BMW (that did an emergency break without any obvious obstacle in front of it, but that's another story) on the third day that I got it because the stoppie took my by surprise, I'm feeling ya.

dragoontwo · Sep 15, 2014

Flausch said:
Just to clarify - I didn't mean to insult you or come off cocky. I smashed my hyper into a BMW (that did an emergency break without any obvious obstacle in front of it, but that's another story) on the third day that I got it because the stoppie took my by surprise, I'm feeling ya.

No insult taken. It should be one of the things that everybody works at as much as they can. The other thing is supporting your braking with your knees instead of your arms. That is hard to remember to do after not riding for a bit.

HyperSteve · Oct 20, 2014

Stoppies

Hi Guy's,

I got my bike 5 weeks ago. I've just had my bike back a week from first service. Nearly at 1000 miles mark and I can't fault the bike yet. Just loving it at moment. Regarding these stoppie, I want to try them out and also get comfortable with emergency braking.

Can you expland on "supporting your braking with your knees instead of your arms". Also I know on the SP you can set ABS 1 to just the front brake, on the HyperStrada ABS 1 is set to both brakes. ..and what mode are you doing these stoppies in?

dragoontwo · Oct 20, 2014

HyperSteve said:
Hi Guy's,

I got my bike 5 weeks ago. I've just had my bike back a week from first service. Nearly at 1000 miles mark and I can't fault the bike yet. Just loving it at moment. Regarding these stoppie, I want to try them out and also get comfortable with emergency braking.

Can you expland on "supporting your braking with your knees instead of your arms". Also I know on the SP you can set ABS 1 to just the front brake, on the HyperStrada ABS 1 is set to both brakes. ..and what mode are you doing these stoppies in?

Doing them in sport mode, but the ABS shouldn't care what mode it is as you can set ABS to whatever you like.

As to supporting with your knees, I mean grip the bike with your legs so that your arms do not press the handlebars.

gatdammit · Oct 20, 2014

Key to a stoppie is getting your body weight really far forward over the tank. Lot's more brake lever than you think to get the rear lifted. Once you find the grip point where the rear rotates up, let up on the brakes just a bit to keep it rolling. Oh, and keep your head up and look ahead - looking down can get you into trouble. Playing DMX songs really loud also helps.

At least, that's how I used to do them on my R6. Haven't tried them on the Strada because, A) I grew up and, B) the back end can slam really hard and I just don't think it's good for the components. Pretty quick way to get a stupid ticket if you're crushing them at every stop light. I try to avoid the easy tickets.

dragoontwo · Oct 22, 2014

I wasn't even trying to do mine. It just kind of happened.

In case anybody missed it, I was also in a class on a controlled lot when I did mine.

Took another moto class

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