Low Speed Tight Motorcycle Turns
Okay, so this blog post is off to a bad start. Why? No glove.
A few years ago, I had my mind blown by a two day private police motorcycle course with a great instructor. It really opened my eyes, and I came away with an appreciation for a part of my riding that I had ignored – low speed maneuvers. Jerry the Motorman Palladino makes a business out of teaching the police techniques that make motorcycle cops so comfortable with the low speed stuff. By low speed, I mean walking speed. By maneuvers, I mean stuff like pulling away from a curb while making a a u-turn, and doing a u-turn within two parking spots in a lot.
If I’ve lost your interest already, good luck making a u-turn on a narrow country road, or doing your role in a group ride that needs to do something in a parking lot. Personally, I find it embarrassing to have to paddle around, and I just prefer to choose riding my way into and out of tight spots in parking lots and other low speed venues.
Once you master pulling from a curb into a u-turn, and making tight, low speed turns, it is always a satisfying experience. Confidence in controlling your motorcycle is always an up, just as lack of confidence is always unsettling.
The key to doing this is what Palladino calls use of “the friction zone”. The basic idea is that, at low speeds, you use the clutch to modulate forward motion, NOT the throttle (although there are times when you can also use the throttle to your advantage).
In the course, they had clover leaf and tight u-turn and other setups to challenge the rider. The instructor was fantastic at spotting my weaknesses, and creating situations that simply could not be mastered without improving in the areas that needed it. My personal challenge was making either a left or right turn at full lock from a stop, on command. (The instructor would say “right” or “left” at the last moment).
The reason I had trouble with this is simply that I did not have enough really low speed saddle time to develop a subtle clutch hand. I noticed that few of the online “how to u-turn a motorcycle” videos sufficiently emphasized using the clutch for speed control.
To get started, simply get your rpm to 2000 or 2500 (depends on bike), and give the bike just enough clutch to start moving forward. DO NOT adjust the throttle. Once you are comfortable with this, start with basic snaking around, circles, u-turns, and other maneuvers to get good at modulating with the clutch. As you get better, try starting up combined with a turn. Then make it tighter.
Like most things motorcycle, a little practice on a regular basis will yield enormous results. Surprisingly, you can’t help but be better with both throttle and clutch at higher speeds, once you are smoother at lower speeds.
Is that all there is to it? No. of course not. Will this make a huge difference? Absolutely. It is much easier to lean at low speeds and weight the outside of the bike, once you can confidently accelerate or maintain speed by using the clutch.
Honestly, I don’t know all the physics involved, but it seems logical that by keeping the engine revs up, you also get the benefit of the engine’s gyroscopic effect. Inherently, using the clutch to modulate speed seems to be smoother and seems to provide a smoother weight shift on the bike. Whatever the reason, this is just one of those things that works.
If you want to look at a step-by-step walkthrough on How to make a tight U-turn on a motorcycle, please see my previous blog post on the topic.
