New rider's log - More half-wit and wisdom

[Ravo]

This is a new collection of things I'll jot down as I gain experience riding.

Clutchless shifting:
Today I learned how to shift without a clutch. I get up to speed / rpm, then upshift while letting off the gas. Doing both simultaneously let's me upshift smoothly without the clutch. If I get the timing or the rpm wrong, the bike refuses to shift. Neutral can get in the way of shifting into second without the clutch, and I'm going slow anyway so I just use the clutch going from first to second. If I fail to shift on the first try, I just shift with the clutch instead. After learning by using the clutch, it's not really a natural motion to shift without the clutch.

Awareness:
The other day my dad got his CL350 out on the road. I followed him to be safe. Sure enough, a mile out the bike sputters and dies. Having not been ridden for 16 years, the bike hadn't had had a tank of gas put in it for 16 years. I had to pull him home with a quad. The moral of this story? Know when your bike needs gas, or any other mechanical fluid. Running out of gas is bad. Running out of brake fluid or oil is worse.

Keeping track of gas:
Most bikes don't come with fuel guages to tell you how much gas is in the tank. Instead I just reset the trip meter with each tank of gas. I know after roughly 120 miles on my bike my dash lights up saying the bike needs fuel. Using that, I can just look at the trip meter to tell how many miles the tank has left.

Wide turns:
If I take a turn too wide, I go with it. So what if I end up over the white lines on the side of the road? I'm much more likely to lay the bike down correcting a wide turn than I am flirting with the shoulder. I find this happens a lot when I stop at an intersection covered in gravel. I'll wait until I'm over the gravel and then do most of the turning. It doesn't leave me a lot of room to finish the turn. That's where practicing those tight u-turns and figure 8s comes in handy.

[Nicky-Jano]

[Ravo]

I'm in the US. Taking a turn too wide risks putting me and the bike off the side of the road, not into incoming traffic. That'd be a left turn for me, and a right turn for you UK riders. I can't speak for UK roads, but the way US roads are set up, I can practically finish a right turn before reaching the stop sign.

[ncrn]

[ilovensr]

clutch less shifting down is very easy to do although for some reason i think im hurting my bike when i do it. if you just kick the gear lever down at any speeds and any revs then your going down a gear, useful when you need to change down quickly but it just seems bad for the bike for some reason cant explain why
____________________
Current Bikes:
Honda NSR125 >>> Garaged
Kawasaki ER5 >>> Excellent commuter

[ncrn]

[spooney]