Going back down the windy, hilly road.

[Choppa650]

Hello I am a noobie also. I have about 1000+ miles right now on the street. Lately I have been trying to conquer new goals I have made for myself, highway 9, 84 etc. I feel real secure going up, but coming down the hill still puckers me up a little bit, please give me some advice on what you do besides downshifting, and braking before the turns to help me feel more confident/ride safer. Thanks.

 

[Ratters]

Go slower till you feel more confident. Not much else to do. One thing I like to do when riding twisties is to try and not use my brakes. Don't speed up on the straights and keep a steady speed through the turn. The hardest thing for me downhill is throttle control. You want to be giving a little bit of throttle during the turn to weight the rear tire but it's hard to fine tune with gravity assisting. Just practice at a slow speed and build your speed as you feel comfortable.

You've got a lot to learn, just don't be in too big of a rush to go fast. You have a hell of a bike for someone with just 1k miles of riding. It is very capable. Spend the time to learn to trust it. :thumbup

 

[zefflyn]

This might be kinda hard on a '93 GSXR, but try squeezing the tank with your legs, and hold your body up with your waist. Don't just lean forward on your wrists, with all your weight on the clip-ons.

Holding yourself up like that makes it easier to steer, because you don't have to fight your body weight on the bars, and thus, more comfortable.

 

[argh]

Make sure your front suspension is correctly set up for your weight. It makes a world of difference on downhills!

 

[Choppa650]

Thank you very much for the insight. I know this bike may be a little bit much for my first bike. But the deal I got on it was unpassable off of someone I know well.

 

[greener]

Warning: I'm a noobie rider, so I'm not sure how helpful this is, but it helped me over my last few days of riding in the hills.

My comfort zone in twisty turns involves using engine braking, ie letting off the gas and letting the engines inertia slow me down.

Going downhill, engine braking wasnt as effective as going uphill due to the added downhill pull of the bikes weight, so I had to use more hand braking, which isnt advisable in turns. I found myself slowing way down before turns and still not feeling right.

I tried a few things, and finally started using a lower gear. This meant I kept more throttle on to stay the speed limit, and way higher rpms. This got me back in a zone where I could use engine braking again and manage small smooth throttle adjustments.

Once I did that I was able to get back up to the speed limit while still feeling totally calm and in control on straights and in tough turns.

 

[Choppa650]

Thanks, I have been doing exactly what you have stated also. I just stay in a lower gear going down, then coming up. It works good, but makes the throttle response more choppy, but it is ok, just stay on it real easy. For I normally try to stay in the lower rpm's, because this bike has too much power for my comfort while I am in the power band trying to negotiate some turns.