Plod assessment ride

I think your conclusion is probably correct. I remember arguing this
with some part-time cyclists, who believed they should use the back
brake only for emergency stops. These are just the sort of people who
go on to ride scooters, and we have thousands of tehm here in Basel.

I was just noting the other day how many of them seemed to only be
using the left hand when approaching red lights etc. At least 50%,
from what I could see. Maybe they're just too thick to work the
throttle and brake with the same hand?

 

Well, you are still a novice, aren't you?

 

*waves*

Lobbed the CBR 19 days after getting it.

I don't use the back much - just for tight U-turns - but I am nervous of
braking generally.

 

Ahh, then you _definitely_ need to practice stoppies - once you _know_
what will happen, it holds no more fear.

 

Aaaarrrgh!

 

I'll need some **** to bully me into doing it, tbh. Face-to-face, and
probably with the threat of violence for non-compliance.

 

what are you doing on Sunday?

 

Driving home from Germany.

 

Jus threaten that you will. I need to be more scared of that than
crashing.

Done.

 

What are you doing on Saturday? You could always detour round here -
the 400/4 is great for practising front lock-ups.

 

Sleeping in the truck, most of the day.

Feel free to come up to Aachen and meet me!

 

ok, fair enough.

Seriously, if I can stoppy bikes, you can.

 

Ah, goddit.

Aachen. That's nearly Belgium, innit? Bloody miles away. Or is there
another one? I must admit I did think of somewhere round here when I
first read it. Prolly thinking of Haagen or summat.

 

Just round the corner from Brussels, really.

Hardly even abroad. Still, "wogs start at Calais".

 

Aye. Actually a damn sight closer to you than it is to me.

Heh.

 

when you're back, give me a shout - we'll get you sorted. Of all your
bikes (except the CD) the CBR might be the best to try on because it's
the lightest and also has the stiffest front suspension. On the other
hand, the Bandit might be better because it's got a higher COG and
also won't cost as much to fix whe^Wif you drop it.

Remember: darsy's rule of static stoppies: if the worst comes to the
worst you're simply dropping your bike, because by definition when you
pull a stoppie, you're already stopped. Of course, the angle you drop
your bike from might be a little unusual...

Seriously, it's easy once you get the hang of it. I'll bring around my
BMW and you can practice locking-and-recovering the front on some
gravel or something - if you drop it, so ****.

 

Autoroute says 300miles from Southend.

 

well, from experience, my fireblade is massively easier to stoppie
than my R30 was, precisely because the soft front suspension took ages
to compress before the rear would think about leaving the deck.

ah, see, I'm not.

 

According to mappy, it's 472km (295m), and 576km from my house. So it
_is_ closer to you.

 

you've not ridden a supermoto, have you?

can't do them, then? ;-)