"TouringBubble" (TouringBubble)
09/02/2015 at 12:16 • Filed to: None
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"TouringBubble" (TouringBubble)
09/02/2015 at 12:16 • Filed to: None | 4
| 18 |
I’m certain that no one remembers, but I posted a while back about rebuilding a poorly treated and crashed Suzuki SV1000S. !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!
So, I mostly finished it up a while back and have started riding it, little by little.
I thought I’d share my experiences so far ... for your amusement.
The most valuable lesson
So, I’d never ridden a bike before. I’ve got experience with ATVs, but nothing two-wheeled. That said, I knew how to ride one. There’s the clutch, throttle, brakes, gear shifter, etc. 1 down and 5 up ... I got this.
I so did not got that .
Once I got the bike into operational shape, I decided to just make sure it would move under its own power. It was in my driveway and I hopped on with two friends looking on with excitement. I slowly idled down the driveway to the cul-de-sac, where I planned to do a simple loop around at idle speed.
This would have all been well and good had I any idea what I was doing.
I learned immediately that knowing how to do something was much different than putting it into practice.
I moved forward with the assumption that I could ease off the clutch at idle seed and coast along at a snail’s pace, easily making the aforementioned loop, returning safely to my driveway. I missed one small point ... I had no fucking clue what I was doing .
As I eased off the clutch I felt quite confident ... for about half a second. The bike moved faster than I had expected. I need to brake. Which brake? stop turning the throttle! Oh shit there is an S-class Mercedes right in front of me. Don’t look at it! Turn! How? Shit! STOP! PLEASE!
I managed to turn, brake and stall the bike about 1’ from the front door of the white Mercedes parked across from my house. I was terrified and had only moved about 25’ ... idling.
I was able to get the bike back to my house and in the garage with no other issues. It had just earned its respect.
Next time: You don’t know what you don’t know
Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
> TouringBubble
09/02/2015 at 12:25 |
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Pulling the throttle while panicking is very common, and very bad. lol
I’d look into a rider course before you venture out on the street again.
TheRealBicycleBuck
> TouringBubble
09/02/2015 at 12:26 |
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I see a Motorcycle Safety Foundation rider course in your future. They will teach you how to handle a motorcycle in a safe environment. Do it soon.
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TouringBubble
> Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
09/02/2015 at 12:31 |
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I didn’t technically pull the throttle while panicking, but didn’t know how to pull the brake without also rotating the throttle. The bigger problem is that I never thought to pull the clutch.
This happened a couple of months back. There is a lot more to the story.
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Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
> TouringBubble
09/02/2015 at 12:34 |
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Ah gotchya.
Yeah, I had a kid I knew in my neighborhood ask to give my dirt bike a try once (just a little XR80). He said he knew how. He got on, and as he let out the clutch he went WOT, the bike flew out from under him, got completely vertical, but luckily he managed to hold onto the bike and keep it from falling or himself getting hurt. He didn’t try again. lol
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TouringBubble
> TheRealBicycleBuck
09/02/2015 at 12:38 |
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I’m familiar with the courses, but there is more to the story. This is just going over all of my experiences through the first few months of riding.
I do appreciate your tact. =)
TheOnelectronic
> TouringBubble
09/02/2015 at 12:47 |
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My advice would be to see if you can find a full handlebar for it. (I don’t know what it had when you got it.)
Low-slung clip-ons look cool, but they make riding and especially low-speed turning much more difficult.
Biggus Dickus (RevsBro)
> TouringBubble
09/02/2015 at 12:48 |
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Tight spaces and going slow is all about feathering the clutch and getting a feel for how it slips.
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TouringBubble
> TheOnelectronic
09/02/2015 at 12:50 |
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I could mod it for those, but I’ve gotten used to it. This is the stock setup. The SV1000N and 650 have different bars. The 1000 has something closer to a GSXR.
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TouringBubble
> Biggus Dickus (RevsBro)
09/02/2015 at 12:51 |
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Yeah, I eventually learned that. I tried to treat it like a car where you can ease out the clutch and everything goes real slow. Bikes are made to feather. I eventually learned that.
themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
> TouringBubble
09/02/2015 at 12:59 |
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A 1000cc sportbike as a first bike.......Well, at least it came pre-crashed and you realized it will not hesitate to hurt you lol. Hopefully you can keep it shiny side up and I look forward to seeing the build as I am about to overhaul my own first bike. Granted, I rode it for 1000 miles and realized it was a relic of the 80s when I bled the clutch and 30 year old milkshake came out of the lines........That was a thing. Also explained why I had really rough shifts and had an on/off switch for the clutch.
itschrome
> TouringBubble
09/02/2015 at 13:01 |
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may wanna look into a rider safety course. Not being a dick I just don’t wanna hear about you hurting your self. Those courses are great, they usually throw you on a 250 and have you run around some cones and shit. I took one, I don’t ride and have no desire to, but I know how to damn it! haha they aren’t that expensive either, mine was $250 for 5 hour long courses.
MonkeePuzzle
> Chris_K_F drives an FR-Slow
09/02/2015 at 13:02 |
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probably the best thing I learned at my rider course was to relearn how to position my hand so that as I went for the brake it naturally twisted off the throttle. Making it a single fluid move and also helped in panic situations.
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TouringBubble
> themanwithsauce - has as many vehicles as job titles
09/02/2015 at 13:09 |
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Yeah, that’ll do it! And pre-crashed for sure. I covered that in the comments of that original post long ago.
I went ahead and did all of the maintenance on this one before taking it out. Brakes, fluids, valve lash, chain, sprockets, etc. I assumed that it had been mistreated in all aspects.
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TouringBubble
> itschrome
09/02/2015 at 13:10 |
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That’s not being a dick at all. I don’t have the ego to think I don’t need training. That’ll be covered a little farther along in the story. This all happened a while back.
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Biggus Dickus (RevsBro)
> TheOnelectronic
09/02/2015 at 13:39 |
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I can attest t this. My monster has a non-existent turning radius.
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TheOnelectronic
> TouringBubble
09/02/2015 at 13:43 |
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All I know is I’ve been riding for years, and a friend let me take his Panigale out for a spin and I was terrified. I might have gotten used to it at some point but dang, I did not like it much.
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TheOnelectronic
> Biggus Dickus (RevsBro)
09/02/2015 at 13:46 |
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Haha, mine has full bars and even still it doesn’t turn real tight. It’s probably the fault of the world’s stupidest steering stops.
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TouringBubble
> TheOnelectronic
09/02/2015 at 14:06 |
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The friend that helped me learn the basics rode it and commented on how difficult it was to ride. He didn’t envy me learning on it. He said from the start that it was going to be difficult.
He’s used to a Thruxton.