Bike Forums

So there's a bazillion out there. You can go with general ones, club ones, bike specific ones, location specific ones. Whatever you choose.

My experience of them is they're good for factual, technical stuff but above and beyond that they're not worth my time and effort.

Why's this? Because the majority of them are chock-a-block full of wankers. Boy racers who talk about how fast they can go, how they're so renegade and practising vigilantes, how they evaded the police, rah rah rah.

They're quick to turn on you, make harsh uncalled for comments and blatantly flout the rules because they know the owners or you'd be a "whinger" to complain. Sure - most people are cool and some are fantastic but there'll always be one. He won't be far away with his vicious snipey comment making you feel very small.

Maybe I'm the problem, maybe I complain too much, maybe I ask stupid questions or maybe whatever. Regardless of whose fault it is, at the end of the day I have to put up with it so I'd just rather not go there.

Quite frankly, I can find my friends elsewhere and I've been burned too many times to open myself up to a bunch of strangers so I'll be attempting to keep my posts on forums straight down the line.

Front brake vs. Back brake

I know the old adage about front vs. back braking and I've seen that your front brake will stop you horrendously faster than your back brake but as a general rule I don't find a fast brake required. I therefore feel comfortable relying more heavily on my back back.

Scenario: Cars slowing in front of me. I use my back brake, touch my front brake minutely and change down a gear. Problem solved.

I've always been a bit militant about my back brake and using it more than my front brake. It feels more controlled.

Yesterday, however, I was forced to perform 2 emergency stops and locked it up both times.

Scenario: Cars putting along at 50kph, large gap ahead of me and suddenly traffic stops. I'm not expecting traffic to stop where it did and am completely caught by surprise. Emergency brake. Lock up the back wheel and keep careering towards the back of the car, release the back brake and take a firmer hold of the front, reapply the back brake and lock it up again. Stop with an inch to spare. Traffic moves on straight away and I'm forced to let out a deep breath and go again or be run over.

Traffic heads off fast and I'm all shaky from the fright. Traffic stops suddenly again and although I've got plenty of room this time (and paying attention) I still lock up my back brake.

So why did I lock it up? Getting so used to using my back brake, in an emergency, I go straight for the back brake. But because I'm also pulling in my front brake more and therefore displacing all the weight of the bike onto the front wheel then a harder than normal back brake results in a locked up back wheel because there's no weight there.

Solution - retraining myself to use my front brake more.

My mood - annoyed that I have to relearn something that I've purposely taught myself not to rely on. There's nothing wrong with using my back brake as I have, except that when push comes to shove in an emergency situation, a locked up back wheel doesn't help to slow you much at all.

2 month SV650S review

So I've had my little baby girl for about 2 months now and although she still remains nameless, I love her to bits.

She has enough power to see me amused on city streets and quick on highway runs. She's light and her centre of gravity is low enough to stop me freaking out on hills or angles. I've become used to the need to accelerate all the way around the corner to stop the front wheel from feeling too light and her initially pinchy front brake has worn in (or out, may need replacing) so I don't suddenly find myself with my nose out over the front light.

She has some not so cool points. At slow speeds that involve a lot of clutch work, you find yourself resting on the handle bars. This causes cramp and sore hands. Eventually, it cuts the circulation off to the tips of a couple of my fingers and leads me to start slipping it into neutral in stopped traffic just to get a rest.

For some reason, the peg seems to be directly behind my leg when I put my foot down. This means when I pull away, even if I'm quick to lift my leg up, the peg still catches my leg. The peg just folds back but it could be dangerous and is annoying. I've tried putting my leg out sideways further but it doesn't work as my legs aren't quite long enough.

There is no engine temperature gauge. This freaks me out a little in 30+Celcius weather when I'm sitting in stationary traffic.

My seating position means that when I got over a bump or hit a pothole, I'm jettisoned into the tank. I don't know how the boys survive, as I'm a girl and I still nearly cried after hitting a couple of aggressive holes.

Overall, the bike is balanced and easy to manoeuvre. The power comes on quickly but controlled and a quick twist of the wrist tends to get me out of trouble and not into a whole lot more.

Her brakes are good and stopping suddenly mid-blind-corner for a road-worker casually spinning his stop/slow sign didn't cause too much drama, other than scaring the crap out of all involved and almost tempting me to give him a mouthful of abuse for his carelessness.

She purrs like a kitten and her custom pipe means that I'm usually heard before I'm seen.

All in all, I'm in love with her. Although not completely disillusioned by her not so cool points.

BMW 650 CS

Licencing woes saw me back at Bike School. The day was uninteresting except for getting to ride a random bike of a mid-range nature and seeing what a good pick my SV650S was. I won't say I knew it all and I won't say that the practice wasn't good for me. I will say that the instructor said I was the most skilled girl of my level he'd seen and that during my road ride he only had one comment to make - which was that I put my foot out too soon when I was pulling up and that I should only put it down at the last minute. Fair call, I'd say and I've been practicing not doing that.


It was interesting to note the different setup on the BMW650CS though. The bike was built low and the front forks were out like a trailie. The gears were weird and the only time I saw any semblance of its engine size was when I thrashed the daylights out of it in 3rd gear and got from 50kph to 80kph in a few seconds. Otherwise, she felt gutless and clunky. Especially weird was how the gear pedal would keep going down even when you were in 1st gear. My ZZR and SV always stop when you get to 1st gear and I guess I thought that's how all bikes behaved. Imagine my surprise when I tried to get back to 1st suddenly, only to be unable to find the bottom of the gearbox. The centre of gravity was low and the steering light so figure 8's were a breeze (despite being made to go first with everyone watching - apparently, this 'lady friend' can still turn it on a dime.)

I can understand why they were picked for the riding school because they were forgiving and built low. There is power there but it's hard to find and certainly doesn't surprise you when it arrives. Their brakes are good and I scared myself a couple of times with careless front brake grabs but the bike forgave me more than it should have. The back brake held the bike back well while slow cornering in non-chugging revs and 2nd gear.

Their balance was good and I managed to complete the 12second minimum slow ride (have no idea how far the distance was - 10 metres?) the first time round without horrendous wobbles. Again, the steering was light and the bike easy to push around so when it came time for the 30kph emergency counter-steer my only problem was getting back onto the course after an overly vigorous manoeuvre.

My particular bike had certainly seen its share of learners though with clunky 1st and 2nd gears, a very easy to find false-neutral and a few scratches. I though it was going to rattle itself to bits on the road ride though.

I wouldn't buy one personally. I found them all a bit meh but I could see how they make a good learner bike. Their upright seat keeps you from leaning on the handlebars and their low centre of gravity means less freak-outs if the bike leans one way or the other when stationary.

All in all a fun day and a semi-decent bike. Although, a waste of $400 as the licencing woes continue.

Filtering..

As the traffic ground to a halt for the umpteenth time, I looked around me to see that I moved a grant total of 20 metres in the last 5 minutes. My left hand had cramped from holding the clutch in and I was overheating under my jacket.

My SV lacks a temperature gauge and I started to wonder how my bike was handling 40 minutes in almost stationary traffic. I could feel the heat of the bike being displaced through my leg that was holding on my back brake and therefore touching the frame.

I’d seen what heat and slow, slow traffic does to a bike after a guy on an expensive hypermotard practically dropped his radiator in front of me on the toy run as we spent copious amounts of time searching for a parking space.

As the heat continued to seep through my jeans I decided I had to do it. I had to move, find some clean air. I knew my detour was about 2kms away and with luck that should move me towards some faster moving traffic.

I looked over my shoulder to check for rogue suicidal scooters and headed for the gap between the two unmoving lanes of cars. Amazingly, without a single car moving the gap seemed to increase in size as I rode through each set of cars.

I filtered through to the red light and pulled into the gap in front of one of the cars as another bike pulled up beside me. I’d done it. My first filter. How exciting!

It was an amazing feeling of freedom and perhaps it was just the fact that I was going 20kph instead of 10kph but the air was cool and clean. I filtered to my detour and headed off down a side street. A few corners later saw me back in traffic. This traffic was moving faster but it was still a very slow adventure. I saw the lights turn red ahead and traffic stopped again. A check over my shoulder showed that there was nothing over concern coming so off I went again. I made it to the light as they went green and I was gone again.

15 minutes later I pulled into the driveway at work and parked my bike. An hour and a half after I left home, I was at work. 1.5 hrs to go 12kms. Gah!

Cramp

My riding instructor was telling us that good riding was made up of good riding skills, good bike control and “Something else that Cariad lacks! What is that?” the room hushed as no one wanted to say anything. He waited. “Come on.” He said “What do you suffer from on the bike?” looking directly at me. I shrugged and said “Cramp?”

Apparently, the correct answer was self-control and apparently, I lack it but that’s another story.

I’ve found with my new bike I have some new pains. My morning commute sees me feel the annoying and distressing pain of cramp in my left hand from riding the clutch for 40 minutes. I settle back in the seat a bit and relax my arms but as soon as the clutch comes in, it puts pressure on my wrist which in turns leads to circulation being cut off to half my hand and fingers. Every light change I flick it into neutral (making sure traffic behind me has stopped) and rest my hand. If, by some miracle, I’m able to let the clutch entirely out then I give my hand a good shake but the feeling never lasts long as traffic stops and back in comes my clutch.

I’m not sure if there is a remedy. I certainly suffer from it on the bike though. Maybe I should email that instructor..

Vanity

Short of getting someone to take pics of you on your bike as you ride by, it's hard to see what you look like on a bike. And before you judge me, I know riding isn't about the "look" or the image, it's about the freedom and the feeling you get when you take that sweeper or put a knee down on that tight corner. It's about the excited look on little kids' faces when you pull up somewhere or the nod you get from another bike when you go by. It's about the smell of summer through your helmet vents and the feel of the cool wind as you fly by the scenery.

But that doesn't stop you wanting to know if you look hot in bike gear and suit the bike you've chosen.. so what do you do?

Your only hope is shop front windows as you cruise on by - but then you have the horror of traffic stopping in front of you and those ghastly windows that slant sideways just a bit so you don't see your reflection when you pass it but it showed your image when you were 5 metres back down the road, exactly when you weren't looking.

Short of asking someone to take a pic while you're riding, which would score you major vanity points, it's all you can do. Is it so bad wanting to know if you look like a putz on the bike?

I don't think so..