Slow Riding

Oh wise ones, why is it that I can ride slower and straighter when using a
balance of the throttle, clutch & rear brake than using just the throttle &
clutch?

Why do I have that much more "balance?" when bringing the rear brake in to
play.

If this is a stupid question then I am asking for a friend !

D

 

The best reason I can give is that applying some rear brake stops the bike
'running away with itself' IYSWIM.

Heh.

 

David Thomas wrote

FFS. Riding slow is dangerous, don't fucking do it.

What is the percentage of bike accidents that happen at less than the
speed of sound?

100fucking% that is how many. Kin figures speak for themselves,

 

It is a stupid question, that is, it's hard to give an answer.

By slipping the clutch and holding the bike back using the rear brake
it's easier to keep the engine at a slightly higher rev (if you have an
engine that is a bit rough at idle).
It also helps keep the drive train loaded in the "forward" direction the
whole time, avoiding the delay and jerkiness that you feel each time
the slack is taken up.

 

'Cos the drag puts positive force into the swingarm and counteracts the
wobbly nature of piss chaep jappo setups which are designed to be
accelerating or braking but not riding at a constant speed.

Ask the audience instead.

 

That pretty much describes the GS. The huge cylinders give very lumpy
power delivery at low revs. On really tight corners e.g. Alpine hairpins
I find the combination of keeping the revs constant and controlling the
speed of the bike by using the clutch & rear brake works best.

My TDM was much the same.

 

OK I'll bite, what's piss cheap about a "jappo" setup.

 

Er ... 'cos rear brake means higher revs menas more gyroscopic effect
of flywheel?

 

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. WHUUUUP. Heh, damn, only a tiddler.

What's in your swingarm bearing wise?

 

Nice taper rollers, thank you very much.

--

Dave

GS 850 x2 / SE 6a
SbS#6 DIAABTCOD#16 APOSTLE#6 FUB#3
FUB KotL OSOS#12? UKRMMA#19

 

WHOOOOOOAH, the big boys have arrived ;-)


How does the adjustment work? Does that big fat tyre have any uneven wear?

 

Grimly Curmudgeon said...

I ought to replace the ones in the SOCB, they are a bit notchy.

 

Must be the coriolis effect.

 

Thats the least of your worries. What are the spokes like?

 

tallbloke said...

Fine, I checked the insides of each wheel for corrosion when I fitted
new tyres, and the spokes themselves are good. At some point in the
future I'm rebuilding a spare set of wheels with new stainless spokes.
These wheels will be used on the reincarnation of the SOCB that I have
in mind for its 200,000 mile birthday

I have 3 sets of good condition alloy DID rims here to work with, but
only 5 out of the 6 hubs are any good. One has a knackered cush drive
lug.

 

I used a DR 400 hub for the Rickman for a coupla years. It went oval twice.

The RD400 replacement was much better.

200k? Pretty fucking good for an engine with top end issues that.

 

200,000? I thought it was 165,000?

 

tallbloke said...

All RD400s came with discs front and rear, even the wire spoke wheel
models. It's most likely to have been an RD250A/B/C part

The original engine went bang at 168,000 whist doing an indicated 85mph
on the M25. It is temporarily sporting an engine of unknown mileage[1]
while I set to rebuilding the other one. Surprisingly, the cam/cylinder
head/valves of the original engine are in excellent condition. I seized
the bore/piston and little end, so it needs rebore number 2 and a crank
rebuild.

[1] For 30 quid I bought 2 almost complete bikes with some very good
parts, including a complete engine in superb condition and a nearly new
fuel tank. I was cheeky, I knocked him down from 50 quid

 

said...

It's sitting at close to 175,000 at the moment. I'm totally rebulding it
when it hits 200,000.

 

Now that *is* bargain biking ;-)